Ok ok... yes I missed last week's blog. Sorry. Things have been busy.
Recap:
During week 2:
1. We continued our community days, so that the interns could be exposed to the various churches.
2. The interns spent time preparing for leading holiday club at Maubane this week.
3. They brought forward their proposals for their individual projects.
During week 3:
1. We worshiped together at Rock of Ages church in Maubane, a town just across the boarder into Limpopo province.
2. The interns, Greg, and Josiah stayed Sunday-Wednesday to help Rock of Ages lead a holiday club.
3. Becca, Debbie, and I organized the details for the intern's projects.
Analysis on ministry - a balancing act.
Since we started this internship, we have been talking with the interns about the impact of short term missions and how to do more good than harm. It is a tough balancing act because we want to help provide support to churches and pastors that want help, but too much American (or in general, Western) assistance can leave communities with divisions and leave churches with new holes that need to be patched.
The goal of Holiday Club in Maubane (we call it "Trailer Ministry" because we load stuff into a trailer to go out there) was to work with Rock of Ages Church on how to lead this holiday club, then hand it over for them to lead on their own. First, one of the challenges came as the interns tried to get a handle on how to transfer "western" style curriculum and activities into black South African culture. This is more than just overcoming language barriers. Kids are used to more freedom to move. They live in a village where the walk everywhere, take their siblings along, and (mostly) come and go as they please. There is no formal registration process or division into small groups with specific leaders... it's just lots of kids that want to have lots of fun. There are also less adults available for guidance and direction (everybody is at work - very few have the privilege of taking a day off). What do you do when you have 40 or 50 kids on your own? Figure it out.
I went out on Tuesday (I couldn't stay out in the village because I needed to stay with Ian), and it was hard for me to not step in. It's the great battle of leadership - when do I step in and help and when do I let the interns learn through trial and error? So i stood and watched (and felt slightly guilty and lazy as I did) as the interns were stretched and sometimes met conflict with each other as they tried to work out the next steps.
Then on Wednesday, the church took over and our leaders just helped. Wednesday afternoon they came home. Was this helpful? Was the church blessed by this ministry? Did we leave kids feeling more loved or more abandoned?
When we came out on Tuesday there were a few less kids than Monday. We asked the leaders why, and someone whispered, "They think that white people means they get candy. When you didn't give any yesterday, they didn't come today."
Recap:
During week 2:
1. We continued our community days, so that the interns could be exposed to the various churches.
2. The interns spent time preparing for leading holiday club at Maubane this week.
3. They brought forward their proposals for their individual projects.
During week 3:
1. We worshiped together at Rock of Ages church in Maubane, a town just across the boarder into Limpopo province.
2. The interns, Greg, and Josiah stayed Sunday-Wednesday to help Rock of Ages lead a holiday club.
3. Becca, Debbie, and I organized the details for the intern's projects.
Analysis on ministry - a balancing act.
Since we started this internship, we have been talking with the interns about the impact of short term missions and how to do more good than harm. It is a tough balancing act because we want to help provide support to churches and pastors that want help, but too much American (or in general, Western) assistance can leave communities with divisions and leave churches with new holes that need to be patched.
The goal of Holiday Club in Maubane (we call it "Trailer Ministry" because we load stuff into a trailer to go out there) was to work with Rock of Ages Church on how to lead this holiday club, then hand it over for them to lead on their own. First, one of the challenges came as the interns tried to get a handle on how to transfer "western" style curriculum and activities into black South African culture. This is more than just overcoming language barriers. Kids are used to more freedom to move. They live in a village where the walk everywhere, take their siblings along, and (mostly) come and go as they please. There is no formal registration process or division into small groups with specific leaders... it's just lots of kids that want to have lots of fun. There are also less adults available for guidance and direction (everybody is at work - very few have the privilege of taking a day off). What do you do when you have 40 or 50 kids on your own? Figure it out.
I went out on Tuesday (I couldn't stay out in the village because I needed to stay with Ian), and it was hard for me to not step in. It's the great battle of leadership - when do I step in and help and when do I let the interns learn through trial and error? So i stood and watched (and felt slightly guilty and lazy as I did) as the interns were stretched and sometimes met conflict with each other as they tried to work out the next steps.
Then on Wednesday, the church took over and our leaders just helped. Wednesday afternoon they came home. Was this helpful? Was the church blessed by this ministry? Did we leave kids feeling more loved or more abandoned?
When we came out on Tuesday there were a few less kids than Monday. We asked the leaders why, and someone whispered, "They think that white people means they get candy. When you didn't give any yesterday, they didn't come today."