TMN: Ministry Days (part 1)

The Teen Mission Namibia series starts with the Boot Camp post.

We awoke with great expectation and a little anxiety. After a few days of intense training during Boot Camp, we would now spend our next days putting into practice what we had learned. In the mornings we would be running a kid's holiday club. Some of our participants had never worked with children's ministry before. Some had never shared the gospel before. So many on our team would be forced outside their comfort zones.

When we first arrived at the Samaritan's Network community center in Nau-Aib location there were maybe 30 kids getting hands sanitized as they entered the hall. That number quickly grew to over 160 kids! Our theme for the first day was gospel focused, helping them understand that we are saved by trusting in Jesus and not our religious works. Our memory verse for the day was an abbreviated version of Eph 2:8. The team also led some songs, taught the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector from Luke 18:9-14, and planned a drama along the same theme. Then we broke down into smaller groups by age and each of our team members took a group. This way we could make sure they understood the lesson and they could ask any questions they had. Then we closed off with some fun games in the smaller groups.

Teaching the kids about the gospel

Acting out the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

The team doing their drama

One of the younger girls small groups

One of the boys small groups

By the second day our numbers grew to about 200 kids. This day our theme was mission, about how we are now called to go share the good news of Jesus with others. Our memory verse was Isaiah 6:8 when the prophet told God, "Send me!" Our Bible story for the day was about Philip and the Ethiopian from Acts 8:26-40. Then the team had another drama organized to go along with this theme.

The kids enjoying some songs

Little girls small group

Not such a "small" group with these boys!

One of the coolest developments at this location was the teen girls small group. One of our adult volunteers works as a correctional officer in the prisons. One of our other team members acted like a talk show host, interviewing her about her story of growing up, the challenges she went through, and some of the things she sees in her line of work. This really connected with those teen girls, many of whom are living through similar stories and challenges right now. That volunteer mentioned how she looked at one girl in the group and saw herself. It made her heart reach out to those girls and gave her a desire to use her story to continue helping other young girls as well.

In the afternoon, one of the ministry volunteers took us deep into the informal settlements to a location called "Illegal" because the families aren't actually allowed to build their shacks there. There was no water or electricity because the area is not town maintained. Those who do go to church would have to walk a very long way to get there, so we brought the church to them! We split up into groups of 3 and visited different families in their homes, praying for them and encouraging them with the word of God.

Then each day after dinner we would gather around the campfire to sing some worship songs, have an evening devotional, and debrief our days events. This was the opportunity for our team to share their experiences and what God was teaching them through it. In these first few days, many commented how they had been stretched out of their comfort zone, but how it was good, and showed them they could do more than they thought. Good thing, because over the next two days we would be doing the same program again at a different location.

Read the next post in the Teen Mission Namibia series here.

TMN: Mission Boot Camp

December 12 was a day that we had been planning and praying for since the beginning of the year, and now it was finally here. It was time for Teen Mission Namibia! The staff had gone to Elim Training Center the night before for a little orientation and prep. Then the morning of the 12th we met up at the bus station with the six participants who had committed a week of their Christmas holiday to participate in God's mission. Team members ranged from 18-24 yrs old, and came from various towns and churches around Namibia. But all were coming together to grow in their relationship with God and be equipped and impassioned for mission.

Our first two days were spent in training and preparation, what we were calling "mission boot camp." We began by making sure everyone had a solid grasp of the gospel. So in our first session we unpacked what it means to trust in Christ alone for a restored relationship with God. That word alone is very important because it means we're not trusting in our religious activities or family history or tradition. We also discussed how trusting Christ means directing our lives after Him. Being a Christian is not just "fire insurance" for the afterlife, but it's a whole new way of living, progressively uprooting sin from our lives and pursuing Christlikeness.

Our second session was all about God's mission in the world. We looked at the biblical story of how God has been gathering a people who joyfully worship and glorify Him. God's relationship with Israel in the OT was to demonstrate His glory to the rest of the world. Now in the NT, His followers are sent out to the ends of the earth to go make more joyful worshippers of God. Even today there are still around 3 billion people in the world who have no access to the gospel of Christ, so it will take pioneering missionaries to go to them to share the gospel for the first time.

Other sessions included training in how to share the gospel with others, how to write your testimony, and how Christian social work fits into missions. We had a guest speaker come in and share his story of getting paralyzed in a car accident, and teach us how we can use our stories to point others to the gospel. Our schedule also included daily personal devotional time, as well as meeting together in small groups. Our mission during the week would include organizing a children's Bible club, so we also spent time learning games and planning dramas in preparation for that.

Practicing some games for our kids club

Classic wheelbarrow race!

"Fill the bottle" is an old favorite here

Small group time

Morning workout

Personal devotion time

Practicing sharing the gospel

Our last night of Boot Camp was a bit of a commissioning service. We had a guest speaker share about some bold prayers that we hear about in the Bible. One of the most challenging prayers that struck our participants was, "Make me bold!" When the disciples were delivered from persecution, they returned to their church community and prayed, not to be delivered from persecution, but to be even more bold in sharing the gospel (Acts 4:29). As our team was about to go out and share the gospel the very next day, that was our commissioning prayer, "God, make us bold!"

Read the next post in the Teen Mission Namibia series here.