Ministry to Children and Youth

It was in about January 2013 that I first started talking with NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary) about the possibility of teaching Youth Ministry courses at the seminary. On August 18th, nearly 20 months later, that vision was finally realized. I arrived at school early, around 7am, to make sure I had everything printed and could get my computer connected to the projector. I had 11 students signed up for the course, all 2nd and 3rd year residential students at NETS. Most of them had been or will be involved in some form of church or para-church youth ministry, so I hoped the material would be applicable.

After some brief introductions we started off going through the course syllabus. That was an easy start, getting the feet wet. Then we jumped right in. The general outline for the course was that your purpose plus your target group within a given context equals your program. So we spent the first day discussing the purpose of the church and a Biblical and theological basis for youth ministry. The next day we spent talking about youth and childhood development, looking at physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual development. This was to get a good handle on understanding our target group.

The minefield of issues that youth in Namibia are facing.

The next two days we spent looking at youth culture and the context in which today’s students are growing up. We talked about many different issues including postmodernity, family structure, media discernment, social networking, sexuality, substance abuse, depression, suicide, and more. Those were perhaps the two most depressing, but exciting days of the course. Depressing because our youth are walking through a minefield of issues and they aren’t making it through unscathed. But exciting because the church is uniquely positioned to speak the hope of Christ into those situations.

Then once we understood where we’re headed, who we’re dealing with, and the context in which we’re working, we finally talked about developing the program. We looked at challenges to programming, some characteristics of good programs and then tried it out with a few scenarios.

Overall it was a great group of students who were very interactive and taught me a bit about youth ministry in the Namibian context. This was only the first 5 days of an 8 day course. Our remaining 3 days of class are spread out once a month throughout the rest of the semester. That course format allows them to get a bulk of information, then go practice it and come back with more questions. I’m looking forward to seeing how they use what they’ve learned and what new questions they will come back with next time.

Visitors

There's nothing to help procrastination like getting visitors! My parents came to visit for a week with Dan, one of the pastors from their church back home. My parents have been here quite a few times over the years, but it was Dan's first time in Africa. Most of our time together was spent visiting different ministries to show Dan some of the different things God's doing in Namibia and to introduce him to some of the ministry leaders.

We spent the first weekend visiting Children of Promise Ministries and Eagle Christian Center in Arandis. We enjoyed spending time with the church youth group on Friday night. They ended the night sharing jokes using different accents, so Dad chimed in with a Swedish accent telling a Jan and Sven joke. On Saturday we hung out with some ministry families and visited the church plot where they've begun construction on a perimeter fence. The church is currently meeting at the outdoor amphitheater because the Town Hall, where they usually meet, is undergoing renovations. So Sunday morning Dad, Dan and I joined some of the church guys to set up a shade covering over some of the benches, however that morning was quite windy. After much effort and engineering we managed a makeshift tent that wouldn't blow away in the wind. Monday morning we helped lead the assembly at Talitha Kumi Christian Academy with a puppet rendition of the Noah's ark story. My job was the special effects including lightning, sound effects and real rain! :)

After Arandis, we spent some time visiting friends and ministries in Okahandja. We went to a community center located in a squatter's camp area where a missionary couple is helping train women in making beads and jewelry. From there we walked a few streets over until the joyful sound of children singing could be heard emerging from a large building made of wooden pallet slats. This was one of almost 30 preschools throughout the whole city started by local teachers who our friend Joan has helped train. Six of her teachers have since gone on to receive official certification and are now teaching in public schools.

We also spent a day in Windhoek visiting NETS. We sat in on morning chapel and a freshman class on Understanding the Bible. In class we played a few games, students-vs-visitors, in which we prevailed, but probably our collective over-100 yrs of church background gave us a bit of an edge. We also got to visit with my SIM leader and the director at Campus Crusade for Christ.

In addition to ministry visits, we made sure Dan got to experience a bit of Africa since it was his first time. He got to try the world-famous Walvis Bay oysters, see the dunes of the Namib desert, watch the sun set over the Atlantic, barter at the wood carvers markets, and even see some wildlife on a safari game drive. Overall it was a great time having them around. It's always nice to have visitors with whom you can share the new things and experiences you've grown to love. So who's coming next??

Photo of the Day

A cute baby Sable that we saw on our game drive at Okapuka.

Photo of the Day

Sunset over Windhoek

Ondangwa Bible Training School

To get to Ondangwa from Windhoek you head north on the B1 and go straight for about 7-8 hours. Once you get up past Etosha the road curves to the left and starts heading northwest. By this time the temperature has noticeably increased, the land is flat as far as you can see, and palm trees have replaced acacia trees along the landscape. Just as you come into the outskirts of Ondangwa, if you look off to the left you see a large A-frame building, the home of Ondangwa Bible Training School and my friends Boniface & Saara.

During Christ's Church's first trip to Namibia in 2002, Boniface & Saara joined one of our teams as part of an outreach with YFC. Shortly thereafter, they left YFC to start a Bible Training School in Ondangwa. Over the years Christ's Church has sent various teams to help minister alongside and be an encouragement to them. I first visited the school in 2008. My friends, Nate, Germaine and I were promptly drafted to teach that morning's classes. We also got a tour of their facility and got to know some of the students.

This past Monday I was up in Ondangwa again and got to spend the day with my old friends. It was so encouraging to see the growth of this ministry over the past 6 years. Boniface said he'd never heard of another Bible school started by a black Namibian man who was still in operation after more than a few years. I know this is a tribute to how God is using them in that community and blessing their faithful perseverance. Here's a few photos of some of the growth and improvements:

This is the new boy's dormitory building, much bigger and brighter
with beds and mattresses so they're not sleeping on the floor.

A new bigger house for Boniface & Saara.

An expanded garden growing spinach, eggplant and tomatoes which they
use some for eating and some for selling to help support the ministry.

Bathroom facility from 2008 (left)
New toilets with doors that close in 2014 (right)

They've started a preschool since I last visited. Once these two classrooms are
completed they will be used to expand the school to include 1st and 2nd grade.

Inside their current preschool building

Once they finish building the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms there are plans to build an extension on the A-frame school building and to expand the preschool classrooms. The Pre-Primary school not only provides an affordable kindergarten and Christian education, but also jobs for those in the ministry being trained as teachers.

The Bible Training School has 16 students this year. They come for a two-year program where they have classes in English, Bible, Theology, and practical skills. They are also involved in helping minister with local churches. Then after two years they go back to their home communities where they minister in their own churches or go plant new churches. It's so exciting to see ministries like this thriving and growing. God is moving and sending out new workers into the fields. If you'd like more information on how to help support this ministry please contact me.

Trans-Kalahari Road Trip

Four AM came quite early since I'd stayed up until 1:00am the night before watching the USA World Cup game. After only a few short hours of sleep I crammed into the NETS van with 10 of my lecturing colleagues for the long drive to Pretoria, South Africa for a conference on theological education in southern Africa. We drove out through Botswana which adds another country to my list and another stamp in my passport. The roads through Botswana were flat and very sparsely populated with cows or donkeys regularly crossing our path. By nightfall we made it to the border crossing for South Africa, but we got a bit lost finding the conference center and Siri was not very helpful. The place was called "Pure Joy" and believe me that's what we had when we could stretch out in a bed after 19.5 hours in the van.

The conference was attended by representatives from many different Bible Schools around Africa from as far as Kenya and Uganda. The theme was Christian Leadership. Each morning we had three main seminars, then after lunch we had two workshops of our choice. Time around meals and over tea breaks was spent chatting with and getting to know others who are doing similar work in different places around Africa. Our evenings were free and were mostly spent watching the World Cup with the others from our group. Overall it was a good time to meet other like-minded Christians who are passionate about theological education in Africa and to be encouraged in the work that we're doing. But it was especially valuable for me to build relationships with the other members of the NETS lecturing staff and to start feeling like I'm one of the gang.

We started our trip home on Friday evening and after dinner at KFC we stayed at a guesthouse near the SA-Botswana border. That only cut a few hours off our long travel day on Saturday, but every little bit helped. Part way through Botswana we were stopped at a roadblock where we had to empty the van and they searched all our luggage to make sure we weren't smuggling diamonds or drugs or anything. But other than that our trip home was uneventful and we arrived safe and sound.

Photo of the Day

Sunset over the South African mountains