The summer is fast approaching with all those lovely long holidays for many of you. And maybe you’re thinking of how you’ll spend that time. Why not spend it doing something for God? Why not spend it among the boys and girls who don’t live that far from you but who’ve never heard of the Lord Jesus? Why not help us in bringing the Gospel to them?
To help you to do that we have a Summer Outreach Training Course for those aged 16+, beginning on Friday 25th June 2010. Susan was at the Course last year – here’s what she writes about it:
Having already been through the Elementary Summer Outreach Training Courses last year, I decided that I would return to take the Advanced Course. I had thoroughly enjoyed the first year and did not think that it would be possible for the second year to be any better, but I was quickly proved wrong!!
After arriving in Kilkeel and discovering that I had to live in dorm 11 for a week (the sauna of the house, but thankfully David took pity on us and bought us a fan!), there was a joint Elementary/Advanced class on the work of CEF® around the world. It was amusing to see the shock on the faces of those on the Elementary Course as the timetables for the week were handed out – SOTC is far from a holiday!!
Throughout the week we enjoyed our usual praise times before supper and when the weather was nice we had the opportunity to go down to the harbour for it. This for me was one of my favourite parts of the week as it gave us all a chance to relax and enjoy fellowship with each other.
Speaking of enjoying each other’s fellowship, last year, and also when I did the Junior Course, the main sport of the week was volleyball. However this year, to the surprise of David Crutchley, ultimate frisbee was the game of the week, a game inspired by “The Fermanagh Four”. Anytime there was a break, if you looked out the window someone was throwing a frisbee about and it was great because everyone could play (well…most people anyway…!)
Each morning someone on the Advanced Course shared a devotional and then we were split into smaller prayer groups. This gave us a chance to pray individually and for each other and throughout the week it was interesting to notice how more people began to pray as the practicals were looming! Training week really does strengthen a person’s prayer life!!
The first class of the day was John Nixon’s Bible study on the Tabernacle. I thoroughly enjoyed them and I do not think that I am alone in saying that I got a lot from them. They were a real encouragement to us all and helped prepare us for the challenges each day would bring before us.
Last year as a first year I had often wondered why the second years always seemed to be laughing and making so much noise. After sitting in a class with David Jackson I soon understood why! The counselling classes were very amusing especially “Pastor” Alistair and Robbie’s Oscar winning performance! But in all seriousness, these classes were important as we learnt how to deal with a variety of situations which we may face in the summer in camps, Holiday Bible Clubs and 5-Day Clubs®, etc. After SOTC I found that all we had learned in these classes was very useful when I went out on a CYIA team and was a leader at Inters camp, and was able to put it into practice.
We had three visitors at SOTC, Judy, Ufuk and Emma – three CEF workers from Europe who were over to observe what Training Week was like. They sat in with the Elementary class and when it came to the dreaded practicals, they took part in assessing us! On the Thursday Ufuk celebrated his birthday and this meant that there was a birthday cake and he shared it with us all…I took the last piece but contrary to popular belief (Philip Annett!!) Ufuk did actually get a piece!!
When the dreaded practicals were looming it was interesting to see how fences, walls, pool table, mirrors, doors and so on were being evangelised! We were split into smaller groups for the practicals, I felt that this helped calm nerves because there were less people to stand in front of and also gave us an idea of what a 5-Day Club might be like. Thankfully we all managed to survive and pass the week!
In conclusion, I had a great week at SOTC this year with all the fellowship and banter, but most importantly I learnt how to teach the Gospel more effectively to the children. I was able to put what I was taught at the course into practice throughout the summer at CYIA week and camps, and it was amazing to see what a great help SOTC was! So I would like to thank all the teachers (big children) for all the help they gave to us all throughout the week and I really pray that children’s lives will have been won for Him during summer.
So why not think about coming along and be trained in how to teach children the Gospel? For more details see under “Training” and “Summer Outreach Course” tab. You’ll also find an application form you can download there. Pray about it. Ask God what He would have you do this summer.
Angie