Short Term Mission
Posted on Wed, 05/08/2009
One of the most rewarding experiences can be going overseas in short term mission. Short term mission opens people up to a wider sense of the life of God’s Church. It is transforming for those who take part and encouraging for those in the places visited.
Short Term Mission can be focussed on practical projects such as construction or maintenance, or ministry based, such as working with churches or children.
Opportunities for mission in 2010 include Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, India, Zimbabwe and possibly Vietnam.
Short Term Mission needs to be planned in advance and Global Mission Partners negotiates with our partners so that the mission experience is beneficial and valuable for all involved. This means that the opportunities are more limited in some settings and so timing and group size are determined by our global partner capacity.
Expression of Interest forms for teams and individuals can be found below. If you would like to know more contact the GMP office info@inpartnership.org.au or ring 08 8212 4446
SA Team to NduiNdui
Not everything went to plan (the crate with our tools was the only crate that didn’t arrive!) but God still provided everything we needed to get the job done and more. This time we headed to West Ambae, to work on some repairs and maintenance at NduiNdui Health Centre. This included:
· Re-roofing
· Fitting new flyscreens
· Painting
· New curtains
· Restocking supplies
· Providing consistent water flow and drainage
· Lighting (with or without the generator)
It was great to have the Carpentry and Construction students from Londua Training School join us for one day when they weren’t sitting exams, as well as working with the staff as NduiNdui. It was also great to have other ministry opportunities in the local schools and churches. This kept us busy both during the day and each evening.
God stretched us all (you never know when it is going to be announced that you will lead in prayer, share your testimony, lead communion, preach, sing etc)! We made great friends, saw great needs and witnessed deep faith and answered prayer. The wonderful people, beautiful scenery and sense of God’s presence keep drawing us back. We anticipate returning again in July 2010.
Qld to Ranwadi
“I had no clue what I would experience, let alone, if I could make a difference. You hear all the stories of people going on short term mission trips and coming back with all these wonderful stories about how they made a difference in someone’s life and how they had been completely impacted by the whole thing, and I was feeling a little lost.
The boys had all the maintenance to focus on, Greg, Anne and Glorine had their healing ministry, and Mum and Sue were helping out the women and occasionally Frank with his community development projects using coconuts. What was I supposed to do? All areas seemed pretty much taken. I wanted to make a difference but had no idea how. For the first week I wrestled with this. I’d given my testimony a couple of times and sung some songs in their churches. Was that all God wanted me to do? Surely God didn’t send me here to sing to people. They could sing way better than me anyway!
I didn’t start learning why God had brought me to Vanuatu until I started to get to know the girls at Ranwadi. They are beautiful. They wanted to know all about my life and we would spend days pouring over and singing the songs that mum had brought over. I started to talk to them, find out about their lives and what they wanted to do once they graduate. They made a huge impact on me through their friendliness, their hunger for God, and the way they accepted and loved others. But I still longed to have a positive effect on their lives too.
God didn’t show me the full impact of my time there until the day we left. A friend I had made, Nettyson, gave me a letter saying just how much she had appreciated my friendship, how it had encouraged her to grow in God and that she had given her life to God as a result. Wow!
God answered my questions and taught me so many other things along the way. He showed me servant leadership through their pastors, patience through their culture, boldness for God through their worship, and to love others no matter what through the girls at Ranwadi.
I don’t want to ever forget the experiences God gave me and I wouldn’t have swapped the trip for anything in the world.”
Door of Hope to Londua
What do rats, spiders, no fridge, no running water, long drop toilets, no meat, no showers, no beds - sleeping on the floor, heat, humidity, 8 seater planes, grass airstrips, no mirrors, bathing in the sea, mosquito nets, hard work AND generosity, passion, commitment, contentment, spiritual maturity, friendliness, appreciation, beauty, creation at its best have in common - VANUATU.
On Sunday 7th September ten people left Australia to travel to Vanuatu for a “God Adventure”, an “out of your comfort zone experience” and to serve others who need assistance with projects in their own country.
Sunday night saw us taking part in the Santo church evening service which was a very moving experience. Passion, enthusiasm and harmonious singing touched our hearts and gave us a taste of what we could look forward to in the next few weeks.
On Monday morning 9 of us left on an 8 seater plane to travel to Ambae to the Londua Training School. One more came later on the afternoon plane. So our real adventure began! We settled into our accommodation, checked out our surroundings, were a little taken back by the kitchen facilities and planned our work week. For the next two weeks the program for eight of our team was taken up with maintenance and renovations at the Londua school. During this time we completed over 300 hours of work which included painting, rendering walls, making new bunk beds, shelving, completing the new home care room by the installation of windows and doors.
The other two team members concentrated on boiling water, cooking and going to the market to get fresh fruit and vegetables. This was made so much easier due to the generosity of many of the ni-Vanuatu ladies who came by with gifts of grapefruit, beans, pawpaws, mango, limes, cakes, bananas, coconuts and various other island foods.
In addition to the manual work the team were able to take turns in leading school devotions each morning and evening. Evening services were held at Navatore and Londua. Sunday morning we shared in a combined Churches of Christ service at Navatore. What an amazing privilege it was to listen to the melodious singing from the children, the enthusiastic delivery of the children’s talk, the heartfelt preaching of the Word of God and after the service the wonderful lunch provided for us. At the school, the team held a Girls and Boys Night. These nights were arranged so that we could have lots of fun but also express God’s love to them in a tangible way through hand and foot washing, gift giving and sharing with them God’s desire for boy/girl relationships.
It was a real honour to be asked to visit a local village. This was a 10 km return walk which allowed us to see how a village operates and to meet some of the local people. In the evening we were invited to take part in the village Bible study. Once again we were able to witness the passion and sincerity of their faith.
Overall, each team member experienced a God Adventure, a time of trusting God, an awakening of the needs of others, a realisation that ‘things’ are not important and a strengthening of the bonds of friendship between team members and the people of Vanuatu.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| GMP Short Term Mission Expression of Interest Form - Individual _2_.pdf | 92.55 KB |
| GMP Short Term Mission Expression of Interest Form - Teams.pdf | 89.68 KB |