Doing ministry at boarding schools is SO different than campus ministry. Of course, it carries many of the same principles: meeting with students one-on-one or in groups, starting up Bible studies, leading Bible studies, recruiting to camps, staff meetings.... However, boarding schools have big restrictions on who can come to their campuses and when.
Also, our purpose is to make school fellowships sustainable. So, for instance, there is a fellowship already going at a school about an hour and half from here that is run primarily by a physics teacher who is a Christian. This is great! However, we want to help him lead it and support him so that he is not burnt out. Also, since he's a dude, he can't really minister to girls.
Another thing unique about boarding school ministry is that boarding schools in the New England region are very godless (I mentioned this in another blog entry). It reminds me a ton of my school experience. I only had one Christian friend - and oftentimes it was not only peers but teachers which would try to quelch my faith!! So, it can be tough for these students, not only to hear the Gospel, but also to maintain any kind of strong faith in the face of such opposition.
Although the socio-economic atmosphere of boarding school ministry is something which contrasts greatly with where I've been for the past four years - God is teaching me a lot about adminstering the Gospel to a group of people that are starved for faith, and longing to be loved. In many unexpected ways, a similarity exists here between New England boarding schools and my experiences in South Africa (University of Johannesburg) and the West Bank (Birzeit University).
Finally, instead of one campus at which I minister - the four of us on our staff team (Rob, Liz, Kendra, and me) are spread out (or go two-by-two), ministering to the following schools which have existing fellowships:
Avon Old Farms
Deerfield
Emma Willard
Groton
Loomis Chaffee
Middlesex
Miss Porter's
Northfield Mt. Hermon
Pomfret
Salisbury
Taft
Westover
The following four schools do not have existing fellowships, although we have contact with students:
Choate
Ethel Walker
Hotchkiss
Kent
St. Mark's
In addition, we are praying that this year a couple more schools, from a list of about 30 would begin school fellowships or start having contact with FOCUS.
This coming weekend we have an event called Infocus - gathering a bunch of students we know through our contacts or through the fellowships, for an afternoon and evening of fun and fellowship. We are expected at least 20 students to attend!
That's all for now. Please pray that our staff team would find our "rhythm," and that we would follow God's lead according to where He is working.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
sent from a faculty member at Emma Willard
This email concerns a student at one of the camps I volunteered at this summer. This particular faculty member helps lead a fellowship group at one of the boarding schools we reach out to, Emma Willard. Exciting stuff!!
...she is a different young woman this year. She has led our first devotional (we asked the kids to read Colossians this summer, and so she was especially excited that you all looked at Colossians this summer at camp:). She is dynamic, mature, clear, purposeful, TACTFUL and SENSITIVE to others' needs, and simply wonderful. I had no doubts about the importance of Focus summers on the Vineyard, but am now even more convinced of what can happen in a few short weeks. May God continue to bless you and your work abundantly. Please know that we are benefiting this year from some of your fruit:)
...she is a different young woman this year. She has led our first devotional (we asked the kids to read Colossians this summer, and so she was especially excited that you all looked at Colossians this summer at camp:). She is dynamic, mature, clear, purposeful, TACTFUL and SENSITIVE to others' needs, and simply wonderful. I had no doubts about the importance of Focus summers on the Vineyard, but am now even more convinced of what can happen in a few short weeks. May God continue to bless you and your work abundantly. Please know that we are benefiting this year from some of your fruit:)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Isaiah 51:7, 12
Hear me, you who know what is right,
you people who have my law in your hearts:
Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults...
I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mortal men,
the sons of men, who are but grass.
Driving back from the Deerfield Academy fellowship meeting on Wednesday night, my staff mates Liz, Kendra and I began talking about the major changes that must happen for a student to take Christ seriously. Boarding school in New England is a radically godless place. I have heard that teachers will openly ridicule students for having "faith." Christian faith, that is.
Even more intimidating is the peer pressure that these students face. I remember what it was like: Trying to not play the part of the outsider. Trying not to drink but desperately falling into compromising situations all the time. Trying to keep up appearances with the latest fashion from J. Crew or Banana Republic. Trying to excel in the classroom and the sports field. Trying to get into the best college.
For boarding school students, these pressures are incredibly intense because there are not many escapes from it.
My prayer for these students is that they would strive to taste the freedom of living without fear of reproach of men. Even as I pray that I myself may strive towards this freedom and this taste!
Hear me, you who know what is right,
you people who have my law in your hearts:
Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults...
I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mortal men,
the sons of men, who are but grass.
Driving back from the Deerfield Academy fellowship meeting on Wednesday night, my staff mates Liz, Kendra and I began talking about the major changes that must happen for a student to take Christ seriously. Boarding school in New England is a radically godless place. I have heard that teachers will openly ridicule students for having "faith." Christian faith, that is.
Even more intimidating is the peer pressure that these students face. I remember what it was like: Trying to not play the part of the outsider. Trying not to drink but desperately falling into compromising situations all the time. Trying to keep up appearances with the latest fashion from J. Crew or Banana Republic. Trying to excel in the classroom and the sports field. Trying to get into the best college.
For boarding school students, these pressures are incredibly intense because there are not many escapes from it.
My prayer for these students is that they would strive to taste the freedom of living without fear of reproach of men. Even as I pray that I myself may strive towards this freedom and this taste!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Living in New Haven
So I just moved to New Haven yesterday and there is a lot of work to do. I'm basically living in a "fixer-uper" second-story apartment of a house - having to repaint everything... However I am living with two other great girls and we are all in this together. We live in a low-income area of New Haven - however, close enough to town (and everything else) that I don't feel like I have to travel far to anything (except for the boarding schools which I will start to travel to later in September).
(it is led by a couple with two young children who live two houses away, who have been missionaries for a time in Turkey)
I am psyched to be here. Although it might be hard to sense God's "affirmation" with so much grunt work to get settled, I definitely sensed another "wave" of it today in church. I will mostly likely attend a non-denominational church in town with many other like-minded, missional people (including my roommates). Definitely the kind of community I need. In fact, on my seat at this evening's service was a flyer describing the different homegroups in the community that people can attend. Here is the description of the one I plan to go to:
"The group will be open to anyone, but will be particularly focused on helping people to process issues of life and calling that are related to return from past or preparation for future overseas work and service, particularly in the Muslim world. There will be a strong emphasis on personal sharing and on focused prayer for one another, as well as on worship and on biblically based discussion of practical life issues." (italics-mine).
(it is led by a couple with two young children who live two houses away, who have been missionaries for a time in Turkey)
Needless to say, I feel more confirmed to be in this setting, at this time, than any other season of my life (maybe an exaggeration, but it feels pretty real!).
That said, I also need prayer for perseverance - to get through the long and physically arduous process of settling in, as well as relationally settling into an unknown place. Even more, I pray for time to really pray and dedicate the year ahead to the Lord. I'm not sure exactly what I will face as a "boarding school minister" - but I trust that He has clearly led me to this point. So, while I continue to process South Africa and the West Bank, there is a lot of personal growth ahead, which is another main reason why I took this job, and another area for spiritual diligence.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to relaying messages here about God at work in community in New Haven, and also among boarding school students in New England.
For those that don't know where New Haven, Connecticut is (or Connecticut, for that matter), here are some helpful maps:)
Tide-to-Go Superbowl Commercial, My Talking Stain Ad My Fav
Favorite commercials of my new FOCUS staff friends.
Monday, August 4, 2008
In the news...
I picked up a Newsweek yesterday morning in the Philadelphia airport as I was headed to Chicago and read perhaps the most honest and accurate description of what is actually going on in Jerusalem. Sometimes it is very hard to describe in facts and figures what is going on and how it affects people, and yet also to be sensitive at the same time.
Here are some bits and pieces of the article - however, I recommend picking it up. You can read the entire article here.
The article begins by describing the life of the man that recently delved his construction vehicle into innocent civilians in Jerusalem. Not too many months before, a similar event ensued. The first string of these recent incidents, which occurred in March, I remember hearing about from a student in the West Bank that night, that 8 Jews had been killed in Jerusalem at a seminary....
Sadly, I can understand why these happen.. why they are not random, and yet also why they are not organized (as much of the world thinks). These are normal men, sick of their situation, and desperate for positive outlets and opportunities.
While Palestinian "Jerusalemites" have a life better than their West Bank or Gaza fellow countrymen, things have quietly been getting worse:
"Since the summer of 1967, when East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel, the district has built close ties with both the Israeli economy and Palestinian culture. That combination has been a formula for relative stability, earning East Jerusalemites the trust of Israelis on the city's west side.
But in recent years Israel has dramatically altered the sector's landscape. In 2002, former prime minister Ariel Sharon began building a 460-mile barrier—in much of the city, a 20-foot-high concrete wall—that slices deep into Palestinian territory and divides neighbor from neighbor. A network of new access roads and checkpoints has further chopped the territory into a hodgepodge of Palestinian enclaves. Even as Israeli settlements proliferate in East Jerusalem, building permits for Palestinian homes are becoming a rarity."
As an Israeli rights lawyer said, "We're screwing them royally... We've cut them off from the West Bank without integrating them into Israel."
Another interesting fact is that while Israel reacts by targeting mosques and other Islamic centers as hotbeds for these kinds of "terrorists," they are undermining the very fabric of the majority of Palestinian life. One man interviewed in the article says that it is unsafe to go the mosque even three times a week, for fear of getting arrested. Unbeknownst to itself, Israel is playing a direct role in creating the kind of grassroots, radical Islamists that it fears...
Here are some bits and pieces of the article - however, I recommend picking it up. You can read the entire article here.
The article begins by describing the life of the man that recently delved his construction vehicle into innocent civilians in Jerusalem. Not too many months before, a similar event ensued. The first string of these recent incidents, which occurred in March, I remember hearing about from a student in the West Bank that night, that 8 Jews had been killed in Jerusalem at a seminary....
Sadly, I can understand why these happen.. why they are not random, and yet also why they are not organized (as much of the world thinks). These are normal men, sick of their situation, and desperate for positive outlets and opportunities.
While Palestinian "Jerusalemites" have a life better than their West Bank or Gaza fellow countrymen, things have quietly been getting worse:
"Since the summer of 1967, when East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel, the district has built close ties with both the Israeli economy and Palestinian culture. That combination has been a formula for relative stability, earning East Jerusalemites the trust of Israelis on the city's west side.
But in recent years Israel has dramatically altered the sector's landscape. In 2002, former prime minister Ariel Sharon began building a 460-mile barrier—in much of the city, a 20-foot-high concrete wall—that slices deep into Palestinian territory and divides neighbor from neighbor. A network of new access roads and checkpoints has further chopped the territory into a hodgepodge of Palestinian enclaves. Even as Israeli settlements proliferate in East Jerusalem, building permits for Palestinian homes are becoming a rarity."
As an Israeli rights lawyer said, "We're screwing them royally... We've cut them off from the West Bank without integrating them into Israel."
Another interesting fact is that while Israel reacts by targeting mosques and other Islamic centers as hotbeds for these kinds of "terrorists," they are undermining the very fabric of the majority of Palestinian life. One man interviewed in the article says that it is unsafe to go the mosque even three times a week, for fear of getting arrested. Unbeknownst to itself, Israel is playing a direct role in creating the kind of grassroots, radical Islamists that it fears...
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