To begin the year, Pastor Michée decided it would be good for the church members with special responsibilities here (elder, deacons, deaconesses, music director etc) to follow the example of Jesus and spend some time in nature praying. We didn't go as far as to wake up before dawn and climb a mountain but opted to go in the afternoon after church on Saturday instead ;-)
Attendance at church by some officers has been sporadic lately but on the day there were 19 of us - a very healthy number indeed :-)
We met at church at 3pm... ish (this is still Africa) and prayed together before leaving.
With plenty of enthusiasm, we then began our 'hike' into the hills...
Unfortunately, the pretty spot we were hoping to use was sectioned off in a 'Forbidden Zone' so we had to resort to Plan B...
A quarry.
Not quite the 'nature' we had been anticipating, you know, trees and grass and a river!
After walking for half an hour in the heat of the day, nobody was inclined to carry on any further so we proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as possible with some mats and rock benches...
At least there was a bit of water to look at...
And a tiny bit of colour...
During the next couple of hours, we attempted to take a spiritual gifts inventory and then quickly abandoned it as it was proving far too difficult for many people to understand, Michée gave a presentation about what it means for us to work as a team with a common vision, we prayed openly together on our knees (I am so not in the habit of kneeling - that was pretty painful...) and handed over to God our personal struggles and appealed for Him to guide us as His body here in Kandi and of course, we closed with the inevitable but totally necessary 'kum-ba-yah time', holding hands, singing songs of praise and praying for our fellow church members, family and friends, especially those who are facing particularly big challenges at the moment.
We may not have covered all of the training material that Michée had prepared - laptops without a projector don't work so well in nature - not that we didn't try, but nobody could see anything...
...but it was a really blessed time of honest sharing and bonding, which is surely more valuable than what any training materials can provide.
May God bless His people in Kandi as we do our best to serve His mission here in 2015 and may we be a blessing for the whole town!
Attendance at church by some officers has been sporadic lately but on the day there were 19 of us - a very healthy number indeed :-)
We met at church at 3pm... ish (this is still Africa) and prayed together before leaving.
With plenty of enthusiasm, we then began our 'hike' into the hills...
Unfortunately, the pretty spot we were hoping to use was sectioned off in a 'Forbidden Zone' so we had to resort to Plan B...
A quarry.
Not quite the 'nature' we had been anticipating, you know, trees and grass and a river!
After walking for half an hour in the heat of the day, nobody was inclined to carry on any further so we proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as possible with some mats and rock benches...
At least there was a bit of water to look at...
And a tiny bit of colour...
During the next couple of hours, we attempted to take a spiritual gifts inventory and then quickly abandoned it as it was proving far too difficult for many people to understand, Michée gave a presentation about what it means for us to work as a team with a common vision, we prayed openly together on our knees (I am so not in the habit of kneeling - that was pretty painful...) and handed over to God our personal struggles and appealed for Him to guide us as His body here in Kandi and of course, we closed with the inevitable but totally necessary 'kum-ba-yah time', holding hands, singing songs of praise and praying for our fellow church members, family and friends, especially those who are facing particularly big challenges at the moment.
We may not have covered all of the training material that Michée had prepared - laptops without a projector don't work so well in nature - not that we didn't try, but nobody could see anything...
...but it was a really blessed time of honest sharing and bonding, which is surely more valuable than what any training materials can provide.
May God bless His people in Kandi as we do our best to serve His mission here in 2015 and may we be a blessing for the whole town!
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