Current Ministries

Current Ministries

Here are some of the current ministries I am involved in through Bethesda Outreach and my local church:

Ministry at Bethesda Outreach

Teaching Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 at Jabulane Christian Academy

Jabulane is the Christian school designed to educate the children living at Bethesda and in the surrounding community. We focus on spiritual and academic truth and seek to point students to Biblical truth throughout the school day.

Our school year runs from January to December with short breaks between each of four terms. Our school day starts at 7am as the teaching staff rotates through morning care for early arrivals. Classrooms open at 8am and the school day concludes at 2pm.

Currently, for the 2010 school year, I teach a variety of grades due to our student needs. There are 4 students in the 5 class, 5 students in grade 6, 5 students in a remedial class attempting to catch up to grades 5 or 6, and 1 student who has completed grade 7 in the first two terms of the school year and is now working on grade 8. Of these 17 students, 7 are from the local community and 10 are from Bethesda. Each day we cover subjects such as: Bible, English (reading, writing, and spelling), Math, Social Science, and Natural Science. We also have weekly classes in Art, Music, PE. I teach P.E. to my class and the grade 3-4 class. There are 18 students in grades 3-4 this year.

Twice a week, Heather Rumley and I assist our older students in their studies through a hour of tutoring. The program is designed to not only help with academics, but build responsibility as students must sign up for the sessions in advance (therefore encouraging planning). We are there to assist with any subject being studied, provide a quiet place to study, or give access to the computer lab at Jabulane for research and projects.

Teams

Whenever there is a visiting ministry team from a local church or university, all the staff pitches in to help make their stay profitable. I am usually responsible for helping to prepare, serve, and clean up from meals (usually dinner), showing educational videos about life in South Africa, and occasionally assisting with community outreaches (depending on my school responsibilities) and possibly driving them places if our house fathers and other staff members are not available.

Teen Girls’ Bible Study

Periodically throughout the year, I will co-lead a Bible study with Heather Rumley for the teenage girls living at Bethesda. These are times of great fellowship and learning about Scripture together. As students and teachers alike have busy schedules, these Bible Studies do not run constantly, but we are always looking for a good time to study through a topic or book together and stay involved in one another’s lives.

Personal Update, Website, and Correspondence

These three items may seem like strange things to list on a “ministries” page, but I view keeping my personal website and correspondence up to date as a ministry and a highly important one at that. Monthly updates, this website, and email are the three best tools I have to communicating with my personal supporters. So, while some may not say this is a ministry- I see it as such. Without those who have chosen to support me, I would not be able to be in South Africa carrying out ministry at Bethesda. Sharing my thanks and what God is doing through their support is an important part of ministry in my eyes.

I seek to send out an update on what I have personally been involved in throughout the month during each calendar month. In addition, as I have the ability, I update the “blog” portion of this webpage. Whenever I receive email from supporters, my goal is to respond in a timely fashion. Correspondence is from supporters is always an encouragement! Hopefully hearing from me through a response is an encouragement as well. I must admit that sometimes I struggle with doing all three of these items on a timely basis, especially during the school term when grading papers, lesson planning, and other ministries are at their height, but Lord willing, I will continue to improve in these areas!

Local Church Ministry

Once a month I am able to be a part of building up the body at my local church through the opportunity to serve in the nursery (or Creche as it’s called here). This allows mothers and fathers to worship together during a church service without the distractions that young children can add. I am also a part of a ministry that helps to provide families with new little ones with meals in their first few weeks of being home with their new additions. A third ministry I have at my local church is being involved with the “Flower Ministry”. This ministry provides the flower bouquets that adorn the platform during the weekly worship services. Being able to be more involved in the church through these ministries has been an encouragement and allowed me to begin to build more relationships in the church.

Occasionally Heather and I (since we share a home) have the opportunity to host fellowship meals in our home. We are also looking for more opportunities to host visitors who attend our church’s counseling training during the year.