MIKE SMALLBONES SCHEDULEMIKE SMALLBONES SCHEDULE traces the work of the REGIONAL MINISTRY TRAINING CONSULTANT of Scripture Union Africa.
In Mike Smallbones Schedule, he notes:Work-wise, I was supposed to go to Ghana at the end of January but the training course was postponed to a date still to be finalised. Quite a relief actually. My time has been taken up with so many little things which have turned out to be BIG things! Thankfully, I have more-or-less cleared the decks and am now preparing for my next trip. CAMEROON: Saturday 13 – Monday 22 February. I fly to Douala, and then have to travel by bus to Yaounde (about three hours I am told) for a NEW STAFF ORIENTATION COURSE which I will conduct together with my colleague, Emmanuel Todjo. Please pray about this. Most of the participants are French speaking, so I will be working with an interpreter which I do not find all that easy. Although I have run many Orientation courses, this one is a bit different as we have changed the programme a bit and added a few new subjects such as SU and the Environment and also a session on Culture. These will be “test runs” from which we will shape future courses. As you pray for the course, please also pray for my travelling. NAIROBI: Tuesday 22 – Friday 26 February. I will return to SA via Nairobi. (The flight is direct from Yaounde to Nairobi, so no bus trip will be necessary, thankfully.) Here I will be meeting with Wendy Strachan of our SU International team to talk through the plans we have to replicate the Shaping for Service Training which we ran in Nairobi in November last year in other parts of SU Africa. As things are at the moment, I may be making a day trip to Kampala (Uganda) to meet with my assistant in the Children’s Ministry department, Beth Baleke, to help with her plans for the year. PLANS FOR MARCH: There is no travelling planned, so I do intend to take a 5 day Retreat for prayer and planning in preparation for the next two years of ministry. I am feeling quite drained physically and spiritually, and need a bit of the “top up”. PLANS FOR MAY: NAIROBI The next away from the office activity will be the SU African Leadership Summit (ALS) in Nairobi from 18 – 23 May 2010. This event is the first of its kind and we believe a really important gathering of the national Scripture Union leadership from around the continent. The intention is to look at critical issues facing the various areas of SU ministry in Africa. Attention will be given to issues relating to Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry and Bible Engagement. I am responsible for the session on Critical Issues relating to our ministry to children. Please pray for me as I finalise the input for this session and prepare the discussion questions. I will also be producing a Power Point programme to go with it. The intention is that we should deal with current issues facing our ministry and work on practical ways of responding. The theme of the ALS is “Hope and Transformation”. This comes from our Vision Statement: "Children and youth following Jesus,filled with hope andtransforming the families and nations of Africa. PLANS FOR JULY: GHANA PLANS FOR AUGUST: BURUNDI PLANS FOR OCTOBER: JOHANNESBURG PLANS FOR NOVEMBER: MADAGASCAR AND NAIROBI MY FUTURE: Although my support is not where we would like it to be, there have been a number of commitments, which would indicate that I should continue in my present position and have agreed to do that. From April, however, I will try to reduce the amount of travelling and spend more time writing training materials and other papers related to SU’s ministry in Africa. I do believe that this is what God wants of me. Elaine is well and continues teaching Maths at Pietermaritzburg Girls High. Her learners did very well in their final Maths exams last year which was very gratifying. Four of them appeared on the front page of our local paper. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Mike Update: First, Mike Smallbones schedule: report back after his October / November African jaunt ...
Mike Smallbones schedule: SHAPING FOR SERVICE1 December 2009.Mike Smallbones schedule:I returned from Central Africa utterly exhausted, but very fulfilled from the training “Shaping for Service” in Nairobi last month where I was part of the Scripture Union International team who lead 25 carefully selected young (mostly!) national Scripture Union leaders from 11 different countries on the African continent. One hears so much that is depressing and negative about Africa. I wish more people could meet some of the emerging leadership. Unfortunately, many are dominated by, and really struggle with the older and very conservative and hierarchical leadership structured above them. They certainly need our prayers and encouragement to persevere. My colleague from Cameroun, Emmanuel Todjo (pictured in the last news) and I together led two sessions entitled “Issues Facing Christians in Africa Today” in which we tackled some serious cultural and traditional values which run contrary to the values of the Kingdom of God as introduced by Jesus. The session started with those radical statements of Jesus in Matthew 5: “You have heard it said ... But I say to you ... " Sermon on the Mount.
It was emphasised that “hearing” was not necessarily confined to words, but attitudes, cultural and traditional customs, as well as accepted practices make powerful contributions to the values we have. 30 minutes of discussion in small groups produced very insightful results. The next step was to ask: what is it that Jesus says about these issues? For many, perhaps most, this was the first time they had ever thought of their values in this way. It is clear the Church is not really addressing these crucial issues. All agreed and gave instances where corruption, dictatorial and domination-style leadership and the devaluing of women and girls is as common in the Church as in society as a whole. What Jesus says, has not been heard, or is being ignored. Emmanuel with great brilliance took us all back to the “roots” which make our behaviour in these areas acceptable – cultural stories, practices, belief systems etc. As one brought up in apartheid South Africa, this was very helpful in understanding the attitudes which my own journey as I struggles to shed false values. Other training sessions in the programme covered
The sessions were all very interactive and creatively presented. This was also very intentional as we really wanted to show that communication is not limited to preaching! I believe that these young leaders – men and women – left feeling really challenged and committed to being instruments for the Kingdom of God where they live and work. Please pray for them. It will not be easy. But Jesus gave us this wonderful promise as we set out to “make disciples….teaching them to obey all that I have commanded… I will be with you always.” Matthew 28:19, 20 CELEBRATION - African style
Mike Smallbones Schedule November 2009.Dear friends, Mike Smallbones Schedule: Tomorrow (November 12) I leave for my last trip for the year 2009.
I will be back in Nairobi at a beautiful Retreat centre called Resurrection Garden, for our two week training programme "Shaping for Service". We would really appreciate your prayers for this course. It will be the first time it has been run, so it is a kind of a try out. Most of the input will come from our international team members, Janet Morgan, Wendy Strachan, Terry Williams and Clayton Fergie. Unfortunately one of the team, Pauline Hoggarth, has taken ill and is unable to travel. As mentioned last month, the plan is to replicate this training across the continent over the next few years.
A tremendous amount of thinking and praying has gone into this course. We have invited two groups of key people:
I will be working mainly with those being trained as trainers. Staff attending are from the following countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and Ghana.
The Training of Trainers section starts on Friday 13 November. The main course starts on Monday 16, concluding on the evening of Friday 21. The Trainers stay on for a further two days.
The programme includes
Please pray both for the presenters and for the participants. Many will no doubt find this quite a "stretching" experience!
Regional Team and ExecutiveThank you for your prayers for the Regional Team and for the "Mike Smallbones Schedule!" and the Regional Executive meetings held last month. These meetings are seldom the most exciting on the calendar, but they are important for assessing how we are doing and together thinking through what we believe God would have us do in the future.
Mike's FutureThe future of Mike Smallbones Support?I am still thinking and praying about my response to a definite invitation from the Regional Executive to continue for a further two years after my contract ends in March 2010. I will give more time to this when I return from Kenya.
As a family we are all doing well for which we thank God.
Thanks for your support, your friendship and your prayers.
Mike Mike Smallbones REGIONAL MINISTRY TRAINING CONSULTANT Scripture Union Africa 47 Steele Road Pelham PIETERMARITZBURG 3201 South Africa
Please feel free to forward Mike Smallbones Schedule to any and all whom you think would be interested.From Mike's Schedule to FATHERS AND SONS.
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