I’ve been co-teaching a class of 4th graders in our church’s version of GA’s since last fall. I fear I may be getting older than I would like to admit because teaching in a small room filled with ten very active 9 year olds really wears me out some Wednesday nights. Last night the visiting missionary spoke about working with the Mayan people on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Not only did she keep the children’s interest engaged, but she gave me some great ideas for teaching the Karen refugee kids we have been working with on Sunday afternoons.
The ministry to the Karen people has been going pretty well. We are in a transition period where we are going to move away from the house church model because most of the people have been attending at a nearby church in an established church building. Interesting to find a group of people from halfway around the world that culturally are more inclined to think of church as something done in a church building just as the typical American viewpoint has been. We still hope to work with the children some on Sunday mornings at the church they are attending, but are not sure what that will look like yet.
We are also hoping to develop some ideas for items that can be made by the people for sale to support themselves here. Having been isolated in refugee camps for, some for over 20 years, it is difficult for some to find employment, not having what we call an education in the formal sense of the term. We have received a small donation that has been given to support the Karen and a church start, and we are praying about the best way to allocate those funds.
Exciting but uncertain times in ministry. I began reading “Radical” by David Platt this week, and am in the middle of Chapter 4. I have begun to ask myself what I am trying to do in my own power instead of relying on God’s power related to my ministry efforts … exhaustion on GA nights or uncertainty on the best way to help the refugees. More prayer and less hashing it out in my brain, is probably a good plan.
