fyi: if you have already read my update letter via email, this is exactly the same.
Hello Everyone!
I want to start by thanking you for all your prayers and support; it encouraged me to know that I have people praying for me and my ministry back home. God is doing amazing things in the lives of both the Scottish students and the lives of the Canadian students that went on this project!
Power to Change’s UK Spring Break Project is a partnership with Student Life in the UK. Student Life’s goal is to transform Scotland by helping students discover Jesus.
Scotland has a rich spiritual heritage. Men like John Knox, George MacDonald and Eric Liddell have impacted the world from this country. Unfortunately, times are changing. This generation is virtually unreached and most students believe that the Church is a thing of the past, that tolerance and pluralism are the paths of the future, and that Jesus is ultimately irrelevant. The UK was once a great missionary sending nation, but now the has become increasingly post-Christian. Where religious affiliation is high, but personal relationships with Jesus are nearly non-existent.
A normal day for us would generally have started off with group devotionals and worship in the morning. Then the teams would head to their different campuses (my team was on the University of Glasgow) for evangelism. In the early evenings, there would have been training times and the late evenings would be time to spend with the new Scottish friends we met that day.
Being in such a post-modern and post-Christian culture, we were given glimpses of how Canada will be in the near future if we follow in their footsteps. Throughout the week, we spent lots of time in evangelism on three of Glasgow’s Universities but evangelism was not always easy in this post-Christian culture. We really needed to rely on God for patience and boldness. In Scotland, the spiritual soil is rocky, and most of the time we did not see instant results, but instead, we were laying the groundwork for movements of evangelism and discipleship that will transform this nation. The goal of this project was to surface spiritually students on Glasgow’s university campuses, to mobilize Scottish students to impact their campuses and the world with the gospel, and raise up a team of Canadian students who would commit to serve the Lord full-time in Scotland. By the grace of God, together with the Scottish students we were able to have 157 spiritual conversations, share the gospel also 157 times and see 2 students join the kingdom of God. There are also students that went to Scotland this year who are prayerfully considering returning to serve God here in the future.
For me specifically, God really taught me how to really trust in him and believe that he takes care of me. It was incredible to see how God provides. I went into project knowing that for school I had an intense schedule. Both right before going and a whirl wind of midterms and papers right after. I remember Chad telling me while I was having a minor panic attack that God is strong in our weakness and I will do better on those assignments then if you had stayed. But I was skeptical. During my time in Scotland I tried to study whenever I had some down time, which wasn’t really that much. But as all you who know me, I can get really easily distracted and it just wasn’t happening for me. During one of the group devotional times, we were talking about how we had only been in Scotland for a few days, but how we might have sinned and therefore, been hindered from truly abiding in Christ. As we were sharing, I was telling a staff member that my sin was not reading the assigned devotional book. Her reaction was one of confusion and she asked me if I really thought that was a sin. I had to take a moment to think about it but then I realized why I felt convicted that it was a sin. It wasn’t that by not reading the group devotional book I was sinning, but it was because whenever I had sometime to read, I opted for studying instead because I didn’t believe that God would pull through for me. After that and some further reflecting, although I did still try to study when I could, I really tried to focus on the project and on God instead of worrying about school. After arriving home, it has just been so apparent that God provides and takes care of us no matter what when we trust in him. God is faithful. Whether it is bringing up to mind what you have studied during an exam or provide financially for you to go at all, God is good.
I want to start by thanking you for all your prayers and support; it encouraged me to know that I have people praying for me and my ministry back home. God is doing amazing things in the lives of both the Scottish students and the lives of the Canadian students that went on this project!
Power to Change’s UK Spring Break Project is a partnership with Student Life in the UK. Student Life’s goal is to transform Scotland by helping students discover Jesus.
Scotland has a rich spiritual heritage. Men like John Knox, George MacDonald and Eric Liddell have impacted the world from this country. Unfortunately, times are changing. This generation is virtually unreached and most students believe that the Church is a thing of the past, that tolerance and pluralism are the paths of the future, and that Jesus is ultimately irrelevant. The UK was once a great missionary sending nation, but now the has become increasingly post-Christian. Where religious affiliation is high, but personal relationships with Jesus are nearly non-existent.
A normal day for us would generally have started off with group devotionals and worship in the morning. Then the teams would head to their different campuses (my team was on the University of Glasgow) for evangelism. In the early evenings, there would have been training times and the late evenings would be time to spend with the new Scottish friends we met that day.
Being in such a post-modern and post-Christian culture, we were given glimpses of how Canada will be in the near future if we follow in their footsteps. Throughout the week, we spent lots of time in evangelism on three of Glasgow’s Universities but evangelism was not always easy in this post-Christian culture. We really needed to rely on God for patience and boldness. In Scotland, the spiritual soil is rocky, and most of the time we did not see instant results, but instead, we were laying the groundwork for movements of evangelism and discipleship that will transform this nation. The goal of this project was to surface spiritually students on Glasgow’s university campuses, to mobilize Scottish students to impact their campuses and the world with the gospel, and raise up a team of Canadian students who would commit to serve the Lord full-time in Scotland. By the grace of God, together with the Scottish students we were able to have 157 spiritual conversations, share the gospel also 157 times and see 2 students join the kingdom of God. There are also students that went to Scotland this year who are prayerfully considering returning to serve God here in the future.
For me specifically, God really taught me how to really trust in him and believe that he takes care of me. It was incredible to see how God provides. I went into project knowing that for school I had an intense schedule. Both right before going and a whirl wind of midterms and papers right after. I remember Chad telling me while I was having a minor panic attack that God is strong in our weakness and I will do better on those assignments then if you had stayed. But I was skeptical. During my time in Scotland I tried to study whenever I had some down time, which wasn’t really that much. But as all you who know me, I can get really easily distracted and it just wasn’t happening for me. During one of the group devotional times, we were talking about how we had only been in Scotland for a few days, but how we might have sinned and therefore, been hindered from truly abiding in Christ. As we were sharing, I was telling a staff member that my sin was not reading the assigned devotional book. Her reaction was one of confusion and she asked me if I really thought that was a sin. I had to take a moment to think about it but then I realized why I felt convicted that it was a sin. It wasn’t that by not reading the group devotional book I was sinning, but it was because whenever I had sometime to read, I opted for studying instead because I didn’t believe that God would pull through for me. After that and some further reflecting, although I did still try to study when I could, I really tried to focus on the project and on God instead of worrying about school. After arriving home, it has just been so apparent that God provides and takes care of us no matter what when we trust in him. God is faithful. Whether it is bringing up to mind what you have studied during an exam or provide financially for you to go at all, God is good.
God Bless and much love,
Bonnie
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