Welcome to Mission is a state of mind part two.
I like the title so have kept it, but as these Jacksons are no longer in Jos it didn't seem right to continue using the old blog address (however, if you want to read about our experiences in Nigeria have a look at www.jacksonsinjos.blogspot.com). If you followed the previous blog by email and want to do the same with this one then you'll have to fill in the Follow by Email bit again.
As we were preparing to follow God's call to Africa I wrote this on www.jacksonsinjos.blogspot.com way back in December 2011.
I have this rather incongruous image of our mission work being like the
tip of an iceberg. I know that icebergs are not the first things to
spring to mind when you think about Africa but Fraser, James, Ruth and I
are only the tip, we're not the most important part of God's work, only
perhaps the most visible. The majority of the iceberg, the part that
gives it stability and allows it to continue to do its icebergy thing is
all below the surface. There's no way that we can go out to Africa to
serve God if there are not people serving God in the UK and supporting
us through prayer and financial giving. We need our team and we're very
grateful to those of you who have already said that you will support
us. It's the family of God working in partnership together to promote
his kingdom, each doing what they can. It's exciting; it can be
daunting if you focus on the mountains that have to be overcome, but
it's wonderfully reassuring and humbling to see God work.
Getting on for six years and a lot of experience later, I can honestly say that it's as true for me now as it was then. There's no way that we could have lasted and been effective as goers in Nigeria without the support of the rest of the iceberg (otherwise known as the senders). As we prepare for a new adventure with God, this time in South Africa, we hope and pray that the iceberg will grow.
As this is a new blog, I hope readers of the old one will forgive me for repeating the vision we have for our work in South Africa. This was taken from one of the last posts.
It was becoming increasingly clear to Fraser that he'd be able to help more
people by becoming a library consultant rather than being based in a single
African theological college. This leading was confirmed after he spoke to
people in NetAct (www.netact.christians.co.za), an organisation which helps theological colleges in
developing Africa. They had recently
decided it was time to develop their library side and are extremely keen for Fraser to run the programme,
thanks to his unique blend of expertise in electronic resources and
experience in an
African theological library. A huge number of students would be helped
by
access to better resources, which in turn would strengthen the church
and help
protect it from false teaching. This is
extremely exciting. Instead of assisting one college in one country,
Fraser is
being offered the opportunity to make a huge difference to the quality
of
theological education and training throughout Africa for many years to
come. Not just theological education either. It's entirely possible
that once other university faculties see the difference the library
portal makes to students and staff, they will want to have it adapted
for their own subjects. The potential is huge.
The
internet portal that NetAct wants to develop will provide, among other
things, access to ebooks and journals, links to theological websites,
audio-visual material, the library catalogues of all partner
organisations, reading lists for partners to compare practice, lists of
African theological publishers and downloadable resources. There will
also be a section for learning and teaching resources with guides for
students to improve their studyskills and thesis writing. Staff will
find help in curriculum development and syllabus creation, how to
supervise a thesis and how to spot plagiarism. There will also be a
course in information literacy to enable users to get the most out of
the portal. The intention is also to have as much of the content as
possible downloadable, able to be used offline when internet connection
is unreliable.
Many
students in African colleges have had their education disrupted by
poverty, violence, unrest and lack of qualified teachers. NetAct's
library and training portal will help fill some of the gaps and enable
to students to achieve more of their potential.
It's
as if God has designed this position especially for Fraser. Many of
his experiences in the past can be seen as foundations upon which this
potentially amazing gift to education in Africa will be built upon.
The colleges which are partners and will benefit initially from this project range from Anglican to Presbyterian and include Nigeria's Evangelical Church Winning All and TCNN (made up of 15 denominations by itself).
We're excited by the prospect - Fraser to get his IT developing librarian's hat on and Dawn to get involved in community development and relationship building. I hope you'll come along for the ride.
