Back to icebergs

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.