Mission Net

       Last week I was at a large conference called Mission Net in Germany. This was a five day conference to encourage and renew people who are in mission work or people who are interested in mission work. There was two main sessions a day, many seminars, many times of small groups, prayer, worship and getting to know people from all over the world. I was sent by OM to help with Global Village. This is a simulation that people go through to see the many needs of the world. In this simulation you go back in time to creation and the fall. Then to when Jesus died and the instruction to spread the gospel. The final step is going through "the village." This is a space that many of the very difficult issues of the world we face our acted out. Things such as domestic violence, prostitution, refugees, people from other religious backgrounds and more. The task is to spread the gospel to the people in the room. Once a short time has past then the people where lead through three more stations of reflection, debriefing and setting goals for the future. I was part of the debriefing team so I spend half of the time talking people through what they experienced and half the time giving instruction and organizing people in the reflection room. It was a lot of fun and so interesting to see how people react and what they decide to do with this experience.

       For some people, they were very aware that it was just a simulation but where reminded of our task as Christians and all the needs of the world. There were others that were so invested that they came out in tears or didn't want to leave the village at all. I debriefed quite a few groups but there were two in particular that I remember the best. In one of the groups there were two teenage girls and two older men who were from Italy. One of the older men was translating for the teenagers and they were talking about how difficult it was to want to help but not be able to communicate since they only spoke Italian not English or German. After a long discussion I was able to encourage them that culture and language are things that can be learned and do not have to be a limitation. I was able to encourage them to help in their own culture but also giving them the possibilities to think outside the box as well. Later that day I saw one of the girls and she came up to me and gave me a big hug and then smiled and said " sorry I can't speak English." Even though she couldn't express what she was thinking I know that something that I said must of really impacted her. The other group the I really remember was about five young people who spoke Dutch but where able to converse in English. We had an amazing discussion and everyone was really into what they had experienced. For myself the most encouraging point that came out of this group was one of the girls said " I have been thinking about taking some youth and mentoring them in how Christians are suppose to live out there faith and now after experiencing this I am sure that this is my calling." I was so touched that the simulation not only moved this one girl to make a change but to bring change through helping others to also live out their faith. It was an incredible week where God was doing really big things in the lives of everyone who attended the conference.