Coming to BST I knew that I would have to take part in Mission Exposure Week, and I had been dreading it since I first enrolled. I had never been on missions before, but knew the experience would involve a lot of things that would take me far out of my comfort zone.
Despite the attitude that I had leading up to Mission Exposure Week, I knew that I wouldn’t regret going, and the week would result in a lot of growth and good memories. Our mission was through St Bart’s Anglican Church in Toowoomba. I really appreciated how St Bart’s worked as a church, how smoothly the church ran despite its large size, and how everyone seemed well-connected in the church community. Not only were they well-connected through the various ministries, but also through the church’s vision, which was a central part of the church’s teaching and evident throughout their various ministries.
As someone who has only been briefly involved in church ministry, it was eye-opening to see how much preparation was put into the different ministries, particularly the children’s ministry. The Scripture passage was adapted to each age group, including activities and questions to help with comprehension of the passage. This was another way in which the church community was kept well-connected, as every age group followed the same Scripture passage. One aspect of preparation consistent throughout all of the different ministries was the involvement of prayer – every meeting began with prayer, and before every event the team involved prayed together. It was encouraging to see how the focus was kept on God, with prayer acting as a reminder of why everyone was doing this, and it was really cool seeing everyone come together to serve God.
Another great part of the week was serving together with our group from BST. The week presented opportunities to get to know people from college better, with everyone facing different challenges and coming into the week with different levels of experience. This led to some great conversations and an opportunity to see everyone thrive in their individual areas.
The week included being involved in a number of areas that weren’t my strengths, such as being interviewed in front of a group of people more than once, leading a small group during kid’s church, and being part of the music team, but God really sustained me through all of the challenges.
My highlight of the week was seeing how extremely faithful God was. Despite my nervousness about leaving my comfort zone during MEW, almost none of that nervousness followed me into the week. God gave me so much peace throughout the week that I felt prepared to do many things that would usually scare me, and that I never thought I would do. Seeing God’s provision in a way that was so clear to me was such a blessing and acted as a constant reminder that I was doing none of this by my own power and ability. It was because of the strength that God gave me throughout the week that I was able to experience so much, which led to so much growth and has made this week such a rewarding and memorable experience.