About
This blog is largely to let you know what’s happening with me – Joel. I visited Vanuatu on a mission trip for a month in July 2006. It was a truly incredible time as our team travelled around the country, meeting lots of wonderful people, and experiencing a wide range of different ministries. God has now given me the opportunity to go back!
Vanuatu is a beautiful country, but unfortunately isn’t entirely like the resort beaches we see on the postcards. There is a great deal of passion for the gospel amongst the Christians there, yet not always the spiritual maturity to back it up as they face a growing culture of materialism, and an increasing number of false teachings. There is a real need for well-trained church leaders to shepherd and build up the believers now and into the future.
That’s where I fit in. I’m spending 2008 working here in Vanuatu with Christian university students at the Emalus campus of the University of the South Pacific. Drawing from 12 different Pacific nations and home to the law and linguistics faculty, Emalus is predicted to provide more than half of the high-ranking civil servants and leaders in government for the next generation. The Christian Fellowship group currently makes up around 10% of the student body and seeks to reach out, build up and prepare for a life of service those at Emalus – particularly as they will be leading the region in the years to come. My role this year has been to help with the bible teaching (both for our main Friday night meetings and our small group bible studies), give some guidance on a longer term strategy, and begin to train the next round of CF leaders to continue this good work of seeing USP students won for Christ now and into the future.
So have a look around, check out the gallery, and if you’d like to know anything more about the work of CF at USP drop me a line…