Training in Mission
TIM is a flagship programme of the Council for World Mission. The programme’s aim is “to equip young people for a lifetime of service to Christ and his church. TIM was initiated in 1981 in response to ca challenge to CWM to create opportunity for involving young people in mission learning and mission engagement. In the past 28 years approximately 280 young people aged between 20-30 years old, drawn from CWM member churches and the wider ecumenical community have participated in the programme.
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand as a member of CWM has seen many of its young people engaged in this programme. At the end of November 2009 our latest TIM student, Rowan Cant, will return and we will see another one of our young people travel to South Africa and India next year. Below are some of the comments made by Rowan.
Rowan Cant wrote:
Only a month left, so I'm sure that will go really fast. I will be back in New Zealand on the 26th of Nov. I only have to present my final paper and then we have a holiday. I've been lucky enough to have really good internet access for the last month so my paper is just about finished. The title is "Does the Bishop clean the Toilets?" and it’s a call to the institutionalized church to re-think how we do things.
I've been reading a lot of writings from the early church and I've loved it. People who either met Jesus or met people who met him and are then writing stuff about what church should be like. There are stories of Christians selling themselves as slaves to buy others out of slavery. It was almost compulsory to sell all you had and give the money to the poor if you wanted to be Christian. It’s somewhat a shame you don't hear street evangelists handing out fliers that say, "Sell all you have, help the poor and follow Jesus." Because the early church weren't so concerned about personal salvation as they were concerned about the salvation of society as a whole i.e. no poor and no rich, no slaves and no masters, no Greek vs. Jews, no Men vs. Women. (Even passages Paul writes seemingly against women can be seen in a new light when looking into other writings about certain behaviours in certain churches. Since those letters of Paul were originally addressing certain women in a certain church who were doing certain things.
So yeah, I've been enjoying it. I'm sure I've got a lot of "heretical" ideas bouncing around my head as well, but it’s nice to challenge some of the ways we've always been taught to think about our faith. It gives me a fresh enthusiasm for church and following Christ.
If you would like to know more about Rowan and how he is or if you would like some information about the training in Mission Programme then please contact the Global Mission Office.