GFU Mission: Serving in South Africa
July 1, 2009
A team of 17 George Fox University students spent nearly a month in Paarle, South Africa, as part of the university’s May Serve program. Their work with Monte Christo Ministries included teaching life skills in primary schools, making soup in MCM’s food center, working with kids in a soccer program and visiting AIDS and TB patients.
Begun by Americans but now increasingly led by South Africans, MCM first addresses basic needs such as hunger and poverty and then focuses on discipleship and life skills development.
The students were accompanied by Andrea Crenshaw, director of outreach and service, and Cliff Rosenbohm, director of the social work program, who met with them regularly during the school year. Students learned South African history, helped each other through Tilikum Retreat Center’s challenge course, prayed together and raised money for the trip.
Though they went to serve, the team members were served by MCM. “They had people with us constantly, guiding us, encouraging us, praying for us, and helping us understand why God wanted us there,” says Ethan Rhodes, an ‘09 graduate from Irrigon, Ore. “We were overly blessed.”
Rachel Madore, an ‘09 graduate from Vancouver, Wash., agrees. “My passion is discipleship, and to live alongside and partner with this ministry was such a valuable experience. I’ll never forget the things I saw and heard.”
Some of what Rachel saw and heard were burned-out shacks and the stories of the people who still lived in them. “We visited people there to find out what their needs and dreams were,” she said. “There’s a lot of poverty and hopelessness. There were times we wondered if what we were doing was making any difference. But we realized that God was using each encounter to communicate his love.”
Alyssa Schaad, a senior from Newberg, Ore., remembers the children who came to the soup kitchen with their own containers as well as a lesson she learned: “Being fully there and wanting to be there, showing people in Africa that we cared-that was the most important thing we did.”
Now in its 20th year, the George Fox May Serve program allows students to spend a month in volunteer service in cross-cultural settings. Previous May Serve trips have gone to Thailand, Ukraine, Brazil, India, Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil, Romania and the Philippines.
