Engaging NXTGEN
By Geoff & Gloria Parry
Transform the Nations is a ministry delivering Christian-based education and vocational training to impoverished children and young people throughout the Asiatic region. Ably founded and led by Grahame Kerr and a faithful band of full-time volunteers, the ministry is making powerful inroads into low caste communities and seeing the gospel change lives eternally. There are many facets to the work. Please be encouraged to pray for the ministry as you read on.
Years ago, T.t.N. put deliberate thought into the question of how to hand the ministry baton onto future generations. Over time, various initiatives have grown and are now beginning to see fruit. The ripples are starting to travel out, with a concept we have called ‘NXTGEN’. This is the youth-focused centre of these initiatives.
One way to engage future generations in missions is to invite and lead young people on ‘Mission Exposure’ visits. This way, they can see first-hand what God is doing in the countries we are called to serve. These visits are targeted at young adult groups and school teams. Interest from Australian schools for exposure trips have relaunched post-covid and have had an impact in the lives of those being visited as well as the school students visiting.
It is a powerful experience to walk with young Aussies through impoverished villages close to national borders where the local children face the very real threat of being trafficked. Suddenly, the stories we have shared with the Australian students back in the comfort of their youth group hall, church building or school MPC hurtle home and hit them hard. It’s real!
When they witness the countless number of people crossing the border between Nepal and India, they begin to see the gravity of the trafficking problem. Meeting the ‘Border Booth’ operators who are charged with intercepting and preventing the trafficking of children is now so much more than an image on the big screen; it is right in front of them! The booth operators quietly inform the tour group that there are multiple known traffickers standing nearby! This further drives home the peril that the local children live under. Our groups are not in danger and will not be faced with the risks the locals face, but now the importance of what is being done by the ministry and a sense of urgency begins to impact the thinking of the group. Their appreciation of what God is achieving begins to grow.
Next, we visit poor communities that now have T.t.N. training initiatives and prevention programs in place. The Aussie students gain a deeper understanding of why T.t.N. does this work, and why it’s done a particular way. In the west of Nepal is the ‘heart’ of the ministry. It is where the people we serve live and where the children in our care have come from.
From these far-flung communities visiting groups are transported back to the east where the ‘fruit’ of the ministry is realised. The east is where the children in our care have a home, are healed and are restored. This is where it is safe for them to grow and be nurtured, to sit in the light of the gospel and to begin to enjoy life. A life without the risk of being taken. This is where children can be children.
Visiting groups ‘do life’ with those in care. They play hand clapping and ball games together and exchange pieces of their language and culture. They share in nightly devotions and weekly church services. It’s truly where east meets west and where relationships become the primary focus of the whole trip.
The touring teams also visit the various T.t.N. training businesses that are in operation. These businesses cater to young adults in our care who too old for school yet from the same village areas and dangers.
The goal of the tour is not simply or primarily to do projects for the Nepali children, but to be in their world and connect with their hearts. This is a mindset shift for western students, who go on the tour looking to do a task in order to achieve a preconceived goal. What transpires before our eyes is that God takes hold of the Aussie students and imparts His predesigned goal… which is always to grow in the ways of love and grace. It is a delight to witness, and it’s what we regard as a successful mission experience for teams, who have witnessed God at work, now, in their lifetime.
Every aspect of these tours has a deep and lasting impact in the hearts of Australian students. This generates some meaningful conversations and challenges them personally to pray & seek God on how they can be involved in His global work. They have seen the dark side of life for the poor and needy in Nepal and have witnessed the difference that the light of the gospel brings. They have been challenged to remain involved. The miraculous ripples of the gospel message in a heathen society have been witnessed firsthand and sunk into their hearts. It is a faith-transforming experience.
After one tour, the students decided that they could not simply return to Australia. It would be as though the connections they made were wasted and meaningless. They wanted to keep the momentum going, and so had meetings with their chaplain and came up with a support ministry for T.t.N. called ‘Love Didi’. Didi means older sister in Nepali, and these Australian girls felt like the connection they’d made with the girls in care was as older sisters. The name and concept were perfect.
Since its inception, Love Didi has held successful information and fundraising events to assist the projects in Nepal. They have plans to share their experience of the mission in Nepal with other schools. They also want to share at youth events to encourage others who have visited the projects in Nepal to continue the work God started in their heart, to stay awake and alive to global missions through their studies, prayer, work or schooling. Now those are some amazing ripples!
One of the most exciting ripples for us is the potential for western students to consider missions as their life purpose. We certainly pray that future missionaries will be born out of these school tours.
Geoff & Gloria are the Australian Managers for Transform the Nations. To have the story of the people T.t.N. serves told in your school, youth group, church or business please contact them through www.transformthenations.org