EXCITING UPDATES FROM SINGAPORE
Under the leadership of Ken, the National Coordinator for Kairos Singapore, more than six Kairos courses have been conducted in different churches, including a Facilitators Training Course this year. A new team of young leaders has also has been raised.
Bethesda Pasir Ris Mission Church - Has completed their Kairos course with 28 participants. This course was conducted for the Filipino congregation and was led by Head Facilitator, David Enns. Response from the participants was very positive. Working with the Filipino congregation not only gave them the opportunity to practice cross-cultural sensitivity, but also to foster understanding between the two cultures.
Queenstown Lutheran Church - In early March this year, a total of 27 participants have completed the Kairos Course held in Queenstown Lutheran Church Of Our Redeemer (QLC). Lanny, the Head Facilitator of QLC for 2 consecutive years, also conducted successful Facilitators trainings, raising her own team of English Kairos facilitators. Lanny is also now forming a team of Lutheran Mandarin Kairos Facilitators.
Pentecost Methodist Church - has also completed their Kairos course in April this year. A feedback from one of the participants, Dawn, “Besides lectures, videos & sharing, there were also games and role play to help deepen our understanding. What really stood out for me was the challenge to be a world Christian. Even before the course ended, I had determined that I did not want to miss out on being part of the worldwide effort to reach all nations for Christ.”
To these participants from Pentecost Methodist Church, Kairos is not just another mission course, but one designed to help them find their role and integrate missions into their lives.
Bartley Christian Church - has its fourth run of the Kairos course this year. There were a total of 24 participants - among them were 4 local workers, 1 church staff and 5 Young Adults. The rest are marketplace professionals.
The church was especially encouraged by the participants. Most have shown perfect attendance and have expressed interest to continue in the Kairos journey.
Korean Church - 21 participants have also graduated from the Kairos course conducted in the Korean Church this year. These graduates realized that ordinary church members can also play key roles as mobilizer, intercessor, and sender, among others. The Korean Church in Singapore definitely sees Kairos as a critical core course to aid their church in its long-term mission mobilization.
Facilitator Training Course - Last but not the least, a 2-day Facilitator-Training Course was conducted in August. Twenty six participants attended, all of which did well in their practicum. The Kairos National Team came together and helped out in this training. With a growing number of trained facilitators, they desire to see Kairos courses being conducted in more churches next year.
FINLAND: EXPERIENCING GOD’S TRUTH
From the first Kairos course in Finland in 2008 until this September, 19 Kairos courses have been conducted in 11 cities attended by a total of 224 participants. From these participants, 87 were trained to be facilitators, and 8 as head facilitators. Two Kairos courses have also been conducted in two different cities in Sweden for Finnish speaking churches; one head facilitator is now coordinating the courses with facilitators. One said, “We are very thankful for this amazing, eye-opener, course. God has awaken churches and Christians in Finland in marvelous ways for the task remaining. We have experienced the truth: we Finns are blessed to be a blessing!”
A Kairos National Team is overseeing the growth and expansion of Kairos in Finland.
KAIROS HELD IN WITBANK, SOUTH AFRICA
“It has been a great blessing and privilege to have presented the Kairos course in this church,” says Marinda and Erika as they report about the recent course they have conducted in Shalom Church in the city of Witbank, South Africa. There were 11 participants in the course. According to Marinda and Erika, it was amazing for them to experience the openness of the participants. “They have allowed God to speak to their hearts.” Almost all the participants testified of how God has touched them through the course. Some have discovered their calling; others have found their role in missions and everyone became passionate again with a heart for the nations. The pastor also shared to Marinda and Erika some of the ideas God gave her to make “Praying for the Nations” more visual in the church. She will also be bringing some of her key leaders on a missions outreach.
FORMING KAIROS STATE TEAMS IN AUSTRALIA
Fifteen Head Facilitators from two states within Australia met together in the Sunshine Coast recently for the Kairos Australian Head Facilitators Training. Facilitating the training were Linda and Peter of the Kairos International Team. The gathering was an opportunity for new and old head facilitators to establish and rekindle friendships; their passion and vision for Kairos was also renewed. Everyone left with a sense of expectancy about the upcoming release of the Kairos 4th edition and the potential to use its introduction to re-establish connections with past participants and facilitators as well as promote new growth. With further growth and expansion in mind, two State teams, one for Queensland and one for New South Wales, have been established and a liaison person has also been appointed. Each State team will be responsible to oversee the promotion and successful implementation of courses throughout their State, and maintain the structures to support this.
NZ NATIONAL TEAM FORMED
The New Zealand Kairos National Team met for the first time together during August in Auckland. Although most of them have had involvement for many years with the course, this was the first actual meeting where they gathered as a team. Eight of them, from a variety of backgrounds, roles and geographical regions, enjoyed two days of talking, working and eating together.
Peter McDougall is the NZ National Coordinator as well as the interim Australian Coordinator. He also has responsibilities in the Kairos International Team (KIT). Forming the Kairos National Team, therefore means, the load can be shared and Kairos will grow both in personnel, skills and numbers of courses. The New Zealand missions’ community has strong collaborative ties and there is much potential for growth.
Linda Harding from UK, who is also part of KIT, took the team through the Facilitators Training and released them to be trainers. This means that the team will be able to multiply the reach of Kairos in New Zealand and the Pacific. They were also reminded, during the training, that during a Kairos course, participants had their worldviews realigned, and that it was a great privilege to be part of that.
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