Anticipati on mounts as Christians@ Rhodes, other campus Christian societies and Rhodes staff members prepare to celebrate the Christians@Rhodes 2010 mission from 10 to 18 September. The mission will also be joined by outside partners such as African Enterprise, Reid Saunders Association and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
Anticipati on mounts as Christians@ Rhodes, other campus Christian societies and Rhodes staff members prepare to celebrate the Christians@Rhodes 2010 mission from 10 to 18 September. The mission will also be joined by outside partners such as African Enterprise, Reid Saunders Association and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
Confirmed speakers for the mission include Reid Saunders, Brett Butcher and Mvusi Gwam from the USA, Singapore and South Africa respectively.
The secretary of the Mission Steering Committee, Ian Siebörger, praises the inclusion of these international societies because it helps “forge links and reconcile students and staff to God,” as well allowing Christians@Rhodes to gain insight from international organisations.
The mission is held every three years, although the last one was held in 2006. However, the programme should compensate for the wait: participants can expect daily events such as Prayer Cafés on the Drostdy Lawns, music concerts, evangelism training and mass church services.
These events explore different angles of this year’s Mission theme: ‘I am’. Siebörger believes that the “purpose is to ultimately bring glory to God by spreading good news about Christ around campus”.
The biggest benefit will be to unite the students, academic staff and service staff at Rhodes University because “previously people have been very isolated and interact on a shallow level” says Siebörger.
The Compassion Ministry component of the mission will be assisting with the launch of a new soup kitchen in Extension 9.
Every weekday afternoon, volunteers will be able to help plant a vegetable garden for the kitchen. On Tuesday 14 September, volunteers will assist with the preparation at the kitchen.
This will be accompanied by an evangelically rally where Brett Butcher, of Reid Saunders Association, will be speaking.
However, Siebörger admits that there will be challenges such as getting Christians from different denominations to work together, because they are from different societies and have different ways of doing things, “but it is a rewarding process” he says.
Other challenges include time pressure and the rush to get things organised. Siebörger also admits that it has been a struggle to raise funds.
Christians @ Rhodes, Mission 2010 has advertised that if “you’ve got money which you’d like to invest in the Kingdom of Heaven through the mission, you can sign up for fundraising.” You can contact Ian Sieborger on 084 209 2079 .
