A team of 91福利社 students spent nine days sharing Christ鈥檚 love in the heart of England.听
They ministered in May听at OIKOS Church, located in Erdington, a suburb of the city of Birmingham, England鈥檚 second largest city.听听
If the name OIKOS sounds Greek to readers of this article, there鈥檚 a very good reason for that. OIKOS is the Greek word for 鈥渇amily/household.鈥� OIKOS Church exists to live out what it means to be the family of God in a community of diverse ethnicities and beliefs.听听
91福利社 Assistant Vice President of Christian Life and Director of Campus Ministries James Hanson met Kenny and Kristy Dubnick last year when they were dropping off their youngest child during Base Camp, the University鈥檚 orientation, setting the wheels in motion for a trip to England.听
The Dubnicks serve with the International Mission Board (IMB) and helped plant OIKOS Church 14 years ago. Both of their children, Kayla and Max, grew up in Birmingham but now attend 91福利社. Kenny and Kristy recently moved to Dublin, Ireland, to do ministry there but returned to Birmingham to come alongside the team from Anderson.听
AU students worked alongside volunteers at the caf茅 located on the ground floor of OIKOS Church. They served customers or worked in the kitchen. Students also passed out brochures for the caf茅 and church or dropped them in residential mail slots in the surrounding neighborhood. They also provided children with fun crafts along the city鈥檚 High Street (High Streets in British cities are similar to Main Streets in the U.S.). Some students assisted refugees and immigrants with ESL (English as a Second Language) classes.听
鈥淲hat was neat was the fact that we weren鈥檛 from there. Our American accents would provide great footholds for the gospel because they would ask 鈥榳hat are you doing here? You鈥檙e American, you鈥檙e not from here.鈥� It was super easy to speak about the Lord and His calling on our lives,鈥� said 91福利社 Director of Women鈥檚 Ministry and Community Missions Maddy Woodford. Woodford said that kids could get their faces painted or make crafts that included bracelets.听听
At one of the craft stations, students helped youngsters make sheep out of simple craft items. Sheep provided a simple, yet powerful object lesson.听
鈥淲e got to talk with the kids about how God is the Shepherd and what that means and we had scripture verses on the back of the plates,鈥� Woodford said. 鈥淪omeone during a debrief made the point that now those plates are in their homes and that might be the only piece of scripture that ever comes into their home. Who knows what God will do with that?鈥�听
For Michelle Barrientos, an Elementary Education major with a minor in Christian Studies, the trip was a memorable one for a lot of reasons.听
鈥泪t was my first time outside of the U.S. and also my first time on a plane,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of firsts.鈥�听听
Ian Macurda, a rising senior majoring in Supply Chain Management in the AU College of Business, was looking for avenues to serve in some type of ministry. Learning about the UK trip in chapel, he felt led to sign up.听
Serving as a chaplain in the caf茅 wasn鈥檛 without its share of challenges for Macurda and others on the mission team.听听
鈥�We had a lot of opportunities to speak about the gospel鈥� It was very difficult to make a connection,鈥� Macurda said. 鈥淎 lot of them have heard about the gospel鈥� they kind of shut off to the point that they鈥檒l avoid the conversation. They鈥檒l turn the topic in a different direction. It was really challenging to try to make that connection spiritually.鈥澨�听
Anna Mosqueda, a rising sophomore majoring in Business Management, admits she was apprehensive about speaking with others on a spiritual level, but she found ways to connect.听
鈥�They were pretty receptive, and even if they weren鈥檛. They gave you the time of day to listen to you and talk to you. Very polite conversations,鈥� Mosqueda said. 鈥淢y favorite part was probably all the different people that I got to meet. We did an English as a Second Language (ESL) class and I got to teach English to a woman from Afghanistan.鈥�听
Barrientos observed, 鈥�Something that really surprised me鈥� The English people don’t seem very approachable, but as soon as you start to just invest in them and ask them how they’re doing, they’re open to sharing their life problems.鈥�听
For any challenges Macurda faced, he felt there were also blessings.听
鈥�I got to work with a refugee from Iran who was working in the caf茅 and I got to hear all about his story and really connect with him over the course of a couple of hours,鈥� he said.听
As they ministered to others, members of the team formed strong bonds among themselves.听
鈥泪 went on this trip not being friends with anybody else (on the team) and I was able to make a lot of good friends that I probably would have never met, even though we all go to the same school,鈥� Macurda said.听
鈥�We didn鈥檛 know each other before then, so we got to know each other throughout the trip. I think that was a bit challenging at first, to be intentional with ministry at first, but by the end of the week, we were really close,鈥� Barrientos said.听听
When the team wasn鈥檛 ministering, they enjoyed a side trip to the nearly thousand year-old cathedral at nearby Lichfield. They also traveled to London for a day.听