Take the Church with You

by Jane Cross, 2009 Swaziland VIM Team Member

My belief that it is important to engage your church in the mission of a VIM trip evolved from my first VIM experience in Colon, Panama in 2007. Though four members of my church joined that mission team, we didn’t talk to the congregation much about it before we left. We did minimal fundraising and shared hardly anything about where we were going and why. Simply put, we did little to invite our church family to join us on our journey, and this was a missed opportunity for mission and ministry.

About a year later I was asked “what is the most unexpected place to which your faith in Christ has taken you in order to make a difference in someone’s life?” Colon, Panama was my answer—one of the most dangerous places I ever hope to be. I wasn’t taken there to “do something for someone”, as I had expected, but rather to be awakened to God’s amazing grace and spirit and to share God’s love with others. I learned what it is like to lose your personal freedom, to live behind barbed wire and to see people with very little give generously and gracefully. And the “make a difference in someone’s life” turned out to be mine. If I had shared my journey—the preparation, experience and reflection afterwards—I believe it might have made a difference in my church’s outreach ministry and changed some lives besides my own.

In 2009 I felt God calling me to Bulembu, Swaziland with the VIM team led by Becky Perry of the San Jose District. This VIM trip had a connectional mission, that is to say to build connections between the people and children of Swaziland and our churches. This time my church took a much different approach. We spent six months giving free lunches after church to talk about the crisis in Swaziland, organizing sewing projects for items needed there, fundraising, publishing articles in our church newsletter about where and why we were going, putting short “Africa Moments” into each Sunday’s bulletin and papering our bulletin boards with photos of Swaziland children we were praying for. What a difference this made in the enthusiasm and support we generated for mission and ministry.

This journey and our connection as a church continues today. We have chosen Swaziland as a major focus for our outreach ministry and we remain engaged is what is going on there. One project that really tugged at our hearts was VIM team member Chris McLain’s “One Child, One Heart at a Time” ministry in rural Swaziland. Chris has been a Methodist volunteer in Swaziland for two years and she joined our mission team in Bulembu.

In Swaziland, most people live in rural villages where they have a small homestead. There are few roads and no personal vehicles, so children walk to school which can be up to two hours each way. If there is no school within that distance, they don’t get any education. Chris recognized a need for a school in a remote area called Lomngeletjane and felt called by God to build one. It was such a privilege to meet her and an eye opener to hear her stories.

My church, First United Methodist Church Pacific Grove, is raising money for Chris to complete the school and will continue to provide support for Bulembu ministries. Though only five members of our church were on the VIM team, my church family is living out this mission right where they are: spreading Jesus’ message of love to people they will never see.

Share your VIM journey with all that you can and spread God’s light and hope far and wide.