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South African Trip Proves Life-Changing Experience
CHICAGO, IL (September 6, 2004) - Oakdale Covenant Church, a congregation of
more than 900, sent eight students and five adults to South Africa
earlier this summer for a mission trip that has changed both the
visitors and the hosts.
Students on the July 11-21 trip to Cape Town and Roben's Island included
Robyn and Raquel Petty, Angel Brame, Angela Dugan, Jessica Motley,
Victoria Roberson, Andrew Stepp and Thomas Taylor. Adults included youth
pastor Bryndan Loritts, Eloise Adams,
Brian White, Eric Murry and Savona Giles. The Chicago church made
initial connections through Darrell Griffin, its senior pastor. He had
met South Africa civil rights leader Nelson Mandela while serving in a
previous ministry in New York. He had served as a
board member with a YMCA in New York during that time. He worked through
a YMCA in Cape Town and CEO Llowellyn Syce and the connections seem to have
started a long-term relationship. Oakdale Covenant currently sends a
group of adults to Cape Town each November with the emphasis on
Christian camping.
After the Oakdale Covenant youth contingent returned, the south side
Chicago congregation had an opportunity to host a group of South African
students who came from the YMCA in Cape Town. Four adults spent the
summer counseling at Covenant Harbor Bible Camp in Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin. The South Africans returned home at the end of August.
Oakdale Covenant's Operations Manager Carol Friar said the church youth
program ministers to between 300 and 400 people each week. In order to
be part of the select group traveling overseas, the church asked
students to make a significant commitment
to the trip. They had to earn at least a 3.0 grade-point average in
school and write a 500-word essay on what they hoped to gain from the
mission trip. They also attended a mission conference in February and
several Sunday school mission classes taught by associate pastor Melvin
Dillard.
Robyn Petty, a freshman at Jones College Prep High School in Chicago,
appreciated the opportunity to view a different culture and to bond with
fellow students from her church. She also discovered that in some
respects South Africa wasn't much different than Chicago. "I loved the
kids there and the people were very friendly," she said. "They welcomed
us with open arms. We went to church there and it was a good experience
watching how people worshiped. They're not afraid to take a stand for
Jesus.
"What I see on television is that everyone there is poverty stricken and
no one has shoes," Robyn continued. "And I thought I was going somewhere
where I wouldn't be able to drink the water. But when I went to
Mandela's village it wasn't like that. It was beautiful."
Robyn's 12-year-old sister Raquel added, "When I first got to Africa I
was a bit disappointed because it looked almost like America. But I
liked South Africa and as I stayed longer I realized it wasn't quite the
same. The beaches had white sand there and we don't have that. There
were bright stars in the sky and we can't see them like that here. And
the kids were just like us – we wear the same clothes. I am really
praying that I get a chance to go back."
It is too early to say what the long-term effects of the trip will have
on the Oakdale Covenant students, but leaders at the YMCA in Cape Town
believe that they've already been influential. They found in their
summer at Covenant Harbor that differences in how
Americans do things has opened their minds – and vice versa – although
the primary purpose for ministry is still the same.
Hildegarde Hoffman of the YMCA in Cape Town, an arts and crafts
instructor/administrator at the camp this summer, stated, "It's not
about comparing, it's about exchanging ideas. And what we give to the
Americans, the Americans give to us. But it's not about the camp and the
kids, it's about God."
Trevor Marthinus, one of three counselors at the Harbor from the Cape
Town YMCA, said that the Oakdale Covenant kids may have also inspired
the South Africans to explore further how they can grow. He stated that
because of the changes in his nation – due
to the changes in civil rights after the apartheid system was abolished
– youth have a chance to express their faith like never before.
"The youth (in South Africa) never had a chance to stand up and be
heard," he said. "But being here and seeing what youth do in America
makes me not ashamed to be a youth. I have seen the differences in
worship and I can take that back with me. We're free to
evangelize and testify and being here has helped me be more open to
evangelize and share the gospel."
Oakdale Covenant Church is a congregation with a history of more than
100 years. Along with its church campus, the congregation has a
Christian school on site. Its youth ministry program (grade school
through high school) under Lorritts has worship experiences
geared to that age group separate from Sunday morning worship. Services
are held every Wednesday night, but there are worship opportunities on
the first Thursdays and second and fourth Fridays each month.
To learn more about the church, its recent mission trip and its overall
youth programming, calling Friar or Loritts at 773-779-9440.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
