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Each summer, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland sends several teams overseas to assist partner churches with their work while the individuals themselves learn from working in another culture. In previous years teams have gone to Jamaica, Romania, Hungary and Indonesia and this Friday 14 August a team of nine young people leave for a four week visit to Nepal to work alongside the United Mission to Nepal (UMN) and the Nepali church and to meet up with some of the 11 Irish Presbyterians working in the country.
The aim of this visit is to help the young people to have a first hand experience of missions within a foreign culture. During their stay, they will study with Nepali church leaders and missionaries in Kathmandu, help with children's work in Kathmandu International Study Centre, and lead workshops with the Christian Arts Association of Nepal.
The group will also have the opportunity to visit the remote village of Amp Pipal, where David and Sandra Rodgers, members of Dungannon Presbyterian Church, work. David is Director of Amp Pipal Hospital while Sandra is a pastoral visitor in the community.
The group will also see work funded by Project Namaste, the 1996 Sunday School and Youth Project of the Presbyterian Church ,which gave some £40,000 to a range of projects in Nepal including Bethany Ashram. Based in Kathmandu this is a hospice, a nursing home, an old people's home and a refuge all in one, built beside one of the local churches.
The team, made up of seven students, a youth worker and a trainee electronic servicing engineer, all have a deep interest in overseas work. They will be led by Mr. Peter McDowell, his wife Asa (former Presbyterian missionaries with the UMN), and Mr. Bill Coey (a member of the Maghera Presbyterian Church).
"This is not so much a work team as an opportunity to see the church overseas in action," says Mr. McDowell, "to develop the relationships with young people from another culture and, as a team, think through the many issues of 'mission' as they are seen worked out in the Nepal situation. It promises to be a very exciting and rewarding trip."
Issued by Jenny Halliday, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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