Bound for Belgium: The Reality

As I skype and talk to people on the home front, the most common question is definitely "So, what are you doing in Belgium?"  And I guess that makes sense- Belgium is kind of an obscure country, randomly known for seemingly normal things (beer and waffles), and predominately Dutch speaking (at least in this region).  Given all of this, it seems that the question of what I am doing here is a very rational one.  Well, after being here for one month, hopefully I will be able to answer that question.  

To start off, this year I am serving in Belgium through Kairos' Gap Program.  Kairos is the youth and young adult section of the Sword of the Spirit, the Christian community that my family is a part of.  The Gap program, in particular, is an internship program designed to send young adults from Kairos outreaches to serve on the front lines of Kairos' mission work. Practically, this means that Gappers set apart a specific time to wholly serve the Lord, taking a year off of school, moving to a specific Gap location, and intentionally serving in the community, university outreach, and youth programs.

Ok, so it is obvious that I took a year off a year of school and that I moved, but what is not so visible is the work that I am a part of here, the reality of how I am 'intentionally serving in the community, university outreach, and youth programs'.  Now, it seems, is the time to get down to the every day particulars of the Leuven front.

The majority of my service in Leuven falls into the category of "university outreach".  The city itself is very much of a university city- the majority of the inhabitants are university age and it is obvious that the life of the city primarily revolves around Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.  As a result, the focus of the Gap program here is Pharos, a Christian student group on Campus.  Pharos (a Greek word meaning 'Lighthouse') began a few years when one of the younger community guys was finishing up his university studies and felt the call to show his fellow classmates the light of Christ.  Now, five years later, Sam is the director of Pharos and there are four of us Gappers here, serving to build Pharos and striving to be a light to Leuven through our example of discipleship.

I know that I have still not answered concretely the question "what are you doing in Belgium?", so getting down to the actual reality of daily life, here are my specific service tasks:
 

I am on the leadership team for prayer meetings.
     Along with one of the other Gappers and two native Belgians who are on the Pharos Team, I am helping to plan the bi-monthly Pharos prayer meetings.  This means everything from planning teachings to working with the music team.  Though it can be a little crazy, it has been a blessing to see what the Lord is doing behind the scenes and to be a part of the planning process. 


I am in charge of the leadership team that is planning the Pharos weekend.
     There is a team of four of us who are planning and organizing the upcoming Pharos weekend- a retreat weekend for all of the members of Pharos.  The aim of this weekend is to, as a group, learn more about prayer, really dig deeper into worship, and also build strong relationships with each other.  Planning this event has been difficult because Pharos draws people with all different backgrounds and varying degrees of faith.  The challenge has really been to unify the group, as well as provide formation for everyone where they are at.


I am the director of communications.
     Ultimately, I am the liaison between the Pharos team and everyone else.  This means that I am building the website, managing the Pharos email and facebook acounts, planning marketing strategies, designing posters and brochures, and writing the monthly updates and newsletters for community members, benefactors, and alumni.  This has actually turned out to be one of my favorite tasks.  I have really enjoyed the design aspect of it, as well as coming up with creative strategies and solutions.


So now you know a little more of what I am actually doing in Belgium- though this is really only grazing the surface of all that goes on here.  Beyond these specific tasks, there are many things that we participate in as a team, but they will have to wait for next time.


How is that for a cliffhanger? :)