Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Everyone, Everywhere: Jesus is found in mission, not outreach


From ENS-

In late 2007 the Rev. Zach Drennen, at the time working as a teacher and chaplain at a school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, decided to take a three-month, self-funded sabbatical.
But rather than hike the Appalachian Trail or climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Drennen, who was ordained an Episcopal priest in 2002, decided to spend some time with long-time missionaries William "Gerry" and Nancy Hardison in Maseno, Kenya, where they run the Maseno Mission Hospital and St. Philip's Theological Seminary.

He volunteered at the hospital and taught at the seminary, where he met Anglican Bishop Zakayo Iteba Epusi of the Diocese of Katakwa. It was through that relationship that one year later, in the fall of 2008, Drennen, by now an Episcopal Church-appointed missionary, found himself in Amagoro, a town in western Kenya near the border with Uganda, running the Elewana Education Project, a non-government organization rooted in the diocese that provides education scholarships to students and builds modern computer labs in schools throughout western Kenya. The project also connects Kenyan and American schools through interactive partnerships similar to parish-to-parish companion relationships, including organized mission trips.

"It's going on four years now … I've never held a job as long as this one. It seems to fit me like an old shoe," he said. "I feel very, very called to this."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_130201_ENG_HTM.htm

No comments: