Faith Bible School

some of you have been curious about my work situation, so i'll give you a little information about who fbs is and what we're up to right now.

fbs was started in 1976 by zionist bishop isaac dlamini and mennonite missionary darrell hostetter. their goal was to provide biblical training to zionist pastors. the zionists are indigenous, african-initiated churches who initially rejected missionaries' interpretations of christianity and instead blended biblical teachings with traditional practices. a youth wing of fbs started in the 80s, and then the HIV/AIDS project began in 2001, emerging from a group of youth who were inspired by an HIV/AIDS workshop at a youth camp run by fbs. the initial mandate of bible training stopped, and now fbs's main activities are marriage enrichment, peer education in life skills, livelihood skills and HIV/AIDS, home-based care for those suffering from HIV/AIDS and their families, a youth health team that sings and does drama presentations about abstinence and faithfulness in local churches, and an annual youth camp. they still focus on the zionist community, but work with many other churches as well.

so since the focus of fbs has changed so much since it began, they are wanting to conduct a review to figure out what direction fbs wants to take in the future, and whether or not we should change the name to more accurately reflect the work being done. so we've had meetings to develop a questionnaire that we will distribute to those who are active in fbs right now, and to those who were a part of it in the past (eg. when it was still training pastors) to determine what services are needed in the community. so this week i finalized the form, and i think next week we will begin distributing it as well as going to interview some people.

the second big project is the youth camp, which will take place from december 16 - 21. about 250 youth from local churches attend. the executive committee at fbs has been busy planning the theme and the contents of the various workshops and the schedule. so this past week i have also spent time drafting letters inviting speakers, letters to churches inviting the youth to attend, and letters to businesses asking for donations for the camp. the theme is "make a difference" and we'll be focusing on the lives of four biblical heroes (mary, esther, gideon, timothy) who were able to make a difference, even though they were young. we're trying to empower the youth and show them that they can achieve their goals, and have a positive impact on the world. we'll be doing workshops on gender, relationships, HIV/AIDS and spiritual gifts. and also having sports and crafts time and we're planning the last day as a conference day where we'll invite the public and have speakers and the youth will present debates about what they've learned during the week. it already looks like it will be a really good experience and i'm looking forward to it.