January
2011 - Vol. 46
..
.Mobile
Households
a
new venture in mission and discipleship training
by
Anthony Eid
Note: Living community
life together in households dates back to the beginnings of the covenant
community movement in the late 1960s and early 70s. Household living in
the Sword of the Spirit has taken a variety of forms – a married couple
and their children sharing a home with single people, two or more married
couples and their children living a common life together, a group of single
men or a group of single women living together. Anthony shares with us
a variation of household living for people involved in mission.
A non-stationary
household?
In and of itself, the term household is simple and usually refers to
a bunch of folks living together under one roof. However, the word “household”
in Sword of the Spirit circles usually refers to a house where men or women
share life together in a formative Christian environment characterized
by daily prayer, discipleship, and mission. When Dave Quintana, alias "Q"
(an elder in the Servants of the Word who is originally from the United
States), invited Tadhg Lynch (from Ireland) and myself (from
Lebanon) to join him in organizing a travelling, temporary household, we
had to settle on a name for our new venture. We thought of describing ourselves
as a roaming household, a roving household, and a revolving household,
but in the end we settled on "a mobile household."
Anthony (left) texting last
minute message before hitting the road
On the road
The three of us set out with our Ford Focus estate “station wagon”,
full to the gills with a detailed map of Europe (no GPS system), three
travel mugs, luggage, and lots of bibles, newsletters, and brochures. Ok,
so the mobile household is three Servants of the Word dudes living household
life in one car as they tour Europe, right? True, but not quite.
Doing a road trip around Europe is one of the nice side effect of the
missionary plan we have for the year. The main motivations behind the Mobile
Household are three-fold:
-
Running temporary young men’s households (1-2 weeks each) in the European
and Middle East region of the Sword of the Spirit – times set aside for
the participants’ growth as disciples and as servants of God and his people.
-
Spending roughly one month in each Sword of the Spirit community in the
region. This extended time will allow Servants of the Word, the missionary
brotherhood of the Sword of the Spirit, to invest more in communities where
Servants of the Word do not presently have a household.
-
Joining in and strengthening the missionary work throughout the region
at the university and secondary school level, and especially encouraging
and challenging our young men to grow as disciples.
Tadhg (right front) with
participants in the Glasgow household
Glasgow
This exciting year of mission began in Glasgow on the second of September.
During that month, we put on a week-long men’s household with nine fine
lads (17-26 years), joined University Christian Outreach (UCO) Glasgow
as they kicked off their exciting year of student outreach and mission,
visited different groups (like YWAM in Paisley and 24/7 Prayer) to talk
about intentional community, and we also enjoyed participating in
the life of the Community of the Risen Christ.
Anthony (center) with two
men in the household in Bielsko-Bala
Poland
After a blessed and fruitful month in Glasgow, we traveled to Bielsko-Biala,
Poland, through 40 hours of European roads linked by an England-to-Belgium
ferry and an overnight stop at a friend’s place in Ekerlenz, Germany. In
Bielsko-Biala, we visited the City on a Hill Community and we ran two 10-day
temporary households with three 18-year-old young men each. The households’
main focus was on a young man’s relationship with God, focusing on character
traits of being a son, servant, soldier and a subject of the King. Among
other events that month, we helped run the community’s students autumn
retreat, which was essentially a Fan into Flame weekend (from Paul’s letter
to his young disciple Timothy – 2 Tim. 1:6-7) or, in other words, a condensed
weekend variation of the Life in the Spirit Seminars. The students,
who seldom get together for retreats, came from various universities around
the southwest of Poland. The weekend proved to be a blessed time with a
clear and rich outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the students individually
as well as corporately. The Lord seemed intent on envisioning and exhorting
them to pursue and build student outreaches in their local situations.
Anthony (left), Tadhg (center),
and Q on a hiking excursion
Germany
Our third mobile household destination of the year was in Munich, Germany.
We spent two weeks with the Munich YMCA, a missionary community with strong
ties to the Sword of the Spirit, and plugged into their two week evangelistic
outreach program entitled “Faithlift.” We stayed at the YMCA Hotel in in
central Munich and were joined by an inspiring team of 12 from a missionary
charismatic community, FCJG (Freie Christliche Jugendgemeinschaft
Free Christian Youth Community), in Lüdenscheid. Fourteen consecutive
days of street evangelism and outreach in the city of Munich, coupled with
daily morning and evening prayer, created a significant spiritual buzz
both for the city of Munich and for us. It was a great privilege sharing
the gospel with people on the streets, proclaiming the name of Jesus in
Munich’s busy square and seeing people giving their lives to the Lord and
coming into relationship with Jesus Christ.
December break
We then headed for a three-day rest in the beautiful town of Swanage
in the south of England, where friends have loaned us their summer house.
We spent Advent and Christmas with the Servants of the Word household in
London, our base for the year. We look forward to an exciting second term
of mission and mobility in 2011!
| Words
from a few household participants who joined our temporary households
in Glasgow and Poland:
Maciej
Moll (18, Bielsko-Biala, Poland): "In household I've learned how to have
normal, everyday prayer and make it deeper. My relationship with God is
now different, but in good way. The brothers showed us how to find happiness
in little things."
Matthew
Flynn (21, UCO mission leader Glasgow, Scotland): “Mission Household is
a young man’s opportunity to live in the 'Parachute Corps.' High octane,
close brotherhood, and single-minded tenacity for the Lord: Ooo-ra.”
Joe
McGill (17, Glasgow, Scotland): "The household experience was great! A
real mix of fellowship, encouragement and prayer meant that everyone was
called on in their life as a young Christian man."
Daneil
Spokoinyi (20, Glagsow, Scotland): “I think the household was a time of
brotherhood, prayer and growth. It gave me a good kick-off for the year
and a lot of confidence to face all the challenges of the upcoming year
in Glasgow.”
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