NetWorks

Well, that depends on both you and us.  We are committed to a simple life based on faith and works.  You would be discipled by one of our full-time or medium-term missions team and we would agree with you a routine of prayer and study.  Not because we are legalistic...but because there is some benefit in the rhythm of a disciplined life.

There is no shortage of stuff to do, and areas in which you might be able to serve and we would plan out a "works" element to your time with us.

So How Would I Spend My Time?

Because of the needs of the people and communities that we are working with, it would not be helpful to have a strict, fixed timetable; therefore one week could look very different from another. However, generally speaking, your time will be divided up into three different areas: (i) study, prayer and teaching time, (ii) service, and (iii) mission.  Your weekends will normally be free time, however this may change depending on the area in which you are working or if we are running a camp or having a guest speaker (for example).  You will also be expected to attend a church meeting in Siria on Sundays,

Introduction:

The first two weeks of your time here will be spent settling into your new environment, spending time team building and having introductory sessions.

A priority for us is to get to know you.  Who you are and where you are at at in your walk with God.  Being real with one another is more important to us than anything else...if you are "flying" in your relationship with the Lord, then that's great and we want to know that.  If you are struggling, then that's ok and good for us to know.  Where you are at, is where we will seek to meet you on your walk.

During these early sessions, we will show you a video, where you will hear about how the work here began and about the vision for the work amongst the poor in Romania.  We will talk a little about where we believe the work is going in the season in which you are visiting to help give you a context and setting for the things that you will see and be involved in whilst you are with us.

We will provide you with some cultural orientation and a short language pack. We will expect everyone to have a go at learning some basic Romanian whilst they are with us.

We will provide you with some reading material for you to work through during your stay and some bible reading and questions that will relate to the missions training bible study that we will run during your stay.

Study and Prayer:

We believe your time here will be significant in your spiritual growth and we want to dedicate time for you to spend in study, in prayer, and in processing everything that God is teaching you.  You will also receive teaching from our long-term mission team and from time-to-time guest speakers.  There will also be a weekly bible study for the team.  During your time here, you will also be given assignments based on the teaching, bible studies and the reading material you will receive during your time with us.

Teaching:

Mission is about living out a very practical faith.  Working directly with the poor brings us practically face-to-face with some of Jesus' key teachings about the poor, our response to them, and His Kingdom and how we are to bring this in a very real way around us in our daily lives.  The Word becomes, in a very real way, both "living and active".

Our style of teaching is discussion and group interaction, rooted in practical experience and constantly anchored in the Word.

Some of the themes of the teaching program will be: calling and anointing, role of Apostles, visionaries and dreamers, faith and common sense, Kingdom of Heaven, ministry to the poor..aims, methods, and walking in the Spirit.

Discipleship and Mentoring:

Jesus said he would build the church.  He told us to make disciples.  For us, this means learning to walk through life together, rather than bible study.  During your time here, you will be mentored and discipled by one of our long-term team.  They will spend time with you, praying and helping you to process some of the things you will experience in Romania.  The person mentoring you may or may not be working in the same area each day.  If they are, then you will get to know one another during the working day as well as outside of this time.  If not, then time will be set aside to ensure that you get time together to walk and talk and pray.

Service Work:

Many people believe that missions work is glamorous!  The truth is that part of being on mission involves doing the not-so-glamorous jobs, too.  Approximately 1/3 of your time will be spent in service work.  This might include jobs such as cleaning, manual work, and generally serving our long-term missions team.

Many of the people who have joined us over the years, have come with the idea that they are going to single-handedly change the lives of the poor.  Coming with the right mind-set will help you fully enjoy your time with us and will avoid you being disappointed.

During your missions training with us, it will not be possible for you to completely change the lives of the people you are working with.  We do have a committed, experienced, long-term of missionaries who have dedicated themselves to serving these people groups in these communities.  Over a period of years, they have begun to see real change in the lives of many.

"Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions"  Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC)

What we need is for you to join, support, and learn from this full-time, long-term team and for you to help them to effect change in the lives of and for the benefit of the poor.  We ask that you see your role as a student, serving alongside and learning from our long-term team.  This might take many forms, from cleaning to dealing with routine administration tasks to manual labour.  Whatever form the service takes, it is the heart to serve that we are trying to encourage.  Working alongside our experienced missions team will give you a unique insight into life in mission.

Mission Work:

NetWorks currently works in three areas in northwest Romania: Siria, Taut and Arad, and the rest of your time here will be spent working in those communities.  Some of the people you will work with still live on the the streets; others have lived on the streets and with help have managed to break that pattern of life.  Some live at home in small communities; home for many is a cramped, tiny, mud house with earth floors and no water and no drainage.  Each community is very different but work may include children's/youth clubs, delivering wood, flour during the winter, digging in gardens, repairing houses and showing Jesus' love to them in other practical ways as well as spending time building relationships with people living in these communities.

Here are some examples of the kinds of things we are involved in:

Crisis Help:

We have homes for homeless young men and women and mums with their babies. 

We teach basic life skills to equip these young people to become re-integrated into society.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one" George Bernard Shaw

For those living in extreme poverty in their own small homes, we provide a wide range of help and support including:

• delivering firewood to many homes in the winter (important when the temperature can go down to -25 Celcius and below)
• distributing free flour for making bread that often makes the difference between small children going to bed hungry or not
• helping families carry out urgent repairs to small mud homes to stop them from collapsing
• and providing urgent medical care or medication through one of our medical access programs.

Helping people help themselves:

The greater part of our work, though, is focused on helping people to help themselves.  We do this in a number of ways, including helping people to plant their gardens with vegetables that will feed their families throughout the summer, drilling wells, and a through a variety of micro-enterprise programs - including small-scale market gardening, hat-making and card-making.  We also have a number of employment programs ranging from farming and vineyards, to a second hand store and summer camp.

Education:

In many of the communities where we work, the level of illiteracy is very high.  For this reason, we try to encourage children and young people into school programs, either by encouraging and supporting them through our homework club as they join state education programs, or in the inner-city ghetto areas, by helping them get started in our own playschool (kindergarden).

 Camps and Fun:

In a wonderful lakeside location on the edge of a village called Taut, we have a summer camp - used by both tourists and children's camps.  There is always a lot of work to do at the camp, both construction and "housekeeping" (cleaning, food preparation, gardening, and everything else that needs to be done to run a camp). 

In addition, we also run kids' clubs, youth clubs, hold regular bible studies and of course, church.

We also host an annual national praise and worship event called DrumFest.

Some of the areas where you might work:

This is not an exhaustive list, but gives you some idea of the kind of areas where you might work.

• Church
• Homes for the homeless
• Checheci community (inner-city ghetto)
• Siria community (rural community)
• Taut community (5 rural communities in the hills)
• Taut Camp
• Kids and Youth work
• Festival crew
• Agriculture
• Micro-enterprise projects
• Web-design and development
• Office and Admin

Where Would I Live?

Our main base for the missions program is in shared student accommodation in Covasint, which is the next village over from Siria, where the NetWorks offices are. 

What Do I Get Out Of It?

More than you expect...

Personal Development:

Most of the people who spend time with us serving the poor find that they go home feeling that they have received much more than they have given.  You will see and experience things that many people simply never get to see.  You will have the privilege of glimpsing into the lives of the very poor and actually working alongside them.

Spiritual Formation:

Because we believe that your time with us is also about your spiritual growth and development, our hope is that by joining our missions training program, you will grow in your Christian faith and become more dependent on God.  You will be mentored and discipled during your time with us by one of your long-term missions team.  We will provide you with a core reading plan and some bible study for your time with us.  In addition, you will attend a regular group bible study.

What Would It Cost?

The cost of the missions training program for the 2010-2011 term has not yet been determined, please contact us for further information. This fee will  include accommodation costs, use of laundry facilties, transportation to and from work sites during your time here, teaching/guest speakers and teaching materials and books. 

This fee does not include the cost of your flight, travel to and from the airport, medical expenses, food, snacks, drinks or other personal items that you wish to buy during your time here (e.g. toiletries, clothes, etc) or transportation for any other purpose.

More Information

NetWorks