Reflections on time at allnations

Recent students on our 10 week en route course are now out in the world, and have written back to us:-

1. email from CMS couple in their 50s:

"We have been in Kenya 2 months now, and in Kitui for over 7 weeks, and we have been meaning for some time to e-mail you to say how well the en route course prepared us for life here. We have lost count of the number of times we have said to one another "We talked about that during en route!"

2. Letter from Dutch pastor now in Namibia working as Director of Distance Learning at a Theological Seminary:

"I am thankful for all I received at the en route course and allnations. It is very helpful for the work on the mission field. I think especially of the lesson on transition and the Myers Briggs test. May the Lord continue to bless your work!"


3. email from young man now in Congo

"I really appreciated the en route course, it has been amazing how such a lot of material can be covered in a relatively short period of time. The variety of teaching material and expertise of the various teachers has been great. I hope to be able to use much of the material in Congo. The development studies material will be particularly helpful in setting up the project."


Example of feedback at the end of a course.

1. This one is from a young British guy at the end of en route a year ago.

"I've found en route to be extremely valuable and relevant to what I hope to be doing in the future, serving God in mission abroad. There have been many speakers, each very experienced and passionate about mission, and I've learned so much from them. I've also developed personally while on the course and I understand myself much better. I've learned how to effectively work with and relate to people who are very different to me.

Through doing en route I've made sense of many of the experiences I've had and many of the things I've seen while doing short-term missions. I now feel much better prepared for long term mission and I can't wait to get involved!"

He has already successfully completed a year in India...

2. A few quotes from last terms en route course. (The total evaluation came to many pages so here is just a few!)

For me en route has been useful because:

"I have learned more about myself. I have learned why people are so different, due to personality and culture. I understand more about the African world view. I have learned from the priorities of Godly and wise tutors, the importance of spiritual discipline and relationships and servanthood."

"It has helped me to re-affirm my calling, affirmed the 'gifts' that God has entrusted to me, helped me to identify my weaknesses and strengths."

"It has made me think about the questions we really need to ask ourselves and others as we prepare for mission. The course has challenged me by exposing issues that need to be resolved, and has helped improve my biblical knowledge. Has highlighted how important it is just to be still with God so we can hear His voice. For developing networks of friends with similar interests."

"It has provided a resource-rich relationship-rich and God-rich time to make the transition to a complete change of lifestyle. As a family we have had time to grow together, hear from God and learn together. The next step is still a scary one but it would have been far more scary without this time of equipping."

"It has given me a lot of help for my ministry back in Myanmar. The time spent in reflection on my faith and with God was good. I've grown as a Christian and as a person."

"The lessons were built up in a really good way, the themes were practical, enough time to reflect, useful in every country. I've learned so much about myself, relating to others, about God, all kinds of visions of mission, religions, cultures, development, just everything. I feel prepared to go."

"It has fulfilled all my hopes regarding mission training and more. Everyone that teaches us has on the field training so are talking from experience.
It has covered a huge range of subjects and introduced some questions to be considered over the coming months. Good introductions to many subjects leaving the individual the opportunity to look at the subject in greater details."

"Covered a huge amount and variety of material and laid an excellent foundation for the future."

"I feel more focussed and confident in my calling."

"It filled a gap in my training very effectively - ~I had studied theology, but with very limited emphasis on cross-cultural mission, and not very much on 'the world church' and current global situations. En route was just what we needed, before going to serve in India. And it has helped make me aware of how much learning I will have to do once we get there."

Ruth Wall (Course Leader) 16.1.09

I've found en route to be extremely valuable and relevant to what I hope to be doing in the future, serving God in mission abroad. There have been many speakers, each very experienced and passionate about mission, and I've learnt so much from them. I've also developed personally while on the course and I understand myself much better. I've learnt how to effectively work with and relate to people who are very different to me.

Through doing en route I've made sense of many of the experiences I've had and many of the things I've seen while doing short-term missions. I now feel much better prepared for long term mission and I can't wait to get involved!

Through en route I've learned so much about serving God in mission and expect to be using most if not all of what I've learned in the future. The course is structured so that if we want to there is time to delve deeper into the topics we cover, but there is no exam and no pressure to achieve a certain grade.

There have been people from four continents on the course, and because we do all the sessions together we gelled very quickly. There's no better way to learn about cross-cultural mission than to learn with people from many different places and from speakers who've worked in many different countries.


Tim Raby

It is no easy task to put my experiences of the past three years at allnations in some hundred words. I think of all the great people I got to know, the tutors who have passed their knowledge on to me, the lovely surroundings, all the events, celebrations the times of fellowship, praise and prayer and so many other things. It has been a very rich time and I am filled with gratefulness! I've been immensely blessed by good friends from all over the world. They have taught me so much about how people from other cultures look at things differently, how they act and react differently. To learn from one another has been an invaluable enrichment to me!

When I started my life at allnations three years ago I wanted to be like clay in God's hands. I desired to be moulded and changed by Him. God took this desire seriously. He used people and circumstances to bring issues in my life to the surface. God put His finger on aspects that needed to be dealt with. He lovingly lay open old wounds so that true healing could happen. He revealed to me the lies that I believed about myself. Those lies held me back; they attacked my self-esteem and hindered me in many ways. Through helpful friends I started to see things from a different angle, and slowly, slowly the truth sank. Looking back over these three years I thank God with all of my heart for all the good things he has done in my life. I thank Him for all the times of great joy and excitement and the blessing of dear friends, their encouragement and love. I thank Him for the times of hurting and struggling and grieving, too. I thank Him, for He used all of that to mould me so that I may grow. I know that the refining process is not finished yet. In fact, that will be a life long process.

I'm looking forward to a new step in my life. I'll go to Chad as a teacher for missionary children. Chad is a place where I've never been to and I never planned to go there, either. Yet, I trust it is the place that God has prepared for me and I trust it will be a place of further growth. It is my prayer that I will be a blessing there and that I will be able to draw from all the good things I learnt during my three years at allnations - spiritually, personally and academically.

I came to allnations in 2004 to be trained before God to go to mission work in China.

allnations is a beautiful place and everyone can feel a special atmosphere as we are being and living together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Beautiful nature and multicultural community give us lots of inspiration about God's love and God's kingdom, and it helps us to reflect and put into practice by living together.

When I first came here, I experienced God's restoration for my life from depression, sorrow, and dissatisfaction; just by being here and worshipping Him. From time to time God taught me to be a worshipper in all circumstances. And he used me to lead people in worship. I more realized that God made my gift and talent blossom through the times when I cried and stayed before Him.

At the same time it was a challenge to study theological, missiological, and intercultural subjects in English. Not only was studying in English difficult, but also adjusting to different cultures and getting used to living with people.

However, God gave me sufficient grace to complete all the modules that I needed and worked in me, helping me to enlarge my thoughts and mental boundaries to understand different culture and people. Through this time God shaped and moulded me to be more like Him.

Now, I'm preparing to go to China after getting married. We plan to study Chinese in Shanghai first of all. It's time to put all the things what I have learned into practice in the world. It's not just a theory on the desk; we will have challenges and face confrontation to stand by our faith.

We believe that as we daily, in every moment worship God, He will show us his grace and give us a heart for China.

It is a great privilege to be and study here.