Where are we making a difference?

Peter Baker | 21:09, Sunday, 10 October 2010

It’s hypothetical of course, because you can never know the complete answer to the question. But here’s a list of outcomes I am aware of, in which Highfields has been heavily involved and which have changed the world just a little.
 
Of the 14 Apprentices we have trained over the past ten years through our intern programme, 12 have gone on to be involved in full time Christian ministry and most still are. That’s a very high percentage. It means that either as Student Workers, Pastors, Youth Workers, or Missionaries, we have trained and equipped for service young men and women who right now are helping to bring the gospel to campuses, communities and local churches. We made a difference to people who are making a difference to others. Without them, student work would have been less effective, churches wouldn’t have had Assistant Pastors and the nations of the world would be less evangelised. In a culture of spiritual decline, the state of the Church in the UK continues to be positively influenced by the kinds of people in whom Highfields has invested.

Where else have we made a difference? Our daytime Network Course has seen 115 students graduate from 35 different churches across South Wales and the South West.  Today, all over the country, Sunday Schools are better resourced, youth work better served, the Bible better handled from pulpits and Small Groups and Church Leadership Teams better led, because we shaped the minds and hearts of people of all ages with Biblical values and principles. That’s the difference we have made.

In both these streams of ministry training, the difference we have made has benefited other churches, much more than our own. We train and send, we rarely train and keep. For the difference we are making is strategic. Why? Because it’s not about Highfields in the end, it’s about the kingdom. We give away, we invest to bless others.

Right now, every week, in four different local schools, 160 primary school children are part of our Schools Lunchtime Programme. These are children who would never hear about Christ if it weren’t for the teams we send in to teach them. Schools that would not be open to the gospel if we hadn’t cultivated and maintained links with them.

Two more examples - a hot meal a day for the elderly in the community. A year ago the Council was considering closing the Dalton Street Day Centre. Until, that is, Highfields stepped in and made the difference. Now a growing number enjoy better food in a refurbished centre and a programme of events which, a year ago, looked very unlikely. One lady can now pay to heat her house as well as enjoy a cooked meal every day.
 
My final illustration is the difference we are going to make to women who come from cultures where access to education is sometimes difficult. We can provide a friendly environment in which they can learn English so that they can better integrate into our communities and more effectively relate to their children’s education. We hope our English conversation classes will give them new confidence for life here in Cardiff.

These are some of the differences Highfields is making every day to hundreds of people in Cardiff, UK and the world. It seems to me that it’s worth being reminded of that, thanking God for the opportunities and praying that we will go on leaving a huge legacy through our training and vision.