Outreach Day
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
-Romans 10 : 14–15
Last Saturday the students and staff scattered throughout the surrounding countryside proclaiming the hope of Jesus Christ through Bible stories, prayer, friendship, food, playing together, and working together to fix a building and plant trees.
It was RVA Outreach Day that we do together once each term. Not that this is our only outreach to the local community, but it’s the only one that involves the entire school at one time. We had groups make thank you cards and visit and pray with our National staff while others went to nearby orphanages, a women’s prison, a displaced persons camp, a hospital, as well as a few other local ministries. Other students helped repair a building where ladies sell vegetables and some planted trees to help repair the damage done by deforestation (so many trees have been cut down over the years for charcoal – increasing the danger of mudslides during the rainy season).
The goal of Outreach Day is to make sure as a school, we not forget that we are not here just to serve ourselves. We want to know the community and love them practically, as well as to give our students exposure to the needs around us and have the opportunity to serve those needs. We offer a lot of practical help and try to meet a variety of needs, but we remind the kids, though the gospel is shown genuine through our actions, words of Truth are necessary. A fixed building is great, but it can’t compare to a heart transformed by hearing and trusting in the finished work of Christ!
