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TIM: Community spirit marks beginning of youth mission programme
Youth beginning CWM's Training in Mission (TIM) programme in 2005 have already started to enjoy the team aspect of the experience, writes Beccy Beard of CWM News.
The 11 youth arrived in South Africa earlier in February from CWM-member and partner churches in countries including Canada, the UK, Zambia, Bangladesh, Kiribati, Samoa and New Zealand. But they have already started to get along well, said workshop leader Rev Dave Wanless.
After running a training and communication skills workshop in late February Wanless said that "the group is already showing signs of a good community spirit as they live, study and worship together".
Bringing together young people from churches in different parts of the world is one of the special things about TIM said Jo Cornish of CWM. "Because the team is international you are not just learning from where you are placed but also from the people you are with."
Training in Mission students combine theological and missiological study with practical placements.
Later in the year the participants will travel to Oudtshoorn in the Eastern Cape and Kuruman Mission, the historic mission centre of the former London Missionary Society in the northwest of South Africa. Then they will serve in various church-related programmes and ministries in and around Cape Town.
The participants move onto the second stage of their mission training in India in June.
