idea magazine

A different path

July / August 2007

Xplore programme leader Phil Clark wants to infect young people with a mission virus...

By the time I left school at 17, I had my life sorted. A degree in accounting and economics would be followed by a lucrative career as a chartered accountant. But nine months later, I had dropped out of university and was on a very different path that has been an exhilarating, personally costly and at times frightening journey of Christian discipleship. So what happened?

I was brought up in a Christian family, went to a good village Methodist church, and even attended a Christian school. Faith, Jesus, prayer and church were a normal part of my life. My career decisions were based on what I thought I could manage, and my choice of Hull University was mainly based on the fact that I could live at home. God, well He was only really bothered by what I got up to on Sunday.

Towards the end of my first term at university, I was invited to visit a missionary ship, Operation Mobilisation's Logos, which was docked in Hull. On board I met a very different type of Christian who lived and breathed faith, and I discovered that radical 24/7 discipleship was alive and well. The life of suits, accounts and comfort which I had lined up somehow lost its appeal, and I wanted to give my life for something much greater.

Now, 25 years later, I find myself taking another step of faith - into a new post as programme leader of Church Army's Xplore scheme. It is much more than just another gap-year programme - if all we do is fill a year before young people move on to the real stuff of life, then we have failed.

Relevant mission

Xplore is for young adults aged 18 to 25 who want to be motivated, trained and equipped for relevant 21st century mission and are prepared to set aside personal ambition, career success and financial security for the sake of the Gospel. In return we will provide them with 14 weeks of quality training in a UK mission base, before they set off for six months alongside an experienced Church Army evangelist, making disciples in places across the world where traditional church has failed to make an impact - with the lost, the last and the least.

We don't apologise for suggesting that they will find it hard to settle back into a typical 9-to-5 job. Neither will they easily drop back into believing that just going to church is the extent of Christian discipleship. We hope these young people will be permanently infected with a mission virus that will compel them to seek out those who live without God's love and to invite them into God's kingdom.

Training is based in Liverpool, and classroom time will be mixed with ongoing mission - walking the streets of Huyton, being involved in local primary and secondary schools, and joining in community-based evangelism. During the training we begin to look at the Bible story; develop personal disciplines and self-awareness; examine what it means to live both in community and in a broken world; and learn how to observe, read, interpret and reach a different culture, and what it means to consistently make disciples of Jesus.

Six-month placements will be in countries where Church Army has a presence - Australia, Barbados, Canada, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand and USA, as well as in the UK and Ireland. Participants will be well supported as they push the boundaries of their own experience of following Jesus.

This approach is already working for young people from Australia, Kenya and the USA who are part of sister programmes. One participant, Anna, says, "This has been a year of real growth for me. I have been pushed beyond my comfort zones and seen God working as a result."

Ngata adds, "One of the big things I have learned is to depend fully on God, to depend less on material possessions, and focus more on things of relational value."
Xplore finishes with two weeks back in Liverpool sharing stories, joys and disappointments, and together we ask, "Where now?" Back to the accounting ledger? Perhaps - but probably not.

• For more information: tel 08445 853575, www.xploreglobal.org.uk