A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TEAM MEMBER…
What does a day on the mission field with a Global Encounters team look like? As you might guess, this can change a lot depending on the country where you are working, but there are three primary schedules that we use:
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A VBS-style program runs for about four hours per day. It focuses primarily on lesson time and large group skits. Some teams run two VBS’s in the same week, working in one location in the morning, and a different one in the afternoon. This schedule is ideal for holding programs in the communities right where the kids live with a minimal need for local resources. It has allowed us to reach kids in a wide variety of settings – everything from a clearing in the jungle to a crowded shanty town.
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Day camps are halfway between our VBS and overnight camp schedules. The program usually runs from about 9 am to 4 pm. We create teams like at the longer camps, have lesson time in the morning, and games in the afternoon. We wrap up the afternoon with Bible memory verses and a large skit. There is downtime to hang out with the kids over lunch. This schedule works great when an overnight camp facility isn’t available, but we have a church, orphanage, or something similar that is willing to provide lunch for the kids and has enough space for some big group games.
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Overnight camps usually last 5-7 days. We divide the kids into teams for the whole week of activities and assign one or two team members and one translator to each group. The schedule includes morning lesson time (same curriculum that we use for VBS’s), afternoon games, and fun activities that are unique to that camp (beach in Ecuador, mud pit in Zimbabwe, mountain hiking in Romania). Evenings are full of team spirit, Bible memory verses, team awards, and skits. There is lots of down time throughout the schedule when you can hang out with the kids or get some rest. This schedule allows the most relationship building.
What and How We Teach
The Global Encounters curriculum was designed for maximum flexibility while teaching important spiritual truths in a way that is fun, memorable, and works well with kids' high energy levels. We have five different curriculums with topics such as "Discovering God," "Identity in Christ," "Promises of God," "Christ Followers," and "Servants of Christ." Check out the video to see what that looks like in action.