Paul: you may have picked up along the way that Lesley has been working towards the launch of the Agapé School of Movement Building for quite a while now. Well, the launch was a couple of weeks back and the write-up just appeared in "Agapé News" so I thought I'd steal it and copy it into here. Here's what it said:
In January a handful of staff got together for the launch of the all new Agapé School of Movement Building. This is a training program which lasts two and a half years. It aims to develop a generation of Agapé staff who are fully equipped to build spiritual movements at the University.
"The question we asked ourselves was; how do we make sure we have effective movement building teams?" says Lesley, who has helped to develop the school. The answer has been to build up strong leaders. "I looked around the room and thought 'these are such quality guys!' And they're stepping up to the task of leadership, which is such a huge need."
The course is taught through a combination of personal coaching, assignments and field experience. New leaders will learn how to pioneer movements in new places, how to raise up leaders among students, how to think creatively about sharing the gospel in relevant ways, how to build strong spiritual communities, and finally, how to enthuse their movements with God's heart for global mission.
The two day launch has been a great success with inspiring teaching and a strong sense of community spirit. The sessions focussed on the heart of leadership: the servant, the shepherd and the steward. There were also guests - staff from New Zealand who had come to share how God is working with students there. And the whole thing ended up with good discussion in a local pub! One of the staff said: "It's so exciting to be part of a people who are all on the same journey of becoming leaders. The teaching was all good, and I've already changed the way I do things as a result."
This class will be graduating in 2011 but from the start, expectation of what God is doing has been high. Lesley added, "there's a sober realisation of the responsibility that's being entrusted, and each person wanted to honour God in the way the lead."
So; there you have it. If you want to catch more of the same, do see the news pages of the Agapé website: www.agape.org.uk/news.html
On a more general note, we're having an interesting life. In consecutive weeks since Christmas Lesley has:
- Had her laptop stolen (but we did get the stolen car back, if you hadn't heard!)
- Had someone drive into the side of her car (not a good year for cars)
- Spent a morning in A&E after nearly removing 2 fingers putting up a trampoline (they're on the mend now)
All good fun, but it's getting a bit silly now. Lesley put her facebook status as "Life is officially ridiculous" after the finger-incident. Kinda sums it up really.
