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Andrew and Andrea – community engagement |
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Friday, 06 May 2011 00:00 |
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Andrew continues to help improve the systems so that the services they offer out of the centre run more smoothly and effectively. These events provide their community with opportunities to engage with one another, and also support groups that are working to further these opportunities in their own way. The centre serves a wide range of groups, and has been getting busier, but Andrea and Andrew feel that this is a unique and flexible facility and that they are still scratching the surface of what is possible in serving the kingdom through it. Recent activities have included a conference for people working in the country, football coaching, a group of students and mentors, homeschooling events and women's retreats.
Parenting courses are being run at a local international school and marriages are being supported through the marriage course. Andrew and Andrea provide resources for others to run the course as well as running the course themselves. They are half way through one in the local language and are finding this a good challenge as they seek to improve their language ability. Getting people to commit to these courses has been difficult as the priorities are always focused on the child. They have found that people won't come unless someone is provided to look after the children. Many couples have no idea how to get time out from their children to work on their marriages. A very encouraging feature of the current marriage course is that one of the couples came to it through the new football coaching programme. They are hoping to meet more families through these activities and reach them in a deeper way.
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