After the daily staff morning meeting, I sat down with Eleanor, Geraldine, Faith and Rachel, our four visitors from Capenwray Bible School, to find out how their week at Renewal North West had gone. I met them after a week of hard work in a new environment, having learnt new things every day, but it felt like I was sitting down with established colleagues: they were chatting away with staff, full of laughter and hugs, saying their goodbyes.
Although it was obvious that they felt comfortable at the site in Shaw Heath, it was also clear that they were tired, which Geraldine (from Switzerland) voiced. She and Rachel were here on their outreach week, and she hadn’t expected so much variety in her working day or the openness she would need to have to learn new things; the experience has shown her that she can be good at many things, as she (and all the women) spent days in every department at Renewal and had to be open to the different tasks and challenges that the department faced.
Rachel, a soft-spoken Northern Irelander, spoke highly of the team and the love, patience and effort they put in. To her, this was evidence of how the community was under God, working for Him and not shying away from Christian values. This increased her awareness of God’s presence, especially during the time of singing and reading scripture in the morning.
Eleanor is from Preston and is working with Faith, from Saskatchewan, Canada, at Capernwray, doing their Service and Leadership Training programme. Together, with 19 other students, Eleanor and Faith look after the spiritual and mental well-being of students at the Bible school, like Rachel and Geraldine. Commenting on the staff dynamic, Eleanor and Faith were encouraged by how Renewal members treated each other with grace and lack of judgment. They felt the team looked out for each other, which was impressive given the scale of the charity and the number of departments.
These four women have really impacted the team, with many members commenting on how they were going to miss them and hoping that they would return.
This is the second year now that Capernway students have completed their outreach week with us, and we continue to be impressed with their dedication, hard work and empathy; Geraldine, Faith, Rachel and Eleanor, you will be missed!
