With the start of the summer CMLC only days away, I want to share with you extracts from interviews conducted with two of our former students. As you read their responses, may your heart be thrilled, as mine was, to see the truth of 1 Thes. 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful”. Gary Cousins (Education Coordinator for Kilchzimmer and Western Europe)
GC: Amélie, you took the course in autumn 2008. How did a young French woman decide to come to Kilchzimmer and to study in English?
AC (Amélie Coste): In 2006, I started working as a civil engineer in London. After a camp in France as a counsellor, my burden for France and the children there became clearer. The greatest challenge for me was realizing that ministry work in France meant quitting my job in London. It took me almost a year to make that decision, but I am so glad the Lord gave me the peace to do it! Shortly after that, I heard about the institute and decided to come to Kilchzimmer since no similar institutes existed in France at that time.
GC: As you look back on your 12 weeks here – what highlights stick in your mind?
AC: I enjoyed the fellowship with other young Christians who had the same heart for children as I had. The classes were excellent, and I’m using them today in my ministry. Switzerland was also a beautiful country to discover.
GC: You came here unsure if you should join CEF. What happened during the course and the months immediately after?
AC: My time at Kilchzimmer was part of a year of sabbatical I was taking to get involved in ministry to see how God would guide me. After leaving the institute, I began a one-year internship with CEF where I had the opportunity to visit some CEF missionaries, start teaching and organize two clubs.
GC: I read in your prayer letter that you have many opportunities to train others. Is this your main ministry?
AC: My ministry is threefold: teacher-training, clubs and graphic design. I had the opportunity to attend an IOT1 and an IOT3 course. This led me to teach several TCE1 and TCE3 classes and seminars in different towns in France.
GC: How does what you learned at Kilchzimmer help you in your day-to-day ministry?
AC: Studying at Kilchzimmer helped me acquire methods that gave me the confidence I needed to start a monthly Bible club in my town. This club has been going on for almost two years now. The IPEAR method and how to adequately communicate central truths are tools I still use to help me prepare for the club.
GC: What are the biggest challenges facing a CEF worker in France?
AC: France is a mission field. It is difficult for a French missionary to find support in France. CEF workers are very few here and most French children haven’t heard the Gospel. Many children in my club are hearing the Bible stories for the first time, but it is a joy to have boys and girls so attentive to the teaching.
GC: How can we pray for you specifically?
AC: I have a couple of trainings and retreats where I will be teaching children in the coming weeks, especially one at Easter. My prayer is that by God’s grace, I will stay faithful to Him.
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GC: How did you come to leave your secular employment and enter Bible College?
NH (Neil Harkness): In November 1999 as I was reading Acts 7:3, those words to Abraham came so strong to me personally that I really felt God was saying, someday Neil you are going to leave Northern Ireland and go to another land.
I had a real interest in Northern and Western Europe as I had travelled to Holland, Germany and Belgium with friends and to Finland and Sweden with my father to watch the car rallies. I didn’t know where God wanted me to go but I knew Bible College was the next step.
GC: How did you find out about the CMLC (Childrens’ Ministry Leadership Course)?
NH: During my final year at the Faith Mission Bible College (Scotland), in the spring of 2007, a fellow student from Germany gave me a Kilchzimmer Echo. I couldn’t read it because it was in German, but she explained it a little bit and asked me “did you ever think of going there?” I had heard of Kilchzimmer but I didn’t know very much about it or CEF. I really enjoy children’s ministry, I had taught in Sunday school in my home church and I had been involved for many years in camps with the faith mission. Strange as it was, every time I passed the college missions display, there seemed to be something there from CEF. The Lord used those things to lead me to attend the CMLC.
GC: You attended the autumn 2007 course. What memory stands out for you?
NH: While I was convinced before the course of the need to evangelize children, the classes on the Biblical basis gave me the verses I needed to be able to show others from the scriptures how children can be saved. I believe this will be a big help for me working in Northern Europe where many doubt that children need to be saved.
GC: How did the Lord use your time in Kilchzimmer to guide you?
NH: I came not knowing what I would do afterwards. One evening I was reading Deuteronomy 31 for an assignment. The moment I read verse 7 where Moses said to Joshua, “thou must go with this people”, it was so clear that God was speaking to me. As the weeks progressed I had a real peace and I felt increasingly at home among the “CEF people”. As we prayed each day for different countries I realized, here is a mission that is also working in Northern and Western Europe. It was as if my natural desires, the work I was interesting in, my personal circumstances, and the call of God – all came together while at Kilchzimmer.
GC: When did Sweden become your main focus?
NH: At the end of the course I shared with Roy Harrison (former European Director) that I wanted to apply to the mission. He asked where I felt the Lord was leading me. I said that I had a natural desire towards Northern Europe and mentioned that I had been to Sweden. He proceeded to tell me that CEF doesn’t have any full-time workers there and that they were praying that God would raise them up. I didn’t commit to anything then but the seed had been planted.
GC: What did you do immediately after the course?
NH: The call was so strong that a few weeks later I applied to CEF Ireland. At the beginning of March 2008 I was accepted as a candidate and commenced a time of practical training. The following 18 months gave me an opportunity to get to know the work of CEF better and to discern the Lord’s will.
GC: When did it become clear that Sweden was the country God was calling you too?
NH: Sweden was still on my mind, so in September 2008, armed with a list of contacts, a friend and I went on a fact-finding mission to the country. My prayer was, Lord, if this is it, make it clear… if not... I can go home knowing that this is not your will. When I got on the plane to go home, I was convinced that this was the not the place the Lord wanted me. But then I opened a book I had been given at Bible College to read the final chapter. It was called “God is Faithful” a collection of short stories from former missionaries. In the providence of God, the first statement I read was “James Lees who was a Scottish miner took a return ticket to Sweden to test if God was calling him there to labour in the Gospel.” I put the book down and a smile came over my face as I realized that God had spoken again in a truly unmistakable way.
I didn’t share it with anyone until April 2009. It was already clear but I asked the Lord to confirm it to me one more time. The reading that night in My Daily Light was “arise ye, depart for this is not your rest” (Micah 2:10). I soon became a missionary designate to Sweden and a short time later commenced deputation.
GC: Things moved quite quickly from them on!
NH: Yes, going into deputation, facing the challenge of raising support for living in one of the most expensive countries in Europe, I was encouraged by the words of Exodus 35:21 were it says that the peoples hearts were stirred and their spirits were made willing to give to the work of the tabernacle. In less that a year, my full support had been pledged.
In the summer of last year, eleven years after God had first spoken to me through Acts 7:3, with 15 kilos of luggage, I boarded a Ryanair flight to Gothenburg, Sweden. I got settled in, found a place to live, got the remainder of my stuff brought over from Ireland and commenced language school in September.
GC: What are the challenges facing you as you seek to establish the work in Sweden?
NH: CEF is virtually unknown in Sweden. Also the area I live in has a high immigrant population and there are many Muslim children. I am looking forward to having a better grasp of the language so I can commence the work here among the children. I know that it will not be easy but I am very sure that this is where God wants me to be and I know that He will be faithful.
Are you a former student? Why not tell us your story? We would love to hear from you!
Or if you are interested in attending the course at Kilchzimmer, click here for more information.
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