OAC Publications
Borderlines
June 1999

The MEPA Year Team

This year we have put the emphasis on quality rather than quantity...

"Hello! My name is Jo Dunn. I became the MEPA year team for eight months from January. I'm from Woodlands Church in Bristol. Before coming here I'd spent the previous three years working in theatre design. I decided to join the team after taking part in Festival Outreach '98.

"My first month in Lauris was set aside for team meetings, and that's pretty much all we did; but l know now how things work (l can log on to the kettle and boil the computer) and feel comfortable within the team.

"Since then I've been helping out at a 2nd hand clothes store in Pertuis, which caters mainly for poorer North African women. It has been exciting, as one of them started going along to church, and two others stayed behind one week to watch the 'Jesus' video. I've been doing questionnaires in the market with Richard, which has led to some interesting conversations about the Gospel, and I've been screamed at a few times ("You cults are all the same!").

"I've also had a lot of training so far - on evangelism, the Gospel, children's work, sketchboarding and ventriloquism. I went along to Emmaus Bible College in Switzerland with Mark in February, as he was teaching evangelism and sketchboarding, and discovered on arrival that l was teaching too!

"I have also prepared a shadow puppet presentation. The briefing for this consisted of a two-minute conversation with Mark, illustrated by a diagram consisting of three lines. What more could I ask for? The show was used for the first time during the Spring in the City outreach in Paris.

I was a bit disappointed that revival didn't break out as soon as I arrived in France, but I am gradually getting better at evangelism, and at letting God do his stuff."