Phase 1 - Summer Projects
Laying the Foundation
STINT (Short Term INTernational) sends students to pioneer new works on universities where no Agape ministry exists. Ideally, the work progresses through five stages. First comes the summer project. Agape in one location chooses a university in another country and sends a summer project to get to know the people, make contacts, and share Christ with as many students as possible.
Salerno, Italy, hosted such a project last summer. Salerno sits on the southern coast of Italy, tucked between the cliffs and the sea. This year a nearby evangelical pastor told Haswell Beni that the time was right for Agape to begin something.
So a team of 23 Americans, led by Paul and Amy Mayer of Mississippi State University, rented a youth hostel on the beach and began meeting students. They took surveys, they invited students to barbecues, and they began laying the foundation for the STINT team that arrived in August. A group of 15 to 20 Christian students calling themselves the "Martin Luther King group," embraced the Americans, and several wanted to learn to share their faith. As a result, the STINT team began with a list of 40 people to meet.
Phase 2 - STINT Team
Pioneering
Once a summer project has established a beachhead, a STINT team goes to live in the city fPor a year. They follow up the contacts from the summer project and continue to do evangelism.
Last summer John and Beverly Estorge saw a map of Europe showing Agape ministries. Outside of Finland, Scandinavia was blank. "Why is this?" thought John, a Presbyterian minister and experienced staff member. "Campus Crusade is on the cutting edge of world missions, but here is a whole region with no campus staff. So in September the Estorges moved to Sweden to lead a STINT team. They began working in Uppsala, following up contacts made by a summer project.
"We wanted a pioneering experience," says John. "On STINT, we can start something where others can follow in our footsteps. And we hope that within five to seven years we can see a movement established, because ultimately the Swedes will have to be the ones to reach their universities in their own language, their own style."
Phase 3 - Long-term Staff
Building Trust
Young men and women on STINT can meet a lot of people, build friendships and share the gospel, but full time staff must usually be in place for a movement to grow. So the third stage is to send international campus staff to shepherd the fledgling ministry.
Toby and Sonia Oaks first went to Sevilla, Spain, on summer projects in '97 and '98, then returned for two years of STINT. After that taste of Spain, they made a long-term commitment to the University of Sevilla.
"In Spanish culture," says Toby, "you need to develop trust. As in the rest of Europe, things take a long time, and trust is a big deal in mobilizing believers and getting them involved in evangelism. We've been here long enough to start building trust, and people are beginning to open up. Our focus now is developing national leaders, so our ministry is built on cell groups, and discipling and encouraging believers with the end of evangelism."
|
Phase 4 - National Staff Members
Love for the Lost
"I joined Agape because I wanted to serve God with all my life," says Mari Angeles Bootello, a staff woman in Spain. "I have a love for college students who don't know God, and going full time was the only way to reach them. And I want to disciple believers, and give them what Agape gave me—a passion for lost people."
That passion began growing three years ago, when Mari met STINTer Stephanie Luke. Stephanie taught the young Spaniard basic truths about salvation. She also said that God had great plans for Mari Angeles' life. "These were words I had never heard before," says Mari. "I realized that I was somebody important in the hands of God, and that I could do things for eternity."
Phase 5 - Sending
Links in a Chain
Last year the British ministry invited Miami University of Ohio to partner with Liverpool and start a new ministry. The Americans sent a STINT team and within a year had shared the gospel with 1,200 students. About 15 indicated decisions to receive Jesus Christ. Then the team took 11 Liverpool believers on a summer project to St. Petersburg, Russia. Next autumn, they plan to send a fully-fledged STINT team there.
"I see partnership as a chain-link thing," says Brad Snyder, Liverpool team leader. "One step leads to the next. We came to Liverpool on STINT, and next year we are sending a team of Brits from here to St. Petersburg. Then a couple of years after that the Russians will send a STINT team somewhere else." 
|
