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 A shared moment of retrospection, gratitude and vision
It was a sunny Saturday that brought back some wonderful memories from years gone by, as a group of Philip Project Alumni came together at Woodbridge Chapel in London for this year’s PP Alumni Annual Reunion.
We had a keynote sermon from Pastor Peter Oyugi, a ‘State of the Philip Project’ speech from Geoff Low, our current PP Coordinator - outlining our vision going forward - as well as plenty of discussion and chatting.
It was all punctuated by warm cups of tea and a delicious lunch prepared by our very own Justine Musiime.
Peter’s Sermon
After the initial cup of tea and prayers, we sat down to listen to the keynote sermon...
...delivered by Pastor Peter Oyugi, the vicar of Elmfield Church, London and a long-standing friend of the Philip Project’s founder, Wanyeki Mahiaini.
To start his sermon, he opened with 3 questions for us as Philip Project Alumni, allowing time for the Alumni present to respond.
- Why did you join the PP?
- What have you learnt?
- How are you applying the lessons from the Philip Project?
From that Q&A introductory challenge, he went on to preach from Exodus 3:1-14, about the Calling of Moses. After taking us through the context that had brought Moses to the burning bush in the middle of Midian, he talked about some parallels between that passage and how God calls each of us. With the view that the training we’d received within the Philip Project was part of our equipment for God’s calling upon our lives:
Like Moses, encountering God through the burning bush incident and proceeding to serve Him through leading Israel out of Egypt; we too have opportunities to serve God, with skills learnt from the Philip Project. He challenged us to practical ways of heeding God’s call by utilising the skills learnt from the Philip Project. Those of us within the UK have opportunities here, to:
- minister in our local churches e.g. youth ministry
- mentor current Philip Project students
We also need to keep asking ourselves, ‘How can I best support Bible teaching back in my home country?’. How about the follow opportunities… he pointed out:
- Supporting IFES – training University students across Africa, in Bible teaching, who impact their local communities directly.
- Creating partnerships between one’s local church in the UK & their local church back in Africa.
Peter concluded by saying that the ultimate purpose of God’s calling is Devotion & Worship. In Exodus, we see God redeeming Israel out of captivity, calling them to Himself, to Worship Him. Find out how you can serve the God-given calling that led you to the Philip Project and how you can be a true worshipper through that. And whatever God shows you to do, do it with humility – as to God!
A full transcript of Peter’s keynote sermon.
PP Coordinator’s Speech – Gratitude for journey thus far, Vision for journey ahead!
After a sumptuous lunch, our PP Coordinator addressed us, pointing out 3 key things.
- Where we have come from – what can we thank God for:
- Where we are going – Vision for Philip Project
- What is my role – as an Alumnus – in the Philip Project & for Faithful Bible Teaching
He spoke of gratitude to God for Wanyeki’s pioneering work, for Alastair & Chifundo’s involvement during the PP’s recent transition & for over 50 alumni who have returned home to 14 African countries, facilitating faithful Bible Teaching.
Vision-wise, he pointed out two main areas.
- Internationalisation in London
- Aim/Goal in London.
- To raise faithful Bible Teachers for Africa and China and other parts of the world.
- By 2015, 50 returnees to be involved in Bible teaching at local level; 10 to be in full-time ministry and/or be involved in Bible training projects.
- Regionalisation across the UK
- Aim/Goal.
- By 2015 to establish PP-type programmes in 5 centres of international student ministry and regular Bible training days/weeks in 10 centres of international student ministry.
He concluded by challenging us to ask ourselves:
What could I be doing now?
- In my local church.
- encouraging, discipling, teaching, preaching (in other churches?);
- exploring further training/future ministry
- For Philip Project.
- praying (get PP News? Attend PP Prayer meetings);
- encouraging new students (especially Africans) – you are PP’s best examples!; mentoring; joining in on some training days.
- giving (even small gifts count) – all such input ‘feeds back’ into PP and helps it to be sustained and to grow.
- For Faithful Bible Teaching in Africa.
- pray for and encourage returnees;
- promote faithful Bible teaching in your local church back in Africa.
A full transcript of Geoff’s speech.
Discussions
To top it all up, we had a time of discussion, then prayer.
It was noted that it is sometimes not easy to keep in touch as Alumni, so it was suggested that communications to Alumni should be shared through more media, namely.
It was also noted that it’s sometimes easier for people to pass on information to their close friends with the Philip Project Family, so that way information quickly branches out to reach more people.This was mainly due to an appreciation that general email is not always the most effective way to pass on a message to other PP Alumni – so hopefully, our Website and social networking skills will come in handy.
On the whole, it was a day that reminded us of what the Philip Project stands for, how God has used it to transform and equip us and how we can get involved in carrying its vision forward. God is at work… choose to keep involved.
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PP Members 
