The final Exodus teams arrived home from their placements in mid-August, but the stories from the summer are still being told. Jose, the UK and Ireland Exodus director, recently shared his own stories and perspective from the summer.
Jose’s summer involved a significant amount of travel. He comments, “After the Commissioning Service, I went to a launch in Hungary…..the team there was hosting 58 different teams [across the course of the whole summer].” He adds, “That was wonderful. Then I came home for a short while, then was away again to Spain, where nearly 90 teenagers from eight teams shared a Launch at a single site. And again, that was the chance to see something new. We'd never done a Launch that big!”
Helping at these Launches gave Jose a chance to be hands-on in the ministry. He says, “I love the interactions with individual young people or small groups of young people and the chance to encourage leaders who I usually only see from a distance. It's a really nice chance to hear from them and thank them for what they're doing.”
It was at the Launch in Spain that Jose experienced a simple yet powerful moment of encouragement. At a session on prayer, the leader instructed everyone to pray in small groups. There was a group of girls sitting in the same row as Jose, and one of the girls turned to him and invited him to join their group. He says, “It's such a small thing, but that act was so courageous. And for me, it was just such a simple act of ministry.” He adds, “The next day, I was doing this workshop around disciple making moments. I was able to use that as an example because it was something so powerful. And I think for me, it was good to be encouraged like that. It's a reminder that even as the leader, you can always be blessed through small acts.”
Jose witnessed other stories of discipleship, answered prayer, and encouragement from teens and teams throughout the summer.
Jose mentions, “I've been really encouraged by one of the groups that went to Moldova last year and they all signed up and went out to the same placement again. I was on the WhatsApp updates for that group, and they texted everybody and [said] ‘please pray, it hasn't rained here and there's no water’. There were 230 people in their WhatsApp support goup, all praying for rain. Three minutes later, they texted again and said, ‘it just rained’!” Jose was thrilled that these teens got to witness such a powerful and immediate answer to prayer!
Young people are showing a hunger for God’s word. Jose says, “I can't remember being with a group before that were so keen to engage with scripture.” Other teens have decided to sign up to be mentors through the Exodus DISCIPLES programme.
Jose also shares how many of his peers now have teens in Exodus. He comments, “One of the biggest sources of encouragement has been parents whose children have been on teams this year and who have gotten in touch with me to report the remarkable change they see in their teens.”
“There is something unique about the environment (of a team), a space that feels adventurous and fun and also, my favourite word from the Bible, spacious. God recognizes that humanity needs a spacious place. This is a thread woven through the whole Bible” He defines that “spacious place” as a place of deep rest and peace in God. He concludes, “This summer I have seen that our teams give young people glimpses of the spacious place as they experience Him at work.”
