Companions in Christ, Together & Apart
Saturday, Nov. 14 - 9:30-11:15 a.m.
Thank you to all who joined us for our first ever online Bega Kwa Bega Fall Festival! We gathered by Zoom for fellowship, prayers and learning, with warm greetings from leaders in Tanzania and a farewell to Deacon April Trout as she concludes her service as the BKB Program Coordinator in Tanzania. You can watch a recording of the main part of the festival here:
NOTE: A recording of the workshop "Navigating Differences That Make A Difference" is also available for viewing - click the link in the learning session below!)
Affiliate Central
Visit our affiliates...organizations that work in collaboration with the Saint Paul Area Synod and the Iringa Diocese to support life, health and economic conditions:
Worship Resources for Congregations
The BKB Festival Team invites you to use its prepared worship materials to replace or supplement an upcoming weekly video worship. A full service as well as separate elements including a sermon from the Rev. Askal Mgeyekwa, Confession & Forgiveness and Apostles Creed, prayers, music and more. A variety of children's resources for Sunday School/faith formation programs is also available!
1 Thessalonians 3:6-10a
But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us—just as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith.
For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face...
Fall Festival Offering:
The Fall Festival Offering is designated for BKB Equity Funds to fund scholarships to Tanzanian students who are in one of the 45 congregations that do not yet have a partner congregation in the Saint Paul Area Synod. Just click the button below for the synod's donation page. Enter the amount you wish to give in the row marked BKB Support (Tanzania) and in the space to the right please specify "Fall Festival Offering." (You do not need to create an account to make a donation.)
Learning Sessions
Together & Apart - Navigating Differences that Make a Difference
Presenter/Host - Pastor Joy McDonald Coltvet & Pastor Peter Harrits
Even when we are physically present with our companions, we are often worlds apart when it comes to culture. With an iceberg as a guiding image and the cultural dimensions research of Geert Hofstede as a tool, the presenters used conversations and storytelling to identify 'differences that make a difference' we've observed in our relationships, lean into what they may mean, and learn to be better companions when we are back together. Click here to view the recording.
Together & Apart - Accompanying and Mission Within the Congregation
Presenter/Host - Pastor Heather Roth Johnson
Learning to talk to people who are different from us is an important skill. The exciting part is that we don't have to go around the world to learn how to do this. We can start with the generations in our own churches! This track was for those who wanted to discover how discipleship is about “accompanying” one another in our congregations and in our households; and how involvement in “mission” cannot be separated from faith formation for every age and stage of life.
Together & Apart - Those Who Travel and Those Who Stay
Presenter/Host - Kirsten Levorson
How does your congregation keep travelers engaged in your companionship after they arrive home? How do you engage congregation members who will never travel? This session shared strategies and experiences from a variety of SPAS congregations who do those things well.
Resources for Children's Ministry
Congregations and families are invited to download the following materials for Sunday School/faith formation programming:
- Together and Apart Video - a four and a half minute video that invites children to discover how they are similar or different to the kids in Iringa
- Bega Kwa Bega - Sunday School Resource Page - an outline for a lesson with a craft, offering and prayer
- Tanzania Activity Page - instructions for making rain stick shakers
- Tanzania coloring book - 16 pages!