Coptic that

... by Simon
Last Thursday I led a seminar for all of the students to review a visit that we had from a Coptic Orthodox Priest. It's not as if Namibia is being over-run with Coptic Othodox, but in an effort to help students interact with and evaluate other 'Christian traditions', a Coptic Orthodox Priest was invited to talk about his church.
In our review it was really encouraging to hear the students talk about the need to demonstrate humility and to welcome visitors... and yet also to be clear about what a very different faith the Coptic Orthodox Church proclaims. The heart of the difference, as we saw it, was the decision to hold the church tradition as the ultimate source of authority.
Although many students will struggle to find a Coptic Orthodox person in their villages at home, Namibia is full of people who call themselves Christian and hold their particular church tradition as the ultimate source of authority. (even if that church tradition only goes back as far as what the pastor said last week!)
One of the abiding principles of NETS is that the Bible is the ultimate source of authority in all matters of faith. This means that we need to live ourselves, and encourage our students to live and serve God's church, in constant submission to God's will as we know it through His Word.
For me, last Thursday was the first time I had formally 'taught' the whole student body, and I had a blast. I am learning so much about how to relate and communicate more appropriately In Namibia, and it was great to put the training wheels on and have a go.
The next day I played Bob the Builder around the campus and fixed some toilets, unblocked drains and that sort of thing... and I really enjoyed that too.
I am very much looking forward to July when I start teaching full-time. At this stage it looks like the first thing I might do is go along on the week-long College mission trip to Botswana.