A
Longer View of Kairos: from Die Konferenz
to
Adelante and beyond
.
Betty Banks interviews
Laura McAllister
In
2005, Kairos organised a conference - “Die Konferenz”- with a similar vision
to Adelante in the weeks leading up to the World Youth Day in Germany.
Since then, Kairos has organised annual regional weekend events, summer
Bible weeks, and mission trips, as well as continuing to support a network
of student groups working with young adults on a day-to-day basis.
Big
conferences like Adelante and Die Konferenz are exciting and inspiring
but are not just flashes in the dark. God works with and in each person
in the in-between times. Belfaster Laura McAllister attended Die Konferenz
at the age of 17. Since then, she has been involved with UCO-Belfast, has
attended all six Kairos weekends and was the very first person to sign
up for Adelante, Prep 10 and WYD. I interviewed her to get a sense of her
journey from the conference in Germany to Spain, and how her experience
of Adelante differed from her time in Germany in 2005. Her words resonate
strongly with others in Kairos as we seek to know and boldly live out the
call God has placed on our lives, both as individuals and as his international
people. Some excerpts from our interview:
I decided to come to Adelante because
I really felt God calling me to come, to be equipped in my faith, to grow
and to see the future direction I’m going in my life. Last time I was really
young, and I had only just accepted God into my life the year before. I
feel that this time I have a strong faith, I have been learning who I am,
and I’ve seen that God is faithful and that he’s a part of my life. I’ve
seen that [over the last six years]. I came to Adelante to strengthen that,
to remember it and to see that God is with me now and he will be with me
along my future walk. I want God to show me what my mission is, what service
he wants from me, and where he wants me to be in the next stage of my life.
I feel it was a blessing going to
Prep10. The service times gave me an opportunity to give something back
to this conference... I talked with people from different nationalities
and cultures about their faith and about ways they do things in their country,
including ways Kairos works in different contexts. It was great for me
to see the international view of Kairos and to see where I fit into that
now.
I’m really excited that we
have this opportunity to serve at WYD so we can be an example of an ecumenical
community working together for God. We have the chance to share our faith
and to learn from other people from every nation of the world.
At Prep 10 and Adelante, God spoke
to me and encouraged me in stepping out in my faith and being who I’m meant
to be in Christ. [Six years after Die Konferenz] I feel God calling me
to step up and share with people. He has been showing me that I can be
someone who speaks up, that I do have a voice and I do have something to
offer.
[Laura McAllister is a member
of UCO, the Kairos-affiliated university outreach in Belfast, Northern
Ireland.] |
