Suriname: Heart Meets Vision
When Kayley first encountered her local IFES movement – The Jesus Students, Suriname (JS) – she was quite young:
“I first experienced the joy of student ministry in high school. When I started university, I knew I couldn’t leave that behind!”
But it wasn’t that simple: she had no campus group to connect with. Despite JS groups thriving in almost 30 schools, the group at the University of Suriname had ceased some years ago.
A Tenacious Vision
This was a challenge that troubled Lorain, a JS staff worker. When she’d been a student at the university two decades earlier, she’d been involved in leading JS’s “Groups investigating God”. So, when she returned as staff in 2017, she was deeply disappointed to hear of the group’s demise.
In 2020, she hoped to start a group with high school students who graduated that year. But some started work, others went abroad for study, and others weren’t interested. “The journey wasn’t easy!”, Lorain recalls.
But she wasn’t ready to give up. In 2023-2024, under the leadership of a young new JS General Secretary in 2023-2024, Lorain met a handful of promising high school students – including Kayley.
A Willing Heart
And Kayley was ready to give it a try:
“I started as a small group leader at the campus not knowing what would come of it but trusting that God wanted his light to shine here, too. It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve seen him work, drawing together students across faculties and deepening our faith.”
Kayley heads up the group in the Law Faculty, while two of her peers started groups in the Social Sciences and Technical Faculties.
Since then, those two groups have merged due to one leader stepping down – an indication of how challenging the role is. Lorain comments: “I have to say, the work on campus is not for the weak! But Kayley is indeed brave. She is really holding on.”
Hearty Resilience and Visionary Results
In addition to the general pressures of student life – like stress, the negative impact of social media, poor self-esteem, and poverty – the student leaders are also pressed for time. It’s been hard for them to find opportunities to physically meet together, so next year many meetings will take place online.
Nevertheless, the coming together of heart and vision is enabling ministry to flourish – students are now leading groups weekly, offering prayer for students before exams, handing out Bible verses with candy, and even participating in a new podcast.
Pray
- Give thanks for JS ministry in schools, for the way God brought together Kayley and Lorain, and for their faithfulness in the face of many challenges.
- They ask for courage and strength to continue the mission and would like us to “pray for the university students – that God will open and soften their hearts for his Word so that they will have the opportunity to personally encounter Christ as Saviour.”
- Pray that the Lord will provide more leaders who are willing and able to be trained to continue these groups and start others – especially for the new academic year at the beginning of October.
To learn more about high school ministry across IFES movements, keep an eye out for the next Conexión blog, due 3 July.