The PWAMM Update

For the fourth consecutive year, we were invited to come to Inverness to conduct a Tent Mission - and we were happy to oblige.

On our first Inverness mission, there was one supporting church. It is good to report that there were six local churches involved in this mission - including the original one. We hope and pray that the spirit of cooperation between the churches continues to develop and grow in Inverness. 

This time, the Challenger Bus went ahead, visiting seven local primary schools in advance of the Tent Mission. The team really had to 'hit the ground running', as the bus started in the schools on the same day that the pupils  returned from  their summer holidays. As well as giving clear-cut Gospel presentations to each class, the children were also invited along to a Kids' Club being held in conjunction with the Tent Mission.

Arbroath - Saturday 24 July

The Challenger 3 team had been invited back to the Arbroath Spectacular held on the town's Victoria Park and esplanade . An afternoon of aerobatic displays, bikes, vintage vehicles, bands and other events that attracts around 15,000 people. We had been invited to attend by members of the local Church of Scotland.

Pastor Andy Lunn, his wife Joanne and the team from Celebration Puppets supported us in the outreach..

Hundreds of people stopped and watched the presentation of the Gospel by the puppet team - often there were more adults than children enthralled by the simple presentation! They were then invited to visit the Bus to hear more of the Good News of the Gospel. The team were kept busy all afternoon with one young person making a positive response to the Gospel. The Seed was sown in many lives.

Over the 7 days we were on the Isle of Lewis, we attended 4 local Primary Schools in and around the Point area. Headteachers, staff and pupils alike all enthusiastically greeted the bus and the team with the time-honoured highland hospitality (cakes and coffee aplenty).

The team had been asked to use our Eric Liddell presentation, as the issue of keeping the Sabbath day holy is a pertinent topic on the island at the moment. The pupils listened intently to the Olympian's life story, after watching a short gospel DVD, and singing some kids' songs very loudly. The ubiquitous "Choose your Fish" quiz game concluded each session, just to make sure they had been listening!

In the evenings, the local churches had arranged for the use of the community centre in Point. Recently renovated and surrounded by playing fields, this proved a perfect location for the Kids' Club. Such was the uptake from the locals, the Challenger Bus could not hold all the children who attended, and so P3-7 were kept on the bus and P1-3 were in the community centre. Time travelling, singing, games and crafts all week led up to the last night of the club, when the kids were given a very simple but very direct lesson on why Jesus had to die on the cross.

In early July, the Challenger Bus returned to Ullapool for a second visit this year. The first visit was in March when we went to all the schools in the area. See our previous report. The Free Church of Scotland again extended a gracious welcome to the Bus Team. We were blessed to be accommodated in Lochbroom Lodge again. We appreciated this particularly because it enabled the whole team to pray together at the start and end of each day. And of course there were the spectacular views!

Our visit coincided with the end of the school term. Therefore numbers at the daily Kids' Club varied. A high attendance on the first day (31) indicated that the children had good memories of our last visit. But numbers fell as children went on holiday, or to the Coigach Gathering, or to locally organised holiday activities. However, numbers also rose on the last 2 days of the Club.

In March, the children experienced the excitement of travelling in our time machine. This is not hidden in a battered old police box, but in the sleek lines of the Challenger Bus. Its itinery had been reworked to take it back to the time of the Apostle Paul. The children generated the power to break through the constraints of time by screaming at the tops of their voices. When the crew had recovered from this, the kids listened happily to the story of Paul's life.

Following the story, the ingenious quiz would come up on screen. This consists of a marine environment in which swim the unlikeliest looking fish. As questions about the story are correctly answered, the now traditional cry of "Choose Your Fish" is taken up by the kids-so much so that we almost go further back in time! A fish is selected and "Clicked" to reveal a score. The last 15 minutes of the club is spent doing crafts and enjoying juice and biscuits.

Challenger 3 is back on the road for a series of summer missions. It kicked off with a week on the Isle of Harris, where amazing opportunities have arisen, giving the Bus access in to many of the schools on the island.

In 9 days on Harris & Lewis, the team visited 9 schools, with a total of around 700 children being treated to fast-moving, eye-catching interactive Gospel presentations. 

The programme for secondary schools is very different to that for primary schools, so the team had to be on their toes as the Outer Hebrides' primary schools often incorporate some secondary classes - we had to make sure we knew which class was coming on the bus next!