GCC!

So these last couple days Praire hosted an event called Global Connections Conference (GCC).

I must admit that at first I wasn’t very interested in going. I was busy with flying, and I didn’t feel like I would get much from it (boy was I wrong!). As well, it bothered me (and still does) that they had made attendance mandatory for all students.

In the end, the conference was totally worth going to. We had two speakers: a couple from an organisation called Move In, and a man named Joseph D’Souza (I hope I spelled his name right) from The Dalit Freedom Network.

In brief, Move In is a movement where Christians move in to very poor neighbourhoods and share the gospel with their neighbours. (It can also be done in very rich neighbourhoods, but the missionaries have to be fairly wealthy since those neighbourhoods are usually also very expensive to live in)

The Dalit Freedom Network is a freedom movement for the Dalit people. In brief, the Hindu belief is that all people are made from different parts of their God. The body part you come from dictates your position in society. The Dalit do not come from any body part but rather are complete outcasts. THey have no rights, and live in a condition of complete slavery. In fact, anything they touch becomes “dirty” and must be destroyed. It’s a lot more complicated than my 63 word explanation, but you get the idea. The Dalit Freedom Network is working to overthrow this system and free the Dalit people.

Both these speakers had some amazing things to say (If you want to watch the sessions, click here), but for me the highlight was all the mission organisations that were also present. I can’t remember off-hand how many organisations there were, but there were a lot.

I talked with representatives of almost all of them. God really challenged me with what I was going to do with myself, and some new plans are coming to light (I’ll talk more about them as I know more).

All in all, GCC was totally worth it, and I recommend that you check it out.