If you didn’t know, the UK (along with many other nations) was forced into lockdown last March because the Coronavirus began spreading like wildfire globally. I trust that this information is no shock to you! Personally, all of my university work ceased to exist, I couldn’t sing with other people anymore, and I couldn’t leave the house so I was housebound with my 79 year old Granda. I had nothing to do but binge Netflix, eat food & join countless amounts of zoom/facetime calls. I felt like I was coasting through, with no real purpose and no reason to get out of bed in the morning…or afternoon… or evening.
One day (I can’t remember which, they all merged into one), a friend of mine from church reached out to me and informed me about this new course for young people that Tearfund were hoping to run. It was the first time it had been organised online, and she told me it looked to be right up my street. I did some research… and she was very much correct! Two sessions a week learning about justice issues, hearing from incredible speakers, and meeting so many new people all with one common vision – to seek God’s kingdom on earth, and to partner with Him in fighting for justice. It seemed so exciting, so I signed up, and was accepted on the course!
The way the six week course works is that you have a two hour webinar on Monday hearing from voices across the world who are seeking justice in their everyday. These sessions are great to be inspired and to remain hopeful about what others are doing globally. There is a one hour track session on Thursday where it is a smaller, more practical session with a focus in on either leadership, creativity, theology or activism. You have the choice of two of these tracks, you switch up after three weeks. I personally took part in leadership and activism, and they were incredibly beneficial! You are also assigned a mentor, one of the leaders in the course, for a half hour meeting through the week. These were times where you could grill your mentor, dive deeper into a specific question you may have etc. My mentor was so inspiring to me and she was so encouraging! Especially during the fundraising portion of the course, where I was leading myself and some friends when we took part in the Climb for Tearfund’s work with those struggling with the pandemic.
We were encouraged to creatively express our response to how we hope a post-covid world will look. I wrote a song of hope, and it ended up on We Are Tearfund’s YouTube page. It was great to use the inspiration from the course and be motivated to compose music again after so long.
My favourite part of the course was hearing the different speakers every week, especially Rene August from South Africa, who spoke to us about using biblical lenses to pursue justice. It inspired me to read the bible in a variety of ways, and it was so powerful hearing her story.
Once the course was over, there was a group of us who decided that we wanted to continue to meet & we started a book club together. We are still in touch, and it’s great that Emerging Influencers have created friendships & connections across the country with people who share a similar passion. I met people from other Just Love groups and its now great to catch up online at events we attend together.
Emerging Influencers was a huge highlight of 2020 for me, and I learned a lot through it. I encourage anyone and everyone between the ages of 17-23 to sign up on We Are Tearfund’s page for February’s course! I pray it inspires you and fills you with hope as it did for me.
- Grace Sutherland (JL Aberdeen Co-President)