“Good morning, Lord! What are You up to today? Can I be part of it? Thank you.”
This short “wake-up prayer” was from Norman Grubb, the General Secretary and architect of Betel’s parent mission organisation, WEC International.
As a Betel intern, you have the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing every day in the lives of our residents impacted by the witness of lives transformed by the Gospel.
Being in Betel means being part of a family and doing things together.
Activities include eating meals together, doing household chores, working in our social enterprises and building healthy relationships.
After eating breakfast together, everyone gathers for a group devotional before heading out to their activities for the day.
Then it’s off to the daily work each person is assigned to do that generates the funds needed for us to offer our services for free to those whose lives are being transformed at Betel.
Our social enterprises aren’t just for generating income.
They are also an important tool Betel uses to influence the lives of our residents with Christian principles and values, enabling our men and women to learn transferrable employment and relational skills and helping them to become productive members of society.
Each country has its own charitable businesses based on what works best for their culture. For example, in Spain, men might be doing house removals, in the UK they may be working on a landscape gardening project, in India it might be working on a farm and in Russia, it might be working on a construction project.
Women also have varied jobs and work, depending on the country and culture. In Spain they could be distributing fliers advertising Betel’s charitable businesses, in the UK they might be working in a café, in India they could be selling second-hand clothing and in Russia they might be selling their handmade cards and soaps door-to-door.
In the UK, the newest social enterprise for both men and women is their Infinite Arts theatre, where there are opportunities to help develop creativity among the residents as they produce original performances for the public.
Whatever you’re doing, it will be as part of a team where you will build relationships as you work alongside the “Betelitos”. You’ll have lunch with the team you are working with each day.
After dinner together, evening activities and church meetings vary from country to country due to each culture’s schedule. Mid-week church meeting are on either Tuesday or Wednesday nights and on Friday nights and Sunday mornings. During evenings when there aren’t church meetings, you’ll have fellowship time to build relationships with the Betelitos.
As an intern, your relationship with the “Betelitos” will be more like that of a friend, rather than of a pastoral or authority figure.
You will have daily opportunities to be an example to the “Betelitos” of what a Christ-like life looks like in words, attitudes and actions.
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