Angela Russell from Ballymena and Emily Henry from Larne have been appointed as TeachBeyond staff representatives in Northern Ireland.
TeachBeyond is an international organisation of committed followers of Jesus Christ who provide transformational education service to children and adults. According to figures on its website, the ministry serves 55 different countries all over the world.
Explaining more, Angela took time to speak to The Church Page.
She said: “TeachBeyond was inspired by the Great Commission. What does it really mean to go into all the world and make disciples? To go beyond borders, that’s really where the name has come from.”
Although she is a native of Garvagh, Angela has lived in Ballymena for many years and is a member of the town’s Baptist Church.
For the last 11 years, the mum of four has worked as a Classroom Assistant in Carniny Primary School.
Alongside Emily, her role with TeachBeyond will be to promote the work of the organisation by visiting churches, to speak about what it does and encourage people to pray for the projects that it runs.
Importantly, the girls will also be looking to recruit Christian teachers to serve within the mission in various roles.
Longer term, they are also looking forward to visiting some of the project’s operated by TeachBeyond overseas.
Could you become a TeachBeyond teacher?
One such initiative is called Open Schools. Active in Africa, this involves setting up a school in the open air at locations including rubbish dumps. Using clever resources, this makes education available to even the poorest children.
Education in this setting is made effective by skilled and committed professionals with a heart for the Lord.
Angela went on to say: “To go out with TeachBeyond as a teacher you would have to be a committed believer; someone who is interested in going out into a new situation. There is no age limit. There are opportunities for younger teachers who may want to serve abroad for a few years as well as for retired educators to be mentors and a lot of that can be done via Skype. There is also the opportunity to teach English as a foreign language during the summer in camps.”
Quite simply, Angela and Emily are thrilled to have the opportunity to serve with TeachBeyond, which has been active for 65 years.
Angela added: “I think what excites me is the fact that it is a growing organisation and people are being reached not only with education, but also by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think that what excites me is how children at all levels of society are being reached. That includes wealthier children who can afford to pay to go to school as well as very poor children and refugees – young people who have suffered in the most awful ways.”
Angela and Emily are hosting a TeachBeyond Launch Night in Ballymena Baptist Church
To raise awareness of what TeachBeyond does, Angela and Emily are holding a Launch Night in Ballymena Baptist on Thursday 27th June 2019 at 7:30pm. There will be a time of praise as well as an opportunity to see a presentation followed by an informal supper.
Looking ahead to this, Angela said: “We would love people to come along if they are interested in mission, education or if they just want to find out a bit more about what we do, they would be very welcome.”
To find out more about TeachBeyond, log on to their website here.