Step Legacy

During my time on sabbatical over the last few months in the UK, I´ve really enjoyed catching up with various friends who I first met when they participated on Latin Link´s short term mission programmes in Guatemala.

It´s been lovely to see Step teams who still enjoy getting together and encouraging each other- even 7 or 8 years later - still sharing the same jokes - but also their achievements and challenges as they work out grown up life (kind of!)

And it´s intriguing to hear how each of them look back on their experience of Step or Stride.

Several ex-Striders talk of their plans to return - some more concrete than others.

One talked of her experience as being instrumental in her career choices since, as she discovered her God given gifts whilst jumping out of her comfort zone in a Stride placement.

One ex-stepper talked of the 'formative' time he spent as part of a team.

Another talked of having found faith during that time. Even though she had grown up in a Christian family and spent years in  church youth groups previously, it was her time on Step that brought her to a real relationship with Jesus.

On the flipside I also know one or two for whom Step was the beginning of their faith slipping away, as they discovered that their faith-through-family-and-youth-group didn´t have the personally held foundations they needed once they were away from that.

Those two sides of things still show something about the authenticity of life on a Step team - when the superficial is striped away, and we have to interact with our real identities.

So I still love Step!