Today Rachel Collins, our former Helen Kim Memorial Scholar, updates us on what she is doing now. She writes:
It was about six years ago, on a Friday evening when I got the phone call saying I’d been chosen to be the Helen Kim Memorial Scholar for 2011 to 2016. In January this year I wrote a report for the Exec and it felt poignant when I wrote 2016 – the year it’s all over.
The last five years I’ve gone through two job searches, with eight unsuccessful interviews and two exciting new jobs, two house moves, including the palava of buying a house, going through Faith and Worship to become an accredited Local Preacher and 1 wedding, which in itself involved knitting 41 flowers in eight months.
MWiB has also put me on 14 aeroplanes, and so many train journeys and road trips.
Having said my time as HKMS is over I’ve not disappeared from MWiB just yet (if ever), I’m booked to speak at South East District Day in March and will be the lead writer for the 2018 Easter Offering Service.
I’ve also started a new job. I now work for the Student Christian Movement (SCM) as the North West Regional Development Worker. I support churches, chaplaincies and student groups as well as individual students to deepen their faith and put their faith into action. We’ve just produced resources for Student Sunday on the 19th February 2017 on the theme “All are welcome.” http://www.movement.org.uk/resources/student-sunday
I don’t really have a typical week, after three months I’ve been on about 210 trains mainly across the North West but also visits to Yorkshire and Scotland to see what goes on there and to support the SCM Scottish Gathering when I got to stay with Jill and Andrew Baker.
SCM is based in Birmingham so I often travel on the CrossCountry train from Manchester, on which there is a sign that says “Join a movement not a queue” that always makes me smile. There are many parallels I notice between MWiB and SCM; a passion to know Jesus and make him known as well as putting faith into action. This has meant it’s been an easy transition from Helen Kim to Rach from SCM. I’m looking forward to catching up with many of you at Swanwick in April.
To read more about my new job I regularly blog on http://www.movement.org.uk/blogs/rach-collins
