BLANTYRE SYNOD CCAP STUDENTS' ORGANISATION (CCAPSO)INTRODUCTION The future of a dependable community and nation lies in the knowledge and well-equipped youth for God’s work. The merits of teaching young people the word of God cannot be overemphasized in the world today considering the challenges that the church is facing through secularization and perversion of the Word of God. The youths in the community require support from the church and other faith based organizations as well as follow up on the different programs that they are undertaking in order to ensure that the church enforces its teachings to them and that they are still available for service in the community as well as in the nation at large. Blantyre Synod introduced CCAPSO as a way of preserving the church’s doctrines to all the students in secondary, primary schools and colleges in all public, mission and private sector. CCAPSO is an organization, which is Biblically based, reformed and evangelical. What is CCAPSO? CCAPSO is a denominational Christian Organisation open to all C.C.A.P. students in Secondary Schools and Colleges. It was formed on 8th April 2000 and launched by the C.C.A.P. Blantyre Synod on 24th June 2000. It’s Vision? The vision of the organisation is to develop the spiritual lives of C.C.A.P. students through their personal encountering with Jesus Christ which leads to a life of prayer, fellowship, witnessing and studying of the word of God (Rev 12:11b). Its 5 objectives are: To ensure that the will of God is inculcated in the life of its members the following objectives are focused so that the students grow up into good, reliable and responsible citizens of Malawi knowing that they have an important role to play in the church (Joel 2: 28, 2Tim.2: 15).
CCAPSO PROGRAMS CCAPSO organizes different activities to achieve the aims and objectives. The following activities are crucial as for such they are supposed to be done every year to help gauge the operations of the organisation. a) Zonal Conferences The gatherings refer to the assembling of students in designated places across the Synod at the end of 2nd Term of secondary school calendar for conferences that trains, challenges, inspires, educate, provokes and heals their various ailments for greater service to God. The Synod is divided into 6 zones as:
It is a retreat for all form 4 students after they have written their final MSCE exams; the students are brought at one place where they are challenged on walking with God as well as pursuing God’s agenda during holidays and introducing them to the ministry of FOCCAPSO. The choice on the participants to the retreat is based on performances to the exam administered to the students through the CCAPSO literature i.e. I believe series, Basic teaching to our faith etc. The retreats accords enough time of interaction and relating to one another which is crucial to the follow up and deepening of one’s faith as participants share their experiences and challenge one another, the incorporation of students in Colleges is key to strengthen and encourage the school leavers. c) Patrons Conference A gathering of all patrons for all branches where the gather and share their input as well as their experiences to the growth and development of the organisation. The patrons are a key to CCAPSO because they are the organisation’s face to the administration of the school and college. They require adequate information on CCAPSO as well as understanding of its core business in order to help them fully support and not mistake it for any other organisation. d) CCAPSO Leaders Conference The conference is aimed at training leaders of CCAPSO at different levels of the ministry primary, secondary, college and FOCCAPSO. The objective is to ensure that all the leaders and the branches move together with similar understanding on various aspects of the ministry considering the various challenges that the ministry is undergoing. e) College CCAPSO Conference The conference is aimed at bringing together all college CCAPSO branches in order to enhance fellowship among them, challenge them for better church support and inculcate the various considerations into the Synod operations so that the voice of the youth is properly captured. The College members are our key focus as they have a greater capacity to bring change in the organisation both financially and materially. f) Branch Visitations The CCAPSO branches require frequent visitations in order to really supervise and appreciate what the students are doing considering that there are many false teachers who have gone into the world. The relevance of the office is felt in the capacity of the officer to visit both secondary schools and college branches; it does not necessarily mean that the Travelling Secretary is always there but ensuring that visitations are made and that feedback is given by those sent to undertake such assignments. Friends of CCAP Students’ Organization FOCCAPSO A friend of CCAP Students Organization (FOCCAPSO) is an arm of CCAPSO for former members of CCAPSO and other non student participant members which was formed in March 2004 by former CCAPSO members. It’s the vision of FOCCAPSO that each member develops an intimate relationship with Christ, attain spiritual maturity and realize his/her full God-given potential so that they fulfil God’s will for their lives and assist CCAPSO and CCAP church in serving God. The idea of FOCCAPSO came about after noting several problems emerging with the growth of CCAPSO, as described below: CONCLUSION CCAPSO is such an organization that once supported by the core beneficiaries who are Blantyre CCAP congregants, all CCAP members worldwide will surely benefit because of the academic orientation endowed in the students and the authentic word of God as is being propagated. Our belief is that the next generation should be a generation that will be reliable in the church, community, work places and the nation at large. |
