Year 12 Vision for the College for 2020: 
ACTIONS OF LOVE, REFLECTING FAITH

Through much prayer, meetings in the holidays and the wisdom that came through the Captains’ Retreat, the College Captains were able to collaborate and establish what they saw as God’s vision for their cohort to lead the college in 2020.

"Our verse for our vision comes from James 1:22-25 which says:

 'Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.'

In this verse there were a few key themes we picked out that we felt to be of great importance. This included the way it speaks of not just having a knowledge of faith but having a lived out faith. We also considered the powerful image that arises from the mirror analogy used to illustrate someone who reads the Word of God, which is what our life should reflect, but then they go away and live in a manner that does not align with the Word. The last verse is really what drives home where our vision came from by talking about the perfect law, love, and how this is ultimately how we should live our lives. We should live loving God and loving others for these are the greatest commands as Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36-40. 

Through this scripture and the key themes and ideas we drew from it we have decided on the vision statement: 

Actions of love, reflecting faith.

On the retreat we learnt about how we are made up of three parts:  our “Be”, “See” and “Do”. Our be is our identity or who we are. Our see is our ultimate goal or our purpose and our do is the actions we take because of our purpose and identity. As Christians, our identity is found in the love we have for God and love we have for others. The love He has for us is self-giving; self-emptying, it is divine love. Our purpose is the two commandments which Jesus told his disciples were the greatest commandments as we previously mentioned these are, to love God and love others. 

But if we truly wish to live out our vision for 2020 it also requires an understanding of what faith is. To us faith means living for something that is unseen. It is through this faith in God that we seek to live like Christ. The ultimate way to reflect this faith and to reflect Christ-likeness is through love, since God is love. Through our meetings, prayer and the retreat everything unfolded in front of our eyes and God showed us this year needed to be about our actions of love reflecting faith in Him.

As we step into the role of leading the Senior School we ask you to pray. To pray that God will use us as Seniors to unfold His will for the college. To pray that we will keep Christ at the centre throughout all the challenges and triumphs that will undoubtedly unfold. And to pray that we won’t just speak of the vision of loving others through our actions but that we will live it. Whether it is talking to someone who is sitting alone or ensuring that we bring in the money for our sponsor child. Actions of love don’t have to be massive gestures, it can be small moments that make all the difference. So we challenge you this year to look outwards rather than inwards as we aim to live out:

Actions of love, reflecting faith.”

Leanne de Jongh and Sindiso Hlabangana
College Captains 2020