O’FALLON – Students at First Baptist Christian Academy (FBCA) in O’Fallon recently chatted by video conference with Scottish students over their shared interests in robotics. The FBCA club also shared gospel testimonies with the public school students, explaining how Christ impacts their lives.
The robotics club at FBCA—a ministry of First Baptist Church O’Fallon (FBCO)—recently acquired new Lego EV3 robots. They donated their seven used robots to Milestone Church in Girvan, Scotland, which has a missions partnership with the O’Fallon congregation. Milestone also has an after school robotics club for middle school aged students.
When the O’Fallon church sent a mission team to Girvan in March the team used the robots to share the gospel story. The team instructed the students in programming tasks that guided the robots through a series of events explaining man’s separation from God by sin, to Christ’s redemptive power.
Lindsay Jewell, FBCA technology teacher, said the Girvan youth “are most interested in robotics. Instead of doing a VBS (the mission team) decided to do a robotics camp.”
Prior to the video call the FBCA students “were excited to share their information about robotics with someone who’s as interested in it as they are,” she said. “They were also looking forward…to hearing their accents.”
During the call the Scottish students demonstrated the skills they learned in the robotics camp.
The four tasks—or missions—the students needed to complete summarized the story of how God used Christ to bridge the gap between His holiness and man’s sin.
The American students shared information about their school and community, and gave testimonies about how and why they came to accept Christ as savior.
“So many of them were excited about sharing their testimony,” Jewell said. More students volunteered to give their testimonies than could be used during the nearly hour-long session.
“It was neat”, she said, “to be reminded from (the students) that we are on a mission to share God’s good news and glorify Him in all we do!”
She said the club learns through robots how to approach and fix problems, while pointing to God as the source of help.
The robotics program of about 17 students is an intentional part of the school’s “product and practice of a true Christian worldview,” said FBCA Principal Brandon Tucker. The club teaches that “God has distinctly equipped man to create, to solve problems, to work and live in community.”
“I am grateful for the gospel impact that robotics is having in schools in the UK as a result of this effort.”