“Just as we tie the ship to the land with strong ropes so that we do not drift out to sea, so we each tie ourselves to the solid rock – Jesus – that we might not drift away”. Having left the Caribbean region where a large percentage of the population were believers, where we urged the local body of believers to “pray to the lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field” – a new ship presentation was called for, and I was delighted to present it for the first time to a local church in Africa.
The church itself was held in a primary school (sounds familiar doesn’t it?) which they had decorated. The congregation was spit into two groups. One group at the front were the english speaking congregation who listened to the pastor preach in english. Behind the last row of this group there was a translator wearing headphones who fervently repeated his words in Twi, one of the common languages of Ghana. Whilst we spent around 15 minutes on stage, there was also teaching, bible reading, a sermon, an offering or two and a few old hymns like It is well with my soul. Here is our new presentation.

	Flags When you first visit the ship you might notice we have a tall mast with a few flags flying on the top. We use these to communicate with other ships and ports about where we come from and what we are doing. We also have over 45 different nationalities of people with their own flags on board – but we all fly under the one banner, the banner of Jesus Christ.
	Charts Sea charts provide the knowledge we need to avoid rocks and other dangers to ships. We bring knowledge to the places we visit in the form of the books we sell in our book fair. We have over 7,000 different titles of books. We also provide training conferences on board.
	Life Ring Sometimes everyone needs some help. A lifering helps someone to float in the ocean. We like to help people by building buildings and giving dental care and other forms of practical help.
	Mooring lines These strong ropes hold us to the shore so we dont drift away. Just as these strong ropes keep us attached the the shore, we each attach ourselves firmly to the rock – Jesus Christ – so we won’t drift away.
	Captain On board we have many professional sailors, but also many regular people. None of us are more spiritual than anyone else, we are people just like you who are obedient to God’s calling to bring in the harvest.