Visitor report: Fabian Hamm

My name is Fabian, I am 20 years old and come from Germany. I finished high school two years ago and after a time of social and missionary work in Europe and Africa, God led me to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) course at the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) DTS in Bali.

Of course, I wanted to continue to go to church and find a Christian community I could join. After checking out some churches in the surrounding area I came to visit the C3 Church in Denpasar. Quickly, I felt very comfortable with the way things were happening – I could see a deep passion for Christ in worship and a hunger for truth in the message, so I decided to make C3 Bali my home church for my time in Bali.

After a Sunday morning service, I was introduced to Geoff Collins who had been translating the sermon, and we began talking about who we were and what we were doing. When Geoff was sharing his testimony I was very impressed by the way he came to know Jesus and the miracle God had performed in his life. It was encouraging to see his devotion to Christ and the authenticity in his walk with God.

While we were talking, Geoff started sharing about his ministry in the slums of Denpasar and Akademi Kristus. It didn’t take long to for me to become interested and I was very keen to take a closer look at what Geoff was doing, especially how he had realised his projects since I myself had spent some time with social and missionary work, helping people out of poverty and sharing the Gospel.

So after a nice conversation we made an appointment for the following Wednesday. Two friends and I drove over to Denpasar and met Geoff at 3pm. He kindly led us into his house and over some drinks he started explaining about Akademi Kristus – how everything started, the schedule and so on.

After a good time of fellowship, we followed Geoff on our bikes to the slums of Denpasar, where he picked up some children of families he ministers to. It was shocking to see the terrible poverty of people living in shabby huts right behind the big walls of the Australian embassy. All of this takes place only a hundred metres across from the big, busy roads, where thousands of tourists pass every day. It was very touching, especially when he showed us around the government facilities for the special needs children.

As we entered several rooms, the first thing that I noticed was the penetrating smell. We visited paralysed children and grown-ups, abandoned by their families and knowing there was almost nobody who cared for them.

It broke my heart to see their condition, and knowing that I would walk out and go back to daily life while they would be in those smelly rooms day and night made me want to cry. I also knew I would only be staying in Bali for a limited time, meaning that I myself couldn’t offer sustainable help, so it made me even happier to see that Geoff was faithful in his ministry and to know that there was at least one person that cared for those people. I really admired him serving those people because I know that this kind of work is often accompanied by going through hard times and situations that just want you make give up.

We were able to talk and pray for some people, but in order to pick up the children from the slums, we needed to leave the special needs facilities and drive to some run-down huts made of mud, wood and sheet metal. There, we fetched some children and returned to Akademi Kristus.

In front of Geoff’s house, we entered an area with several mats, jiu-jitsu clothes (known as gis), punchbags and other equipment. Everyone put on their gis with special belts and after some warm-up, we were introduced to the skills of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, while another part of the group had some lessons on English and arts. Each person can always choose which activity fits them best. In this way, Geoff and his wife try to build relationships with people, love them and try to help them out of any kind of problems, displaying a godly life and imparting good values to the children.

Unfortunately, after an hour of rolling on the ground and wrestling with each other, we had to leave to get home on time. There is so much more to say about everything that is going on in Akademi Kristus, but if you have the opportunity to take a look at it yourself, I want to encourage you to do so.

I was very glad to see that there are still people whose hearts do not beat for selfishness, but people with hearts that are devoted to helping others and to do whatever it takes to make this world a better place. May God bless this work and let it be fruitful!

This article was authored by Fabian Hamm after his visit to Akademi Kristus.