We are developing once a month Coaching Cohorts to develop STC in new cultural contexts such as Albania, Australia, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo, and Romania. This will also be our go-to means of keeping STC cities connected in existing contexts such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, the US, etc.

The Africa Cohort first met in January 2019 with city leaders from Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya. Also on the call was Lynn, Director of African Enterprise Europe and the STC Africa Network Coordinator. Enoch, from Lilongwe, Malawi was expected on the call but was unable to make it.

We discussed our new definition of ‘active’ in the STC Life Stage Development context: ‘an active city has a regular rhythm of serving throughout the year.’ Towards that end, each leader left the call planning to talk to others in their city about a date for a first STC event. The next call is mid-February.

Since the call we have also been in touch with a leader in Ivory Coast who has had contact with STC through Transform World. He is interested to initiate some serving opportunities in Abidjan, to explore whether STC is a good fit for his country.

We also see momentum towards a Cohort in Australia and South Eastern Europe. Friends from Perth contacted us this week to say they are interested to help STC develop there, and we also have friends who want to start STC in Gold Coast and Adelaide.

In South Eastern Europe, momentum continues to develop in Kosovo, as the team from Community Church of Chesapeake works towards a return trip in the summer. STC leaders in Tirana are also eager to connect. Recently, a friend in Norfolk expressed interest to lead a STC team to Timisoara, Romania. We had a call to connect our friends from Norfolk and Timisoara – only to discover that our Romanian friend had previously lived in Va Beach for a couple years, as a Regent University student.