SU interns Jordan and Tameika carry Josiah’s and Annie’s legacy

When two young people in the UK, Josiah Spiers in 1867 and Annie Marsden in 1879, pursued a calling on their lives to share the story of God’s love, hope and good news to young people in a way that spoke directly to their context, they created a legacy that would spread across the globe, including to Australia’s sunny shores.

That beautiful legacy lives on the lives of SU teams of staff, supporters and volunteers today, including our SU interns.

As part of SU Australia’s first ever national conference last year, then CEO Peter James launched the Josiah Spiers and Annie Marsden awards, where we acknowledged two amazing young interns, Jordan Clarke (22) from Western Australia and Tameika Schwartz-Kupe (18) from Victoria.

The awards are named after the two Scripture Union founders, who began their ministry to children and young people in their teens and early 20s. The purpose of these awards is to celebrate two young people under 25 who are setting an example in their passion and commitment to serving God through SU ministries.

Jordan attended his first SU camp at age 10 and has always enjoyed the adventure and Christian community that SU camps offer. Jordan has completed an internship with SU and is now serving on our school camping team. “It is so encouraging seeing the positive way young people are impacted by their time on camps,” he says. Tameika has a passion and heart for SU ministry and for reaching children and young people with God’s love, hope, and good news.

As an intern at Camp Coolamatong, Tameika has been able to use her own life story and faith journey to make the gospel message culturally relevant to the lived experience of young people in today’s society. She is quick to identify young campers struggling with self-esteem. She challenges their thinking by highlighting that their value is not in what they can achieve or master but, instead, who they are in God’s eyes.

In July this year, we will name two new recipients of this award. Please keep all SU interns in your prayers as they faithfully serve God in the calling He has placed on their lives. To find out more about internships with SU Australia, visit su.org.au/internship/.