The #Sho'tLeft Campaign...

During our planning week for 2014 we felt God lead us into focussing on 3 areas: Prayer, Engaging Lost people and Leadership. This was really encouraging as it gave us a simple and clear focus and we were ready to end the year off with great expectation for 2014...

Then came God's intervention:
Open Window, the venue where we hold our Sunday services, contacted us to let us know that we won't be able to use the venue for 4 weeks as they have student exam exhibitions and a charity event. Also during our planning week while we were praying we sensed that God is leading us into a time where foundations will be shaken that only that which is unshakable shall remain (Hebrews 12:27). So we knew this was from God and we knew this is something we need to embrace...

After praying into this the whole team felt that we should do community church, to break into different groups and go into 4 different communities : Doringkloof/Irene, Eldoraigne, Moreleta and Olievenhoutbosch. We are going to Pray for and Engage our communities - exactly what God is leading us into for 2014. This was a massive step of obedience (not just faith, because we knew that God has already spoken), because it goes against the traditional culture. It goes against our comfort zones...

What I was really trusting God for during this time is that peoples' hearts will be cut for their own communities. That hearts will be stirred for the people who live around them, the people they work with, the people we see every day. Often we can assign reaching lost people to an outreach event or a mission, but God has placed us where we live and where we work to be salt and light, to be ministers of reconciliation right there.

The first Sunday we had a family service at Centurion Academy where we braai'd together, fellowshipped together, played sports together and we also got into the Word together. This was a great kick start to the campaign and it was incredible to see the excitement among the people. Frans (a disciple from Olievenhoutbosch) also baptized John (also from Olievenhoutbosch) and it was a special moment to see the next generation of disciples standing up and obeying Jesus' command - Go and make disciples and baptize them...

The following 3 Sundays we went into the different communities.  We got together at parks in Doringkloof and Olievenhoutbosch, at a high school in Eldoraigne and at a shopping centre in Moreleta. At the 4 different locations we broke into groups, got into the Word, ministered to each other, prayed together and then...
 
We went into the communities to prayer walk. Praying for the different communities as the Holy Spirit guides us. And then after each Sunday we would have practical application for the week eg. Engage 2 people in your community (just start a conversation, get to know people) and meet a need in your community.
 
The testimony for me is to see how God came and shifted hearts. Many people were a bit scared at first, but as they obeyed they saw how God wants to use them for His Kingdom, how He equips us to be ministers of the gospel. Peoples' eyes were opened for their neighbours - the one family has been living next to their neighbours for years and they looked like a happy family, until one of the parents moved our a couple of weeks ago. Their hearts were cut to not just exist, but to be involved, to live the life God has saved them to live...
 
As we stepped out in obedience we saw how God is just so faithful and I am really excited to see how people have tasted something of living a lifestyle of following Jesus - every day - and how that will have an impact in their communities, the city, the nation and beyond!!!
 
Here is a short video clip from the 4 different locations.
 

 

End Year Celebration 2013

 

As an Every Nation family we believe in building the church not on full time staff members, but on the people, the volunteers!

Each member is called to be a disciple and to make disciples. Each member is called to be a minister of reconciliation. The work of the full time staff is to equip the members for the work of ministry (Eph 4) and that is exactly what we see - people in love with Jesus and passionate to see others added to the Kingdom.

Every Sunday the power team pitches up at 06h00 AM to set up for the service. Then the last people to leave to leave again are the volunteers...

So every year we celebrate the people who make church possible. We organize an evening to honour God for what has happened during the year and to celebrate every disciple maker and every volunteer!

It's an evening where we put on our party shoes and celebrate life together! Celebrate the life that is in Christ!

 

 

 

 



Eldoraigne in progress....

We have been intentionally reaching out in Eldoraigne for a couple of months now and I must admit that it is a bit more challenging than I initially anticipated. In Olievenhoutbosch you could walk into someone's shop/business or even their home and start a conversation - in Eldoraigne I'm afraid that if I walk into an accountants office I might walk out with a bill =)

 

As I mentioned in one of the previous posts we started with an action cricket team to start building relationships with the people who stay in the area. In this we have seen and learned a couple of things: We definitely need to practice our fielding; there are MANY lost people at the indoor sports arena; people are much more open and hungry for truth than what we think and if we want to reach lost people with the gospel - we have to be intentional in reaching out to them!

 

During our first week we had a girl join us on our team (because we had a shortage of female players, so Riëtte engaged with her and invited her to join the team) and she has been an integral part of the team so far - playing every game! We have been trusting for an opportunity to reach out to her and bring truth into her life and after one of the games I had to drop her off as her boyfriend played action cricket at a different venue. During the drive she asked my what I did and I explained to her what I do and also why I do it - that society is broken and needs to be restored into God's original image and purpose. She then said that her life can testify of that - of the brokenness. In the end In managed to share the essence of the gospel with her and she is so open for truth and basically said that she needs someone who can disciple her. So Riëtte will follow up with her - but I am just so thankful of how God opens peoples' hearts to receive truth!

 

One of the teams we played against also had 2 people get injured during one of our games. The next week both of them showed up with crutches to support their team. After the game about 3 from our team just asked if we could pray for them. Corinne (the girl from the above paragraph) asked if she could also stand with us when we pray!! They were really thankful and we trust that a seed was sown into their hearts!

 

The lifestyle approach is definitely slower than standing on the street corner, but through this we are seeing how God is the orchestrator of salvation, how He draws people unto Himself. We just need to continue to be bold in living Christianity and grabbing hold of the opportunities God creates where we can share the gospel!

Kathu Establish Training

The Establish Training is a follow-up training to the Engage Training we did back in August. The passion in the hearts of the people in Kathu is seeing many being reached with the gospel! As they are being added into the Kingdom their is a need to see them being established in Christ - discipleship - and that is what the Establish Training is all about...

 

During the weekend we had most of the core group from the training in 2012 taking part and it's great to see they still remain hungry and still remain incredibly teachable! We got clarity on their current discipleship culture and from there we worked towards unity on the what, why and how...

 

The what is what we want to do - build a discipleship culture

The why behind it is because Jesus is the only one who can change a someone's belief system from which their can be a holistic change in the person's life.

The how is the meet of the training. How to build a discipleship culture that will overtake the existing culture in the community so that God will be honored.

 

After the weekend there was an alignment from the leadership to the members in unity on how they will make disciples. The Monday after the training I already received a call from one of the guys who attended the training to just tell me how he has already applied what he has learned and how he is excited to see how this will bear fruit for the Kingdom of God!! 

 

 

Olievenhoutbosch Church Plant

 

 

As I am no longer actively involved with the Olievenhoutbosch Church Plant, I though it would be good to give an update on what is happening with the team...

 

Johan and Estie Visser, who are now heading up the church plant, have got a team together from people within the Centurion Congregation who also have a passion to see the community of Olievenhoutbosch impacted with the gospel. They have a group of about 10 people as part of the team...

 

What has been happening in Olieven these past couple of months have truly been amazing. Many new people have been added to discipleship groups and some of the groups have grown to maximum capacity =) Lois (in the picture below) is close to starting his own connect group which is a massive testimony to the work that the team has been doing in Olieven!

 

 

 There have also been many testimonies of healings taking place as they step out to pray for those who are sick. When Jesus preached the message of the Kingdom healing the sick was an integral part of it - he demonstrated the Kingdom to people and this is exactly what we see happening in Olievenhoutbosch!

 

 

 

 

University of Limpopo Discipleship Training

 

We had an opportunity to visit the His People Campus Ministry team at the University of Limpopo. They have an incredibly group of vibrant disciples who are passionate to see their campus impacted for the Kingdom of God.

Francois du Preez & Emile Olifant, from our Campus team in Centurion, and myself went in for a day-training on discipleship. Specifically focusing on building a discipleship culture on the campus that will overtake the existing culture so that God will be glorified.

 

There were about 60 students who attended the training. 60 Students who are ready to make a difference on their campus! The campuses are the seedbed for our future leaders in society - doctors, teachers, politicians, lawyers etc. - they are currently on our university campuses.

 

We are really excited about this group and the difference they can make! May we see more students being reached with the gospel who stand up to make a change in society!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eldoraigne Church Plant

I am really excited to report that we have 5 new Connect Groups in Eldoraigne.
Currently there is a natural flow of people coming to our church from Eldoraigne and it is great to see them being established in family and also established into strong Biblical Foundations (through Connect Groups).

As a team we are really trusting God to reach those whose hearts He has prepared to receive the gospel. We have started building relationships at an indoor arena and looking to enter our own action cricket team. This will really be a great way to build relationship with people who do not know Jesus - of whom there are quite a few!

We are also pursuing the open doors we have at Eldoraigne High School and Zwartkop High School - to see how we can become involved in the community and become part of the lives of the people living in Eldoraigne.

I am really thankful that we have a strong team of people who are also passionate about God and passionate to see His Kingdom be established in Eldoraigne. It is a slow process, but I know that God is in this. I know that we are not building in vain - because God is building the house.

In John 4 we read the story about the Samaritan woman at the well having an encounter with Jesus. We see that she goes into the town (from which the disciples returned with food) and comes back with her whole town ready to receive the gospel. I know that God has prepared Eldoraigne for the gospel and therefore I am expectant to see marriages restored, broken families to be healed, people who are living in sin to turn towards Jesus and for Eldoraigne to be an example of God's glory restoring society...

Missions Focus : Zimbabwe

The nation of Zimbabwe has really been through a lot and gives reason for us to become negative... but this word resounds in my spirit when I think about Zimbabwe - Glorious ruins... From the ashes will arise something that will cause the world to stand and acknowledge the God of creation! 

Owen Wozhele is one of the mighty men of God who has risen to God's call to reach Zimbabwe.
He is part of our Every Nation family and currently in the process of planting a church in Bulawayo.

Here are some prayer points from Owen for Zimbabwe and for himself personally.

• For peace to prevail in the nation amidst all the emotions and corruption reports after the elections.
• For righteousness and justice to reign (as Christ is established in the hearts of people).
• Restoration of hope and trust in God for the people of Zimbabwe (Psalm 127:1)
• The Lord to build the nation and for people not to put their trust in the strength of men. A true dependency and trust in God to restore the nation and for men and woman to arise to be carriers of God's glory.

For Owen personally:

• For the people that he is discipling, that they will have strong foundations and that their lives will bear fruit that will honour God.
• For leaders that will help him carry the heart and values of the Kingdom.
• For his finances, he is also on Ministry Partnership and he is trusting to get to the full amount of his goal.
• Also for finances to pay the labola to get married =)

Kathu Engage Training

We again had an incredible time with the AFM church in Kathu. They have been adopting a discipleship culture within the church and have seen some amazing fruit. During September we went to do an Engage Training where we train disciples into living a lifestyle of engaging the world they live in for Christ.

 

During the Friday morning we spent time with some of the leaders speaking specifically into building a healthy discipleship culture that will influence the current culture.

This time around we took Izak Cloete (who heads up our Engage Training), Rudolf Bredell (who is one of our incredible volunteers who helps to establish the engage culture in Centurion) and his wife, Franeli.

Below is the group from the Kathu church who attended the Engage Training as well as photos from the Saturday when they went out to a shopping centre to practically do what they have learned over the weekend. This was really such a fun group to work with, their passion and desire to see God's Kingdom advanced through their lives is really encouraging.

Halfway House 2013

We had an incredible time with our leaders during the annual Halfway House - where we celebrate what has happened throughout the year and align ourselves with what God has given us to do for the remainder of the year...

The theme for this year was Back to the Future - going back and sticking to the basics that will build towards the future. Part of the evening was that we got to dress up either back into the past or towards the future... it made for a really fun evening!

Here is just a quick highlight of what we have seen so far in 2013 (up until the end of August)...

We have seen our Connect Groups (Discipleship Groups) grow from 37 at the start of January to 59 at the end of August.
We have seen 49 people being trained to live in the Victory purchased on the cross, 27 people equipped to live a lifestyle of reaching people who do not know Jesus, 39 people actively participating in Engage events where we intentionally reach lost people, 28 people who were trained to really be the church, 68 people who attended a 10 week course focussing on Following Jesus, Fishing for people and Fellowshipping with other believers and 72 people who attended our DNA Sunday where we share the heart and values of our Every Nation family.

We've had quite a busy year, but to see so many people being established in Christ makes me very excited for what God has got planned for the remainder of the year!

Here are some of the photos from the evening =)

 

Halway House Video

 

Halfway through every year we have a Halfway House. This is a time where we get together with all our leaders, look at what has happened throughout the year and re-align ourselves with what God has specifically called us to do this year.

 

It was so encouraging to see the stats of the past 6/7 months. To see how people have grown, how the lost have been reached and how people are being discipled.

 

I really honour God for the leaders he has given us as a church. Their passion and desire to see God's Kingdom come and to see our city being transformed in just amazing! The change we see happening would truly not be possible without them!

The Eldoraigne team

 We had our first meeting together as team that will start reaching out in Eldoraigne. What an incredible group of people!

The first meeting was to cast the vision as to why we are going into Eldoraigne, get everyone aligned to the same goal as well as how we will reach that goal.
And off course to "kuier" together =)

We are really expectant to see how Jesus will be lifted up in Eldoraigne and how worship will be restored in the lives of individuals, families, marriages and the community. God has got a dream for Eldoraigne!!!