With Annlin congregation in Mozambique (Mocuba and arround)

I arrived in Mocuba before them and could receive the team there. They are mostly from Annlin DRC congregation from Pretoria, but also some others who joined in.

We had a day of orientation that went very well and the attitude of the team became their great testimony. They decided to serve and learn while talking about christian practical issues. The team divided in two and I joined the one group going to Lugela. They played with the children, did skills with women braiding hair, sharing food and became really intimate. So much so that from both sides, greeting was with a bit of tears. With the leaders from the men women and youth, we talked about Stewardship. They shared with us a few stories through which God were experienced as real and part of their community. The story of Sara and here baby whose life's were saved not only by the previous intervention of the teams of South Africa but clearly because of the grace of God. The others story of a child with skin problems that were helped as well as the testimony of the team that were in the accident. They experienced this accident very emotionally up till today they share the loss with a lot of emotion. The big testimony is because the team did not stop to be involved in Mozambique, but is still visiting and still show love and service. These things opened the hearts of the community on a very special way. Every message is taken seriously. The translator also mentioned that it is the fist place where he see that the children did not take any of the coloring pencils or equipment for themselves. They brought back every pencil.

We applied stewardship on animals, nature, church and marriage. The discussions were very open and they were really exited to understand more of the way God intended life to be. God wants us to develop and wants the church to serve the community and bring truth and light to brokenness. God wants marriages to be honest, joyful, faithful and examples of how He loves the world. etc.

We went back to town for Sunday to wash clothes, church service in town and visiting the Bible school.

On Monday our group visited Mutucua, a new Prayer house in Maganja da Costa district. The road took us over a scary home made bridge deep into the bush. First we had to build relationships after the children fled at the sight of a white man approaching them. The work with youth changed the relationship totally. With the leaders we heard what make them happy and sad. Some of the challenges were the lack of funds for church premises and for building. With stewardship we focused on love as the basis of development. God's love for us reflected to other people. The understanding came that love, not power, humility not position, etc will bring people to the church. The pastor also asked us to talk about the understanding that there are a future. We asked: If we love the community and one another what will happen within a month. They guessed that there will be at least 2 more people in the church. What about 6 months, then a year, then 2 years and then 10 years. They believe that there will then be  many people in the prayer house. With so many people they will be able to buy the land and build the church? One of the consequences of love is development and that will happen with only the resources that God gave them. It depends on God and not on help from outside.

We again talked about marriages and some complained about lazy wives. At the end we agreed that to have a wife that will make you proud, we need to love and serve and that has a very good chance of developing your wife to be someone you are proud of. We also talked about faithfulness and other aspects of marriage relationships that are different than cultural thinking.

The Jesus film again was a hit.

The last day we spent at Magodane congregation. The program was delayed by rain. At the end our meetings there were accepted very well.

We went back to Mocuba and prepared for the next day to start our trip back. We had many experiences on the road, but it went very well. In Inhassoro we stayed for an extra day to talk about our vision for the future, our attitude in giving report to our congregations etc. It went well and we could sort out some practical things for the next outreach. We left there with some ideas to think about.

Bernadette drove down with me to Cape Town and it went well. We give her and her family in the hands of the Lord in the challenges facing them.

With Villiersdorp in Mozambique (Pemba)

The team were organized through the DRC church in VIlliersdorp, with members of other churches also involved. Some were families and we left with four cars.

Driving to Mozambique

On the first day 19th of June, we managed to reach Senekal in the Freestate. We were spoilt by the church people there. Then we continued east to enter Swaziland from the south. On our way we heard that the bridge over the Save river were closed because of political turmoil. So we decided to go through Zimbabwe. We took the road to the north and reached Loskopdam the evening where we camped. One of the team members left us there with a bad back pain. From there we reached the border where we encountered a few challenges. Firstly the Migration people wanted the birth certificates of the children and we did not have all of them. Firstly they did not want us to cross and that was very emotional. We pleaded and continued to explain and then they allowed them. Then we had to stand in the row for 5 hours to get customs clearing.

Pasted after hard work

After that one of the cars were registered on the farms name and they did not have the correct documents. They had to turn around go through all the red tape to get back to RSA. The rest of us continued till Lion and Elephant in Zimbabwe and reached there at midnight. We stayed over there and waited for the other car. At 12 they joined us with great joy. Then we continued and reached the mission station at Morgenster where we stayed from the night. From there it went well, but slow because of the situation of the road, until reaching Pemba. There the one car were fined for not having a chevron on the back. We did not want to pay a bribe and had to be escorted by the police through town to go and pay the fine. I believe that that was a good testimony, because bribes are the common thing. The police thought that these church people are very strange. I got Malaria and had it bad for a few days. Through the outreach I had to recover.

We reached our destination with Johan Dames and started the next day with building the little school and building relationships especially by playing with the children of this Muslim community. The foundation built for the schoo, was not level and we first had to level it and then I again learned a lot about building through the experts in the team. The team managed to build very good relationships and left a very positive image of christianity in the community. On top of that they did the floor with the walls and the pillars of the school by working hand in hand with the local community in a very positive way. From both sides we worked very hard and the community expressed their gratitude throughout the whole process.

We had nice seafood to eat

I left the team a few days early to join the team from Pretoria in Mocuba.

With Strand Congregation in Mozambique

Sunday School training outreach with Strand reformed Church

 

The first team was actually a very small team. In the last hours we heard that the material we wanted to use on the outreach did not arrive in Milange. Dirkie managed to get the material and we had to divide it between us for the flight to Malawi. We made the weight limit and me and Dirkie flew out to Malawi. Kobus and Nana met us on the airport and we stayed the first night with them. From there we hired the Prado from Milange and went drove to Mocuba with Benjamin, the leader of the youth group of the synod. We met up with another youth leader from Magodane congregation in Mocuba. The first day of training were postponed for a day because of communication problems. It was a group of maybe ten that came for the training and the two youth leaders who did the training, did very well. Me and Dirkie only helped with a few small things. I had to talk about our calling specifically for the youth. They used material for Sunday school and helped the local youth leaders to use it effectively as lessons for Sunday school. The focus is not on only understanding the messages of the Bible, but also to focus on the growth of a relationship with the Lord.

After the training we spent a few days in Mocuba visiting Lugela, Tacuane, Muraba and a new church near Muraba. We listened to trained youth leaders in giving the first lesson to the children and afterwards helped and encouraged them. Some of them surprised us with a lot of initiative and enthusiasm. Benjamin also brought the Jesus film and we showed it in all of these places.

I also had a good talk with the building committee that is responsible for the building of the church building in Mocuba. They are very inexperienced for a project like this, but in general did very well in managing the building. They build the walls up to window level. It is a good partnership where the local congregation is responsible for one part of the work and Strand congregation helps with the rest. It is a nice process that is not finishing a task but is developing people involved.

We also visited Magodane congregation where we also had a day of training whereafter we visited prayer houses to listen to the youth leaders in presenting their first classes. They were very excited and we can see that some of them will do good in creating a system of Sundayschool. Felizardo, the youth leader of Magodane did very well.

On our way back we went with a small bush road to the prayer house of Machina and the people there demonstrated a deep gratitude and enthusiasm. We really enjoyed it. The morning at 4 it started raining so we packed everything and left for Milange. The road was very wet, but we arrived in good time. On the way we shared with one another about the privilege of doing this work, because it also form our own lives in a powerful way.

Relativism and truth

The prophet Isaiah warns, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (5:20)

Taking God out of creation creates a culture of death. Then there is no base for values and everything became relative. The consequence of relativism is death.

We need christians that will be able to live out a life of love in contrast to this relativistic culture.To live out the absolute truth of a good and a real God.

Reality

Darrow Miller shared a moment from his lifestory:

One of the milestones in my life was 1969 in L’Abri, Switzerland. Marilyn and I were studying with the Schaeffers. We were living in the home of Udo and Debbie (Schaeffer) Middelmann. One Sunday evening Udo said to me “You know, Christianity is true even if you do not believe it!” These words were a shock to me. In church, in my discipleship program, and in seminary, I had been taught that Christianity was true precisely because I believed it.

After two sleepless nights, I realized what Udo was saying. Christianity is true, even if no one in the world believed it. It is true because God exists! It is true to reality! It was at that moment that I realized that I had a “born again” heart, but my mind had never been born again. I had the mind of an atheistic materialist. If there is no God, there is no truth. All things (including morals and beauty, for example) are relative. Your truth is whatever you choose to believe.

Work towards heaven

Darrow Miller helped me to see something new.

Rev 21:24  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

Here the Bible talk about the new earth. Interesting enough the verse talk about kings of the earth. It helped me to understand that what we do here will be part of the new earth. That is why beauty is important. This help me to be motivated to show beauty through art and home. It helps me to understand why it is important to reign well and bring God's Kingdom principles in politics so that it can display His heart towards the world. This is why law needs His righteousness, to live out His Kingdom. Science can stand in awe for what God created and motivate us to know more to serve the world better. So we can continue.....

Darrow ends his article with:
Consider well how you spend your time, how you invest your life. The things you do on earth, for good or ill, count for eternity. What you create in this life that honors God may be transposed, at the end of time, to an adornment in His eternal kingdom.

Visit to Marlow (England)

My visit to Marlow in the United Kingdom was a very busy time and I would like to give you a glimpse in some of the activities I participated in.

Walks:

We went on a several walks with sometimes only one or two friends and on other occasions we were groups of members from other churches. It was around 0 degrees Celsius on most of the walks but that did not stop us. The walks helped to build relationships and we had good conversations and prayed together for the work in England and in Mozambique.

Our Marlow friends prayed and will pray a lot for the work in Mozambique, for the future of the Taking Hands ministry and for the work in Gods kingdom also in England. They testified that this visit was a blessing for them. It helped them to feel closer to one another and it created a new peak in their enthusiasm for their calling. The visit also cemented our long distance friendship and together we are determined to keep our zeal alive for God and His kingdom.

Talks with other dominations in Marlow and neighboring towns:

In Reading there is a weekly meeting of leaders from many denominations. In the first meeting we had about 35 people and when they were introduced to me, they asked me to speak of the work in Mozambique. I used the time to tell about the challenges of the church to make the Kingdom of God visible. We have many churches but mostly the Kingdom of God is still not visible outside the church. We talked about the challenge of being church but without an influence on the community.

I told them how I and pastor Ualize visited the house of a Lomwe speaking elder. We found him in his garden and helped him for a while before going to his house. There we sat down on small wooden benches about 10 cm high. After greeting and talking about family, he told us about his past. How he dreamed about a man that was convicted and died but was innocent. Later this man rose from the dead. Only years later he discovered through missionaries that this man is Jesus. He dreamed another dream where this man asked him to go to the protestant church. From that time he participated in the church and became an elder, but he do not manage to pray. Firstly I told him how God see our problems and want to help, the way He did it, was to become a human himself. He came to the earth. Today He continues to do that by living in us and as we visit one another we demonstrate His presence to one another. I went and sit before him in the dust and demonstrate how God came to His house not to judge him, but to be with him and to serve us.  So today he may know that God is in his house even closer to him than me sitting before him. I told him what He did to our sins, so we can be free to be near Him. Do not feel afraid or burdened by our sins and weaknesses. Then I told him that we do not have to use good language or beautiful words like some in the church. I asked him if he can talk to me. He replied, yes. I told him that God is in his house like me and that he can talk to Him even in Lomwe, like he talk to his wife and children.

This is a small story to demonstrate to the Lomwe man that God came to his life in his house, this story can be in a business or factory or parliament etc. If God are the reason for what we do, life will be transformed. You change from being a receiver to a giver. You change from looking at membership and buildings to look at a life that serve and change corruption to righteousness, etc. Gods Kingdom is becoming visible in our community. We can’t accept a structural church with a lot of programs but without making His kingdom visible in our communities.

Some of the leaders came back to me to talk more about this challenge and how to help the church to be effective in influencing the community. They were touched by this challenge.

We had a second meeting with more than 40 leaders. I heard about many initiatives of working with people that do not have enough to eat, with prostitutes, with youth and ex-offenders. Furthermore they prayed together and had joint meditations.

Chefs for Jesus and Costa Coffee:

I visited two other interesting programs. One they call “Chefs for Jesus”. They give food and clothes to street people and some members are available to listen to people, evangelize and pray. It was still snowing when I was there, but still there were people coming in, eating and talking. The other program is the initiative of the minister of the Marlow congregation. Richard Becher sits in a coffee shop every Tuesday with a sign that he is ready to listen to people. Some people do come up and talk at this table in the corner of the shop. Richard is also involved in the Hospital Chaplaincy and I had the privilege to visit the Hospital with him.

African Evening:

To put the focus on mission work we also had one evening where the church asked a chef from Kenya to make African food and they had decorated the hall in African cloth. They had invited people from all churches in Marlow and the neighbouring areas to come and 55 people turned up. I spoke about the importance of relationships in mission work. The evening was rounded off by a half hour choir concert of the local school, singing gospel songs. The local paper also reported about this evening.

Seminar:

I  also ran a seminar called “God’s Plan for Us” which was 4 hours long and spread over two evenings. We made a short analysis of the community of Marlow and then talked about the roots that cause the problems of the community. We then talked about the new roots in Christ and how we can grow to be rooted firmly in Him. Then we talk about transformation of communities and how we can create a better future through service. We all walked away with a homework assignment to practice doing small deeds of service.

I preached the Palm Sunday and was given the text of Phil 2 and some verses in Mathew about Jesus on the donkey. We looked at a King who demonstrated His kingdom through service.

Maundy Thursday:

On the Thursday we had a meal together in the church with Holy Communion and meditation. I lead this meeting and talked about the reality of God as the basis of everything. It has a specific liturgy, but I enjoyed this experience. They call it the “Maundy meal” in remembrance of the Lord’s last supper with his disciples. They served traditional food like lamb, unleavened bread and basic vegetables. A part of the service is to wash people’s feet as humble servants, just like Jesus did.

Good Friday:

On Good Friday the Churches together in Marlow arranged a walk through town with a cross. After the walk we met in the park where we praised the Lord together and had a meditation. Then we went to the big Church of England across the road. It is a big building full of symbolism and many graves, candles etc. I was asked to talk about the two murderers that died with Christ and the promise of paradise. I talked about the criminal who could see hope and something special in the life of this man Jesus and how he gave himself to this man in his final hour on the cross. I talked longer than they asked me to, but according to people who were there, God blessed us together. It was a unique experience to talk in one of those old massive churches with a lot of symbols and traditions. I think that church should be about 700 years old.

On Sunday the minister and I jointly performed the church service. I talked about Mary who went to the grave and thought that Jesus was the gardener. How Jesus called her name and demonstrated how He committed Himself to a relationship with us within all our pains and fears. How He brings new hope and future.

Time to see the sights:

There also was some time to be a tourist. One day we went to London and saw Trafalgar Square, Buckingham palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, bridges, Art Museum, travel shop, Science museum and the underground trains. In spite of the cold we bought ice cream. It did not melt! Another day we spent visiting the Queen’s castle in Windsor and heard about its amazing history. On another day I went to Oxford the university town, another town with a huge legacy. We saw the places where they made the Harry Potter films in Christ Church. In the church were names of many South-African towns in the Free State, because in these towns some of their members died during the Boer-war in 1902. 

The radio interview:

One evening I came on a discussion of the local radio station in a program called Faith Matters on Marlow FM 97.5.  Richard Becher was the interviewer and he interviewed me and two other ministers. Between playing Christian music we talked for two hours about discipleship and I shared stories from Mozambique.

Christian men’s night:

One of the highlights was an evening meeting with a group of Christian men. We really shared very honestly about our faith and challenges of the church. The challenges in our days are big challenges, but we also shared about a hope for change much bigger than that. Our God is bigger than our understanding and therefore also bigger than our questions and doubts. We believe that He will bring transformation through us. They confirmed later that they really enjoyed this evening, the Mozambique stories and the challenge to think where the church happens from Monday to Saturday.

All in all, I was blessed and my world became much bigger than before. As my life was enriched, I intend to share myself more and more where ever the Lord will place me next. It is also good to hear that the conversations we started are still continuing. Together we are planning and thinking about the future and believe that it is part of Gods plan, although we do not know how it will look like. Thanks guys!