Steadfast

We are into week three here in South Africa. God keeps confirming the call to the unreached and to keep the course with Him. We don’t fully understand His reasons for us being here waiting for our team but God is working. Being here in Johannesburg, the fourth largest city in Africa, has been difficult to get used to being behind all the gates, bars, fences, and alarm systems. Being outdoor people, we have adventured out this past week. We have walked around Kempton Park exploring the different stores, discovering the variety of everything and trying new foods. We have even gotten on the Gautrain and traveled to Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. The Gautrain is a modern, electric train system that was built for the 2010 World Cup Games. We studied the system for a whole week deciding where and when we would travel. It has turned into a commuter train system so the buses do not run on the weekend. We took our first trip to the National Zoo. What an adventure to travel on the train and bus to be dropped off 3 blocks from the zoo to walk the streets with all the people, vendors and taxis. We are learning to cross roads safely with the different traffic patterns. Once in the zoo, we had the place mostly to ourselves because the children are back in school after their holiday break. We were amazed by God’s creativeness of all the creatures here in Africa.

All flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:7-9

We are here on a 90 day tourist visa and our ABO (Africa Base Orientation) is not till January with our teams, so we have decided to take mid-week trips to orient ourselves to Africa’s people, animals and culture.

Last week my main project at the office was designing posters for the Vision 20/20 of AIM. All week I was typing these words:

engage 20 new UPG’s

reach 20 currently engaged UPG’s

facilitate 40 teams among UPG’s

mobilize 400 African workers

equip 4000 African church leaders

UPG’s are the unreached people groups. God has impressed this vision on my heart. I know we are a part of engaging the San and reaching them through the Holy Spirit. I have been reading a book titled What Jesus Started. It follows how Jesus made disciples and how he taught these disciples to make more disciples. It is exciting to be a part of mobilizing Africans to reach their communities. In the past, the church was established, the gospel was presented and then discipleship may have happened. Leaving discipleship to the end has created a shallow faith in many areas. The book presents that the process should be gospel, disciples, then church. The mission of AIM is Christ-centered churches among all African peoples. Only when disciples are learning to be obedient can there be a multiplying church which can reach all peoples.

This will not happen overnight. Yesterday’s sermon was on James 1:1-18. It reminded us to consider it pure joy when we face trails of many kinds. These trails will produce perseverance or steadfastness. The Word encouraged us to be steadfast on our journey with Christ. We need to persevere to become mature, not lacking anything. Praying for us all as we learn to be steadfast in our faith because “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trail, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12

Friday, we are heading to Growing Nations in Lesotho for 3 weeks. This will be another huge change for us to go from the busy, city to the rural, countryside. It is really is going from one extreme to another here. Pray we adjust well. Pray for safety. Pray for an open, learner’s heart. Pray for us to connect with the people. Pray for good health (we both currently have a small cold). Pray we stay warm.