I hate disappointing people. Really…I am am such a people pleaser it just isn’t funny. But I have to tell you all that nothing out of the ordinary happened to us today. We woke up, did all the sorts of things we do normally, got into the Diocesan vehicle (which behaved itself nicely this time – no alarms and no stalling), and got to the church on time to meet all the new comers and chat to the old timers.There are ten people in the second group…larger than we anticipated…a good problem, I think. Up until now, Johannesburg Diocese was the flag ship of the LEAD program in the Province. After this weekend, I think Christ the King will be right up there with them. We first met with both groups and prayed with them together in the sanctuary. Then we split up, Louise continuing with Group One while I took Group Two down into the bowels of the church building – the dungeon as I called it, but in reality it is were the Sunday School classes meet and it is very comfortable and bright.
Our GtC Faculty returned with two more. Now we have our trusty and faithful Thokozani, Paul our Johannesburg coordinator, and Peter and Tsepo from Pimville (Soweto) who have just rolled out the LEAD program in their church with thirty people (!).
The Second Group is mostly made up of laity…Sunday School teachers and other lay leaders mostly. One is a Physiologist, another is a medical doctor…it is a very interesting group and they are all ever so engaged!
It is interesting to see their reactions as the teaching goes on…especially when we begin to speak about the four categories of people in the disciple making process: Lost Luke, Believer, Bob, Worker Wendy, and Disciple Maker Daniel. The penny usually drops with the study on the life of Peter…the impetuous Rock Star turned “failure” turned surrendered servant. That is yet to come for the second group…but the lights went on for the first group today: Without Jesus we cannot be disciple makers…regardless of how gifted we may be. We need to walk with Him in step with the Spirit if we are to reach the lost, build the believers, equip the workers, and mobilise the disciple makers.
We said goodbye to our first group today.
Louise and I are tired as we usually are on the second evening…tomorrow I will preach on the life of Peter and tell the church folks all about what they missed. Then on to the last few classes…we are on the homestretch.
Friday morning, 4:45 AM…my alarm goes off
reminding me it is time to take my thyroid meds. Sigh…way too much fun. It is
really cold this morning and even three cups of steaming coffee don’t help. A
warm shower does the trick and we are ready to roll.
The Diocese has provided a vehicle for our
use while we are here…equipped with an interesting anti-high-jack device. We
know how it works…or at least, we think so. Half way down the road an alarm
goes off and the car cuts out. A passer-by gives us a weary look and then just
keep on walking. I turn the car off, push down the unlock button, the alarm
stops, and the car starts again. Moving along.
The GPS does not take us the way Fr Erich
had told us to go, so we are off to an adventure on our own. Thankfully the
electronic genius takes us to where we need to be. Christ the King Anglican
Church, Mondeor. It is a large church that can easily seat 600 comfortably.
We
are bang on time and we start training a brand new batch of disciple-makers! 13
in total with one returnee and two faculty members, one from Johannesburg
Diocese and the other from Highveldt.
This group is very diverse in age and
ethnicity. They are made up of clergy and lay-folk…they are engaged and are all
participating well…in short, a great group. I am sure we will see a number of
this group go on to become key Growing the Church Faculty members.
Lunch is amazing…spicy Durban curry! YUM!
I receive the long awaited WhatsApp message
from Heyns to say they are in Amsterdam. A KLM angel bumped them up to economy
comfort and Amelia slept 10.5 out of the 11-hour flight. Praise the Lord! They
had also just heard that an extra seat had been blocked for their use in the
flight back to Washington.
4:30 PM and it is time to call it a day.
The feedback is very encouraging with some saying they have learned so much
this day. They have been challenged to take the church out into the
community…their heads nodded vigorously as we showed them from examining the
ministry of Christ Himself that a church-centred program is not the way to make
disciples. We need to go to where people are…just as Jesus did…into homes, work
places, schools, and wherever folks spend their free time. Then meet them where
they are at in life…walk with them…point them in the right direction…challenge
them to turn away from worldliness and to turn to Jesus…build them up in the
faith…and lead them on to maturity. Not rocket science as a good friend would
say…simply walking as Jesus walked.
Our homeward journey turned out to be
another adventure. The GPS decides to take us the scenic route through a rather
seedy looking, run-down area. But we are home and are well fed and ready for
bed…a few more things to do and then…zzzzzzz
Thursday afternoon, 4:30 PM. Time to say
goodbye to our youngest son, Heyns, his lovely wife Hanna, and our gorgeous
granddaughter Amelia. We have to leave them behind in our flat as we are flying
off to Johannesburg to train brand new disciple-makers in the Diocese of Christ
the King. They too are leaving Cape Town to return to the US, but much later.
So we say our goodbyes in the kitchen…somehow this unconventional method makes
the parting easier. It is difficult nevertheless and Louise fights back tears.
Trevor drives us to the airport and soon
his unique way of driving helps us to forget all that is sad about this
departure. At one point he does a U-Turn and nearly wipes out a skateboard
rider…colourful words ring in our ears as we move on.
Check-in is a breeze with Kulula’s extra
friendly staff. Even the security is a piece of cake, so a short delay does not
upset us at all. We have dinner at Mugg ‘n Bean and wait for a WhatsApp message
from Heyns to say they have arrived at their gate in the international
departure section of the airport. The message never comes…but our neighbour
lets us know they left and we believe all is well.
The delay does not alter much and we are
soon up in the air and on our way to Johannesburg…lullabied by one of our
nervous fellow passengers. As we descend to land at Lanseria Airport, her
singing becomes louder, but it remains sweet and melodious.
Fr Eric Ephraim meets us at the airport and
drives us to our home for the duration of our stay here. A lovely flat in a
monastery in Rosettenville, called St Benedict’s House. It is cold here in
Johannesburg, but we have enough blankets on our bed. Sleep comes quickly…
The year was 1975…the movie Jaws was the
cause a many a panic stricken stampede out of the surf on the beaches around
Cape Town. My parents had acquired the same rooms they always stayed in at the
Van Riebeeck Hotel in Gordon’s Bay and were occupied doing what they always did
those days…and I…well, I was mostly alone, reading books and drinking
cola-tonics in the public lounge. I can’t remember why I was alone…but I do
remember that I was rather lonely.
A group of young navy chaps regularly
frequented the public lounge as well. They noted that I was always alone and
for some or other reason allowed me to hang out with them. One chap in
particular took me under his wing and taught me how to swim out to sea and how
to float among other things. Once when going for a drive with his parents, he
asked if I would like to come along. Of course I wanted to and I did…the option
of sitting alone at the hotel reading whatever I was reading at the time wasn’t
all that appealing in comparison.
Sadly, I don’t remember any of their names.
When my parents returned to Namibia at the end of the holidays we parted
company and I never heard from any of them again. Those were the days before
email and Face Book. But I do remember their kindness. They didn’t have to take
pity on a lonely and gangly teenager, but they did.
As I drove past Gordon’s Bay the other day,
I thought about this moment in time. Kindness is so rare…no wonder I remember this
event so vividly. Of course I wish I could remember their names. All I want to
do now is say thank you.
–>
But it also serves as a lesson to me and to
others. It costs you nothing to be kind other than time and perhaps a bit of
effort and patience. Why not look for someone to whom you can show a bit of
kindness today? You never know how much it may mean to them…even for years to
come…
Louise and I hit the road again last Thursday…this time we were headed for the little fishing village of Arniston to train two groups from the Parish of All Saints. This includes, All Saints and Die Heilige Gees, Bredasdorp, St Mary’s, Struisbaai, St Saviour’s, Napier, St Andrews, Arniston, St John’s Klipdale, St Peter’s Ouplaas and Hasiesdrif.
The first group of six was made up of the priest-in-charge, Fr Piet Minaar, three more clergy and two lay leaders. This was a lively group and we had wonderful conversations with many questions and discussions. The second group of eleven was laity only. However, a large portion of this group was made up of young people. They tended to be quieter and more reflective than the first group, perhaps because in their culture youngsters usually do not talk in the presence of elders. We realised very quickly that most did not fully comprehend English and we switched to their mother tongue, namely Afrikaans.
Thokozani knows very little Afrikaans, but
he only spoke to the first group, so he was ok. Louise and Abigail did sowell…I shot a short video clip of Louise teaching on the 4 chairs…but oh me, I struggled. But we prayed and persevered and in the end it was evident that
everyone understood the material. When I did a review on Sunday morning, the young people especially responded with the correct answers…it seems the ice finally broke and they came out of their shells.
I also was afforded the honour of preaching during the Morning Prayer service at the Anglican Church of St Andrew’s…in Afrikaans, of course. In the providence of God, the passage was about Peter and I could tell the parishioners all about what we were teaching about…that if we want to be disciple-makers who make disciple-makers, we have to rely on the Lord, not on ourselves, our strengths, our gifts, or our bravado. Peter had to
learn that lesson the hard way…and so do many of us!
Unfortunately, we did not get to do much site seeing in spite of the fact that this is a tourist mecca. But we did go
out to a small local restaurant called Willeen’s and enjoyed local fare there. Perhaps next time…
Abigail is originally from Bredasdorp, so we spent some time with her family and friends…it was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun! They made us some traditional potjiekos…food made in a black cast-iron pot layer by
layer on an open fire…together with bread made in another cast-iron pot alongside the other one. Manna from heaven!
Please keep the trainees in your prayers as they now seek to implement what they have learned, go through the 60 Day Chronological Study on the Life of Jesus, and prayerfully look for those they Lord wants them to disciple. Each participant is expected to have at least one disciple by his or her side as soon as possible! Can you imagine if 17 disciple-makers make one more disciple each in the next few months…and if each of those disciples make one more each and so on…
It is interesting to see their reactions as the teaching goes on…especially when we begin to speak about the four categories of people in the disciple making process: Lost Luke, Believer, Bob, Worker Wendy, and Disciple Maker Daniel. The penny usually drops with the study on the life of Peter…the impetuous Rock Star turned “failure” turned surrendered servant. That is yet to come for the second group…but the lights went on for the first group today: Without Jesus we cannot be disciple makers…regardless of how gifted we may be. We need to walk with Him in step with the Spirit if we are to reach the lost, build the believers, equip the workers, and mobilise the disciple makers.
