Yesterday I met with an Ethiopian brother named who is a student in CPx, our leadership and church planting school. He has started and oversees 164 churches in Ethiopia, so he is not a novice. He endured the time in the 1980's when the communists rule Ethiopia and persecuted the Christians mercilessly.

My question to this dear brothers, and i'm sure you would think of the same question, is why would he come to our training program when he has already done so much for the kingdom?

"I want to learn more", he said, when I asked him that question. "I want to learn how to send church planters from Ethiopia to other countries to spread the gospel".

In talking to him yesterday, I was surprised to learn that Muslims now claim 44% of the population of Ethiopia! There is growing persecution against believers in areas where Muslims are dominant. The Communist regime has been overthrown, but now the Muslims are rising up in numbers to try to take over the government. Please pray for this pastor, would you?

There are others like him who have attended CPx and are now working full time with All Nations: Bruce Chimtabala from Zambia, Munyaradzi Hove from Zimbabwe, Eric Mogane from Limpopo, and Petrus Mamonyane - these are African brothers are sold out, dedicated, men of integrity and character. They are far more effective that I will ever be, or any Westerner will be in reaching and transforming Africa.

Sally and I consider it a privilege to serve with them as co-workers. These brothers are in great need of monthly support - please pass the word to your friends or family members if you think any of someone who would like to support one of these brothers for $25, $50, or $100 a month. It would mean so much to them!"

By Rachel Haley

CPx student - All Nations Cape Town

Apostles: Apostolic church planters pioneer movements in new places and find ways to mold the church-planting model to fit new cultural challenges. They are idea people who whole-heartedly believe that truth applies to all peoples and cultures and they don’t try to change the people or the gospel as they bring them together.

Pastors: Pastoral church planters encourage and build up local leaders. They are mentors who truly believe in and support the people they are raising up. They are an understanding ear and an empathetic shoulder when things are frustrating in the church planting process. They are shepherds who love to pour into those pouring into others. They are empowerers.

Prophets: Prophetic church planters go on treasure hunts for people of peace. They receive words of knowledge to unlock hearts and encourage movements. They receive warnings and intercede for the movement not to be led astray. They are sensitive to know where the Lord has sent His Spirit ahead and where He is already working, especially if the area is difficult to access.

Teachers: Church planters with a gift of teaching know how to lead people to God’s word when they come with questions. They rise up other teachers to give the churches solid foundations of truth. They can take groups through specific passages where the Lord speaks about what people in the group are going through. They exemplify a deep knowledge of being obedient to the Lord.

Evangelists: Evangelistic church planters are the seekers; they are fishers of men. They have an anointing of favor with people and the ability to speak about spiritual things easily. They are great for finding people of peace and discerning who is really hungry for the Lord. They introduce the presence of the Lord into conversations and relationships where He wasn’t previously welcome.  

By Floyd McClung

Defining terms:

Develop: to change, to become mature; to develop is not to teach but to model, assist, watch, then leave or hand things over. To develop disciples is more that teaching disciples.

Culture: A culture is an environment. A discipleship culture is a culture of radical obedience and passion to make more disciples. It is a movement environment!

Discipleship: to invest in one another’s lives intentionally with the goal of seeing a movement of fruit bearing, reproducing followers of Jesus Christ

What we are not talking about is measuring our effectiveness by the size of our church or the popularity of our programs, but rather looking for the longing of the majority of the people in our community to be multiplying the life of Jesus in others, and they in turn doing the same thing. We measure success by making disciples who make disciples who do like wise. 2 Timothy 2:2

What is the Secret to Developing a Disciple Making, Fruit Bearing, Reproducing Community?

1. Good soil. Jesus taught his disciples how to identify receptive soil. Read the Parable of the sower in Luke 8 and Mark 4. Jesus taught his disciples the parable of the sower and the soil. He told them this was the most important of all the parables – if they didn’t understand this parable they wouldn’t understand any parable. He said there are two types of soil: receptive and resistant, and the three types of receptive soil (rocky, thorny, and fruitful). He said only one type produces fruit. In Luke 10 he taught the same thing, but in a different way. He taught them to look for the person of peace wherever they went. Four types of soil: hard, superficial, shallow, and receptive soil. If you were a farmer and you wanted a good crop, would you focus on the first three kinds of soil or the latter? You might prepare bad soil if it is not receptive, but you would give attention to the soil that is fruitful.

Don’t baby sit unfruitful people. Love them but focus on those who are serious. This creates a culture of discipleship!

Understanding this parable will change everything about how you think and act:

1. The way you do ministry
2. How you see people
3. What you are responsible for and who you are not responsible for
4. Who you give your time and attention to
5. Motivate you to make disciples who make disciples

What the Bible says about bad and good soil people:

• James 2:5
• Matt. 18:3
• Matt. 7:7
• 1 Cor. 1:27
• Lk. 18:24-25

2. Good seed. Having the right seed is essential. Jesus taught his disciples to sow abundant gospel seed. The sower in the parable of the sower and the seed sows extravagantly, almost wastefully. He scatters the seed everywhere. In every fruit bearing, reproducing movement in the earth today, there is abundant sowing of the gospel seed. If the soil is this parable is the hearts of people, then the seed is the gospel, the good news of Jesus. It is not church, it is not programs, it is not theology or doctrine, it is Jesus. Don’t defend “Christianity,” don’t argue doctrine, sow Jesus! Share him, talk about him, tell people about him, tell your story about how you came to know Jesus. No shame. No fear. Do it in every conversation and every relationship.

3. Willing Sowers. Jesus taught his disciples to sow the seed every where they went. Don’t buy into the relativism, the tolerance of our culture. Raise up people who are culturally engaged, but are radically obedient to share Jesus. Teach people to over come fear. Help them learn how to share their story.

4. Water the Soil. Water is prayer. Praying for the soil allows us to love our city and our generation the way Jesus does. It prepares our heart to believe for a harvest. Prayer releases faith in our hearts. Pray for a harvest. Prayer is essential to see a harvest. It is the water that causes the seed to grow. It is God’s way of inviting us into a relationship of dependence on Him and love for those he is drawing to himself. Develop a culture of prayer. Early morning prayer. Prayer walking. Seasons of 24 hour prayer. Half nights of prayer. Fasting and prayer. Pray in every gathering. Pray in every one on one relationship, in every small group, for people to come to know and reproduce the life of Jesus.

5. Pull weeds and prune the vines. Jesus taught us to cooperate with pruning. Weeds can choke the plant. Teach the word and teach people to teach themselves the word. Teach holiness. Train people to be obedient to the commands of Jesus. His seven basic commands are the truth that produces obedient disciples. Spiritual disciplines are what make people grow and reproduce.

The Disciple Making Process

• Pray – with desperation and focus for fruit bearing disciples who make more disciples
• Connect – with people’s hearts who are hungry to grow and obey Jesus
• Disciple – a few individuals who are willing to study the Gospels with you – ask your disciples to disciple others and then hold them accountable to do so
• Gather – 2 or more of your disciples in a D-Group (discipleship group), and grow together (see http://floydandsally.org/posts/dgroups for a simple three step outline for D-Groups)
• Multiply – train your disciples to start their own D-Groups following the same process you have: first pray for the lost, connect with people who don’t know Jesus, disciple a few individuals, gather them, and then teach them to start new groups themselves

Check out these ten questions to ponder as you enter 2010.:

1. What's one way you could utilize time to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. Who are three people you can disciple more intentionally?
6. What is the most helpful way you can build community with a few other followers of Jesus this year?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. Who is the person you most want to encourage this year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing can you plan to do this year that will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

Every day we brush shoulders with people who can only make it through life by showing tremendous courage. They live in the disadvantaged communities of Cape Town (Masiphumelele, Red Hill, Ocean View... and others). and face danger and deprivation as a way of life, yet they are rich in love, dignity and joy. They have chosen to follow Jesus, and though they look to Sally and me for leadership, they are the real men and women of courage.

I wonder how I would do if I lived in a one room shack? Or my father threatened to disown me if I did not offer sacrifices to ancestors? Or I was a single mom who had to hide my children from an abusive former husband who threatened to take my children while I was at work?

Today I will take 10 young men and women of courage to see a movie about another man of courage, Nelson Mandela. For some, it will be the first time they have been to a theatre to see a movie. I have spent ten wonderful days with these young heros of the faith, teaching them and mentoring them in the ways of God. Now we will take some time to celebrate.... it is one way we want to bring some Christmas joy to them.

We will see the movie Invictus, a captivating look behind the scenes when Nelson Mandela was the newly elected president of South Africa. Very inspiring - and a way of seeing life the way we see it almost every day in South Africa. It is a new nation now, no longer under the apartheid regime, but the living conditions and racial struggles are the same.

To give some biblical context to the subject of courage I want to share a few insights from the New Testament book of Acts. I am reading Acts again these days, slowly journeying along side Peter and John and the other apostles. I am inspired by their lives...I hope you will be as well. Below are a few truths about courage from Acts chapters 3 and 4.

Courage is the willingness to act on one’s convictions no matter the cost. It is the willingness to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, even rejection, sometimes great pain, without being overcome by fear or being deflected from one’s course of action.

Boldness is acting in the face of rejection or misunderstanding (“with all boldness they will speak your word” = 4:29). Courage is an inner attitude of heart, and boldness is the action we take to put our courage into words or deeds.

1. Seek to obey truth no matter the cost
2. Strive for change based on what is true or right
3. Speak up about one’s convictions
4. Spurn temptations to be compromised
5. Stare danger in the eye
6. Search for the fear of the Lord with all one’s might
7. Single eye on the vision God has given you and invite others to follow

 I love Christmas - the decorations, the tree, the gifts, the baking, the special meals, the surprises for people, the caroles - I love it all. It's truly my favorite time of the year. I even loved the cold weather......and the snow when we had it. In fact, that's one of the things I miss about the Christmas season now that I live in South Africa and Christmas is in summer. After several years, I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around that. I've just had too many years of winter Christmases.

I have friends that don't really like Christmas all that much. I mean, sure they like it because we are celebrating Christ's birth, but they don't like all the other things that I so love. It got me thinking about why I love everything about the Christmas season.

I know it has its roots in my growing up years. Every year my dad and I would go shopping together for the Christmas tree. We always wanted to find the perfect one, and we came close! We had a beautiful fir tree every year. We'd come home and join with my mom (Memaw) and decorate it. Of course she always had special baked/cooked treats to eat while we did that. Then on another day, my dad and I would put up outside lights. We had a two story house, and we got ladders out so we could decorate both levels. It wasn't anything fancy, but those bright, colored lights were so beautiful to me because my dad and I had put them up. I treasure the memories of us doing these things together every Christmas.

Every year my Dad said he couldn't afford any gifts. And every year, just a few days before Christmas, he'd ask me to take him shopping. He had been tucking money away and would buy my mom and me and some other family members special gifts. Of course by the time he got around to doing his shopping things would be really picked over! I learned as I grew up to ask some shop keepers to hold things until I brought my Dad in! Seeing his true generous heart was such a treasure.

My Dad was a product of his generation - one that had a hard time showing emotion and expressing feelings. As a child I often wished he would do that more. I think Christmas is when I really saw my Dad's heart and came to know who he was inside. I treasured that!

Close to Christmas we usually had a family dinner when other members of my family that lived nearby would come over - my sister and her family, one of my brothers and his family......and sometimes others who lived further away would come in. I often joke and say my family talked a lot but didn't say much. We talked about everything, but rarely was it "heart" stuff. Except at Christmas......and then it seemed that people opened up more and shared their hearts. This was another treasure for me.

My mom never had a lot, but she shared everything she had - all the time, but especially at Christmas. She cooked and baked up a storm! She took platefuls of all her special treats (divinity candy, candied grapefruit rinds, Spanish kisses, and delicious pies to name a few) to just about everyone she knew. My friends loved to come to my house and sample it all! Even though I've tried, I still haven't mastered cooking some of her specialties. My family wasn't poor, but we didn't have a lot of extra either. My mother gave out of her gifts and talents because she had such a generous spirit. I treasure that memory so much.

As parents, we want to establish family traditions and make memories that our children can take with them all their lives. I have those special memories tucked away in my heart........and they help make Christmas so very special to me. I love it!

O come, O come Emmanuel...."God with us." Matt. 1:23

"I hope you fail!" Who would say something like that?? Failure is a word that most of us would like to remove from our vocabulary. None of us like it, and we certainly don't want to experience it. But we'll all face it sometime. The important thing is to be ready to turn to God in the midst of it. He is a faithful teacher in every situation.

I heard of a high school commencement speaker who said something very unusual in his address. He was chosen to speak because of his success as the president of a large business. As he stood before the students, he told them that he had one desire for them. As they go out into the world, he hoped they would fail at something that was important to them. He told how his early years had been one failure after another, until he finally learned to see failure as a very effective teacher in his life.

We see this in the Bible. Many songs from Israel had their birth in times of failure. "As the deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for you, O God." Ps. 42:1-2

David often cried out to God in the midst of hard times and failure. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears!" Ps. 39:12

We often aren't ready to turn to God, to seek His wisdom, and receive His strength until we come to the end of ourselves. There are many examples in the Bible that tell of mountains of faith rising from valleys of failure. Before we get to the successes we strive for, we may need to first see the failure of precious dreams we hold in our hearts. We may need to learn to trust God's love, wisdom, and guidance when it takes us down paths we hadn't planned. We may fall flat on our faces a few times. We may struggle. We will certainly be humbled. We must learn from our failures, or we will fail to learn.

We must persevere through the difficult times in our life, through the failures. We can grit our teeth and just barely make it through, or we can learn and grow. God promises to go with us through difficult times. We can go through the fire and not be burned - by His grace! We don't need to fear. We must choose to not give up, but to look to Him. Sometimes we have to pick up the pieces and begin again. The failures and difficulties we struggle with can sometimes be the back door to a great success or victory that God has for us.

As I look back through my life, I see "seasons" of trial, difficulty, and, yes, failure. It's interesting that some of my greatest seasons of growth coincide with those same seasons. The pain, the stretching, the wrestling for answers and provision, the tears, and the questions (all things I don't really like) brought fruit and release into my life. They all brought me closer to Him. We say God is in control. In the face of difficulty and failure we need to stand firm on the truth of that even more!

"Why are you cast down, O my soul?....Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him." Ps. 42:5 

Hello,

I just received the following note from one of our All Nations leaders, Werner Els, living in Pretoria, South Africa. It is incredibly encouraging report about God at Work at Work! I believe God longs for His church to break out of the "church" happens on Sunday paradigm, to see what He will do when we invite Him to work through us at work.

I have been discipling Werner off and on for several years, and have encouraged him to be courageous and creative about igniting a church at his work place.

This is the result!

Floyd

"When I started working at Aerosud I was full of plans to share the gospel with people without them knowing I am sharing it with them (you get weird and not so wonderful things when you combine passion and fear of man!). MY plans started off well until one day (in 2007) I sensed strongly that God wanted to show me something in Aerosud. Since then I got to understand that MY plans do NOT = His plans for me/Aerosud and that Jesus came to give us life in abundance...

As I surrendered MY plans to the Lord I gradually lost my passion for my work since that DRIVE wasn’t there anymore. It was like Samson without his hair… But God did something; He returned my focus on Him and stirred my passion and love for Him. During all of this I felt I had to be faithful with the few things I knew the Lord had called me for in Aerosud, one of them being Broeikas. Now Broeikas is a place where people meet during lunch times... God wanted Broeikas to BE an incubator for meeting people's spiritual needs... We want to see fruit! We want to see God’s kingdom being manifested through the lives of every person working here...

One afternoon in October 2009 I received a call from one our senior level managers saying that he wants to talk to me. Walking into his office I saw that something was different with this man. He shared with me that he went through a tough time in his life and that he was down and out. The one day whilst walking in the corridor he passed one of our prayer warriors and he asked him “how are you”? Peter replied “I am exceptional”. This struck Johan and he said to Peter that his life is falling apart. Peter took him to his office WHERE HE COMMITTED HIS LIFE TO CHRIST AND SURRENDERED ALL HIS BURDENS!!! Praise be to God!! Jippiee! He is the 1st convert on company turf that we know about ;-) and has already made a huge impact in his department.
I asked Johan how I can support him in his journey and he asked for prayer. So I told him that we gather twice a week to pray for the company and the needs of people and that he will get prayer there. Afterwards he shared this with Jacques in his department and a lady overheard them and then the ball started rolling. Elizca was upset and phoned me telling me that more people needs to know about what God is doing when we meet at Broeikas and that we must reach out to people. So she sent out e-mails to the whole company inviting people... Needless to say a lot of people came and the ball started growing in size (10 people out of one manager's department come regularly)…

After Goitse, a passionate follower of Jesus, shared from his heart a few teachings on love, one of the new guys felt that we should share the love of the Lord and lead people to repentance. So we organised a ‘God week’ / mission week and even the CEO gave his blessing for this. This started on Monday 23rd of November and will continue until Friday the 28th.

We have already prayed a lot for the impact of this initiative and even started prayer walking around the peripheral of the company. I believe there is power in prayer because God hears our pleas and answers them. I want to ask you to please intercede for the people in Aerosud. We have one opportunity and want to make the best of it!..."

I referred to "bride price" in a recent letter to some friends. One of them asked me what this means and why I am against it.

The bride price practice in Africa is part of the socio-economics of Africa. It is a way of providing a sort of pension for parents. Young men and their families are expected to give cash and cows to the bride's family. A price that is negotiated between the elders representing the two families. The price is determined by future bride's father and uncles. Where this practice causes problems is when young men or their families cannot pay the bride price, but they go ahead and live together

The families would cut them off the young man if he got married without paying the bride price. However, it is common for a man to live with the woman he plans to marry some day without getting married while he tries to save or find a way to pay the bride price, and of course the couple normally have several children as well.Many of the men leave the woman they are living with if they prefer another woman or move back home to the tribal area. There is flexibility on the part of the family and tribal elders to accept their sons and daughters living together, but there is no tolerance for them to get officially married until the bride price is paid.

This double standard has led to destruction in many people's lives. Sally and I are trying to understand how to honour African traditions and practices but to also work for transformation of those practices that are creating havoc in people's lives, especially innocent children.

Hello,

This is your invite to spend ten days with us in Cape Town! Ten days for Jesus! I'll be teaching almost every day on Making the Basics Beautiful!

If your between 18 and 30 years, want to do something special this holiday season, and are hungry to grow in your faith - apply now!

Yours,

Floyd McClung

What is Ten Days for Jesus?

It’s an annual event hosted by All Nations in and around Noordhoek near Cape Town, South Africa.

It’s your opportunity to be involved in reaching people in some of the local townships around the Cape Peninsula and showing them how much Jesus loves them.

We set aside ten whole days where we give our time and ourselves to love and serve others as a birthday gift to our King.

What better gift to give Him than our lives in serving the poor and those who don’t know him?

“ ... It is more blessed to give than to receive…” (Acts 20:35).

Join with us and many other enthusiastic followers of Jesus for this exciting short outreach, reaching out to people with God’s heart and love!

When Is Ten Days for Jesus 2009?

The outreach will run from the afternoon of Thursday 10th December through Sunday 20th December, 2009.

Cost of Ten Days for Jesus 2009?

It will cost R1,700 for the ten day period.

This will cover your accommodation, 3 meals a day and transport once you arrive at Africa House. Transportation from the airport or bus station is R100 extra.

Ten Days For Jesus 2009 Program

Our theme for 2009 is ‘Back to Basics’. We want to go back to the basics and remind ourselves of how Jesus shared the gospel by serving people with love.

We are excited about what God is going to be doing!

Ten Days has always been a blast and this year will be no exception. Join us !

What Should I Do Now?

We only have room for a limited number of people so if you want to join us, apply now.

Contact us for an application form below at one of the contact addreses below.

Return it immediately to Pat Fourie at the All Nations office.

By fax using this number: +27-21-785-7201

By e-mail attachment to: info@all-nations.co.za

One of the team will be in touch to let you know if we still have space for you.

If we do, we will send you bank details for payment.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly!

The Ten Days for Jesus Team