From our street to yours

From our street to yours ...

Glyn, Susan, Maeyken, Adriaena

August 2006 #3.6

Mr. Matlapeng one of the leaders of the Spiritual Healing Church class.

Bible Classes and Preaching

Recently I preached at the Spiritual Healing Church in Gaborone an African Initiated Church (AIC). I arrived in time for worship at 10 am. In some churches if we arrive at the start time there is no one present and if we come an hour late things are just starting. But at the Spiritual Healing Church I was scolded for not coming at 9, a full hour early. They were anxious if I was going to make it.

At the Spiritual Healing church worship starts at 10 - on the dot - carefully checked on everyone’s cell phone. Worship is supposed to take 1½ hours ending at 11:30. Things were not to be like that on Sunday. Worship began on the dot but I did not start to preach till 11:45 and worship was not over till 1:30. (I preached for about 20 minutes, so it was not all my doing!) Worship starts with a time of singing and communal prayers, followed by announcements and introduction of visitors. Then there is more singing followed by the sermon. After the sermon there is more singing and then a time of praying for individuals. People are invited to come forward for various situations. When they come forward, they kneel in rows. First those who are sick were called forward to have hands laid on them and be prayed for individually by 4 or 5 church leaders. Then those who had other issues in their lives and wanted prayer. Then the invitation went out to those who were travelling. Then to those who were in grade seven as exams are coming soon. Then to those who were working in a congregational fund raiser - yes, individually prayed for with hands laid on. This was a large group who seemed to just keep coming - when one row was finished, their places were filled by others. But each one who came forward had hands laid on and was prayed for by several church leaders. This was not a process to be hurried.

Later those who wanted to recommit themselves or join the church were asked to come forward. This invitation is given often and there are always people who respond. Last week four people came forward. This in a church with perhaps 200 at worship. Each week someone speaks to them and tries to identify the nature of the commitment they are making. A month ago I was the most senior pastor type present so it fell on me to welcome them and speak about what they were committing themselves to. It felt strange welcoming people to a church I am not a member of. I told them that they were moving forward on a very exciting journey but that they were not walking alone. I pointed around the room and said that God was sending all these people with them along with God’s Spirit to help them walk the journey. Last Sunday Rev. Kokong, the congregational pastor, was present so he spoke to those who came forward.

over the years have had a profound impact on the sermons class members have preached. I was told that you can tell who has been a regular attender of the Bible class because of the quality of their sermons.

During the class I mentioned that sometimes in North America we think that sermons are the most important part of worship.

I tried to suggest that this is not good theology. The class agre

ed with me. They said that there were three elements of worship that were important. Sermons, music and healing. They emphasized that all three were important for true worship. For them the healing is made visible in worship through the amount of time spent praying for people. In most of the AIC

churches people can also go to the pastor or healer throughout the week to be prayed for and have hands laid on which is

another part of the healing ministry of the church.

Glyn

Upcoming Events

August 12-Sept 12 Spring school break.

August 12-September 8 Maeyken in Cape Town, South Africa

September or so. Steen & Christine Søvndal mission associates arrive.

September 1-8 Trip to Lesotho to take funds raised to help the St. Elie Morning Star Church with their building.

September 8 Kira Friesen arrives.

If you can use Google Earth, you can see our house and some places around Gaborone. Just type or cut and paste the following coordinates into the “fly to” box and take a look.

Our house: (the one with the three white cars in front)

24 39'51.30"S, 25 55'28.23"E

Picnic site at the Gaborone Dam, where the sunset picture below was taken looking approximately west-north-west:

24 42'52.92"S, 25 55'25.70"E

Thornhill Primary School our girl’s school:

24 39'18.65"S, 25 54'58.08"E

Partner Congregations

We currently have four partner congregations that have created covenants with us. This relationship involves praying for one another, and being concerned for and aware of what is happening in the lives and ministries of one another. In some cases it also involves a special financial commitment.

The Partner congregations are listed below along with a link to their web site if they have one. Please look at those sites to get a sense of who is supporting us.

First Mennonite, Wadsworth Ohio

http://www.firstmennonite.com/

Shantz Mennonite Church, Baden Ontario

Wellesley Mennonite Church, Wellesley, Ontario

http://www.perth.net/~wellman/

Living Water Community Fellowship Church, New Hamburg, Ontario

http://www.livingwaterfellowshipchurch.com/

Sunset over the Gaborone Dam looking toward the city and Kgale Hill.

Family

Maeyken is right now in Cape town. It is the winter school break and life for each one of us looks different. It feels strange to have her so far away, and in another country. However, we have smsed her (text messaged on the phone) and she has called twice since she got there. She is there with one of her best friends and her friend’s mother and younger siblings. She will be there for about four weeks and we will pick her up at the Johannesburg airport on September 8. This last term she was part of the field hockey team, and she was also on the field team (as in the field part of track and field). She was one of two shot putters at the school. In a interschool competition she was able to throw in the middle of the pack for her age.

Adriaena attended a 3 day horse riding camp last week. She slept in a tent with 3 friends and was very excited about the experience. For the rest of the holidays she has some sleepovers planned, one at a friend’s in South Africa. She is working towards a grade one piano exam and so is doing some extra piano classes during the school break. Later she will travel with us when we go to Lesotho.

Adriaena and class mates in a dance in a school assembly

Please Pray for...

... Steen and Christina, Rebekah, Kasper, Annika and Benjamin from Denmark were to come this week. Steen was planning to teach at Kgolagano College (a mainline Bible College here in Gaborone) as a theology instructor. Steen hurt his back in the process of moving and was told they could not travel. The prayers of God’s people were answered and he has been told that there is no nerve damage only muscle and he can travel in a few weeks after extensive physio therapy. However the problem now lies with health coverage. Please pray that they can get adequate coverage and that they will be able to join us soon.

... Kira Friesen, a student from Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg will be joining us on September 8 for a six month student internship. Pray for Kira as she prepares for this assignment, says good bye to family and friends and for us as we finalize Kira’s work assignment and living arrangements.

... Maeyken as she enjoys time with her friend in Capetown. Pray for a safe trip back to us on September 8!

...Our trip to Lesotho. On Aug. 31 we will travel to Lesotho to deliver financial support to an AIC congregation there. Please pray for safe travel and for good interaction with this congregation. While there we will visit with a German Lutheran family who moved there from Botswana in January.

Continue to pray for...

... Bible Classes and Leaders. Sunday we visited a church in the village of Bocaa. One of our Bible students is the pastor and he wishes to start a class for the people in that village. Please pray for this emerging class.

...We have received a renewed agreement with the government and extended residency permits. Thank God that these details have worked out smoothly.

... HIV Crisis. Sunday Glyn and the pastor talked very frankly with the people about HIV Aids. This is not a commonly done thing. Oatlotse, the pastor, was part of our discussion group a few weeks ago and would like to do some teaching about HIV/Aids in this village as well. Continue to pray for the people who have had seeds sown in the hearts and minds about possible responses to this crisis.

...Alpha Courses. There seems to be an emerging interest here in the Alpha Course. Several of our contacts will join a group at a Lutheran church to experience the course. There is also interest in the Alpha marriage course.

Mail us at:

Susan Allison-Jones & Glyn Jones

Box 33, Gaborone, Botswana

Phone us at: 267-390-5554

(Just remember that we are 6 hours earlier than Ontario time!)

Email us at:

Our web site: which includes pictures and previous newsletters:

http://www.thegatheringsite.ca/susanglyn/

We welcome your financial contributions for our support and invite you to send these to:

Mennonite Church Canada WITNESS

600 Shaftesbury Blvd

Winnipeg MB

Canada R3P 0M4