Hey once again!

So, we have finished the outreach phase of our course and we are happy to have some rest while we look back on the last 5 ½ months. So I am writing to you the last update of the outreach; a summary of the whole course so that we can refresh your minds of the events and rejoice with us for all of the amazing things have happened!

Most of us didn’t have specific expectations, we just wanted to put our faith in God and see him move in mighty ways to establish his kingdom in Serra.

We set ourselves a very high target which we were not fully able to meet.

The last 6 months at a glance…

The course started on 28^th September 2007, in Muizenberg, South Africa, where a total of 6 staff and 13 students from all over the world came to spend 6 months living and working with one another. Our purpose was to learn how to plant a church in another nation, to raise up local, indigenous people to lead their own church and see the church go from there to other areas in order to set up new churches (multiplication).

Lecture Phase

The first 3 months of the course consisted of 12 weeks of lectures where speakers came each week to teach on different topics that were related to church planting. We learnt how to live with other people who were from completely different cultures, nations and had different languages in order to appreciate more of the rest of the world that God has created and increase our abilities in being able to adapt to other cultures – something that would be useful and valuable later when we came to Brazil.

The lecture phase was very intensive and we covered a huge variety of subjects; ranging from how to resolve conflicts to looking at different world views, to discipleship and leadership, to Missions, Spiritual Warfare and money, to Church History. We learnt so much in this time and felt a lot more prepared for the practical outreach phase of the course for it.

Outreach Phase

The latter 3 months of the course consisted of 11 weeks of building the church so that we could leave it firmly planted when we left.

Arrival in Serra, Brazil

We arrived here on the 28^th December and, straight away, met with our host church. The church, situated in Laranjeiras (about 20 minutes away), called Igreja Evangelica Vida were to help us in our task by sending us translators to come with us every day in order to talk to local people about God, communicate the gospel to them and invite them to weekly Bible Study groups that we were setting up. The church also provided us set many things up for us before we arrived and took care of our needs throughout our time here.

The beginnings…

We started our work by praying around Serra and asking God what the obstacles were to the Gospel effectively impacting the community and engaging in spiritual warfare. Later we continued by meeting local people and building up friendships. We developed strategies on how to begin conversations but also be honest about our purposes here.

The process was slow at the beginning but began to speed up and we soon had several groups started. We discipled them, using teaching based on the commands of Jesus, which we had learnt on outreach.

Seeing God move!…

We were stretched beyond our limits and had to work hard whilst putting our faith in God to do what was impossible for us. God came through for us in significant ways. Some of us saw disciples set free from alcohol. Other disciples found work, received inner and physical healing, were reconciled with family members and grew in their zeal for the Lord.

We were overjoyed to see God work through us in spite of our limitations, weaknesses and sometimes lack of faith. We could never have done this work without members of Igreja Evangelica and some other volunteers who helped us with translation, prayer and encouragement. We really learnt about the importance of working as a team, about partnering with a church etc.

With God everything is possible!…

We reached out to around 500 people and saw a total number of 190 adults come to Christ through our ministry. We began a church in Serra Sede; in the centre of town. Several of our converts testified about how God had worked miraculously in their lives. One man told the church how God had shown him in a vision two of our team coming to him, before he met them. This was a response to his prayer that God would show him which church to attend and what the real truth was. Another young man shared about how God had provided work for him. A young woman told how God had rescued her from a suicide attempt and had restored her through the work of some of the missionaries.

Looking back…

Looking back at this outreach phase, we can say it has been an amazing experience for us. God has taught us about perseverance, faith, taking on more responsibility, about staying passionate for Him and focussed, about working in an international team. In terms of ministering cross-culturally, this has been a training ground for us and we trust and pray that we will be able to use what we have learnt in the future. It has been a privilege to part of a church planting process and we have really enjoyed reaching out to the people and showing them God’s love. We have learnt how to work strategically to bring people into God’s kingdom and back into the body of Christ. We have met a great number of people who have fallen away from living for God so we have seen that God has used us to ‘bring home the prodigals’ and rebuild the walls of the church. It has been fun to be on God’s winning team and to observe, first-hand, people’s lives changing over the last three months.

Working together as team…

It was amazing to work together with every member of our team. We can clearly see that we needed each member and could not have done this work without them.

You made this happen too!…

We want take this time to thank each and every one of you that have taken time to read the updates, pray for us and God’s work here, for those who have supported us financially and those who have encouraged us and maintained contact with us… we could not have done this work, as well if not at all, without you. You have played a very important part and we value every single one of you.

Thank you!

The SCCSM Church Planting Team

Geraldo, Adelson, Stefan, Lorena, Emanuel, Victor, Jono, Dan, Steven and Anna

I just wanted to wish you a,

I hope you have a great time over the next few weeks and a well deserved rest! Put your feet up and snuggle up by the fire! J

I can’t share in the same blessings as you right now because I am in sunny South Africa (which is a strange experience for me because I am used to cold, wet (even sometimes snowy) English weather! But I have had found time and opportunity to finally take a couple of days to rest and relax at the beach as compensation! (personally though I’d rather be snuggling right now! Haha!)

I wanted you to share in some amazing news with me because after all the praying, fund raising and writing newsletters I can now excitedly say that ALL of my course fees have
been paid off! God is good and he answers prayer! So I want to take this opportunity to give him praise and glory because he deserves it!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who has taken the time to read my newsletters, to stand with me in prayer, to sponsor me financially, to keep
in contact with me and to encourage me – your efforts have impacted me in a positive way and have made a huge difference!

I say many times that I do not do the work I am doing on my own but it is only with the help of other people that it can happen – we work as a team! So thank you from the
bottom of my heart for all you have given to seeing this vision a reality. However, it’s not over yet because I am only half way through the course – my team and I will be starting our journey over to Brazil on Thursday morning at 07:00am. I have done research about Brazil and Serra (the town that I am going to) but it can only give a glimpse of the reality there. Serra has been reported as the most dangerous place in the whole of Brazil for the last 5 years. This has challenged me with concerns for my life but, as my team have been praying, God has consistently said assured us of his protection and anointing to go and do what he has called us to do, I am reminded of Joshua 1:6-9 where God, repeating himself three times, tells Joshua not to fear but that God will be with him and Israel as the go into the promised lands. Before this Joshua had responded in faith and boldness and now here he is being weathered by fear. I have responded in boldness and faith in doing this course but I am aware that, like Joshua, I am also human and I too need God’s encouragement, presence and protection as I go.

Please continue, or begin to (if you haven’t started already), pray for me and my team as we go to Brazil and while we are there – we really need your prayers and they make a major difference (even if you don’t consider yourself to be a Christian God will still hear and honour your prayers because of your heart!).

Please, I ask and invite you to stand with me as my friends and family…

Well that’s enough about the latest in my life, what is happening in yours? I would really like to know (honestly!), I’d love to hear from you (especially I am having a lonelier Christmas this year) and anything that I can be praying for you with.

I encourage you to remember what the point of this holiday is about and not to just enjoy its benefits…

God be with you over Christmas; in your families and in your hearts!

Steven

I just wanted to wish you a,

I hope you have a great time over the next few weeks and a well deserved rest! Put your feet up and snuggle up by the fire! J

I can’t share in the same blessings as you right now because I am in sunny South Africa (which is a strange experience for me because I am used to cold, wet (even sometimes snowy) English weather! But I have had found time and opportunity to finally take a couple of days to rest and relax at the beach as compensation! (personally though I’d rather be snuggling right now! Haha!)

I wanted you to share in some amazing news with me because after all the praying, fund raising and writing newsletters I can now excitedly say that ALL of my course fees have
been paid off! God is good and he answers prayer! So I want to take this opportunity to give him praise and glory because he deserves it!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who has taken the time to read my newsletters, to stand with me in prayer, to sponsor me financially, to keep
in contact with me and to encourage me – your efforts have impacted me in a positive way and have made a huge difference!

I say many times that I do not do the work I am doing on my own but it is only with the help of other people that it can happen – we work as a team! So thank you from the
bottom of my heart for all you have given to seeing this vision a reality. However, it’s not over yet because I am only half way through the course – my team and I will be starting our journey over to Brazil on Thursday morning at 07:00am. I have done research about Brazil and Serra (the town that I am going to) but it can only give a glimpse of the reality there. Serra has been reported as the most dangerous place in the whole of Brazil for the last 5 years. This has challenged me with concerns for my life but, as my team have been praying, God has consistently said assured us of his protection and anointing to go and do what he has called us to do, I am reminded of Joshua 1:6-9 where God, repeating himself three times, tells Joshua not to fear but that God will be with him and Israel as the go into the promised lands. Before this Joshua had responded in faith and boldness and now here he is being weathered by fear. I have responded in boldness and faith in doing this course but I am aware that, like Joshua, I am also human and I too need God’s encouragement, presence and protection as I go.

Please continue, or begin to (if you haven’t started already), pray for me and my team as we go to Brazil and while we are there – we really need your prayers and they make a major difference (even if you don’t consider yourself to be a Christian God will still hear and honour your prayers because of your heart!).

Please, I ask and invite you to stand with me as my friends and family…

Well that’s enough about the latest in my life, what is happening in yours? I would really like to know (honestly!), I’d love to hear from you (especially I am having a lonelier Christmas this year) and anything that I can be praying for you with.

I encourage you to remember what the point of this holiday is about and not to just enjoy its benefits…

God be with you over Christmas; in your families and in your hearts!

Steven

Firstly, thank you to all my friends who have joined this group to receive my updates and to support me. Your generosity has been noticed!

Well, I just wanted to give a little update to glorify God. Late on Wednesday and throughout Thursday I experienced personally a miracle! The amount that I still needed to raise to pay off all fees for this course was put up on a list in the classroom, along with everyone else’s, so we could see the progress. By the end of Thursday I had seen just under a third of the money that I needed come in and paid off!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man! I was buzzing! I hadn’t been panicking about the money, but was trusting that God was going to provide, but when I saw this provision before my very eyes I was very encouraged and felt like my heart was filled with life (maybe I hadn’t realised that I previously had a heavy heart!?).

Well, I still have the remaining two thirds of the money to go but I still stand in faith the God will provide every penny. He has called me to do this course and he will provide as well!

Don’t get the wrong idea though – as a team our class have been working hard in our spare time – we have done a number of fund raising initiatives already – from selling food and BBQ’s to hosting movie nights on the base and also washing cars on the local supermarket all day. It has helped us raise money but will in no way provide for paying off everything. But the point is that I/we are putting our faith into action by doing the possible things that we can do and believing God to do the impossible!

I ask you to stand with me in faith for the rest of the funds. Please, I encourage you to pray to God to provide for these needs

Thank you everyone. God’s blessings on your lives!

Ste

Tags: fundraising miracle God provision

Blogged with Flock

today i bring confessions and frustrations to these digital pages…

I have spent about 5 hours sitting here setting up, registering and editing my new web site. I managed to get my own domain name (web site name for those who don’t know) real cheap which i am really plaesed about in a geeky kind of way!

My “soon to be” (hopefully) website will be found at www.missionsandmentoring.com

This is where i’ll put all of my contributions in the future. I have lots of ideas of how i want the site to look and function but (as with all technology) if you want it all to work exactly how YOU want it to work and look then you’ll have to sit there for days on end fiddling, programming, problem solving and tweaking! I have decided to do away with my time-consuming perfectionistic traditions and “bang a site out” that is ‘functional’ for the sake of my sanity and it taking forever instead of concocting a singing-and-dancing web site.

It has been frustrating and taken me so long already to do a ‘functional’ site because i am on a very slow dial-up connection to the internet and the editing side of things is done ‘online’ which slows the whole process down big time. I am, on the other hand, quite pleased that I have internet at all; this is all possible through me ‘tinkering’ with settings and rearching for hours on end on how to connect my phone to my laptop through bluetooth and using it’s internet browsing capabilities!

Anyway, I won’t bore you any longer with this… just signing in… and out again ….. … . … … although i doubt a single sou will ever read these first few posts as i haven’t told anyone about this blog yet! However, if you have found this blog through searching or something – well done! why did you search for this blog? what WERE you searching for? have you got too much time on your hands?

TTFN

Ste

The point of this blog is to fill you in on what I am up to now, what I am going to be doing in the future and to keep you updated…

I’ll be posting updates regularly so keep checking in

Thanks,

Ste