Our Journeys and Interesting Anecdotes - 9/04/2011

This week we all got the opportunity to share our journeys, where God is sending us and the trials and tribulations we are experiencing while on that journey. As always the conversation was interspersed with hilarious anecdotes related to language and culture barriers and thought provoking recollections of some of the experiences had by all.

WORLD CHRISTIAN PRAYER LIFE

We got together at JJ and Aldi's home. Neville shared with us on the christian prayer life. He is passionate about this topic and has spent years working on this and formulating a strategy which he uses. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed what he shared. He gave us practical tips that we could use when partnering with someone in prayer. He shared on the strategy he uses for praying for the nations and how he goes about it, where he gets his info from etc. Prayer is a commitment. It is just as important to have someone to pray for as to have someone pray for you in a relationship of mutual trust. As we work with one another there should be commitment, trust and transparency between one another. The feedback from everyone was phenomenal.

What to do oh, what to do???

Skin contact two - what should we do?
They will always be here the poor and the dear,
so what is our aim, or is it all just a game?
Will we sort out their problems, or make things worse?
Skin contact two - what should we do?

Skin contact two - what should we do?
The poor are around us, should we make a fuss?
make things better according to the letter
Give them direction - to the red road to hell?
Skin contact two-what should we do?

CHEAP GRACE VS COSTLY - ROUND TWO

Tonight we got together to discuss cheap versus costly grace again. This subject appears to be inexhaustible. At the end of the evening we felt like we had barely touched it. Trying to put down in writing what we discussed would not do it justice so I'll just hint at one or two things that came up. Do we, in the church, choose cheap grace or is it because of the fact that we grew up on a diet of it. Is it fair to label grace as cheap and costly. Is there such a thing as cheap grace? Isn't it rather abused grace. Costly grace could possibly be summed up as Total Lordship (in all areas). Grace is a beautiful gift from God that becomes cheap if we abuse it. Without grace we wouldn't be able to change. If we truly understand and value grace we should automatically go towards costly grace, Lordship. Most of us don't because we have been fed a gospel that leaves out the cost part. One just has to read the bible to see that there is a huge cost involved. Is there perhaps a danger in focussing so heavily on costly grace that we become proud and it becomes a matter of measuring who is "suffering" the most. This in turn could lead to works which robs us of relationship with our Father and with each other. We sidetracked for a short while into 1 John 3 which talks about sin. Was John saying that we could be sinless? All of these points were discussed in depth. Should we revisit this subject for a 3rd time? Some said YES and others said a very emphatic NO.

DINNER AND FELLOWSHIP

Only two families got together. It was great to catch up again with Jean-Pierre and Rita. We shared a delicious meal whilst sharing all that happened while they were away. We had a lot of catching up to do. We also had an interesting discussion around how to gain momentum to jump the chasm. As usual our mindsets were challenged and we left with new goals. You could say it turned out to be a mini coaching session. Not that we are complaining. That's why we love travelling in a caravan of people. It is good to be challenged and to stretch out mindsets. Gone are the days of pew warming and warehousing. Now we are into diving out of boats, jumping off cliffs, flying out of nests, riding rollercoasters. Who said the kingdom was boring?

Home Sweet Home

Jean-Pierre and Rita had the floor on Saturday. It was good to have them back. They shared a little about their time away and the huge differences between the three Asian countries that they visited. Thailand Cambodia and Vietnam were the victims this time. The cultures are so very different too.
What also came up as a topic during the evening was the issue of cheap and costly Grace... hence the topic for our next meeting...

COSTLY VS CHEAP GRACE & DISCIPLESHIP

This week we discussed the topic of true grace and discipleship, the difference between cheap and costly grace.

The cheap being what the majority of the church believes is the "good news" and the costly which for many is not considered an attractive message.

Where does the church tend to go wrong when it concentrates on a watered down gospel to the exclusion of Lordship where we are called to share in His suffering and rejection for the sake of the gospel? Is it to fill seats and how is it fulfilling the commission of making disciples?

We agreed that in general many believers do not understand grace - if they did, they would be committed to Lordship because of commitment to Him and out of love for Him.
We agreed that discipleship and grace go hand in hand since without grace discipleship would be impossible - we are to learn from our mistakes and given a second chance facilitates the learning process.

Although His grace is a surety the church should not abuse it and because of it the church should respond to the grace that costs.

MAINTAINING A BALANCE BETWEEN MODALITY AND SODALITY

We met at 6pm at Midrand. 11 adults, 4 children. Alison facilitated. When in transition how do we balance the responsibilities we already have with our new kingdom responsibilities without going into a swing between modality and sodality. Prayer which should start becoming a growing and main focus in our family's lives. Studies on successful missionaries have shown that there was a strong focus on family prayer in their lives. We have to make time for kingdom activities in our lives. Failing to plan means planning to fail. Our families have to be included in all things from the start. Communication is important. We need freedom to be "in the process" of learning and we need to speak out when uncomfortable. Iron sharpens iron (encouraging one another, not breaking down). Obedience to the Lords leading and word are key (total Lordship). This must be a process that brings life. If this is not happening then this is a warning sign. Don't be insular. Input/Output groups. Teach, train and read Plan at least one missions trip or more for the year. Stay in a caravan in people, put shoulder to the wheel, world christian prayer life, telescope of vision. Sow finances.

We discussed each of the above things in depth. We broke for some tea and cake and to sing to Lucille as it was her birthday on the 25th of Jan. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUCILLE!!!!!

WELCOME BACK JJ!!!!!

We got together earlier than usual at 2pm at Grant and Suzana's home for a braai to welcome JJ home. After the braai we gathered for fellowship and carried on late into the night. It was wonderful to see JJ again. He was only home one week and gave a wonderful presentation on his travels in India. It almost felt like we were there with him. He told us about lessons that he had learned on the journey, lessons he learned from Gotam and lessons he learned from Swaamiji. If you missed it, please give him a call and ask him to share with you. Some other things we touched on were deliverance in a cross cultural setting and the insider movement.

SAT 22ND JANUARY

The Midrand Fellowship enjoyed Alison's reportback so much last week that they decided to support her as she shared with the Pretoria Fellowship on Saturday afternoon. The house was packed as both fellowships got together. We had a great time sharing and listening to Alison as she about her time in Serbia. She also shared on the plumbline teaching which was fascinating. A lot of people opened up, specifically the men. It was a precious time. After that we headed for the airport to meet JJ at 22:00, freshly returned from India. We look forward to hearing about his travels this weekend. Please pray for him as he goes through re-entry.

SOJOURN IN SERBIA

Alison is back after visiting family and friends all over the country!!!! It was great to see her again lookng refreshed and ready for the next phase of her journey. She shared the last few months of her journey in Serbia with us in a power point presentation. It was really encouraging, challenging and thought provoking. We were "introduced" to some of the people she met. God was really faithful in providing places for her to stay and leading her to people that she could minister his love, healing and encouragement to. We saw the need for missions in Serbia as the church there is struggling, The role Alison played was a bit like that of Brother Andrew.

She also touched on three very important things:

• the importance of freedom before ministry i.e. that we need to be healed of our pasts.
  
• finding our gifts because when we operate in our giftings we will have the anointing
• the important of having a healthy balance between modality and sodality.
• speaking/declaring scripture over our lives. She did this with a few women there and she shared the change that she saw happening as they started to apply this to their lives.

All in all, we enjoyed every moment of the evening.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

We had a wonderful time together on Saturday evening. Each of us shared our lows and highs of this year and our plans (or what He has showed us) for the following year. It was great to look back as we were so encouraged by what God has done in each of our lives and how He has changed us and still is. We had all been through some "valley" experiences during the year and it was amazing to see how that had changed for all of us and how we had grown through it. God really did some root work in 2010. Some of us had "flown the nest" and were able to testify that God has really been faithful and looked after us every step of the way. We were all clearly able to see his hand at work in our lives and this once again made us see that HE REALLY IS IN CONTROL.

Aldi shared some of JJ's experiences in India. It was great to hear that he is doing so well and that God is opening up opportunities for him everywhere.

Aldi knows someone who gives a very convincing argument that the gospel is only for the Jews and not for the other nations. We discussed this in length, visited different bible verses and found it very interesting.

TOO LATE, TOO LATE

Last week we put out a last minute notice that Danie and Esther were going to be sharing at the Pretoria fellowship and not Midrand. Unfortunately it was a bit too late as everyone in the Midrand fellowship had prior commitments (due to Pretoria fellowship taking place in the afternoon and not the evening). Other's had sick children. This week everyone is looking forward to good fellowship, kingdom discussions and some good old spurring each other one. Hope to see you there.

SAT EVENING - 4 DECEMBER 2010

After a very full week away with Philip's sending cell we gathered together on Saturday night for some kingdom focussed fellowship. Instead of the usual bring and share we decided to have an ice cream and chocolate sauce evening. The main topic of the evening was journalling which is a way of sitting at the Father's feet and hearing his heart for us on different situations that we face. It is really important that we develop this in our lives so that we can hear His voice clearly and obey. The topic evolved into prayer, ineffective and effective. It is so easy to pray our own will over a situation instead of first finding out what God is doing in that situation and what His will is regarding it. Really interesting stuff. This of course then led on to a discussion on healing and how we pray for that. A few things that Schwemma said really made us question our faith when it comes to "how we pray" for this. Anyway, we all had a great evening and went home with lots of food for thought.

LOY KRATHONG - THAI FESTIVAL AT BRIGHTWATER COMMONS

Last week all of the fellowshippers took a night off to join in the festivities at the Thailand Festival at Brightwater Commons. It was great to immerse ourselves in a bit of Thai culture again, even though it was only a glimpse of the real Thailand. Good food, good fellowship and loads of fun.

The Thai's were celebrating the festival of Loy Krathong. Loy means float in Thai and krathong is a banana leaf. The leaf is decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense sticks. A low value coin is sometimes included as an offering to the river spirits. During the night of the full moon, Thais will float their krathong on a river, canal or a pond lake. The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters. It is also an opportunity for the Thai's to send their grudges, failing and sins off down the river on their Krathong. It was quite a sight to see all the Krathong's floating off into the Brightwater fountains.

They also sent floating lanterns off into the sky with their sin's attached. The lanterns looked a bit like miniature hot air balloons. It was impressive.
What a lot of lanterns.... and sin
The day was ended with a Thai massage for those brave enough to be twisted into a pretzel and a late night coffee. Those who tried the pretzel treatment paid the price the next day when they couldn't get out of bed. Mwaaaaaahaaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaa.