Commitment to a cause

Just a browse of the social media, will prove that people are aware of all, maybe most, of the social ills. Things that need to change. There are pages, and hashtags for :

Equal Education, Access to Clean Water, Justice for All, Affordable Health Care, #HumanRights, #EarthHour, #StopRape, Democracy, @GenderEquality #HumanTraffickin, Child Soldiers #ModernDaySlavey #PoliceBrutality etc.

We don’t need more visionaries to change our communities, we need people who are committed to a cause. Hit and run only highlights issues, we need more than that if we are to cause true and lasting transformation.

Unfortunately we are cultivating a culture of just highlighting and hoping those in charge will act. We don’t have to put our money where our mouths are, all we do is raise the issue. To get world leaders to agree on peace, to make education accessible to all, save our planet, etc. all we need to do is sign a petition. Add your signature. Add your voice.  

We copy and paste a status to show we care, change our avatar and add our #voice.  

We are not required to invest or sacrifice our time or resources. In some cases we may be required to donate our time, talents and resources. Donate - not sacrifice.

If we are to see change, it will cost more than a donation, it may cost us our lives. Nelson Mandela can tell you that the long walk to freedom was not a walk in the park. There was a price to pay, a sacrifice to be made. He said “It is an ideal for which I am willing to die”. We need to be committed to a cause, not just pay lip service or tweet about.

Choose causes close to your heart, and dedicate your life to fighting the injustices. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army said, “While women weep as they do now, I’ll fight. While little children go hungry as they do now, I’ll fight. While men go into prison in and out, in and out, I’ll fight. While there yet remains one soul without the light of God, I’ll fight. I’ll fight to the very end”. Find something that you are willing do more that just tweet or Facebook about.

I love the book of Nehemiah, because it shows how Nehemiah combines prayer with action to achieve his goal.

“Commitment does not guarantee the rightness of a cause, but it does determine the likelihood of any cause making a difference. Committed people make history. They live in alignment with their deeply held beliefs…they are in tension with the world around them because they have an agenda for change”. (Steve Addison in Movements that change the world)

Final thought:

You cannot call yourself a change agent or social entrepreneur if you are not willing to pay the price. All you really are is a “Daydreamer”.

J-Life Summit 2013

We meet together as the J-Life Africa family from all over this beautiful continent once a year at our Summit here on Camp Eden. J-Life Country leaders, some of their team as well as board members represent their countries. This is a time of refreshing, catching up with one another, fellowship, accountability and setting goals. We also have ministry partners from Africa and other continents join us in this time - what a blessing for us and them as we share together.


J-Life 2013 Summit Delegates

There was a lot to celebrate as we are currently ahead of our target number of youth leaders we want to train by 2016. God has opened doors for us, more than we dreamt of. For this we praise God.
However, we are also experiencing road blocks in the passing on of our training. It seems the leaders we are training are not training others as projected by our target. This is a great concern to us and we spent a lot of time sharing ideas on how to change this. Please pray that we will find reliable men and women who will pass it on.


J-Life is currently in 20 of the 54 African countries. All these are at different stages of growth and development.

Chico, J-Life Mozambique Initiator

Chico is a young Mozambican who is in training as the country initiator into Mozambique. We are very excited about the prospects of the work starting up there. One of our trainers had done some training in the country already, but we are looking forward to watch what God will do with someone permanently on the ground. Please do pray for Chico as he heads back at the end of March to impact his country for Christ.





Another huge blessing during this year's Summit was the prayer team. Michael and Pam Hudson came out to pray with and for us. They led devotions and prayer in the morning, as we prayed for our families, communities, countries and continents. They spent hours in prayer, interceding and covering us in prayer. Moreover they spent time praying for and with the leaders. Everybody left the summit ready to go do ministry, bold, because we know we are covered in prayer.

When you know you are covered in prayer, you are free from worries, and you're able to focus on the mission. When I (Bhuti) served in Tanzania for example, John, Tara and Jann used to sms in the morning letting me know they are praying for me. That freed me from worrying about malaria and other things. I just concentrated on what God called me to do there for that time.(That does not mean I became careless, No. I still used mosquito repellent, put on closed shoes and slept under a mosquito net every night. I just never wasted energy worrying).

Please keep us in your prayers. If you would like to be pray for us regularly and specifically, drop us an email and we'll get our monthly prayer calendar to you. The email address is jann@jife.org.za

Til next time.. Be blessed and a blessing