Ministry Update

  Home Front 

Hi Friends and Family, thank you very much for your continued support for our family and ministry. Our hearts are full of praise to God, for His goodness towards us. We are grateful for His provision and protection. We are also grateful for you who stand with us and pray for our family and ministry.

We have recently moved from Camp Eden to live in Heidelberg. As I write, we have been here almost a week. We are slowly beginning to feel at home as we unpack the boxes and get to know our new surroundings. We are grateful to God for this place and we pray that He will give us opportunities to advance His Kingdom. 

School

We decided to keep Ndumiso at home and to continue with remote learning. We felt this will work better for our family as we are adjusting to our new home and getting ready to host our Youth Workers in November. He is a little bit behind, as we lost some time during the move but he is doing well. 

Ministry Opportunities

No doubt or denying that this has been a different year. Covid19 affected all plans and programs. With Youth Groups closed due to Covid19 restrictions, all our youth workers had to be creative in order to serve the youth of their church and communities. Here is some feedback from them.

Innocent - Villiersdorp, Western Cape

Innocent teaching in a school before Corona

Because not all communities have equal access to the internet, it was hard for Innocent to do online youth group or devotions. Praise God for his mentor who let him stay at his house (outside the township) so that he can join us in classes. As restrictions were loosened, Innocent was able to gather a small group. He is taking them through the Alpha course. He is finding that the youth are hungry for the Word. 

Sheldon - Salt River, Cape Town

Sheldon and the men he ministers with and to

From when I applied to do J-Life the aim was to move in and serve at Beth Uriel. Beth Uriel, “House of Light”, aims to provide young men from impoverished communities the chance to pursue meaningful, independent lives through a supportive living environment, connections to educational opportunities, positive social alternatives and life skill training. 

Although I was nervous taking this big step, I have been comforted by seeing God’s hand on this home and seeing Him work in the lives of these boys. In doing life with these guys and hearing their stories, God has grown my heart and filled it with so much compassion towards them. I’ve grown to love these boys and I am hopeful for the bright future that each of these boys have ahead of them. 

My hope is that all the boys that haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus will come to know the love that God has for them and that we will continue to grow closer as a family that serves God. My hope is that we will be the house of light. 

Sam and Mekhail - Waterkloof, Pretoria

During Level 3 lockdown our team of youth workers were able to help out at Hatfield Christian School. Our sole purpose for working here is to help the teachers and lighten their load a bit. We do this by making them decent coffee, helping with break duties and ensuring physical distancing as kids leave after school. I have helped out in some classes because my passion is to teach children and I've had the privilege to observe and help out in classes while being at the school.

Tim - Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg

Lock down brought its challenges, but we decided to use this opportunity to have youth devotions 3 times a week, and then have youth on Friday evening all over Zoom. I was able to do a series on the Armor of God as well as a series on Joy! It's been great to watch the youth be willing to do devotions and get involved more than they used to. We got involved and did an online treasure hunt with the church.

We will share stories from the other interns in our next update. 

Intensive

Lockdown and travel restrictions meant we move our second intensive online. We had lectures, bible studies, devotions and prayer meetings online. We learnt to keep in touch and journey with each other from a distance.  With inter provincial travel opened we plan to have an in person intensive 13 -28 November. We look forward to this time of fellowship, to build and encourage one another. We will make an effort to put boundaries in place and take precautionary measures to ensure everyone's safety. 

At the end of a tough year like this, we want to create an environment for the youth workers to get away, relax, reflect and get spiritual input. 

Prayer Points: 

Pray for us as we settle in our new home, that we may be light and salt in this community

Pray for the upcoming training intensive

Pray for wisdom as we plan for 2021

Pray for 2021 Youth Workers intake

 

Ministry during Lockdown

Greetings friends, family and ministry partners. 

Home Front   

Getting cold in Camp Eden

We having been spending A LOT of time at home:) South Africa went into a hard lockdown on the 26th March. Ndumiso's school started their holidays a few days earlier and we've all been home since then.

We are very grateful to live on Camp Eden at time like this. It is a great blessing to be able to have the kids play outside and enjoy the greater outdoors as a family.

Life in general is not that much different for us as a family, other than having both kids around for the whole day. 

Ndumiso's school went online at the beginning of the second term. So for the past 6 weeks and counting we have been homeschooling. He is doing well and coping with the schoolwork. They have one class on Zoom per week, and he enjoys seeing his school friends.

Ministry during lockdown

The lockdown has not changed much of what we do day to day. Our J-Life South Africa team is scattered across the country, so we were already using Zoom for team meetings and staff development. It has however affected visiting our trainees and conducting our disciplemaking training in churches. This has not been an easy hurdle.

GC2 Internship 2020

Training J-Life via Zoom

As the country is still on lockdown due to Covid19 we had to move our training online. We had our first training session over Zoom on the 11th May. Initially we are having 3 training sessions per week. We plan to add times of prayer, devotions and fellowship as we get used to this new normal. Praise God for technology that allows us to continue the journey with our Youth Workers.

Obviously we are new to the online format, so we are on a learning curve and finding our digital feet. That said we've had great training sessions, interaction and fun.

In addition to our training we have started a Book Club with the trainees. We aim to read a book together every 2 weeks. Interns will write a summary of each book highlighting their take away from the book and how they plan to implement what they've learned. So although we miss the fellowship of being together at Camp Eden (and the practical jokes), we are excited about the opportunities that come with doing things differently.

Regional Ministry

At our J-Life Summit in Cape Town this past February one of our southern Africa resolutions was a monthly prayer meeting via Zoom. Due to the pandemic we all felt it will be good to pray together more often. We have been gathering for prayer every second Friday. The J-Life countries in the region are Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. In these prayer meetings we also take time to share best practices for doing ministry during these times. 

Before the pandemic I was planning to visit Lesotho in May to train a group of Pastors. The travelling plans are temporarily on pause. Please pray that we can deepen relationships with pastors in Lesotho and start with the training online. 

Prayer

Covid19 has turned all the norms upside down. We all currently find ourselves living in a new abnormal. There is a lot of uncertainty about our lives, livelihoods, jobs and businesses. We will do well to pray for each other and our world. Please let us know any specific prayer request you have. We are praying for you.  

Jann and Ntando chilling

 

Boys

First Intensive

Home front

Its March already, where did the time GO!?!

As a family we are grateful to God for the countless opportunities He gives us to serve him by walking alongside young people. There is something about working with young people that revives your HOPE. When you see the talent, gifts, heart and potential these passionate young people have, you see a better tomorrow. We are also VERY grateful to you who support and pray for us. May the Lord bless you.

We are also grateful to the Lord for good health that allowed us to serve without any hiccups during this season. The boys are doing well.

A Community of Christ Followers... or A Bunch of Disciples

On the 11^th of January we welcomed 10 J-Life Trainees on our GC2 Internship (GC2 = Great Commandment and Great Commission) and 3 Semester Abroad Students from Bethel University. Over the next 6 weeks this group of young people lived together at Camp Eden, our training centre.

Youth Workers

Of the 10 Youth Workers we had on our first training intensive,  8 are committed to finishing the year with us. The other 2 will serve at their churches and be involved in other internships throughout the year. The J-Life 2020 community was blessed to be part of Jordan and Mika's journeys, we wish them all the best on the rest of their Gap Year journey.

Please pray that we will have discernment and wisdom as we journey with our 8 Youth Workers. We realise that all of them are unique and at different stages of their journey, we need to meet each of them where they are. Pray also that the churches where they will be serving will provide a conducive environment for them to serve and grow.

Semester Abroad Students

This year we hosted our fourth Semester Abroad group of students from Bethel University in Indiana, USA. Bethel University has sent us a group every 2 years since 2014. The students spend their first month in South Africa being part our youth workers training programme participating in group devotion, prayer and selected classes. We also set time aside for them to read, learn a local language, write and submit assignments.  These 3 will spend the rest of their time in South Africa doing ministry in various communities in Cape Town.

Scripture Union

Between Bronwyn Sherry and Peter Nuttall our trainees received 5 days of Scripture Union training for Children and Youth Ministry. For nearly 100 years Scripture Union has been at the forefront of bringing transformation in the lives of young people reaching them through Schools ministry, Holiday Bible clubs and Camps. J-Life partners with SU to bring this training to our trainees. The training given will enable our interns to run School Christian Groups and present life skills lessons in schools. They also have the tools to plan and run a Holiday Bible Club for kids in their community.

Schools Ministry

After receiving training from Scripture Union armed with Lesson Plans from Ergo NowGen (ergonowgen.com) we took them to 2 different high schools in Balfour where they got to teach Life Skill lessons to Grade 8. It was beautiful to see them put into practise what they learnt. After teaching a class they got feedback from J-Life staff who went into the classes as observers.

J-Life Summit

J-Life Leaders and ministry partners

J-Life leaders from across the continent came together in Cape Town, South Africa to launch Vision 2030. We are all excited to see what the Lord will do through this movement in the next 10 years.  During the Summit we had time to set goals for our specific regions that will contribute to realising Vision 2030. We all went back home with a fresh commitment to making disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples. Please pray that these man and women will communicate this vision with clarity to their national teams and equip them for implementation.

I, Bhuti, attended the Regional Directors meeting (before and after the summit) where we planned on how we are going to implement this vision and track the fruits through accountability measures. Pray that we have wisdom to help country leaders stay on course through our coaching and accountability.


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