Good Friday?

Many people wonder at the name Good Friday celebrated at Easter each year, check here for more info.

But I think this BC comic sums it up well:

May Easter be a reminder of the goodness of God shown to us on a cross 2000 years back...

What is the Care Team?

When I was tasked to head up the PVFC Care team  I was totally unprepared and did not consider it to be my particular gifting. However, after some serious prayer and trying to find reasons for not getting involved in such a difficult ministry, I understood that God was telling me to be obedient, and to trust him. This was almost a year ago and I must confess that although we have gone through some rough patches, it has been a very worthwhile experience and a wonderful blessing; more to us than the people being cared for.

My initial thoughts were that this ministry should belong to the whole church, as Jesus’ clear command was that we love one another (John 13:34-35; Matt 12:48-50) and that we care for our neighbours (Luke 10:25-37; Matt 25: 35-40) and now that the Vision is moving us towards Gospel centred Worship, Discipleship, Community and Mission I’m more convinced that it should be so. After all, we are part of God’s family here on earth and are meant to live in community with one another, caring for and looking out for each other.

One of the families who has been prayed, counselled and cared for wrote:

We want to thank the PVFC Care team for their ongoing love and care, for opening up their hearts to us as they have done in our time of desperate need. As we have been fed spiritually, the Care team has  also fed us physically by providing for our basic needs like food. May God bless this ministry as it goes from strength to strength, as you do the work of the Ministry of the Kingdom of God faithfully according to God’s call, by being His hand extended here on earth. We pray that God will use you more and more as you show yourself faithful to him and his calling as you work among those in need - spiritually, emotionally and physically. Most of all, thank you Father God, Lord Jesus Christ and and Holy Spirit for being faithful to your promises of never leaving us, nor forsaking us and for being with us always. May your name be Glorified! 

We as a family have experienced first hand , the love, caring and practical Christianity from the Care team at PVFC. After assessing our needs in relation to the challenging financial situation we as a family are presently in, the Care team stepped up and have helped us with groceries and other items. that in the true sense of the word have kept us alive, sane and helped us maintain our dignity. It is so overwhelming to experience such love and practical Christian faith in our lives at this time, we feel so blessed. Just saying thank you seems so inadequate. The Sunday notices read 'Care Ministry - call our help line and someone will come to your aid'. What a fantastic statement that we have experienced  first hand. Thank you Care Team.

We realised from the outset that, with limited knowledge and experience in counselling, it was going to be a low key affair and that it would consist mostly of being a good listener, holding someone’s hand through a difficult time, helping with practical needs, where needed, and generally just being available. As one member of our team notes:

Reflecting on my role in this team, I realized that I often wait for big tragedies to hit to be able to care. Pastoral care is however less about counselling and fixing the problems of the world, than it is about intentionally seeking out every possible opportunity to walk with someone along their path – whether that path is something as devastating as death, divorce, losing a house or something as ‘trivial’ as loneliness, feeling unworthy or hurting relationships. We all as God's ambassadors need to use every opportunity to genuinely bring Jesus love into each person’s life and guide them to a deeper relationship with Jesus. 


Maybe people in our community and congregation never ask for help, because maybe they also expect that their problems need to be catastrophic before they have the “vrymoedigheid” to approach us. But we should be serving in the simplest of ways – praying with someone through a tough decision, talking about fears and hurts and doubts, being a friend to the lonely.  Isaiah 61 sums up pastoral care well: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

This about sums up what we have been doing this past year and although we are not qualified as psychologists, we have managed to cope with most things that have come our way. We have also managed to identify a number of suitable Christian professional people to back up the ministry in case of need. It is really a matter of serving Jesus by being available, using your common sense and doing a lot of praying, before engaging an issue. Caring is not confined to the poor community only, there are many wealthy people in our neighbourhood that are in dire straits, but for various reasons, prefer to carry their own burdens. How sad is this! It is the responsibility of every one of us to intentionally seek and save the lost.

The Care team is currently a small but dedicated team, but it is important to expand the Care ministry to the HomeGroups, because it is there where most of the caring should take place. To this end we have arranged an evening with Grant Hopkins, from Durbanville Methodist Church, to give us a coaching workshop and we are asking all HomeGroup leaders and everyone else that is interested to come and get equipped so that you too can be part of caring for the community that is PVFC. I am therefore making an earnest appeal to all of the Home Groups to seriously consider coming to this meeting on Monday, 16th April at 19h00, please contact Paula to RSVP for this training.

Grace and peace

Leon     

PVFC starts a third service

Protea Valley has started a third service on Sunday afternoons to meet the needs of the broader community that calls PVFC home. The elders see this as an opportunity to minister and serve others, discipling them up in the faith. It is difficult to listen to preaching in a second or third language and we see this service as an opportunity to make a difference. This idea was spawned by the elders and then independently a week laterby one of our HomeGroups who is thinking out of the box on how they can get on mission and serve...the Spirit leads and we are trying hard to keep following!

This kind of stuff is exciting to see! Please keep this new initiative in your prayers and ask that God would grow us in this area that we might present a unified witness in this predominant white neighbourhood.

5 Community Killers

In talking with some of the members of our congregation I was reminded of how easy it is to kill Christian community. We can easily create a shallow form of Christian fellowship, but genuine, gospel-centred community is something that can be fragile and needs to be worked at to be strong. Over the years that I have been part of God's family I have been part of groups that had very little community and then had the privilege of other groups that were very close. 


There are a number of things we can do that can easily kill community and the books of Proverbs and it's modern counterpart James (often called the proverbs of the New Testament) have some helpful reminders about dealing with the deep relationships of faith:


Loose lips - Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. Prov 20:19
Christian community is often about dealing with the gritty mess of life: hurting marriages, tough to overcome sin and the results of past hurts. We need to create the environment where we know that whatever we say will go no further than the group. Confidentiality is a key characteristic of healthy community and it creates the environment where we can share our struggles and find comfort, prayer and hope through those that Jesus has put around us. Loose lips make people withdraw and it makes them internalise their pain rather than find restoration through the ministry of others. If there are those in your group who find it hard to keep confidence the leader needs to walk closely with them and disciple them, to ignore such issues will be to the detriment of the group. 

Stinginess - Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honours him - Prov 14:31

Acts 2 reminds us that in the early church they gave to each other as there was need. And we too need to learn to imitate that behaviour. It is part of the work of the Spirit in our hearts that makes us hold loosely to our possessions, our time and our gifts that God has given us. We serve God by being generous to each other and genuine community is about opening up our homes and our hearts to those who follow Jesus with us. It is easy to talk the talk, but much harder to walk the walk and genuine community is prepared to walk the extra mile to make a difference.

Pride - One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honour - Prov 29:23
When we're proud and self righteous it makes us unapproachable and it makes it tough to live out faith together. We're reminded in James to "confess our sins to each other" and it takes genuine community to allow people to open up, and we need to put our pride aside and be vulnerable. This is important for leaders to be able to acknowledge our weakness and need of Jesus. It becomes a powerful reminder to others that they are in need of Jesus too. There is no place in the heart of a follower of Jesus for pride, and yet it is the one area where we all will struggle at some time or another. Pray that God would give you the humility we need to become the people he calls us to be.

No Accountability - Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy - Prov 28:13

We have to hold each other accountable before God. Cain asked the question 'Am I my brothers keeper' and the answer is that we are. We need to hold each other accountable for following Jesus and being obedient to all that he has commanded (Matt 28) Like any normal family we have a way of living together that can create life or destroy it. I recall a group where we had a guy who was immensely cynical and sarcastic. It was horrible to listen to and hurtful to us all in various ways. We tried to help him be accountable for his behaviour and he refused and eventually left. It was a great sadness but helpful for genuine community to be maintained. Unconfessed sin will quickly consume a community.

No Prayer - The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. - Prov 15:29
Prayer is a necessity for genuine community. Praying together draws us into God's presence and it draws us into the unity of the Spirit, putting us onto God's agenda rather than our own. Praying for others in your group, especially those who are hard to work with or who annoy you is the surest way to allow God to soften your heart. God hears our prayer and we should take him seriously at his reminder. Someone in your group straying from Jesus? Pray. Someone struggling to understand biblical truth? Pray. Someone in need of healing? Pray. Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of a community to keep us close to Jesus and close to each other.


Community is part of God's great witness to the world and we do it best when it is real, spirit-filled, gospel-centred community. It's worth getting this community thing right.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:35

Growing community is God's work, not ours

Our congregation has more than a dozen groups totalling around 150 people that meet midweek to encourage each other, to worship Jesus, to share life and to mobilise for mission. One of our group leaders writes about growing their community over the last season and some of her insights may encourage you.


Acts 2:47 ...and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.


When starting a home group last year our dream was to grow quickly, as I am sure it is with all home group leaders. We started with 6 people in our group and a long list of people attached to our group but not attending. We faithfully contacted them every quarter to try and motivate and persuade them to be in community. After numerous calls, texts and emails I got despondent and frustrated and couldn't understand why people didn’t want to join. It was then that the Lord reminded me of what is written in Acts 2:47 “...the Lord added to their number day by day....”. We realised that it was not up to us to persuade people to be in community but that the Lord will add people to our group. Our instruction from the Lord was to love them like Jesus loves them and to care for them and to keep reminding them that we are there for them. In addition to this our group prayed for them every week and we included them in our communication as if they were part of our group.


Almost a year later our group has doubled in numbers and we are a group of committed followers of Christ. People were added to our group by the Lord. Of the non-attending people we were able to assist some of them to slot in with other home groups and four of them are now regularly attending our home group.


We believe that this is because of faithfully praying for and loving and caring for non-attending members. It is our responsibility to love those outside back onto the flock so that they do not go missing. I now understand and truly believe that all home groups should have a non-attending list. It is the responsibility of the home group leader and the group to care for and love those non-attending members, but we should not forget to pray earnestly for them as it is the Spirit that gives life (John 6:63) and it is God who puts the desire in our hearts to worship Him (Jeremiah 33:40).


We must constantly remind ourselves to trust Jesus and not our abilities - it is after all His church!

Kony 2012

This video has been going viral over the last while. And rightfully so. Jesus cares about justice and this is a call for justice in Uganda and some of the surrounding areas. I love how the internet has opened up opportunities that we've never had before to crowd-source for good. Imagine if Jesus' church  started thinking this big!

If you've not yet seen the video click here or watch it below:

How to pray for unbelievers

We all know someone who does not believe in Jesus and as we think about being God's missionaries part of our role is to pray for them, but what do we pray? Most of us pray quite simply but there are a number of things that are important for a person so that they might understand the Gospel of Jesus. Here are a ten pointers that are worth praying for. Many of them are things you could pray for others in your groups or teams who are young in their faith and need to grow. Prayer is one of the most powerful and yet underutilised weapons we have at our disposal and this list is helpful in equipping us to pray effectively.

1. Pray that God draws them to himself (John 6:44). 
2. Pray that they seek to know God (Acts 17:27, Deuteronomy 4:29).
3. Pray that they believe the Scriptures (1 Thessalonians 2:13,Romans 10:17). 
4. Pray that Satan would be kept from blinding them to the truth (Matthew 13:19, 2 Corinthians 4:4). 
5. Pray that the Holy Spirit works in them (John 16:8-13). 
6. Pray that God would send them someone to lead them to Christ (Matthew 9:37-38). 
7. Pray that they would believe in Christ as Savior (John 1:12, 5:24) and confess him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10). 
8. Pray that they would turn from sin (Acts 3:19, 17:30-31). 
9. Pray that they would yield all to follow Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15,Philippians 3:7-8). 
10. Pray that they would take root and grow in Christ (Colossians 2:6-7).

Discipling new believers

So we've been talking about this vision and one of the key ideas is that we need to understand that we're disciples of Jesus, followers of the one who saved us from death to life. We believe that we're to be gospel centred disciple and a discipler, as Candice pointed out on the retreat, is one who disciples others. There is no magic formula in achieving this but this article from Justin Buzzard has some helpful pointers. I'd challenge every leader to have a couple of people who you are discipling towards Christian maturity:

Discipleship involves a lot, but one of the most important things you can do with a new believer is read the Bible with them–teaching them how to read, understand, respond to, and apply God’s Word.

There are two men in their 20s who came to faith in Christ in recent weeks through the ministry of our church. I’m discipling these guys right now. I baptized them a few weeks ago. One of the core ways I’m discipling them is through weekly Bible reading meetings. This is how I do it:

-Every Wednesday night these guys come to my house to join in our Neighborhood Group with a bunch of other people from our church and neighborhood.

-I have the guys come 30 minutes early so that the three of us can read the Bible together.

-Each week we read one paragraph of Scripture together and talk about it. Right now we’re reading Philippians because it’s the book I’m preaching through, it’s the book all of our Neighborhood Groups are studying, and because I think Philippians is a pivotal book to master for new believers.

-Each week I ask the guys two questions about the text: 1) What did this text mean in its original 1st century context? 2) What does this text mean for our lives today? As we work through these two questions I connect our thoughts to Jesus and the bigger storyline of Scripture.

-From 30 minutes of Bible reading and these two questions we end up covering a ton of theological and practical ground. Last week’s study of Philippians 1:3-11 led to conversation about the Trinity, the second coming of Christ, how to pray, and God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.

Most believers have never been intentionally discipled and most believers have no clue how to go about discipling a new believer. The problem is that people don’t have a good understanding of what discipleship is. Here’s a definition for you:

Discipleship is truth transferred through relationship.

It’s that simple. What I’m doing with these two men on Wednesday nights is transferring truth through relationship. I love these two men, and they know it. In relationship with them I’m teaching them the truth, and at the center of that process is teaching them how to read, rejoice in, and apply God’s Word.

What are you waiting for? Find two people you can start doing this with

Disciples

A brilliant video - a must watch!

A short history of lent

A Short History of Lent

Rod and Reel, or Net? | Leadership Journal

After Sunday's sermon on community I think this is helpful:

What it means to catch in community.

Robert Crosby

When you think of fishing, what image comes to mind: a solitary figure with a rod and tackle box, patiently choosing a lure, casting, and reeling? Or a commercial shrimp boat with nets spread wide?

When Jesus said, "I will make you fishers of men" (Mt. 4:19), what kind of fishing did he have in mind? When he called out that first ministry team, was he picturing them as net-fishers or anglers? The question is one worth considering, since we, too, are called to that same task.

Jesus used the fishing metaphor to describe evangelism and disciple-making, and today's assumption is often that it's an individualized task. We tend to think of a fisherman as an angler, which is defined as (1) a person who fishes with a hook and line, or (2) a person who gets or tries to get something through scheming.

The individualized terms personal salvation, personal evangelism, and personal discipleship are actually relatively new within Christendom. Even the phrase personal Savior is a 20th-century expression attributable at least in part to Charles E. Fuller, the popular host of The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour radio program (1937-1968).

Certainly vast numbers of people have come to faith in Christ through individualized strategies and approaches to evangelism, but many along the way have also managed to "fall off the line." Unfortunately too often some have approached evangelism more as an individual "sales pitch" instead of a collaborative, compassionate, and gospel-modeling community.

Personal Fishing?

The New Testament metaphor of "fishing" for people with the call of Christ was never meant to imply the mere work of an individual with a pole; rather, it was referring to net fishing. The picture he uses is not that of the sole angler seeking to hook "the big one," but rather a community of fishermen casting a broad and weighted net and drawing it in together. The idea is "throwing nets into the sea" cast by a capable and caring community (Mt. 4:18-22).

Notice: "throwing nets into the sea" (v. 18) and "they left their nets" (v. 20) and "repairing their nets" (v. 21).

Fishing with a hook is not the context of Christ's call to his followers.

While the Bible does refer at least once to fishing with a hook (Mt. 17:24-27), that's not the context of Christ's call to his followers.

The net commonly used at this time was circular, having heavy weights around its perimeter. Typically, fishermen would cast these weighted nets from the shoreline and sometimes from the sides of their boat. It was a particularly labor-intensive task to cast and draw these nets in.

So what does "net evangelism" look like today?

Caught in Community

Access Church in Lakeland, Florida, recently decided to throw out a fresh "net" into their community.

"What if we took a whole month of our tithe income and just gave back to our community?" asked Jason Burns, the pastor of Access. "What if we did so with no strings attached?" Access Gives Back was a week-long effort to reach out to the community and to unleash Spirit-inspired creativity in the minds and actions of the church's members.

So one Sunday everyone at the church received anywhere from $5 to $100 in an envelope with simple instructions: "Just take the money and use it for some good purpose. Simply find a way to bless someone with no strings attached, no hidden agendas, and no ulterior motives."

One husband, Ian Vibbert, a 27-year-old employee at Publix, a local grocery store, was stunned by this approach: "I was speechless. I'd never heard of anything like that. But, I felt blessed to be part of a place that would trust the congregation and be willing to give a big part of the budget to do that."

Access is a four-year-old church. It is primarily comprised of members in their 20s and 30s and has no permanent building. The 500 or so worshipers meet in a local high school. Burns describes it as "a traditional church trying untraditional things to reach an unreached generation."

The Gives Back effort was intended to be both an act of simple compassion toward the community and a way to prompt the members to live out their faith in the community.

"The amounts we gave are not going to do a lot," says Jay Graffam, 32, Access's executive pastor. "It would take millions of dollars to make a big difference. But, we want to create people who will be generous for the rest of their lives. We said to the church, 'Go out and be generous on us.'"

Nothing But Net

Mother Teresa once said, "God hasn't called us to do great things; but to do small things with great love." When Give Back Sunday arrived at Access, there was $9 in Ian Vibbert's envelope and $100 in his wife Heather's. They pooled their money, added some of their own, and asked God what they should do. They finally called the Lakeland Regional Medical Center's neonatal clinic and found out how many infants were there.

"I bought stuffed animals," Heather said, "and get-well cards, and just wrote 'Jesus loves you' on them. Hopefully, it had an impact. It was worth it if even one person was touched."

"The idea is to bring God's kingdom down here," says Burns. "That's what we are working on at Access. We often say, 'Up there, down here.' It's not about how big we can grow the church. It's really more about how well we can cast the net. While church facilities may be something people build, the Kingdom is something we spread. And, when the kingdom is spread, souls are reached for Christ and the world becomes a better place."

So often in the Bible, outreach is a together activity. When Jesus sent his disciples out to the towns and villages, he sent them two by two. When he sent them to wait on the coming of the Holy Spirit, he sent 120 of them to a place of prayer in Jerusalem. Even when the first missionaries were commissioned, there were two leaders and one protégé sent out. If outreach was anything, it was together.

Outreach requires bold witness and sharing our faith. We do need to be instant in season and out to give people "a reason for our faith" (1 Peter 3:15). There are certainly many times when our witness will be one on one. But, we must not forget that Jesus said "they will know you are my disciples by the love you have one for another." That's not something anyone can do alone. The gospel is primarily a net (i.e., a culture) of grace and truth that we boldly and broadly cast … together

reposted from: Rod and Reel, or Net? | Leadership Journal

The Modimole Monster?

Desmond Tutu has made some interesting comments regarding Johan Kotze who had his wife brutally gang raped, mutilated and then murdered her 18 year old son. Tutu makes some comments in a letter to the Star Newspaper and you can read the article here.

Tutu makes excellent points such as our unhelpful labelling of Kotze as the Modimole Monster. Labelling is unhelpful and makes us isolate people that in all reality are very much like us. We may not have murdered anyone, but Jesus reminds us in  Matthew 5:21–22 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire." Our hearts are very broken as is Kotze's and we are ALL in need of the saviour of the world who can give us a new heart.

But Tutu made a statement that I want to refute: "Mr Johan Kotze remains a child of God with the capacity to become a saint. This may shock some of us. But have we forgotten, those who are Christians, the story of the repentant thief on the cross?" I want to differ with Tutu in his unbiblical view that Kotze is a child of God. Whilst we are all created in the image of God and all humans deserve dignity and respect, we are by nature chidlren of wrath (Eph 2:3) this is true for every child born on this earth save one: Jesus.

The danger of this kind of thinking is that it never leads to a call to repentance because if I am a child of God then why do I need to repent? I belong to him. This line of thinking minismises our desire to call people to follow Jesus, to seek his face and to come to him that they might find, life, rest and peace in him and him alone.

The Bible is too explicit about people NOT being God's children to allow us to say otherwise:

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Romans 9:8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

1 John 3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

The truth is that without Jesus we are not children of God but in fact God's enemies as Paul reminds us in Romans 5:10  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. It was true for all of us and is still true for many, Kotze included. But Tutu is right that Kotze can repent and find life and we should pray desperately that he does.

If he, like the thief on the cross repents and calls out to God, he will in that moment receive the fullness of the grace and glory of all of heaven.
The slate will be wiped clean.
The charges made null.
His sin forgiven.
His life redeemeed from the grave.

He may have to live with the earthly consequences of his actions, but in God's eyes he will become the righteousness of God. That is the power of the grace of God that comes through the work of Jesus on the cross. Grace is a powerful, powerful thing!

Tutu makes a grave mistake to assume that just because we are children of the flesh we belong to God. It is those who in humble faith stand before the king and seek his pardon that become his children and are lavished with all his riches. Let us never become so arrogant as to presume upon the riches of the kindness of God but let us walk in deep gratitude that God chose to save us. But let us neither wallow in shallow sentimentality that assumes that all people are right with God. it makes Jesus death and resurrection unnecessary. For what need is there of us being reconciled to God if we are all already his children?

Let's get our thinking right and in line with the Bible so that we might understand just how powerful the grace of God is: that whilst we were sinners, Christ Jesus died for us!

7 Tips for Talking with Your Neighbors about Jesus

Some good links

Taking our home groups off life support

Fathers, how to pray for your boys

John Piper on fighting covetousness

A great gospel grace poem....

Bringing some Christmas joy

The Cape Town philarmonia choir bringing some Christmas joy to the old and forgotten. Some of our members have been part of blessing these folk at the Presbytery Project for the aged at Mowbray , many of whom have no longer got family with whom to share the season.

What have you done to bring hope to hopeless this season? May you bring Jesus hope to those who have little hope left.

'whatever you did for the least of these my brothers, you did for me' - Jesus