Our job as missionaries is to share the love of Christ wherever we are. There are many ways to share Jesus’ love with others: praying with/for them, reading the Bible with them, helping them by giving them food or clothes or other things they need, speaking with them about Jesus’ love for them, sharing our own stories of Jesus’ love for us, being patient, forgiving, generous… Another very important part of my job is to spend time growing in love with Jesus myself. Because if I am not growing as a follower of Christ then I cannot expect to lead others into a growing relationship with him. Every year we invite others to join our community for most of the year to pray, worship, learn and serve others together. It is important for everyone who follows Jesus to be in a community with others who can encourage, support, and care for each other.
We have visited many churches over the last four years. In the English speaking churches Sunday School is a lot like in the U.S. They have different classes for children of different ages. During the class time they have a bible story, crafts/activities, songs and they play on the playground outside. At church in the townships where they don’t have money for Sunday School classrooms and activities, all the kids play together outside.
At one church, Beulah Tabernacle in Soshonguve, all the kids learned some songs together then came to the front of the church to sing for the congregation.
Our community at Pangani has a Braai (BBQ) on Sunday afternoons that is very much like a church. People join us to eat dinner together and then one of us from NieuCommunities leads the group in a time centered on learning about and worshiping God. Often we make these times open for the kids to join in as well.
This is a picture of Bryan and his daughter Zoe. Last Easter we all put together something like “Stations of the Cross” where at each station we learned something about Jesus’ life from his birth to his death and resurrection which we celebrate on Easter Sunday. In the picture Zoe is holding a wet cloth and picturing herself as Veronica, the woman who wiped Jesus’ brow as he carried the cross through city streets to the place where he would be crucified.
We also invite the children to participate in other activities with our community when we are serving others.
Last year we had our Sunday Braai at the park down the street and we served many of the young men who live on the street and often go hungry at dinner time.
This year the kids helped paint Jonas and Valrey’s house.
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