[Sonlifeafrica-newsletter] September Ministry Update

["Mark Tittley" <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear friend

In this update I want to share with you just one snapshot of what God is
doing in Africa in the area of  disciplemaking. As you know, Sonlife Africa
is seeking to equip the local church to develop healthy ministries -
ministries that make disciples. For too long people has said that the church
in Africa is a mile wide but an inch deep. Certainly there has been far
greater emphasis placed on events and crusades that seek to lead people to
Christ but much less placed on follow up and helping the local church to
develop the ministry of discipleship. We are finding across the continent a
genuine hunger from churches to be trained in this area and many signs of
depth and growth in local churches.

For example, our Sonlife Nigeria director, Rev. Philip King, sent me an
email last week in which he shared of how he is passing on what we have
entrusted to him. Namely, training leaders in local churches in the area of
disciplemaking - here is an extract from his email:

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From: "philip king" <peekee222@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 10:06 PM
Subject: Sonlife Nigeria Ministry Report - August 2004 (Strategy)

Dear Mark,

I hope that you are doing fine with your household and with the work of the
ministry.

I am so delighted to send this ministry report to you of the doors of
ministry that I had this month and the success of training events that took
place in four churches.

The fact is that I found spreading  the training in each church hectic yet
challenging. Below are names of churches where I conducted the training:

1. Oasis of Love church, Jos. Was the first church where I had 60 (sixty) of
their workers trained  at the headquarters' church for three days. After two
weeks that training the ministry invited 23 (twenty three) pastors from
their branch churches   from around the country that were trained for three
days also.

2. Ever Prevailing Word church, Jos. This was the second place where I
conducted the strategy training with six of the church leaders including the
senior pastor and his wife in attendance. The training here was conducted on
three Sundays.

3. Supernatural Love Bible Church, Jos. Here the training was conducted over
three Sundays too, because most of the church workers are business people.
We had in attendance 14 (fourteen) people including the senior pastor and
his wife.

4. Glorious Praise Chapel, Jos. We started the training last Friday to
Sunday but could not conclude it, because we were more or less studying the
materials together to better understand how to effectively apply these
principles in our church. What motivated me to think of re-conducting  the
strategy training in our church is that, I personally began to appreciate
the Strategy material more and more. Right now we are have 25 (twenty five)
people training.

Kindly keep praying for me as I am looking forward to training about two
more churches here in Jos three weeks from now.

King.

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Please pray for Philip and our other country representatives as they seek to
connect with local churches and provide the training, coaching and mentoring
that is needed to grow healthy ministries. Each of our seven country leaders
pictures can be viewed under the Contexts link at the Sonlife Africa
website - the address is in my signature.

Pray for our developing regional leaders - you can see their pictures at the
Sonlife Africa website. The next phase of expansion in Africa will take
place through these key leaders: in Southern Africa (Edgar Ramsami), Central
Africa (Gary Howell) and in West Africa (Peter Brokopp). Pray too that God
will allow Sonlife to make the right connections in East Africa so that we
can work through key nationals to establish our ministry in that part of our
continent.

I would appreciate your prayers as we face the ongoing need to raise funding
to work in Africa. We are unable to fund our training through charging for
our training - and therefore have to rely on funds raised from donors,
foundations and local churches. I will be travelling to the United States in
October with the view to meeting with supporters and potential donors. I am
also working on raising personal support and would value your prayers as I
approach friends, colleagues and potential supporters in the coming weeks.
If God prompts you in this regard, I urge you to email me and I will give
you details on how to contribute.

Your prayers and support are vital as we seek to help the local church in
Africa make disciples of all nations. I am convinced that this is God's
vision for the church in Africa and know that He will provide what we need
to continue to expand our impact across the continent of Africa.

Regards

Mark Tittley
Director, Sonlife Africa
Web: http://www.sonlifeafrica.com
Email: mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx