Dear friend
My trips are over for the year – mostly I want to
praise God that he has kept me safe as I have traveled across the continent of Africa
this year and that our disciplemaking movement in African churches is yielding
fruit as churches show signs of healthy and effectiveness in Making God Know, Experiencing
His Power and expressing His Heart!
I returned from Kenya a week ago where I was privileged to train
24 pastors from different churches across the Western region of Kenya and it
was my third time with these godly leaders and it was pure joy hearing of how
their churches are growing because they have implemented what we have been
training them over the past two years. We also trained in the capital city,
Nairobi, where we have graduated around 30 leaders through all four levels of
our training – and we will return in May 2007 to coach some of these
leaders to present our first level of training in the city – our passion
is to see African leaders multiplied as trainers in disciplemaking so this is a
very significant step in the development of our movement, and particularly for
East Africa. We also interviewed 8 key leaders with the prospect of bringing
them to South Africa next year, where they will spend 4 months as
disciplemaking interns before returning to Kenya to help local churches with
implementation and possibly be a part of the establishment of a centre in their
own country in the coming years.
While in Kenya I had the real privilege of leading many people
to Jesus in the context of an evening gospel crusade and saw many people
delivered supernaturally and powerfully from forces keeping them imprisoned. We
were also able to connect specifically with two terminal AIDS patients and lead
them into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Truly God is alive and at
work with power across the continent of Africa!
Pray for our movement (Sonlife Africa) as we have merged
with a partner organization, called J-Life, who has specialized in developing coaching
teams that help local churches with implementation of the strategy for
disciplemaking that Jesus demonstrated. We are excited about the synergy that
is developing as we are add the training component to the coaching and internship
dimensions that J-Life has developed based on the same ministry DNA that our
movement has carried for the past 7 years. We plan to bring our regional
leaders to South Africa early in 2007 so that we can re-strategize for the
future. Pray that God will make it possible for them to all be in South Africa
at the same time.
Do pray for the group of interns who have been accepted to
spend the first 4 months of 2007 at the J-Life training center – it is
called Camp Eden. Pray that God will help us to develop them into powerful agents
of change in the local churches where they will be placed for the next 7 months
of the year after their period of training is over.
We continue to praise God for what He is doing in and
through Gary and Sharon Howell in central Africa and are seeing signs that
their work in Cameroon is bearing much fruit as well as in the Congo where they
are based.
Please pray for one of our country leaders, David Mulonga,
from Zambia who has resigned his position at a seminary to devote his attention
full time to the disciplemaking movement in his country. He has taken a big
step of faith and will need to raise at least 800 US Dollars a month to make
this transition a reality. We believe that his country and surrounding
countries will be greatly impacted in the coming years as he focuses his
attention on the movement.
I am continuing to rejoice before the Lord in the way in
which he is choosing to work in and through the youth ministry that I am
leading in my local church, His People Christian Church in Johannesburg. We have
been seeing young people give their life to Jesus and enter into a new convert
follow-up program; believers have been equipped to build relationships with
lost peers in order to lead them to Jesus and a group of 10 teenagers are
meeting weekly to receive training and coaching in shepherding among their peers
– our adult leaders are playing an assist role to these key leaders who
are multiplying themselves as disciplemakers. Pray with us that we will experience
more of God’s manifest presence and power in our ministry in 2007.
On a person note, our 18 month old adopted son is growing in
a confident young boy – he has all the characteristics of the two tribes
from East and West Africa (Kikuyu and Ibo respectively) and we just sense that
he is going to leave a significant imprint on the continent of Africa. We have
taken a bold decision to foster a 16 year old orphan from a children’s
home in Johannesburg for December and January and are praying that God will
reveal to us what his will for us is beyond this holiday period in William’s
life. He is a member of our youth ministry and a fine young man who needs a family
and hope for the future. He is an outstanding short distance runner and just last
weekend we watched him win the 200m and come second in the 100 meter races. He
looks set to make our junior national team before the end of next year. I was
so touched as he turned to look at me when he had won the 200 meter race and he
held out a thumbs up fist and had the biggest smile that I have ever seen. He
told me that his life long dream was to run with a family watching and how that
his dream had been fulfilled that day! I am reminded that God’s heart breaks
for the orphans and widows and how that he honors those who respond with
practical action!
May God continue to work in and through our lives and
ministry efforts.
Blessings
Mark Tittley
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
