Foundation for Cross - Cultural Education November 2009
Dear Prayer Supporters
News
During the past weeks the possible prosecution of schools where religious activities take place, have been under scrutiny and splashed on the front pages of newspapers. Parents and educators gave their opinions in letters and debates, and there were many strong arguments for or against religious practices in our schools. As educator I ask myself the question: Where have we failed our children and our education system? Is it the result of the education system of the previous apartheid Government, where we wanted to promote Nationalism in the name of the Lord? Is it the result of the present Government’s attempts to remove God from our schools? I believe that in both cases we’re using and abusing the Name of the Lord to promote our own interests; therefore we are reaping what we’ve sown. Our testimony is untrustworthy because ‘Christians’ are living double lives and set double standards. What we say and what we do, often do not match. And this is not just limited to education as such. As His disciples, we are supposed to live God’s principles on a daily basis in each sphere of life: science, education, politics, law, health care, farming, business, media, the arts, and so forth, so that the Kingship of Jesus Christ can be established in all these areas. We must realise that the body of Christ in this world, needs to be the rampart between God’s plan of order, peace and harmony, and Satan’s plan to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). “If it were not for the purifying and preserving influence of the body of Christ, the fabric of all we call civilization would totally disintegrate, decay, and disappear. At his present moment the body of Christ, in union with her risen and enthroned Lord, is, therefore, the fundamental preserving factor in this present world order.” (Destined for the Throne) We are called and are equipped to be the salt and light of this world. (Matt. 5:13) In the Lord we are light. Out of the light comes everything that is good and pure and true. Let us then live like children of the light, so that our Father can be glorified in every aspect of our lives and in all spheres of life! (Ephes. 5:8) Neels.
Peace on Earth and Joy to the World
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‘The glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds in the field near Bethlehem and the angel of the Lord said to them: “Today there has been born for you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2)
Our Christmas greetings to you, our loyal prayer supporters, are that God will be well pleased with you and that His perfect peace en joy will dwell in you during this Christmas season and also in 2010!!!
Light for the Nations
“And now says the Lord, “I will make you a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Is. 49:6) THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all our FCE supporters who have helped us to carry the torch of hope and salvation during this year, bringing Light into the areas and lives where darkness ruled. Your words of encouragement, your visits, and the many gifts, enabled us to love dearly and to serve selflessly.
Light-bearers
Moorreesburg Outreach team
Outreach groups from all over the world visited our training centres throughout the year and helped us in many practical ways to be light-bearers. During the June holidays, friends from Moorreesburg, invaded the hostel in Wolseley and revamped the kitchen and bathrooms. Now we are proud to receive visitors or overseas guests and not embarrassed any more. Twelve outreach teams from South Africa, Canada, Holland and England arrived at Masaiti and Kalungu and within weeks they have completed work that would have kept us busy for months. They built, painted, dug and planted. Most of the work was practical, but Kanada Outreachteam it was during those working sessions that they became acquainted with the staff of FCE and that they were exposed to the culture of the people in the vicinity. Amongst the visitors there were school kids who enjoyed playing with the children at the CTC and in the villages. They were very creative in sowing the seed of the gospel and the puppet shows, drama, music, song and dance created an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to work. The outreach teams joined in the weekly praise and worship sessions at the training centres. People from different nations, cultures and tongues worshipped God Clanwilliam Outreachteam with their whole heart and gave us a fore-taste of how we are going to rejoice in heaven one day. Neels and Carel Nel and a group of farmers from Clanwilliam and Citrusdal paid a visit to Kalungu recently to look into the possibility of initiating a vegetable project that will provide nourishing food in the area, as well as an income for the centre. Carel en Karin Krige and the Doxa Deo School visit Kalungu every year. Their main goals are to minister to the staff and the people in the community and to serve them in many practical ways. They also renovated the jungle gym they had installed the previous year, and donated stationary to the school. The commitment and servitude of the children are testimonies of what have been built into the character of these children from Pretoria.
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Faithful prayer supporters from Balfour took ownership of the building project at Malawi. They not only donated the material to fence in FCE’s land at the lake, but they also went to put up the fence themselves. Soon we will commence with the building and once that is done, we can continue to give our undivided attention to the needs of the people in the surrounding communities. The outreaches offer excellent opportunity to create mission awareness in Christians. It not only takes the load off us missionaries, but it exposes Christians to people in need, different cultures and to those who are lost and hunger and thirst after the Truth. The outreach groups testify as follows: Mac and Elsa v.d.Berg and the Eagles Nest Christian School, Polokwane: “Your daily walk with the Lord, your friendliness, commitment and the unity amongst you and your obedience, blessed us.” Giselle from Canada: “I absolutely loved the outreach. I thought it was great how we were able to seen the culture here as well as be discipled by the staff.” Mike from Canada: “I saw an example of people putting Christ in the centre of everything and trusting each other as a Godly and beautiful community of believers.” Vanessa from Canada: “I have learned so much from you all and your journeys with Christ. In my time here I feel awakened and revived in my life with Christ.” The fields are being prepared and the seed of the Word are sown during these outreaches. The outreach teams exalt God through their servitude and people are drawn unto Him. Pray that the seed will take root and bear fruit: “fruit that will last.”
Highlights and Lowlights “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven – a time to come and a time to go.” In FCE we always experience the ‘time to come’ as a highlight, but when it is time ‘to go’, we have to work through the emotions of parting and loss. The Agenbag family has for seven years been part of the bitter and the sweet of FCE. They have decided to go back to Operation Mobilisation and OM’s gain is our loss. We greet them with aching hearts, but rejoice in the fact that they are going to serve in another part of the vineyard. Carien van Wyk was part of the heart beat of FCE for many years. She did honour to FCE during the pioneer years. She is a woman of integrity; a woman who is worthy to her calling. She served FCE with her many talents and her humour. We let go of her with peace in our hearts, because she found the man she loves. She is getting married to Dawie Liebenberg on the 5th of December and starts her role as the wife of a minister. Carien, we salute you! Fred and Freda King also decided to move on. Frieda was trained by FCE as a teacher and Fred completed the Community Development Course. They served the Lord in FCE as a couple and both of them are respected and loved in the Zambian communities where they worked. Along with their beautiful daughter, Timwani, they crept deep into our hearts and we greet them knowing that they are well prepared and equipped to serve wherever the Lord is going to use them next. FCE’s contract to stay on at Masaiti has already expired in October 2008. We are not prepared to move to our new campus at Kotini Eden, because we do not have accommodation for all the staff. The one option is to pitch tents. Jannie is in negotiations with the authorities for postponement and we are on our knees before God. There is a possibility that we might stay on at Masaiti until September 2010. Please join us in trusting the Lord for the finances to complete the staff houses in time.
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We do not often give feedback of our work in India – the reasons are known to most of you. We want to remind you that we do have a team in the field and that they have to stay true to the One God, amidst all those millions of idols surrounding them. They have their ups and their downs en during the past year they had to face a few tough challenges. But God is their banner! Yahweh Nissi! FCE’s bi-annual staff conference starts on the 1st of January 2010 at Hodygos in Namibia. Staff from all the training centres unites to build relationships, share our worries and our woes, evaluate our work and seek God for guidance for the New Year to come. Pray for the arrangements: it is a major effort to get everybody on time at the venue. Pray for the finances for the transport, the accommodation and all the extras; trust the Lord to take us safely through the border posts and for the visas. And pray that God will reveal Himself to us. Malaria is a killer in Africa and FCE’s staff members are not exempt from this illness. A very few of our staff have not suffered from the effects of malaria: the chill that creeps into your marrow, the fever that rocks your body, the nausea and diarrhoea that degrade you and the ever present weariness that makes you depressed. During October, 52 cases of malaria were reported at Masaiti. We have sent a prayer request to our prayer supporters and within days the numbers were reduced to 11 cases. One of our workers’ son, Javis, died. Pray for this family’s comfort. Praise the Lord for answering our prayers and thank Him for men like Klaas Beukes and others who assist him in looking at solutions. “He was wounded for our transgressions and through His stripes we are healed.” (Is. 53:5) FCE’s latest KING’S HIGHWAY GUESTHOUSE is situated in Somerset West, Western Cape. 15 Quinan Road, Westridge Somerset West. Tel: 021 851 531. Email” somerset@kingshighway.co.za. Contact Riette Cilliers for detail information.
Sudan
For many years, Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), has been responsible for brutal violence and the extermination of many people in various African countries, amongst which the Sudan. It is estimated that attacks attributed to the LRA have killed at least 188 civilians and displaced 68 000 in Southern Sudan, with a further 137 abductions since January 2009. One of the most alarming features of the LRA is its practice of kidnapping children, either to recruit them into the army as child soldiers and forcing them to commit horrendous acts of violence, or to use them as sex slaves. These atrocities take place in the name of the Lord. The LRA claims to be trying to create a government based on the Ten Commandments. They say that the violence that they carry out is simply a way of ‘purging’ society of impurity: if someone is killed, whether civilians, government troops or members of their own army, they claim this is a result of them having broken religious commands. He sees himself as a spirit medium receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit, but the religion that they follow is a blend of Christianity, animism, mysticism and witchcraft. It is under this dark cloud that FCE needs to be a beacon of light in the Sudan. “A light that shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:5). This light is Christ. Intercede for Daniel and Beatrice Ohide and Piet du Toit who at this present moment are showing people the Way, the Truth and the Light through the teachings of the Discipleship Course. Pray that the Word of God will break through the barriers of pain and confusion and that people will truly be free. Pray for the many Sudanese who were reached through our courses and those who have been trained as teachers. Trust that by the grace of God they will be able to stand tall in the freedom of Christ. Praise the Lord for the 5 Sudanese who completed their training at Masaiti and returned to find their way as missionaries in their own country amongst their own tribes. FCE got hold of a piece of land in the Imatong Valley that had been occupied by Kony and his army during the war. We trust God to enable us to build a teacher training college in this area. Please intercede on our behalf for our future plans in the Sudan. We desperately need help: harvesters, co-workers and supporters.
National Teachers’ Convention It is very significant that in the same period that the issue re religious freedom in our schools hit the headlines in our papers, the National Convention for Christian Teachers was in session in Bloemfontein. This is proof that God is never caught off-guard, that He is in control and that He sustains what is His. It is also obvious that God is raising a Gideon’s army for the battle of the hearts and minds of our children in our schools.
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God has been working during the conference and as one teacher wrote: “It wasn’t a good idea, it was a God idea.” This was never meant to be an academic conference, but it was Christ-centred and Spirit-inspired. The lectures and workshops were aimed to prepare teachers for their task to train their scholars “for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17) A tentative decision has been made that the first weekend of the September holidays next year will be the most convenient time for another Convention in Bloemfontein. Make a note on your calendar and encourage your teachers to attend it. Let us once again be challenged by the following words of Andrew Murray: “What can I do for my country? One can do many things, but the best one can do is to get hold of the youth and plant in their hearts the fear of God.” FCE has decided to call off some of our activities during 2010. At all of our training centres most of the activities will continue as usual, with the exception of the conducting of our courses and the intake of first year college students. The reasons for this decision are mainly for in-service training of the staff; to evaluate our courses and training materials; to seek God’s face regarding important decisions and because we need a little time for ourselves. This decision is to many of us a big challenge and an even bigger step of faith. Through the years our many activities became our comfort zones, our security. What will happen if we do not have any courses to conduct and programmes to run to keep is busy? Who will be willing to continue to believe in our vision if we have nothing to show? What is God going to reveal to us? Will we be willing to be obedient to Him, whatever the costs? Pray that we will be true to Him, with our eyes fixed on Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
The FCE offices close on 5 December and reopen on 11 January 2010