Ministry News: Lynnwood Baptist Church (Pretoria, South Africa) (September 2024)

Greetings friends,

Thank you for praying for us. Please find herewith some updates and prayer requests for Lynnwood Baptist Church (LBC) in Pretoria, South Africa.

Joyful Additions. We thank the Lord for Henrico van Niekerk, co-elder with Pastor Sybrand de Swardt. Pray for his wife, Siovhan, who is settling in as an elder’s wife and mother of a newborn. Also, pray that others who are gifted at counselling and preaching may develop a desire to serve as elders in the near future. We are grateful to have four faithful deacons who are serving the Lord’s people well.

Painful Subtractions. Church discipline is a painful God-given way to perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish his people (1 Peter 5:10). On the other hand, it is a process that also exposes fault lines (Matthew 18:15–17). We saw this to be true when there was a failing leader in our church who fell into sexual sin and was consequently put out of the church. After a 24-month pursuit unto repentance, the whole church (except for one couple) agreed to employ the final step of church discipline. The young couple in disagreement has recently joined the church, and because of this situation, they chose to resign, but not without attacking the leadership and becoming spokespersons for the disciplined couple. Added to this, another man was placed under church discipline after refusing to deal with his sin. His sin has placed his family in a dire financial situation. Please pray that the LBC members will evangelise the disciplined and examine their own lives.

Men’s Bible Study. Pray for the men as they are constantly equipped to study the Bible effectively. They recently completed a hermeneutics class. Pray for the men as we seek to help them lead their families biblically and serve God’s church with their giftedness.

Student Ministry. Ask the Lord to give us wisdom on how to effectively minister to the large contingency of students from Pretoria University and other training institutes who have joined LBC. Pray that we will disciple them through the barrage of secular ideas and philosophies they face throughout their studies.

Youth Ministry. Pray for us as we seek to reach the youth in our community with the gospel through archery starting on Friday evenings in October and then on into the new year. Pray for the logistics, safety, and ministry opportunities in our community through this outreach.

The Evangelistic Bible Study “Christianity Explored” (the Gospel of Mark). This evangelistic tool has served LBC well over the years. Please pray that those who attended from June to August will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Please ask that the Lord will convict the attendees of their guilt before God and convince them of Jesus as their Saviour.

The Discipleship Bible Study “Discipleship Explored” (Philippians). The next cycle of this ministry will start in October. One point of interest: LBC had a couple join our church who came to us from the New Apostolic Church (not to be confused with the New Apostolic Reformation). They have been very evangelistic about their newfound faith in Christ. They have brought over several people from their old church who are now in the process of joining as members at LBC.

Brookes Bible College and LBC. Strengthening Ministries Training Institute (SMTI) has forged a partnership with Brookes Bible College to present an online master’s in biblical counselling, starting in January 2025. African students will be able to complete a master’s degree online without travelling to the United States. Brookes has also agreed to subsidise the tuition fees for African students. For more information, please contact info@smti.co.za.

Mukhanyo Seminary and LBC. Mukhanyo Seminary has established a working relationship with SMTI under the direction of Dr Brian de Vries. This programme will offer high quality biblical counselling courses at the higher certificate, bachelor’s degree, and honours levels starting in 2025. The course material has been developed for an African context and will engage with psychological as well as cross-cultural counselling approaches that are often integrated into pastoral care. These classes seek to equip those training for the ministry in becoming less secular and more biblical in ministry. For more information, please contact study@mtc.ac.za.

Cross-Cultural Biblical Counselling Conference. SMTI and Mukhanyo co-hosted a Biblical Counselling conference in July. Consideration was given to the following topics: the theology of cross-cultural ministry; the hindrances to cross-cultural ministry (worldview, identity, culture, customs, socialisation, and fables); the goal of cross-cultural ministry (an authority issue); and the methods of cross-cultural ministry (investigation, involvement, inspiration, inventory, interpretation, instruction, inducement, implementation, and integration).

Trauma: How to minister to those who have experienced trauma

• Speaker: Julie Ganschow
• Session 1: Dealing with Past Trauma
• Session 2: Dealing with Present Trauma
• Session 3: Grief and Loss
• Session 4: Shame

Schizophrenia: This is teaching on how to minister to those who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

• Speaker: Dr Daniel Berger
• Session 1: Understanding the Construct of Schizophrenia (Part 1)
• Session 2: Understanding the Construct of Schizophrenia (Part 2)
• Session 3: Understanding the Construct of Schizophrenia (Part 3)

Pornography: For more information on how to help others repent from pornography.

Resolve Podcast: This podcast is dedicated to making teaching sessions accessible which have been recorded over the last couple of years by SMTI.

Pray with us for the following:

• The teachers, group leaders, and helpers at “Christianity Explored” and “Discipleship Explored.”
• The new LBC member intake that is quickly approaching.
• The new deacons to continue serving well over the next four years.
• The hard church discipline situations at LBC.
• The LBC main worship services. We are currently studying through Colossians for the morning services and Exodus for the evening services.
• Pastor de Swardt and his family as they travel to Italy this month (September). Pastor de Swardt will be preaching in Rome and doing a Biblical Counselling conference in Tuscany. He will be speaking on diagnostic labels such as ADHD, Schizophrenia, Depressions, and conflict resolution.
• Pastor de Swardt and his family as they travel to the United States where Pr de Swardt will be speaking at the ACBC Conference on Cross-Cultural Counselling.
• The partnerships with Mukhanyo Seminary and Brookes Bible College that are starting in 2025.
• Sustaining grace as Pastor de Swardt continues to battle recurring bouts of shingles.

Join us in giving thanks for:

• The harmony among the culturally diverse members at LBC (and please pray that LBC may be a witness to our culture).
• The speedy recovery of Dr Wayne Mack after his leg amputation back in June.
• The young families and their children who desire to disciple.

Greetings,

Pastors Sybrand de Swardt and Henrico van Niekerk