FEBRUARY 2016 Report – Reformed Faith Mission Community Church
Dear brethren
Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ.
What a privilege we have to be of service to our Great High Priest. Knowing that our labour in Christ is not in vain and that our Lord continue to make intercession on behalf of us. He sympathise with our weaknesses and His goodness and His mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. What a gracious Saviour!
This month we had our long awaited open air services. Every year we set a month aside to conduct open air services for a full month Monday to Friday. We usually conduct these month long services in November, but due to our sound system failing last year, we had to postpone it to February 2016. Not discounting God’s unseen providence at work in the background. We thank God that we were able to buy an almost new sound system at an affordable price. God always provides for His work.
Last Friday was the last of a long and tiring month of gospel preaching. It was exhausting, but it was good to know why our bodies felt so tired. We were encouraged thinking about the many missionaries toiling for the Lord in countries where their lives are at risk every time they share the gospel and here we are able to stand in the public and boldly proclaim Jesus through loud speakers. We are encouraged when we hear how our brother Ed Lacy through much ailments and surgery exclaims, “I’d rather burn out for Jesus!” Oh, that we would be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus!
This reminds me when we first started with these month long open air services 4 years back. As one of the brothers was giving testimony, one of the gang members gave another gangster a gun to shoot the brother that was busy testifying. The brother that was leading the service saw this and with godly wisdom took the microphone and said that there might be someone here ready to kill someone, but God can see him. The gangster came out from amongst the crowd weeping and confessing his intentions, asking for prayer and that the Lord should change his life. That same gangster is serving the Lord today. God has amazing ways of drawing sinners to Jesus.
Now let me get back to our month of open air gospel preaching in the streets of Bellville South. Let me first explain how we go about doing this.
First we identify the areas with the most gang activity and where the most drug dealers and prostitutes are. These are your most violent areas in Bellville South. The community knows us in these areas and it’s fairly safe for us to go into these areas. Once we’ve identified which area we want to preach the gospel in we find a house that will be willing to supply us with electricity for a week. We buy the electricity and the family that provides us with electricity also benefits, seeing that most of the people are unemployed and are struggling. We will then be in one area for a week (Monday – Friday), preaching repentance – Jesus Christ and Him crucified! This means we would be in 4 areas preaching the gospel to people that would never put their foot in a church.
There would always be those who would scoff at our preaching and those who would throw remarks at us while we preach, but there are always those who would bring out their chairs or a crate to sit and listen to the gospel. During our first week of preaching there was a young 19 year old girl that came out every night to listen to the preaching of the Word. She has since come to every night’s preaching and has come to church every Sunday since. She even joined our Sunday evening Discipleship Class (Thanks to Doug for sending us Brackenhurst Baptist Discipleship booklets – what a blessing!). She comes from an environment where her whole family is drinking and her uncles are gangsters and drug dealers. Her mother is one of the women who are feared in Bellville South. Please keep her in prayer.
Our last two weeks of preaching we had quite a number of the community packing out chairs to come listen to the preaching of the gospel. The last three nights of preaching was particularly windy and cold, but people still came out with their chairs and blankets to listen to the Word of God. The Sunday after our last day of preaching a woman and her nephew visited our church. This woman was one of those who came out every night to listen to the Word. She wanted to know what she must do to be saved! She wanted Jesus to save her. She came weeping over her sin. Hallelujah! This is why we do it! For Jesus to be glorified in the salvation of sinners! She gave us her details and wanted to know if we have bible studies or prayer meetings during the week and asked us to please fetch her. Oh, what a merciful Saviour we serve!
Please keep us in constant prayer. Please pray for fruit that will remain.
Pray for the young girl that has since joined herself to the church. She has a desire after the Lord and asked me what she must do to be saved. I had the privilege to pray with her and encouraged her to keep on calling on the name of the Lord – to repent and to believe the gospel. We can already see fruit that is fitting repentance. She has a hunger for the Word of God and a love for the people of God that was never there before. She has turned away from the wicked lifestyle that she used to enjoy. Her mother does not want her to follow Christ and has put her out of the house. This happened today as I was busy writing this report. She says that she used to be close to her mom when they were drinking together, but now her mother is cursing her. Her mother told her that she wish she loses her job and gets raped or murdered by the gangs. She told her that as long as she is with the “church people” she is dead to her. Please pray for her.
Jesus promised that the gospel will divide families and he demands that we forsake loved ones and follow Him. I am honoured to say that this 19 year old girl has forsaken all to follow Him. Oh the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
John 6: 37, 44 – “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” 44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
I would like to thank all those who supported us during the past month. Thank you for your prayers, messages of encouragements and phone calls. Thanks to those who came to some of the open air services ready to give testimony of our Lord. Thanks to pastors Desmond Cramer, Riaan Boer and brother Monquer Jacobs for each coming to preach the gospel. We appreciate you giving us your night off from your busy schedules. The Lord has truly gifted His Church with men like you.
We praise God for His grace toward us. We praise Him for allowing us to see His hand at work in our community. We praise Him for His faithfulness toward us even when we are so unfaithful at times. We praise Him for entrusting weak sinners like us with this amazing treasure – the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We are aware that every time we preach it we will fail to proclaim it the way it should be proclaimed, because we are men of unclean lips! – Yet, we trust in the Spirit to blow over dead dried out souls; for only He can bring the dead to life!
Great is Thy Faithfulness; O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changeth not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be…
Thank you for taking the time to read this report.
May the Lord be gracious to us as we seek to honour His name in Bellville South.
“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” – Rev. 3:8
Soli Deo Gloria
Mario F. Maneville
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