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Thanksgiving
Please thank the Lord for answered prayer:
Mission Week: 11-15 September
We are thrilled to announce that Mission Week is going ahead in a slightly streamlined
format, thanks to the Lord’s late provision of finance from a private anonymous
donor. While Christian and Ando will not be joining us, Pastor Lucky and Norma
will be making the trip out to South Africa from India. They will minister at
St. Luke’s throughout the week of 11-18 September and attend the family Camp
with us.
Please pray for:
The Jacksons depart for America and Russia
The family will leave St. Luke’s on 22 August. Their ultimate destination
will be St. Petersburg, but they will first go through a training phase at
Bethel Church in Redding, California. They will then visit South Africa in May
2012 before departing for their ministry in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Please pray for:
Mission Madagascar 2011: 1 – 8 Oct.
The planning and preparation for mission Madagascar is well underway. Team members
are doing well with their payment of team fees and all of the arrangements are
falling into place. The team will be visiting Christian and Ando Prince in
Bakaro, Madagascar and will be ministering in the local town and villages, as
well as helping with more practical improvements to the mission base.
Please pray for:
The Clarke’s depart for India
The Clarke family still aim to be departing for their permanent mission to India at
the end of this year. This will entail them living and working in Siliguri as
they minister under the leadership of Pastor Lucky Karthak. Currently the
struggle is to obtain entry into India, to raise financial support and to tie
up details of their work there.
Please pray for:
On Sunday 24 July we will have only 1 morning worship service at 9am. At this service we’ll be combining not only our 2 morning congregations, but also our 2 distinct styles of worship into one beautiful act of worship to the Lord who makes us all one. Please join us if you’re in Welkom that Sunday.
The Jackson family are currently in Russia preparing the way for their permanent move there at the end of the year. They will be partnering with Hope Church in St. Petersburg as well as visiting other ministries to establish and further relationships there. Please pray for them between 16 and 31 May 2011.
Mark, Paige and Liam at the airport on the way to Russia!!
Team India 2010
St. Luke’s Team India left on 12 November, travelling 30 hours to arrive in Siliguri via Mumbai and Kolkota on the afternoon of 13 November.
Our first ministry assignment was the following morning (Sunday 14 November). I was privileged to preach at the Sukanta Pally Shalom Church in one of the poorer parts of Siliguri. After the message, the team ministered in prayer for healing and personal problems. A Hindu family had sent their baby along for prayer as it was sick and we trust the Lord that he showed His power to them through healing the child. In this little church we also had our first taste of Nepali worship – a beautiful language made even more beautiful when used to praise the Lord!
Throughout the following week (Monday to Saturday with a day off on Wednesday to visit Darjeeling) we taught a group of students from Asian Outreach who are being discipled and prepared to be involved in church planting. I taught on Worship, Celeste on Bible Study and Cliff on Prayer and Fasting. For the students this involved 6 hours of teaching per day, as well as an hour of devotions morning and evening. I am so blessed to have witnessed their commitment to Christ and to growing in Him! Thelma, Jenny and Freddy ministered the Word in short devotions at the start of each morning and afternoon session too, so we were all soaked in the Word that week.
Each day team members who were not involved in the teaching went out on the streets to do prayer-walking. This involved praying for the needs we saw along the way as well as stopping at strategic spots to pray against the spiritual strongholds in the area. This was a spiritually exhausting ministry. In addition we also spent time in worship and intercession for the nation of India in the brand new Prayer Tower being built on the property adjacent to Asian Outreach India. This beautiful building is to be used for 24/7 worship and intercession after it’s dedication early next year.
As mentioned, Wednesday was our day off and we had the opportunity to see some of the natural beauty of West Bengal State as we made our way up the mountain to Darjeeling. Some of our students came from that region and it was interesting to see the houses almost hanging off the side of the mountain (so it seemed to this Free Stater anyway)! Truly this part of the world is beautiful. It is only us human beings who mess it up and make it ugly wherever we settle! We thank the Lord for this opportunity to see His glory in nature. We were spoilt with a trip to Darjeeling Zoo where we saw the red panda and other amazing creatures. A highliught was also seeing the Christian presence in darjeeling, where there is a Christian school and an old Presbyterian Church in the city centre.
The Thursday our ministry resumed, following the same pattern, but it was as though the Holy Spirit had decided the time had come to move in power. We were blessed to be able to have a time of worship with the students and to receive prophetic words for each student. This ministry definitely released an extra element of excitement and anticipation into the ministry. The following day, Friday, Cliffie began his teaching on Prayer and Fasting and then on Saturday our anticipation was fulfilled as we ministered on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and witnessed the Lord at work in the students lives in a powerful way. We also symbolically placed “mantles” of ministry on thhe students and prayed for a release of God’s power in their lives for their various ministries.
This session was followed by an outing to the river banks to go and pray for the nation of India. All we planned to do was pray and cast our prayers and salt into the river (like Elisha did for the healing of the waters of Jericho). However, the Lord had other plans, and while we were busy praying a crowd of curious onlookers gathered. So Pastor Lucky preached the gospel and we and the students prayed for people and some accepted Christ. The Lord was already answering our prayers for India.
The last Sunday we were there we visited the Shalom Church in the Santali Village. This is a village that has predominantly accepted Christ and where the church is really thriving. It was again a wonderful experience to share in their worship and to witness their passion for Jesus. Cliffie preached the word and we enjoyed a time of fellowship with the pastor and his family. On leaving the church Cliff and I decided to join the students in walking back to the Centre. This was also one of the best decisions we made in India as it gave us a chance to bond a bit with the students, but also to see more of the natural beauty of India as we walked through rice paddies, forded a river with an amazing view of the foothills, and even stopped in Elephant Village for some pokora (spicy potato fritters) next to the road.
That evening our minds were blown as the students bade us farewell in such an emotional fashion that it reminded me of Paul’s farewell with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, where it says in v. 37 that “they all wept as they embraced him.” We were all overwhelmed by the sense of privilege to be honoured in this way. In a sense it affirmed our ministry with them; but it also just showed me again how when we have the Holy Spirit in common we can break through to build relationship even across the language barrier. (Only a few of them spoke broken English and none of us spoke Nepali, so all of our teaching was done through the interpreting of Ps. Lucky).
The journey home took us through Calcutta, which was an eye-opener to the poverty of urban India, but also a blessing as we visited the Mark Buntain Memorial Assemblies of God Church and witnessed the amazing work they are doing there through their Bible College, High School, and Hospital! On Sundays they have about 8 different services in various languages! WOW!
So all in all Mission india was a great success and blessing. We all left part of our hearts in India … but we also brought a part of India home with us in our hearts. Thank you to everyone who supported us in prayer and through financial support. Your ministry meant the world to us!
After a successful Mission to Russia, our team takes off for India on Friday morning. Below is the prayer guide for the mission. Please keep the team in your prayers.
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12-24 November 2010.
Dave Howard, Cliff Clarke, Celeste Honeywill, Jenny Jackson, Thelma Loubser, and Freddie da Costa.
| 12 Nov | Fly Johannesburg to Mumbai |
| 13 Nov | Fly Mumbai to Kolkota and from Kolkota to Bagdogra. By car to Siliguri |
| 14 Nov | Worship and minister with churches in Siliguri |
| 15-19 Nov | Train a group of 16 Indian Christians who are setting out to plant churches. Topics are: Worship; Prayer and Fasting; and Bible Study.
During this time Freddy, Thelma and Jenny are doing morning and afternoon devotions. Dave (Worship), Cliffie (Prayer and Fasting), and Celeste (Bible Study) are doing teaching sessions. Those not involved in the given teaching sessions will be praying in the Prayer Tower, Prayer Walking, doing Healing Ministry and serving the local church. |
| 20 Nov | Day off for prep and to visit Darjeeling |
| 21 Nov | Minister in local church services |
| 22 Nov | Fly to Kolkota for day of debriefing and sight-seeing. |
| 23 Nov | Fly to Mumbai and overnight to Johannesburg |
| 24 Nov | Arrive at Johannesburg and drive to Welkom |
Please pray for:
10. Physical protection of our health and well-being.
11. Protection for our families back home.
St. Luke’s Mission to Russia is from 4-18 October 2010. The team consists of Mark Jackson (Leader), Wesley van Zyl, Henrico Potgieter and Lucas Stoltz. They will be flying to Moscow and then visiting a few churches there and in other surrounding towns. Their ministry will mainly be to youth and drug addicts, but they will also do whatever ministry the local churches provide for them to do.
Please pray for:
We look forward to the team’s return with many testimonies of God’s grace and power!
After the relatively worldly excitement of the World Cup, its a great time to have our passion for true life restored, and that is what the 3rd term of 2010 is going to be all about here at St. Luke’s.
Our Cell Group and sermon themes will all be focussed on restoring passion in various parts of our lives – passion for the Lord, passion for our families, etc. We hope and pray that you will find your life being “em-passioned”!!
Miguel da Costa
Dear friends of St. Luke’s
It is with a sense of deep sorrow that we face the news that our beloved youth pastor and brother-in-Christ, Miguel da Costa, has gone to be with the Lord. Miguel was struck by a speeding vehicle outside the World Cup Stadium in PE on Tuesday last week and died of his injuries on Friday morning.
This whole experience was a rollercoaster ride of emotions and of faith. It was a time of great sorrow and yet a time when the church family stood together in prayer as (quite literally) never before. Never have I seen so many members of St. Luke’s come together day after day to pray in unity and in strong faith for the same thing. Yet, the Lord did not send Miguel back from the dead. Rather He received him to Himself and healed him forever.
We are left with so many questions. And yet, as family members and friends continue to seek the Lord, they are testifying of the answers and insights that the Lord is giving them. In sharing these they are bringing a sense of peace and acceptance for us all. It is indeed a great privilege to be part of a faith-community which so freely shares its love and its relationship with the Lord with one another.
So thank you to all who have prayed and to Catherine and the da Costa’s who have allowed us to journey with them in a very small way through their pain. We pray the Lord’s continual and permanent comfort upon them. And may the seeds that Miguel sowed in all of our lives bear much fruit for many years to come. Miguel was a young man who commanded respect way beyond his age. He was a leader … a son of God … a visionary … a passionate man of action in the Kingdom of God … and a faithful friend. He had great dreams and visions for the youth ministry at St. Luke’s and for spreading the gospel around the world. I pray that everything he dreamed of being a part of will come to fruition through others who take up his mantle.
Love in Jesus
Dave
The following is the Prayer Guide that we will be using in the Tabernacle during the 2010 World Cup. Please use it as you see fit!
ADORATION (1O MINUTES)
During the World Cup, Africa wants to release a “new sound”. This “new sound” is linked with the blowing of the vuvuzela. Whenever you hear the sound of the vuvuzela during the World Cup, call for the sound of heaven to be released on the earth. Call for and proclaim the “Voice of God” (Ps 29) over the waters, the mountains, the valleys, the plains, the cities, the stadiums and the nations gathering in South Africa.
Right now take this time to lift up praise and worship to the Lord. Let the sound of God’s praises overpower even the roar of the thousands of vuvuzelas which attempt to lift the spirits of the players. Let the Presence of God come as His people praise Him! Exalt Him as King over all of Creation and not just the World.
CONFESSION (10 MINUTES)
First spend time confessing your own sins to the Lord and then, having received forgiveness, pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit over the thousands of people who have come to South Africa for the World Cup, and over the people of SA. Pray that the Holy Spirit’s power to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8) will cause many to come to repentance. Pray that people will be convicted of the sin of unbelief, of the revelation that Jesus is ruling in heaven at the Father’s right hand, and that Satan is judged and has no more power to keep people in bondage.
THANKSGIVING (5 MINUTES)
Please spend time thanking God for all His blessings in your own life and then thank the Lord for allowing the World Cup to come to SA and for the many blessings it brings with it; e.g. investment, foreign exchange, tourists, opportunities for the gospel to be preached, improved race relations, etc.
INTERCESSION (25 MINUTES)
There is so much which needs to be prayed for during this World Cup. Below are just some ideas, but let the Holy Spirit lead you. If you are in the Tabernacle, please also use the guidelines for praying against HUMAN TRAFFICKING which are stuck up on the door.
COMMUNION AND BLESSING (10 MINUTES)
South Africa is offering the nations an African “calabash”, but Jesus offered us the Cup of the New Covenant filled with his blood (1 Cor 11:25). Eating and drinking communion is a powerful weapon against the works of darkness. The action of breaking the bread and drinking the wine is the proclamation of the death and blood of Jesus and victory over all sin, Satan and the spirit of death (1 Cor 11:26). As you receive communion in the Tabernacle, pray that through the power of the blood, the words of our testimony as Christians and our willingness to lay down our lives for the truth and the message of salvation through Christ, the gospel will gain victory over all the work of Satan in South Africa (Rev 12:11).
End your time with the Lord by speaking out this blessing: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on South Africa. Bless this nation and make it a blessing to the nations of the world! Reveal Your purposes for allowing South Africa to be released onto the global scene. Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done, in and through South Africa, as it is in heaven!
