After jumping some hoops and waiting a few days, we are finally hooked up with Internet at our house! So forgive this long post, but there’s a lot to catch up on. This first week, we’ve kept mostly around Pretoria—running errands, grocery shopping, getting the house in order, etc. On a couple of occasions we’ve traveled in an out of the township and each time, have left feeling thoroughly welcomed by the Powerhouse Church.

On Sunday, we were greeted at the Powerhouse with hearty handshakes, warm welcomes and huge hugs by people who knew us each by name. The usher wanted to seat us right up front, but fortunately we ended up more in the middle of the congregation. My first impression was, Wow, such joy! And the music and dancing! Within the first five minutes of our arrival, a conga line had broken out. The singing and praise was so heartfelt that I just closed my eyes and took it in, thinking, this marks one of the happiest moments of my life—to finally be here at the Powerhouse and to be surrounded by these people, who I don’t even know yet but who I already love. And to experience such joy at church!

About mid-way through the service, the four of us—announced as "very, very, very special guests"—were asked to come up to the front. Nate gave me a heads-up that we would probably be asked to say a few words. Vincent introduced us—"we have been praying for you to come—and now you are here!" which was followed by roars of applause. Vincent made it clear we are not to be considered visitors, but as part of the church family here.

I was prepared to be highlighted as special among the four because this was my first time at the Powerhouse, and sure enough, when I was introduced—"Ribs," they call me as a nickname for Rebecca—the people rejoiced that Nate and his bride were both finally here (last time Nate was at the Powerhouse he and I were engaged, and the church prayed for our wedding, marriage, etc.). Such bright, smiling faces among the crowd, clapping and cheering. I felt so honored, so humbled, so thankful and expressed to the congregation when it was my turn to talk that I felt like I had been here already among them (more applause) given Nate’s love of the Powerhouse and Mamelodi and that I was really looking forward to learning from them this coming year (big grins from the crowd). The leadership of the church was invited up to the front to lay hands on us and pray over us.

The church service itself was a beautiful sight—to see the people so free and joyous in their worship of the Lord, to see people fervently praying for their neighbor when given the opportunity. And the lunch they threw for us after again confirmed their warm welcome. It was neat for me to see how happy people were to see Nate and hear people asking about Will, and for me to be introduced to people I had either heard of or recognized in photos.

A few nights ago, we were invited over to an elder’s (Henry’s) house in Mamelodi to meet with the church leadership to begin brainstorming about how best we might serve the church in the coming year. Going into the meeting, Allan expressed a bit of nervousness that they were going to look to us to take the lead. We really wanted to defer to the leadership of the church for ideas, based on the vision that they have for the church—this being Africa Revolution’s approach to ministry. God really honored our prayers offered up on the car ride into Mamelodi that evening, as we left the gathering feeling very much on the same page with the leadership, generating ideas together with them. Many, many ideas came out of the meeting, and needs were expressed—one theme being a focus on the youth.

Today, Henry and Vincent dropped by our house for lunch and we discussed more. Here’s a summary of ideas from the notes I took at both meetings:

• starting a more purposeful children’s ministry
• a more advanced computer course for those who’ve passed the beginning level looking for more—perhaps covering web design and/or photography
• instruction in personal finance—possibly as an outreach to the community
• a business expose for those interested in entrepreneurship, perhaps workshops in business planning, especially for the women of the church
• a cycling team for the youth? a soccer team?
• a sports clinic for the youth?
• music for the youth, donations of instruments
• kids with cameras—instruction in photography
• a holiday club, aka Vacation Bible School for the kids
• establishing partnerships beyond the walls of the Powerhouse (i.e. with other ministries in the area)
• establishing partnerships with companies in the area (e.g. asking local grocery stores to provide weekly for the Powerhouse’s feeding scheme)
• involving the youth in existing ministries, like the AIDS hospice prayer ministry or SOW Ministries (Strangers, Orphans & Widows), which happens every Sunday after church
• after-school tutoring
• and an exciting idea Vincent had: sharing whatever recordings/multimedia stories we produce for Mamelodi Stories with not just our readership on the blog, but on DVDs with the non-Powerhouse community—as a way of bringing hope to people who may not know what Jesus is doing in Mamelodi

That’s quite a lot! But we’re excited about keeping ourselves from deciding immediately which of these ideas to pursue and how we’ll do it. We are confident that as we get to know the different ministries and the people of the Powerhouse, the Lord will lead us into how we can be of best use. Vincent is giving us much grace to adjust and ease into being part of the church community, time to build relationships, etc.

As for story-telling, Nate and I are feeling the same way. We are trying to remind ourselves that we will be here a whole year, and while we already have a number of story ideas, we’re taking time to see what develops as we get to know some of the people.

God has been kindling much excitement in our hearts regarding this coming year working alongside the Powerhouse. Spiritually, the Lord is already deepening our understanding of Him as we live life alongside Allan & Annie, and we anticipate that understanding growing much more as we begin daily work in the township in the coming week or so. We can’t wait to update you with more as we get underway.

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Filed under: General by Rebecca on August 14th, 2008