Notes from a Dry Land

Our meeting in Windhoek in June caused such a stir that we were back there in August, teaching a missions course and training a group of facilitators to teach the course independently in Namibia!

We were based on a very dry farm 180km South of Windhoek called Bossiekolk farm - somewhere in the Hardap region. This is a photograph of a tree because a tree is an unusual thing there :)

The course members were an astonishingly eclectic mix, representing all the people groups of Namibia, just about - Hereros and Ovambos, Basters and Nama. All focused on the one fascinating reality, that God is God of the Nations and is concerned with every culture group on his planet. It was quite moving.

I was just sad that we had to teach at such a frenetic rate - 9 sessions in five days, plus voluminous reading...a course that is most generally spread over 9 weeks in order for people to take everything in properly. But focus levels were high, and people read until deep into the night every night.

Out of a Group of 18, 10 signed up for further training. We squeezed a two-day course into 1 day. And now there are invitations for  the course to be run and it just seems to be exploding into unlikely life in this land where people happily travel 500km for a meeting without feeling aggrieved.

Namibian Church Leaders from Several Denominations at our Training Sessions 

Doing these courses with Discipling Nations is really exhausting - but also truly inspiring. To see people light up with delight at the thought of a God who loves their culture and wants to use every culture to reach every culture, and to see people starting to take concrete steps to put themselves out for those who have not yet heard the gospel - Chinese workers or small San groupings. And the best is having a system that involves discipling processes that can be fully transferred into the hands of others in just a few months! 

My only problem now is deciding whether or not to join in courses in November. I think not, at the moment. Lesley finds it tough being left in charge of my mother without me, and my mother gets anxious when I am away too. But the work continues. I am just grateful to have had a small part in it :)

Many thanks to all of you who stand by us in our restless mission to connect the churches with all those lovely outsiders out there!