Team Leader’s mid-year feedback

Dear friends,

I hope that this letter finds you well and hopeful, despite the resurgence of covid.

In last month’s newsletter, I shared about God being a Protector.

The attribute of our Lord that I would like to highlight this month, from my journey, is that He is Patient…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 HCSB

Sometimes God makes us wait for the things that we really want, and not because He wants to provoke us, but rather to prepare us. He does not want to give us something we are not yet ready for. The right gift at the wrong time, is the wrong gift! A practical example of this is my motorcycle…had I got one before I knew the Lord, during my drinking days, there is a big chance that I would not have been around today…or had I gone straight to a 1000cc bike without having first mastered the power of the 400cc and 600cc machines, my biker days may also have been short-lived! A better example of needing to be prepared and waiting for a real gift, was when Charlene and I got engaged, after I asked our parents for their blessing. We had planned on getting married within 3 months of our engagement, but after speaking to our pastor, he asked me to postpone the wedding till the following year, us having to wait an extra 6 months! I understood his reason not to rush the season, but only because we knew his heart for us, did it make that tough decision to wait, a little easier.

The reality is that we are never waiting for God, but rather He is waiting for us to prepare for what He has in store for us. We should be patient, because our God is patient!

I am finding that this pandemic is also testing my patience in many ways, and significantly, in that we are unable to do our mission work according to our tried and tested approach. You are most certainly also experiencing frustration of your plans…may the Lord grant us all grace to be patient and Christ-like in this time.

Thank you for your prayers and sacrificial giving to AE during the pandemic. We are humbled by your faithful partnership!

This month we would also like to give some feedback of our work in 2021 thus far. Please see below for a brief report of each department:

MISSIONS

• We have introduced AE’s Home-Based Evangelism (HBE) strategy to a number of church leaders this year, but unfortunately due to the ongoing covid situation and its affect on their congregations and planning, suitable dates for the proposed outreaches have not been finalised as yet. SA’s high data costs are also problematic for digital evangelism in many of our communities.
  

• We were also part of the Good Friday outreach which was televised around the world. We helped to get it aired in over 40 million homes across Africa, and had teams helping to facilitate the “seekers” on an online chat platform. We rejoice in that over 1,3 million responses were recorded!
  

• We thank the Lord for each soul reached with the gospel in 2021 by our team thus far, and trust Him as the Good Shepherd to continue leading them into the fullness of the new life. Here follows the impact report for AE South Africa for the first semester of 2021. Note that our in-person ministry impact is significantly lower than “normal” due to covid restrictions, and our media impact is significantly higher due to a greater focus on those opportunities.

AESA IMPACT January – June 2021 (Reached / Decisions):

Youth	2,603 / 654
Social Action	66 / 0
Media	515,943 / 0
Other	2,010 / 78
TOTAL REACHED	520,622
TOTAL DECISIONS	732

COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION

• Our sewing project called Ngezandla Zethu which means “with our hands”, and our early childhood development centre called iThembalomntwana meaning “hope for the child” have been a blessing to the community of Edendale in Pietermaritzburg for just over 3 years now. We currently have 26 sewing students and 40 learners in the respective projects, which empower the community through skills development and education, creating a brighter future for them and their families.
  

• One of our current sewing students shared the following:
  “My name is Nosipho Memela. I am thirty four years old, married with three children. I live in Edendale and I am now a student here at Ngezandla Zethu sewing centre. I heard about this centre from my neighbour. I am happy to find this opportunity to become a fashion designer because that was my wish. I would like to say thank you very much to African Enterprise and Mrs Dladla for giving us this free course without paying a cent. I also thank you for caring about us. I didn't even know how to use a sewing machine. Now I can sew with a machine. Now I can put something on the table to support my family. ‘Mom Dladla’ is a very nice person, caring, loving and patient. On top of that she is also teaching us how to pray and encouraging us to believe in God. Thank you African Enterprise.”

FOXFIRES

• Our new Foxfire coordinator, Mandla, and our new Foxfire administrator, Tineil, have both transitioned into their respective roles very well, and are enjoying team life!

• After two months of intensive training, our 2021 Foxfire Youth Team was commissioned for their youth ministry year on 10 April, and they have since done some outreach locally and on the south coast with small groups, and also recently returned from a successful mission to Lesotho where many young people came to faith in Christ!

TRAINING

LEGACY

THE CENTRE @ AFRICAN ENTERPRISE

• Unfortunately due to covid, the Centre has really struggled and we have only had one good month of bookings this year so far.
  

• We are currently updating our Centre webpage, and the Centre’s social media presence has really gained momentum this year.
  

• We have developed some amazing teambuilding packages this year, for churches and corporates, with activities like archery being a real hit! This has also brought some new groups to experience our beautiful Centre. Contact [email protected] for enquiries.

LEADERSHIP ENGAGEMENT

• Michael Cassidy’s Barnabas groups, which were established 11 years ago to encourage young leaders, had a special online reunion at the beginning of May where Michael introduced a discussion on the foundation of morality and ethics. We look forward to more Barnabas gatherings in the near future. Contact [email protected] for more info.

PARTNERSHIPS

• This year we appointed two new Partnership Dept staff and they are settling in to their new roles very well.

OPERATIONS

• On the operations side, our access road was graded earlier this year, drastically improving the surface of Nonsuch Rd. We recently had fibre installed which has helped our weak internet connection at our secluded centre. In the last few weeks we also migrated to a new emailing system, which allows for more recipients and better analytics, and we are busy upgrading our telephone system to VOIP which should also improve our communications. We trust that these infrastructure improvements will translate into more effective ministry all round.

Finally, thank you for supporting our dedicated team in 2021!

May our Lord richly bless you and watch over you always.

Theuns Pauw
CEO | AE South Africa
[email protected]