Here’s a shot of some of the early-birds before the meeting got started. Note the row of white boys there on the third row. They are a major answer to prayer seeing how white kids have yet to get involved. Five of these guys specifically have been involved since this meeting and are such awesome guys! We are really looking forward to how the Lord opens up new doors through them.
Here’s the rest of the crew once everyone showed up. We always have to expect that people will be on “Africa time”, aka late.
We did things a little differently this year for this initial meeting and it went really well. Stephen welcomed everyone to “one.life” and explained that the meaning behind this is “We have one life to live. How are you going to live it?” Then he went through the 6 points of our ministry as you see in the picture below. This gave students an overview of why we exist on campus.
1. Spiritual Growth: we exist to equip students in the Word of God, so that they will mature in their relationship with Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
2. Friends & Fellowship: we want to create an environment that cultivates meaningful relationships where students can trust one another and depend on each other in order to produce a community that is impactful and long-lasting.
Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
3. Inter-Denominational: we all make up the Body of Christ, it’s not dependent upon what church we attend
1 Corinthians 12: 12-13
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
4. Multicultural: whether Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, or English speaking
Revelation 5:9-10
9 And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
5. Leadership: we offer leadership opportunities based on Christ’s model of servant-leadership…being others focused
Mark 10:43-45
whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Philippians 2:2-4
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
6. Belong: through the existence of the 5 aspects listed above a student will have a sense of belonging. Which led into a plug for “Life Groups”, our small group bible studies the next night.
Following this we did a mixer for everyone to get to know one another.
Natasha in blue is a 4th year and is pictured here getting to know one of our first years. And then Kyle behind her is the youth pastor at Hope Church, who we have started partnering with. He is awesome with the students and we are thankful for his attendance and participation in our ministry.
Me talking to Dylan on the left and Bradley on the right. These kids are such sweet boys.
Following the mixer. Stephen made a really cool video of the upcoming events to catch everyone’s interest of what will be going on within the ministry over the next couple of weeks.
Then to change things up this year we had Justin and Rose lead worship in English. This went really well and overall was well received. We’re hoping to continue something like this on our Wednesday night meetings to draw more students in.
Justin is a 4th year and feels God’s calling on him to be more involved with the Christian community on campus. We are so thankful for his willing heart to serve and be used by Christ this year. Please pray for him in being an effective tool to see change on his campus for Christ and with the Christian Centre.
Cedric followed the worship and closed out the evening with a great message on “How we can be wise” from Proverbs 30:24-28. He made four points from this passage and shared with the students on how they can make the most of their time at college:
- The ant uses the present to prepare for the future (use your time wisely)
- The locust knows the power of community (Christianity is not mean to be lived out in isolation)
- The rock dassie knows where its strength lies = in the rock (Jesus Christ)
- The lizard is found in unexpected places – meaning God can use you anywhere and you never know where He will direct your life
Again, thank you for praying for this meeting and for the start of our school year. There were so many little things to work out and they all just fell into place and I truly believe it was due to prayer. So thank you.
