LHM-SA Newsletter, MARCH 2004

In this Issue...

  1. Living the Mission
  2. LHM-SA Youth Development Workshop
  3. LHM-SA Presentation: ELCSA Gauteng, Western Circuit
  4. What About the Prison Warders?
  5. FREE GIFTS on "Spotlight"

1. Living the Mission

Living the Mission – Linda and Kyle visited South Africa, brought their love, prayers and course books with from Detroit and gave us a brief glimpse in a night and a day of how it is possible to live the mission. Simply by living it, right here, right now.

You’ll be surprised how deep an impact a personal invite has. Your invite.Mission is deep in Africa. Mission is in the Far East. Mission is in India. Mission is in Germany. Mission is the work of the Congregation. Mission is the work of the Missionary, the work of the Pastor, the work of the Evangelisation Committee.

But their work is yours also. The reason you are here. Do you realise how amazingly many souls Christ touches through you? Through your life. Through the peace that you know, the strength that you show, the love that you live.

Do you recognise how many lives Christ changes through you? Through your invite. Your invite to me. Your invite to share your cafeteria table, you invite to share your braai fire, your invite to share your faith. Your invite to share your dinner. Your invite to share your hymnal. Your invite to share your love for your congregation and your church.

You have an incredible capacity to love. You’ve been loved with the most powerful love there is. You smile when you show it. When you show it to me – the guest; the new guy who just walked in; the shy girl with the accent; the old man in the corner; the family that just moved in across the street; the searcher who knows you know more.

Thanks to Lutheran Hour for bringing the workshop together. Thank you to ELF for hosting us. Thank you to all you who listened about, talked about, thought about, and lived the mission with me.

Thank you, God, for loving me.

You asked me how I came to believe. I said: because you invited me. You loved me, so you asked me. You asked me to share it with you. You loved me with the love that you were loved with and you asked me to share that love with you. So you showed me your mission on earth by being who you are.

By Horst Weinert



2. LHM-SA Youth Development Workshop

Youth Leadership Development—An Indaba and Practical Workshop for Youth Leaders—Saturday 20th & 27th
March 2004
Venue: English Lutheran Fellowship 367 West Avenue, Ferndale, Randburg
Time: 09:30 to 16:00 on both days.

What kind of young people do Lutherans seek to nurture in families, schools, congregations, camps, and communities? Do we want them to be faithful and faith-filled?

Do we also want them to grow as well-rounded Christians in body, mind, and spirit? Absolutely. We recognize that our faith shapes all aspects of who we are and what we do.

At LHM our goal is to begin a process of expressing in clear terms the connections between our faith and the development assets that young people need in order to succeed. The Search Institute (with funding from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans); has done extensive research on the positive relationships, experiences, opportunities and personal qualities that help young people grow up healthy, caring and responsible. Their research led them to develop a framework that "…gives a clear picture of things that are important for helping children and teenagers avoid problems, overcome challenges, and make healthy, positive choices."

At this workshop/indaba we will explore this framework in order to better understand the world young people live in, the challenges they face, and the strengths they need in order to live a Christian life.

Preparation for the 21st Century…

For young people to succeed in the 21st century they will need to :

Achieving all of the above is no easy task because we are not talking about academic education only. We’re talking about personal growth, life-skills, and learning to learn. This workshop is a call to action. The challenges are many and urgent. If not now, when? If not us, who?

Be sure to sign-up or sponsor a youth leader from your church to attend this workshop. For further details please call Alroy @ (011) 792-8552. We do not have all the answers but together we believe we will discover new insights and wisdom to guide our work with children, youth and families.



3. LHM-SA Presentation: ELCSA Gauteng, Western Circuit





4. What About the Prison Warders?

As a prison warder, I have the opportunity to enter a strange world each day. It is an incredibly noisy place. The only way for young men to communicate is by screaming over one another. Some inmates encourage violence, relying on intimidation and exploitation, while others try their best to remain calm.When I started working here, I looked at those prisoners with a prejudiced and distasteful eye. I also let all these inmates know full well how I felt about them by my attitude and judgement toward them. There were some inmates I hated so much because of their bad attitude. I had thoughts about bringing in a gun and shoot them, I hated them so much and started hating my work also.

Then one morning I was at section A1 and I saw Lucas Baloyi on top of the table doing drama, something stopped me and I listened and from that day I saw the pain, suffering, and yes- even the sin I shared with those around me, all because of Lucas’ drama. Since then I’ve been sending one of the inmates to your service and to come and report everything you are doing or saying. You know GOD used what I had despised the most (the inmate) to change my heart and bring me back to where I needed to be.

When men in here can see a fellow brother who is clean, non-violent, and peaceful in his lifestyle, it gives them hope. Since that morning I heard you talking about GOD in heaven, my life has changed and I now treat this men like humans.

Could you please give me some books and an English Bible? Books like how to deal with my guilt and shame. (Anonymous)



5. FREE GIFTS on "Spotlight"

After the 4th February, 116 listeners of "Spotlight" on Radio Pulpit called to request their copy of the children’s storybook called "Little Shepherd" and 145 listeners responded after the 18th February broadcast to the offer of the topical booklet "Why do Bad Things Happen?".

We are offering the Lenten Devotional on the 3rd March, and the "Stress" booklet on the17th. If you or people you know have a lot of stress in their lives, the time to tune in to Radio Pulpit is 9am !



FOR COMMENTS, INQUIRIES AND SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT US AT:

LLLSA@icon.co.za or call at 011 792 8440