Postcard for GWC

Our M4M today focuses on the strategic work being done in the area of theological education by George Whitfield College in Cape Town, South Africa, David Seccombe has been Principal of this College since 1993 and is here with his wife Lorraine this morning. After 15 very full years, they are on leave at the moment but plan to return on December 31st. In 1993 there was a small student body . Do you notice anything significant? Yes, all the students are white! David's longing was that that imbalance be rectified. Better facilities were a must and real progress was made with the purchase of a property at Muizenberg. Other properties were acquired for student accommodation. By 2007 the student body had more than quadrupled. Praise the Lord for the increase in the number of African students. For those of you who have been praying for the person standing in for David in his absence, here is Mark Dickson, the Vice Principal. A big step forward was taken with the appointment of the first full-time African faculty member, Rev. Siegfried Ngubane. He is in charge of training students in African church planting . Then Jomo Mchumu )came from the Sudan and Ben Shikwati from Kenya. They are only able to access this training because of the generosity of people who are providing bursaries. But what a way to help the growth of the church in Africa. We all know how pivotal a library is for a theological training institution - and how expensive it is to build it up!! African Inland Mission has loaned one of its experienced missionary to be the chief librarian . But the library needs to expand to meet the needs of the newly established Post Graduate Programme. The first group studying at advanced level numbers ten and are mostly African. Ben Dean has just moved from UK with his wife and family to head up this programme. An option has been purchased on a house for him and his family but funding is needed to purchase it .
With all the growth that has happened over the past 15 years, GWC hopes to have a student body of 200 with a faculty of 16. This is a grand vision but under God we can look to seeing it happen. Let us pray that God will continue to lead David and his expanding team to respond in faith - and that we will know what part we can play to help make it happen.

BT

Scholarships for George Whitfield College

Dear TenAM,

I am in the process of establishing a scholarship for a student in South Africa to train up as a minister and wondered if you would be interested in supporting this initiative.

George Whitfield College in Cape Town is run by David Seccombe who was the previous minister at St Matthews Anglican Church here in Shenton Park. I have had the privilege of spending time with David here in Perth while he is here on sabbatical. He is a man of enormous vision, integrity and deep faith who has chosen to devote the past 15 years to leading the college. I also visited the College in Muizenburg many years ago when a friend who studied her LLB with me at UCT went on to study there.

The college trains ministers from all over Africa who then return to their communities and found churches, provide hope through faith for the desperate, sick and dying as well as perform many other functions like training about community issues, health etc. Further information on the college can be found on their website www.gwc.ac.za.

I feel passionately that by helping a disadvantaged student train to become a minister, he will in turn impact and uplift so many more lives in far flung communities - a significant multiplier effect.

The course runs over three years. Both the College and student will correspond periodically with the donors here in Perth and we will be able to form a relationship which is supportive and encouraging rather than purely anonymous. If we manage to raise the full amount, the scholarship will cover tuition, accommodation and books for three years.

I am hoping to attract 50 donors, each making a contribution of $150 per annum for three years which is fully tax deductible.

We will be launching the scholarship on Sunday, 30th November at my place. David Seccombe will be presenting a slide presentation and talk on the college and will provide further details on the scholarship and what it covers. I have asked another minister who is also on sabbatical in Perth and who is based in the Southern Sudan to talk to us about the impact a trained minister has in that war torn and poverty stricken community. Each donor will then be presented with a portfolio with details of George Whitfield College and the scholarship. The selection process for the scholarship recipient will commence and the student will begin studies in 2009.

Please let me know if you are interested in becoming a donor and if you have any other people you feel I can approach. I believe this scholarship is a significant way we as Christian Australians can make a meaningful contribution to Africa.


Many thanks
Katerina Paizes

alkapet@bigpond.com

A need for chaplains at Shenton College

Applications are invited for

2 Full Time CHAPLAINCY POSITIONS 2009
(1 Position Interim)

SHENTON COLLEGE Shenton Park W.A.


Applicants should complete and submit:

· Chaplaincy Pool Application Packon www.youthcare.org.au
· Working with Children Check Card
· Department of Education W.A. Police Clearance

Initial Enquiries: Shenton Christian CouncilPO Box 627, NEDLANDS W.A. 6909 0438 868587

POST APPLICATIONS TO:
YouthCARE, PO Box 482, Morley WA 6490
or Email: employment @youthcare.org.au
Phone: 9286 0280/9376 5000Attention: Stephen Bradfield

CLOSING DATE: FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2008

The Langham Partnership

Here at St Matt's we benefit greatly from the splendid standard of Biblical preaching. This comes to us, not only because of the natural gifts of those who preach, but also because of the training in expository preaching they have received. We long for this training to be made available to all those who stand in pulpits each week. To rightly communicate the message of the Bible is the best way to prepare the world to face up to its huge problems.

John Stott has that vision. Now in his late eighties, he established Langham Partnership with that aim in view over a decade ago. The aim is to provide scholarships, textbooks and preaching skills to the enthusiastic preachers of the Majority World. It is a grand vision currently being carried on by people like Jonathan Lamb and Christopher Wright. (Jonathan Lamb by the way is speaking at the Belgrave Heights Convention over New Year)

To give you an idea of the scope of these Preaching Seminars let me quickly list some of the countries where they are being held in this current six month period - Chile, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand, Rwanda, Burundi, Bolivia, Ecuador, Croatia, Panama, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Ghana, Myanmar, Tanzania, Brazil, Zambia, Vanuatu, Nigeria, Kyrgystan, Colombia. It is quite breathtaking isn't it.

But the people who are organising these events, realize that preachers who are being trained need to get together and encourage each other. To that end, Preaching Clubs are being developed in towns and villages in various African and South American countries to provide pastoral support for those who are ministering despite huge logistical problems. One church in Oxford, UK is providing bikes for preachers so that they can meet together to study together and encourage one another.

Langham Partnership is a cause very worthy of our support. If you are interested in getting more information there will be a brochure on the table in the foyer and you can follow up details of the website and their regular Newsletters.

Pray for Langham Partnership

BT

God Saves: 1 Samuel 17& 18 Study Book

At Church we are doing a 5 week series in 1 Samuel 17 & 18.
It will invites us to see that God is King and rescues those who trust in Him. We produced a study Guide to help you think it through a bit more. You could use it on your own, or as part of a group, or as part of a family reading this incident together and applying the implications to our present life.

Please click on the link below to down load the PDF version

gavin_-_1_samuel_17-18_bible_study_2 1.02 Mb

The talks will be available on the website.

GP

A postcard from Liberia

Several weeks ago we were greatly helped by a M4M presentation from Ian and Jenny Gilmour who were preparing to go for the second time with Mercy Ships. For those who may have missed out on hearing them let me say that Ian is an anaesthetist and Jenny is a nurse and they are serving on a ship which will be in Liberia serving the medical needs of the local people. Since they left they have kept us well informed of their activities and are now half-way through their four week stint. They write as follows:

"This week Iain and I have been working in the same OR with a Spanish surgeon, a Scottish anaesthetist and 2 theatre nurses from Canada and Holland. We are working well as a team but the surgeon I think is Africa's Mercy's equivalent of Manuel in Fawlty Towers. He looks a bit like him and his English is certainly not the greatest. But despite all the communication problems, he is a good surgeon and is helping a lot of sick people.

Do pray for ongoing healing for children who swallow caustic soda. Their parents make soap for a living and the children mistakenly drink the solution thinking it is water. The results are heartbreaking. The children are usually between 1 and 4 years and are terrified of the procedure. Because they are often malnourished Iain is finding it difficult to get an IV in, sometimes taking 1.5 hours to do it. Many operations are necessary to dilate the oesophagus and make eating possible. Let us pray for all those involved in this process.

Iain and Jenny say that they are sleeping well, and are having some time off to call home and take a break. They are challenged to live out their faith in a very international team, in cramped and noisy conditions and continually confronted with the huge needs of patients from a poor country whose needs are so vast. Let us pray for them as they continue to demonstrate their love for Christ in this sacrificial way. Blodwyn Timms

Lord’s Prayer survives attacks

Here is an article from the Australian Chrstian Lobby:

The place of the Lord’s Prayer at the start of Federal parliamentary proceedings each day seems secure following strong support for it from Australia’s two main political leaders.
Both Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull emphatically declared their support for the retention of the Lord’s Prayer earlier this week following a call for a debate over whether it should be axed.
On the weekend, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Harry Jenkins suggested replacing the Lord’s Prayer with an acknowledgement of Australia's traditional Aboriginal owners. The Australian Greens later weighed in by saying they want the prayer replaced with a period of reflection and a conscience vote in both houses on the issue. Please click here and here for details.
Christianity has had a profound impact on shaping Australia’s laws, system of parliamentary democracy and culture, and it is entirely appropriate that we open Parliament with the Lord’s Prayer.
We welcome the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader’s commitment to retaining the prayer which is in line with the written commitments their parties gave to the ACL prior to last year’s Federal election.

Please click here to read ACL’s media release on the issue put out on Sunday.

GP

Prayer for persecuted Church

Today Christians around the world are being asked to pray for over 100 million suffering Christians during the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This Day of Prayer has grown to be one of the biggest prayer events in the world since its inception in 1996.

This year we focus particular attention on NORTH KOREA where presently over 100,000 Christians languish in the most atrocious conditions in political prisons and suffer the most heinous of tortures. North Korea has been No 1 for the past six years for the country where persecution is the most severe. Public executions are presently being used to intimidate.

IRAN stands at No 3 where persecution is most severe. On September the Iranian government passed a bill by 196-7 to make apostasy from Islam a capital crime. Unless there is huge international pressure, this bill will soon be ratified. Christians and Baha'i will be worst affected.

IRAQ The church in Iraq is under fierce attack at the moment with 10,000 Christians
leaving the city of Mosul because of terrorism specifically targeting Christians. Terrorists dressed like policemen recently asked a Christian for his ID and when it revealed he was a Christian, he was shot right on the spot. At least 15 Christians have been killed in Mosul in the past month.

However 618 Christians in Iraq recently met in their fourth national prayer conference
to pray for their country. This included 50 Kurdish believers as well as 10 Muslim background believers. Special testimony was given by some who have experienced great blessing as a result of their turning to Christ.

INDIA We continue to pray for the Christians in Orissa where at least 60 people have been killed in the last two months. 14 districts of the State have ben affected by Hindu extremists and 50,000 people have been made homeless. Many have fled to the hills for safety.

Let us pray for the persecuted church.

Click here for more information: The Voice of the martyrs website

BT