ABC's of Christianity

HELLO FROM THE HORNES:

MAY 31, 2006

CHURCH ACTIVITIES: At Benoni church, we have a new youth minister -- Ben Lambert who is a 2005 SABC graduate. The thing we appreciate most about Ben is that he doesn't just entertain the young people. He also teaches them Bible doctrine. When he asked to bring the youth over to our house one evening, at the same time he asked Al to teach them on the establishment of the church from prophecy and Acts 2. There were 18 present. Of course, it didn't hurt that Donna served her famous Mississippi Mudpies afterwards. Also meeting in our home, but on every Tuesday night, is our popular "Marriage Enrichment Series" for eight weeks. Last night, there were 7 couples present. Then every Thursday night in our home is Donna's class for SABC ladies. This year's study is that of The Life of Christ with Donna hoping to inspire her 14 students to take their place and be a positive force beside their husbands in the Lord's church. On Sunday mornings, Al continues his series on "The A-B-C's of Christianity" and on Wednesday evenings, he is continuing his series on "Walking Through the Word". The present topic is the Book of Luke.

SABC RECRUITMENT: We have thirty new students at SABC this year. This includes a few refugees from other African countries, students who will return when finished with SABC to their homes outside South Africa and, of course, some from cities right here in the Republic. We try to always keep an eye open for young people in the congregations here who show potential for leadership in the Lord's church. The biggest drawback, though, is that many of our youth are emigrating to other countries to work -- London in particular. With one in four in London an immigrant, it is the world's most cosmopolitan city. What's more, many of them are South African born! In a recent census listed by nationality, South Africans are among the top 10 new arrivals. Already by 2001, there were 140,000 South Africans living in the UK -- a finding which is consistent with the brain drain experienced in the early post-apartheid era. By now, those numbers have more than doubled and that's not including the hundreds of thousands of "gap year" youngsters taking advantage of the Commonwealth working holiday visa program. Nor are they all English-speaking South Africans either. Afrikaans is now commonly heard on London's public transport. Britain's university towns also have what researchers call "significant clusters of South African-born". How does all this affect Southern Africa Bible College? SABC is here to train leaders in the Lord's church. Many of our preachers still in the pulpit are of retirement age. One of these days, they will need to be replaced by younger men. One of SABC's goals is to train young men who will become evangelists and church leaders and step into those pulpits. To this end, SABC does not have just one recruiter -- all of us are involved in spotlighting young people who are willing to make themselves available to serve in the Lord's church. Plus we get letters of application sometimes from the remote corners of this vast continent. How they find out about us, we are not quite sure, unless it is from our website: www.SouthernAfricaBibleCollege.Org Anyway, here is a sample of a typical applicant's letter.

FROM THE IVORY COAST: The following letter is from an African named JOSEPH SANDY. As he explains below, he was born in Liberia but is presently living as a refugee in Abidjan in West Africa.

"I wish to apply for scholarship and admission within your reputable institution to able me to pursue a course in Seminars in Christian Scholarship. I am a Liberian and a refugee in IVORY COAST, I came to this country in the year nineteen ninety-eight (1998). Presently , I am preaching at the Liberian Refugee church here in Abidjan , Ivory Coast , West Africa. Since then there has been no improvement in my life in term of educational opportunities. However, I want to pursue a course in a high institution especially in the field of Theology course at the Degree Level. But there is no means to finance my studies, which is my dream course from my College . As such, I decided to write to your Outfit to seek for a scholarship to enable me to pursue the course at your institution, on which is wrecking [sic] as a result of civil war that took place in my country Liberia about 15 unbroken years.I know when I am given this golden opportunity to do this course in your institution; it will be a great help to me and my dear country Liberia after I complete the course of studies. Liberia is one of the country in the West Africa Sub region that have the largest refugees in every state of west Africa due to the civil strife occurred in 1990, from that time and up to this time the country human resources has been displayed [sic] as a result of the civil war. In View of this, the country will need people to help in detraunmalisation [sic] of the people and the re-building of the country infrasturctur [sic]. At this juncture, I wish therefore, to ask your outfit once again to offer me this opportunity to pursue the above-mentioned course in your institution. Please write me through the below mailing: Joseph Sandy: C/O (Refugee Church), Abidjan , Ivory Coast , West Africa".

SEVEN BAPTISMS: The first two baptisms we're reporting occurred as a result of Al's final sermon in New Zealand. One young man was baptised the following evening and another a few days later. Then here in Benoni, there have been five baptisms: First, a few midweek services ago, Chris Burke (SABC ' 77) brought someone from Wits University for baptism. That same evening, Wayne Pohorille (SABC '98 ) brought a young man down the aisle to put on His Lord in baptism. He was from a children's home, partly sponsored by Benoni church, and so the parents' permission had to be obtained for his baptism. At that point, Wayne discovered the young man only has a father and that he is in prison, so our Prison Minister, Louis Gerber (SABC ' 93) was called upon. Louis was able to go visit the father, get his permission, and teach the dad. Now the dad wants to be baptized, too. What a wonderful ending to that story. Or rather, what a wonderful beginning for both father and son. Finally, we had two baptisms this past Sunday -- one is the fiancee of one of our young men, Gary van Dyk, who has grown up in the Benoni congregation, and the other, Carmen Meyer, is the daughter of a long-time member of the church here. In fact, we've had so many baptisms lately that a little 3-year-old boy at Benoni church asked his mother, "Where is the man who walks in the water?" At first, she didn't have a clue what he was talking about and then she realized her son was referring to Al who, in order to baptise someone, walks not on the water, of course, but in the water of the baptistry! (And what's more, we are hoping for still another baptism as we are studying with Carmin's step-dad, Derek, at a weekly Bible Study at their home).

IN CLOSING: Living as we do in a country where there are not two or three but eleven official languages, one would think we could find adequate words to thank all of you who support our work. Not so! When we try to express our gratitude to you each month, we are reduced to saying, THANK YOU! So again this month, we thank you for your prayers and your encouragement and your financial support. Because of it, the new SABC library is materializing right before our very eyes! The official opening with its ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for the Monday (because it is a public holiday and everyone can be here) of our September 2006 Lectureship. In our next monthly review, we'll tell you all about the exciting developments in the construction of the library. Roll on, progress!

Reaching out to the lost souls of Africa,
Al and Donna Horne, your missionaries.
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