The rise of the coach

What is a pastor? What comes to mind when I ask the question?

Is he the cuddly, softly-spoken grandpa who will pop in for a cup of tea and eat a few too many biscuits?

Is it the person who’s first on the scene when tragedy hits (but isn’t really required for normal life)?

In some contexts, it’s the exalted leader of the church community - the one who speaks to us the words of God from a distance. It’s a terrifying thought that he would maybe come to visit our house and want to talk to us directly.

Your view of pastor is probably shaped by the culture you are in, and it’s vastly different in different places.

So what does the bible have to say about this strange role of ‘pastor’?

The literal translation of this word from Greek is ‘shepherd’. A guiding presence who leads a community towards good places to find food, who watches out for those who are lagging behind or going astray, and whose job it is to protect and ensure the flock grows towards maturity.



For many of us, ‘shepherd’ is a slightly ancient or foreign concept. Perhaps it’s my (brief and fairly unspectacular) sporting history, but I like the term ‘coach’. This is the person that thinks about the development of others. Their sole job is to see the talent that may be hidden in a person and bring out the best in them, and help them to fit into the bigger team, with a bigger goal in mind.

This idea of ‘coach’ has become a model for me in my training in Mobilise Global. I’m happy to teach a big crowd, but really I’m looking for the one. One who is hungry to learn. One who has got a heart to teach others what they have been learning. One who is motivated to be part of something bigger than themselves. These are the ones that I love to spend my best time and energy with.



Jesus, of course, is the ultimate coach. He seeks us out and rescues us from our isolation and rebellion. He bestows dignity on us, and calls out the gifts and abilities that we never knew we had. He puts us in a community that we can serve and enjoy, and he gives us a bigger purpose to give our lives for.

Don’t we all need a coach in our lives?

 

 

The trouble with us missionaries

I’ve never considered myself to be a missionary, but I guess that’s how most people would perceive me. We left our home in the UK and have lived in South Africa, planting and serving churches for over eight years. Do I qualify to talk as a missionary?

Maybe.. but allow me to make some observations about missionaries from personal experience. I do this only because I want the Christian church to be effective in reaching the many millions who have never heard the amazing message of Jesus. 

These are only my personal reflections, and represent some significant lessons I’ve learned.

1) It’s expensive

The time, effort and costs involved in simply getting to know the world that you have landed in should not be underestimated. It will be five to ten years of language and cultural training before you can really begin to understand the world that you are in. Only then can you start to think of influencing people at a level of worldview and core beliefs which are needed in order to begin to make disciples of Jesus. This is a long term and costly commitment.

2) It’s hard work

Those years are tough. They are going to be lonely, and the likelihood of leaving the work is very high. If it’s a family then the toll it takes on the children to be taken away from their familiar surroundings can be massive. Much can be done in the way of preparation, but the reality of a new life in a new culture can only be learned through the experience. Also, the role of the sending church is significant, and usually misunderstood by both parties.

3) Some would consider it ineffective

Many times that a church is planted by a leader from a different culture, that church will carry a ‘foreign’ DNA. In today’s global society, the church will often attract other expats, looking to find a spiritual home that they can belong to, but this only exacerbates the problem. Many of our churches will not impact the local culture at all, but remain as ‘international’ or ‘ex-pat’ churches.

4) It’s tribal

OK, here’s a confession that I’m not proud of. When we went to South Africa to church plant, I had no idea about what was already happening there. I knew there were many other churches, but not OUR kind of church. In my mind, there was a deficiency, a need of our help. As I look back on that now, I see it as a sign of some deeply rooted pride. Am I alone in this? It’s unlikely.

And here I land on my reason for writing this seemingly rather discouraging and somewhat hypocritical blog. God is at work all over the world. Wherever you look, he has people who are already at work there, or at least close by. The fact is that getting behind ten or twenty of these amazing servants of God over their lifetimes will still cost less than funding one western family to spend five years learning a new culture and language. Plus they are going to be better at the work than any westerner will be! The fruit will be longer lasting, and the impact in the local communities will be greater. 

I believe the days of the west sending missionaries to the unreached places of the world are coming to an end. A far better model for our modern day of instant communication and translation apps is to get to know and work alongside those who are already in place. Those with a cultural understanding of the world they are reaching, who can truly bear fruit in these places. 

As we discuss reaching the unreached parts of the world, places that are often antagonistic to the western world, this is surely our best strategy. I promise you, once you start looking you can find hundreds, no, thousands of partners who would love to be connected to you. It’s worth a thought!

I’d love to hear from you if you have questions, thoughts or any disagreements! 
Much love, Colin. 



Surely there’s people more qualified than me to communicate well with this group in Myanmar?! I meet with their leader and his guys via zoom and send them training material.

I’m sure I’d be more of a hindrance than a help here, as my presence as a white Christian man would escalate the situation. In the top corner you can see some of what our friends are dealing with - knives, attacks, and their brothers being beaten to death. We can only befriend, encourage, send resources and pray.

 

 

Theological education: Why bible schools are not the (only) answer 

Currently the Christian church is growing rapidly. That may come as a surprise to many who are living in a western context, where the church has been in decline for many generations. However, outside of the west, in particular the global south, Christianity is growing and many new churches are being planted. 

This shift in the Christian church is exciting and inspirational for many who have a global vision of God’s kingdom filling the earth.

However, the growth of the church has come mainly in the poorest nations, and that gives rise to some significant challenges.



The primary challenge is around developing new leaders. With new churches starting all the time, the need for well trained leaders is obvious. Traditionally, the idea was that leaders from the mainline denominations would be trained in their particular bible colleges. The mainline denominations are comparatively well funded from the west, and so could afford to send their new leaders through their training schools. However, the vast majority of the church growth has been among the independent churches, most of which have no links to outside funding or to any bible schools. The opportunities for any of their leaders to study at a theological college is practically non-existent. Their normal practice then, is that new leaders are simply sent out to establish new churches without any formal training. They will probably have been taught by the leader who first established the base church, and there is no guarantee that they have had any training themselves.

In some ways, this is a good thing. The mainline churches originated from the western world, and brought with them a culture and way of reading scripture that reflects a western worldview, and does not fit easily with the non-western thinking of many of the local leaders. This growth of non-western churches is a process of ‘decolonisation’ in the church, and must be welcomed. However, this can lead to much confusion in the new churches, leaving them vulnerable to various doctrines that are abusive, beyond orthodoxy, or a mixture of biblical teaching with traditional animistic beliefs. This obviously harms the witness of these churches and hinders their gospel outreach to their communities. 

The challenge then, is to help these new church networks to develop their own training for their leaders, which is biblically sound, but is particularly developed for the non-western thinker. Rather than requiring months or years of study, away at bible school, it has to be accessible to those leaders in rural areas who can take just a few days at a time for a training block, with the aim of giving them a solid foundation from which they can grow in their knowledge and understanding.

Thankfully, even in western theology, there has been a significant movement in recent years away from the westernised ‘systematic theology’, where we teach individual doctrines, such as the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of God and so on. The movement has been towards a more narrative or story telling approach to scripture. The importance of understanding the overall story of scripture fits much more into the non-western worldviews of the global south, where story telling is often the primary way of communicating and educating. 



This is where Mobilise Global has positioned itself. Drawing on the fresh insights from narrative theology, but translating them into a form that non-western thinkers are comfortable with, and packaging them as training blocks taking around three days. In this way, leaders in indigenous church planting networks can be trained with a good theological education, and are equipped to teach others, using material that has been translated into their local language. Our goal is to help these networks reproduce many new leaders, and so aid their healthy growth and multiplication.

We are grateful for the many theological institutions and writers that have helped to shape us over the years. They are still a vital part of the work of training and equipping leaders across the world, but there is a huge gap in the indigenous, independent networks of churches that bible schools are not able to reach. Filling this gap is potentially the most important need in the global church today.


 

 

Cross-cultural leadership training is not a good idea! 

The one thing I’m asked to teach about in numerous places is ‘leadership’, and it’s usually the one thing I try to avoid teaching about.

The reason for my reluctance is that the longer I’ve been working cross-culturally, the more I realise that we are so different, and leadership just looks really different in our different cultures. In some cultures, a firm handshake and the ability to hold someone’s gaze is to be admired. Yet this would be seen as very rude in another culture.



I come from a culture where any leader must be willing to jump in and make their viewpoint heard. This is so foreign to the culture I now find myself in, where it’s really the most senior person in the room that will speak, and the others feel no need to add to what has been said. So this reluctance is for good reason, and yet I am currently running a leadership course made up of people from 5 different nations, with very diverse cultures! (It’s actually 6 if you count Jeremy as being from Kenya, where he works with numerous church leaders, and he’s not very British!).

Why the change of heart?

Although the outward workings of leadership will vary from culture to culture, it’s my conviction that God is at work in the inner life of anyone who is called into Christian leadership, and this journey is very similar in any culture. This journey is where the concept of ‘Heart of a Leader’ originated. We’re now almost halfway through our online course, reflecting on the leadership that Jesus demonstrated. We’re exploring together some of the deeper questions regarding our own journeys, dealing with our disappointment and failure, understanding the issues we bring around identity, handling criticism and flattery, and staying connected to the Spirit. It’s been a joy to find the group sharing openly with each other, and some are using this to mentor other leaders around them, and have those kind of conversations with them. The real benefit I see is that a group of leaders are journeying together, sharing their views and experiences from their different cultural perspectives, and enriching one another.



Wherever we are from, we have so much to learn from brothers and sisters in different cultures, that will always enrich our own journey of faith. This is undoubtedly my experience, and I trust that others are experiencing this now through this course.

 

Building deeper 

During April 2024, Colin Nichols and Paul Simpson visited the UK to share news and build friendships with partners of Mobilise Global. Colin writes this report.

In some ways our trip to the UK in 2023 was about connecting with a wide range of old friends. Covid was over, Mobilise Global was now a real thing, and we wanted to share what we were doing, for anyone who wanted to hear.

2024 was somewhat different, as we spent more time with churches and individuals that want to pursue this relationship. This trip was much more about building deeper.



Worthing is still ‘home’ for Pam and I, with family and friends still too many to squeeze into a few hectic days. It’s always a joy to see old friends who are still going on with God, and we love to hear stories of what God is doing in that community. We are already connected deeply there, and grateful for how God has helped us maintain these relationships even though we are in our ninth year since leaving.
 


Paul and Ruth Barratt are old friends that we reconnected with last year, and, somewhat surprisingly, our link has blossomed into a great friendship. They came to stay with us in Hilton in January, and on our recent trip Paul and I spent three days with them in North Wales - chatting, eating, meeting friends, and dreaming of what God will do in those tiny villages and towns around them. Thanks for the fun, the openness and the hospitality. Paul has renewed my love of snooker in the brief time I was there, and Ruth packed up some Rocky Road for us to take away.

Our two weekends in London were also very encouraging. Hope Church in Bromley have been good friends to Pam and I, even before we left for South Africa. One highlight for me was to visit their Downham congregation, a genuinely multi-cultural group with a real African flavour. We were also privileged to visit East End church, one of my favourite churches in the world, led by Tom and Rachel Head, two of my favourite people in the world.

So, relationships were renewed. Funders were encouraged. New connections were made. What’s next? One of the joys of partnership is that we can serve each other. I have invited many of the leaders we met in the UK to study our new material ‘Heart of a leader’ as an online course. This will also include leaders from Africa, and I’m excited to see how this mixture of different cultures and backgrounds will stir up and challenge each of us to go forwards in our own relationship with God, and help us to mentor other followers of Jesus. That really is building deeper!
 

What's buzzing? 

Training in Maputo, Mozambique

The main thing that’s buzzing around here at Mobilise Global is our new material, “Heart of a Leader”. We interviewed Colin, the author, to find out why he invested so much time writing this, and getting it translated. Why does he think it’s so important?

“I consider it almost as important as good theology, honestly. The cultural models of leadership here seem so different to the biblical vision of leadership, so this is my attempt to help. The way leadership has been practised traditionally here - let’s call it “the chief system” means that there’s one guy who is the head of the clan. The culture of honour in this part of the world means you don’t question that leadership, you don’t challenge that leadership, and you don’t even aspire to leadership if somebody is already is in place leading.

As with our own country, cultural expectations find their way into the church. So in Africa the majority of churches are lead by one guy and it’s very clear to everybody who that guy is, what his vision is and that everybody else is there to hopefully catch something of the anointing that’s upon that person. And through that person you get your own anointing!



A lot of the African traditional religions are based around the “one guy” pattern - the sangoma/ traditional healer/ witch doctor who can tell you what’s going on in your family, tell you why you’ve got all your problems, and tell you what to do about it.

That’s a cultural model that the church has adopted: the Man of God tells you everything, and you’re there just to support him and serve his vision. Whereas the biblical vision is that leaders serve people, help people to flourish and look to multiply leadership. This is exactly what Jesus did!

OK, and what about the UK? In what way are you hoping this material will be useful there?

“I think it’s useful for more established leaders to have a framework for raising up new leaders, starting with their own lives. A lot of the leadership journey is about the heart. So we’re trying to help younger christians to grow in their own faith, and go on their own journey with God. It’s about learning to lead yourself and ask questions like, ‘What’s going on in my life? How am I growing up in my own faith? How can I help others?’ I think that as we embrace our own journeys we are more able to help others.”



You can download the “Heart of a Leader” here free of charge. We hope it is a blessing to you. It has been translated into Portugese, and we’ve given it a first run in Mozambique. Portuguese could potentially open up Angola, Brazil, Guinea Bissau, Goa and many more countries. The Nichols met in Brazil and saw there was a similar mentality about the leadership ‘Man of God’ there, but apart from that we don’t really know much about these places at all. We will see what the Lord chooses to do…



A three day course to understand biblical principles of Christian leadership, along with practical wisdom for growing as a disciple and as a leader who can care for others and help them grow to maturity in God. Available in English and Portuguese. 
  
    •    The heart of a leader - English
    •    The heart of a leader - Portuguese

Tanzania trip Nov 2023 

 
The first thing that hits you is the traffic (not literally of course, although there were times …). Dar Es Salaam means ‘City of Peace’, but it seems that all of its 10 million inhabitants enjoy being out on the roads all at the same time, all using their horns to warn you of their presence! Peaceful is not the word I would use.

On our second evening, the car we were in had a puncture, leaving Fabian and I to find other forms of transport to get home. This meant crossing a three lane highway on foot. The speed and unpredictability of the various cars, trucks, motorbikes and tuk-tuks made this an apparent impossibility. However, Fabian seemed to make a way where there was no way, and I followed in his shadow, trusting that he could somehow sense which of the vehicles would slow down for us and which would just keep going.



I was in Tanzania at the request of Fabian, who leads a group of churches around the country, and has many good friendships with leaders across the city of Dar Es Salaam. He has been involved with some of the training that I’ve been doing for two years or more, and he was excited to introduce me to his friends and to share some of the things that I’ve been teaching him.

The first question I had from one of the pastors on the way from the airport to Fabian’s home was to explain the situation in the middle east in terms of biblical prophecy! Straight in at the deep end. Actually, I’ve found it a really helpful conversation to highlight how we are tempted to use the bible in unhelpful ways, and so this was how we began our conference time together.



The conference took place at Fabian’s church. It’s a venue that has been condemned by the local government as unsafe due to the potential for flooding. We arrived in some of the biggest rains they have experienced at that time of year, and there was a river running through the building. During the first day, we had to take a break because of the sound of the rain made it impossible to speak, and the conference delegates had to huddle in the corners to avoid the rain coming through the roof. No one seemed particularly fazed though, and when the heavy rain stopped, they reassembled as if nothing had happened.

The delegates had come from around Dar Es Salaam, and from other parts of the country. Two pastors came from Arusha, which is a 12 hour bus ride away. Another came from Morogoro, where his first part of the journey is to take a motorbike taxi for 3 hours across footpaths, until he can finally get to a road. Even then, he had to take another 2 busses for 3 hours each to find his way to Dar!

The training I did with them was to help them see the bible through the lens of one overarching story, with everything interconnected. Although this is new for most, it actually makes intuitive sense for them, as the Africans are all story telling people. They appreciate the power that stories have in a way that us westerners are only just beginning to grasp. During a question time halfway through the third day of training, one of the pastors said that he had learnt more in two days than in two years at bible college. This was without doubt an exaggeration, but it goes to show how just linking the bible together as a story can have a powerful impact on those whose minds are tuned this way. Another pastor said that he wanted to give us some land so we could build our own training centre in Dar, for the sake of the many pastors who have not heard this message!



So, we finished our training together with great joy on the fourth day, with celebrations of cake and dancing and of course the most important thing, the certificates! I’ve had to learn that this is a very important part of the training week. I get dressed up in a suit, and each delegate gets a certificate, a handshake, and a photo. These things matter in this culture, to the point where those who did the course with me last year have heard about the certificates, and written to ask why they didn’t get one, and if we could at least send them the certificates now.



So, with the course finished, we said our goodbyes and swapped phone numbers. The offer of the land to build a training centre, while being super generous and kind of them, gave me the opportunity to articulate what I’m really hoping for out of these times. I’m looking to find trainers. I don’t want to spend my energy finding money for buildings and upkeep. But if I find people who catch something from what I teach them, who see how important the message is, and who want to begin sharing and teaching wherever they can, then I want to do everything I can to get behind them. It’s still early days, but there are some who are already going out to teach some of this material, doing it in their own ways, with their own emphases. I’m trying my best to stay in touch with them, and equip them as best I can, give them whatever resources they need, and encourage them to freely give.

When we start to see ourselves in the biblical story, it changes everything! It gives people a fresh sense of vision for who the church really is, and what we are called to in these times. It gives us hope that nothing that we do in Jesus’ name is in vain and fuels a passion to take the message of the gospel into the darkest places. 

 

Unleashing Questions in the Warm Heart of Africa: Malawi.   

Have you ever heard that it’s OK to have questions? Were you ever given permission to ask ‘why?’ Well, that was the main skill passed on in the training in Malawi recently, where Colin taught in team with Gareth and Leon. Gareth and Leon were given full permission to break in at any time, and pray with people or bring something prophetic if they sensed God was up to something in that moment. It is so much more effective working in a team, and also way more fun. 



“I spend most of my time asking questions during training, which can make people uncomfortable”, says Colin, “and a lot of the pastors have no concept that this is OK, or even useful. They are worried that having questions means they are doubting God or calling Him unfaithful. We explored the topic of what the bible actually is, and tried to get clarity on how to apply it in their context. Sometimes the people I meet tend to use the bible as a book of rules, or a book of promises. Both of these definitions can be problematic - how do you know which rules apply to you now, in 21st century Malawi? How do the promises work when life doesn’t go as expected?”

Despite being worked so hard, and having their brains messed with, the Malawians gave Mobilise Global a really warm welcome. They say Malawi is “the warm heart of Africa”, and Gareth had been working for a while with some of the people already, so trust was already built. Colin had served several of them in online training already too. “There were 6 or 7 who I’d trained online, but I’d realised how much they had missed. For people who don’t speak English well, it’s a poor substitute for being there in person. Face to face you can tell what’s going in and what isn’t. I could re-phrase things or take more time to explain again … and I could see lights going on so that was really exciting. When people share their new realisations and it’s clear there’s some new understanding, I love it! That’s my rush! When I see it take root, and they start to get excited about Jesus and even understand the gospel itself in a fresh way, it’s the best feeling. Usually they immediately talk about sharing it with other congregations and networks of pastors.”                                     

Our hosts were Suzan and Hastings, who lead a ministry called “Shine”, which reaches out to local villages mostly inhabited by muslims. “Shine” is amazing - feeding, educating, taking in orphans and vulnerable girls, and helping start businesses. The MoGlo team stayed in their house, ate Suzan’s goat curry and used their centre for the training. Watch out on social media because we will introduce you to Suzan soon! They receive a lot of funding from our friends “Jubilee Church”, a Regions Beyond church in Hull.



“Shine” have a real heart to take the training out - they have 50 or 60 pastors that they’re supporting in the wider regions, which you can only access by motorbike or bicycle. It was amazing to see their dedication to serve these pastors in places that might be considered ‘the forgotten corners’ that nobody would really visit. One of the churches only has one bible. The pastor himself doesn’t even have a bible! One guy drove from Mzuzu, 14 hours away, where he works with 20 churches himself, and is connected to a number of other churches in different networks. 

We also had a little gang who work with the Yao people - a muslim group living in the southern end of Lake Malawi. They are doing such an amazing job with 90 bible study groups across the region. One guy we met was leading all that and another one of his leaders, Lyson, is currently working on translating the bible into their language, working 8 hours a day. Needless to say, Colin had a fantastic translator on this trip! Lyson is a man of huge influence so he was so grateful for the help in understanding the big story of the bible, and how it all works together.



So our trip had a great sense of momentum. Colin could plug straight in to what was already happening and shape it. Most of the students didn’t have any materials that they’re working through or any ongoing structure to their training, so we left them with 2 booklets each which will keep them going for months, and certificates for completing of the course. Colin also left his phone number as they want to start a WhatsApp group to share testimonies between themselves and keep each other updated and inspired. “Once you teach something, you start to really learn it”, says Colin, “and then you realise that there’s so much more to know. I expect them to come back and ask many, many more questions. That’s great because, as you know, I do love a good question!” 














 

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Hunt the Trainers 

 
Our main goal for the recent trip to Zambia was to find the trainers. If you are reading this and you’re British, we don’t mean ‘trainers’ for a kick-around at the park, but Human Trainers - those fire-starters amongst the leaders, who engage with the process, and want to pass it on. The kingdom is all about multiplication, right? So if we can train the trainers, with each trainer representing several church plants who are going to reproduce themselves, well, it starts to sound like one of the parables, no?  

Colin went to Lusaka, the capital, with Tata Zakhile, who is an expert at reading situations in cross-cultural contexts. Tata taught brilliantly on the importance of apostolic ministry, and Colin did an introduction to biblical theology - learning to read and apply the bible as one whole story.

Lusaka was full of super-friendly people. The team enjoyed some bream from the Zambezi River, lots of chicken and nshima (maize meal). A lovely lady called Wendy cooked for them, bringing a bowl to wash their hands before eating. Colin is struggling to settle back in with his real wife (although she is a lot quieter in her sleep than Tata Zakhile - ha). They had fun at the reptile park one day, although one of the hosts was so terrified he went and sat in the car.



It was a great time of building friendships and digging in to the word of God together - the people were very grateful and the great news is, although we weren’t sure what we would find there, some of them clearly stood out as potential trainers. So exciting! 

The main host was Bishop Brian who leads “Great In Christ” Church, which has 13 or 14 congregations across Zambia and Malawi. They have a vision to start a bible training centre there, alongside a school, guest wing, TV and radio station, and camp facilities where students can come and stay. 

Colin and Zakhile went to pray on the land there, and the East End church in London have also prayed via a little video! It is fun to hook up these pockets of people with a heart for the nations. If you’re on Instagram or Facebook, you will soon see that same video of Brian on the land, as well as some local sights, and a snippet of the exuberant welcome that the guys received when they took their place to speak! 



Also there, Bishop Davie Kawunda who is an African Methodist church minister, who oversees training for hundreds of churches across Zambia.  Nawam Crispin works with four or five churches in Livingstone and Lusaka - you will see interviews with them soon on social media…

Mobilise Global left them with plenty of books, and a charge to go ahead and train more leaders. We will see how it goes in the next few months, and will keep you posted about progress. Colin and Zakhile came back happy to have made new connections, and hopeful these brilliant new friends will see much fruit. Trainers? Tick!

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Mission Fun for Families 

 
Leon and his wife Shenelle really showed us how mission can be FUN for families recently when they went on a trip to Cape Town with their gorgeous girls. 

After day one, Leon wrote “Had a super amazing time yesterday with the prophetic group. There was about 30 of us in total, and a very excited atmosphere which was great… there was such a huge presence of God in the room which gave me such freedom and authority not just to only share and encourage but also commission them as a church to reach the lost and broken. It really felt like a bulldozer experience whereby the Lord was using me to clear the way. It was pretty cool to see the church standing together, being commissioned to go and see the lost saved. Testimony came that many got healed instantly. Shenelle and I were praying for a lady and I had a picture of her lungs, where the Lord was breathing into them. I shared that with her, and she broke into tears and told us she has been diagnosed with lung cancer.”

Leon was using the Mobilise Global booklets, “Empowered by the Spirit” as the foundation for these times. “It was exciting as we taught, did demonstrations and just had fun… We had an amazing time at the Sozo Foundation in Muizenberg, where we met with staff, youth and people from the community. They offer skills training and other development stuff for youth. I preached, shared my testimony, did some training around how to share the gospel and then we had a time of prayer. The Lord really ministered to people as you could feel a lifting in the atmosphere. There was a sense of the Lord really meeting people where they were at, as many come from neighbourhoods that are plagued with gangsterism, fear, hopelessness, drugs etc. Many got saved and recommitted their lives to Jesus, we praise him for that. I was watching those who were praying and I could see they were very sincere - they had met with God.” 

We thank God for all He did through the Dasrath family, and all glory goes to Him. In the midst of ministry they got to have fun as a family, despite Leon having a broken leg since getting bashed onto a rock whilst fishing a few weeks ago!! Let’s continue to pray for them, and the places they visited. “We believe God opened a door into the supernatural.” Amen.

 

 

Reconnecting in the UK

 
I'm not one for making regular claims that ‘God has spoken’, but during a visit to the church we led for 12 years in Worthing on England’s south coast, I felt that holy whisper, ‘This is your family’. We hadn’t been there for years, and so much had changed, but quite unexpectedly, that still small voice made everything seem so different.
 
That was 8 months ago, and I’ve just returned from another trip to the UK with Paul Simpson, visiting many of the friends that he, or Pam and I have made over the years. And what a joy it was! We met with 23 church leaders in two weeks, mostly as individuals, but sometimes in groups of two or three. I’ve never had the privilege of meeting so many leaders in such a short time frame. Hearing their stories of what God is doing amongst them was like taking a snapshot of the work of God in this group of churches.
 
Here are some of my personal reflections from the trip;
 

God joins hearts by the Spirit

It was surprising and moving to realise that God was at work in the trip to join our hearts to many of those that we visited. It wasn’t anything that we could have engineered, but something that the Spirit seemed to do over a meal, a conversation, a prayer time, or a meeting together. Although I’m not sure what this will mean, it really felt like these connections are going to be meaningful in the days to come. We wait and see.

God is at work in the UK

Of course he is! He is always working. But it was great to see churches recovering from the Covid period, and many reported some exciting growth and opportunities that they hadn’t seen before. The interesting thing was that in almost every case, the new people were born outside the UK. This presents a challenge and an incredible opportunity for those with eyes to see, as the reality of truly multicultural expressions of church are more and more possible, even in areas that have been traditionally ‘white and British’. Also the possibility of reaching the unreached is now a practical reality for most British churches.

We need each other

Almost everywhere we went, we met amazing people, with wonderful histories of serving God, or those hungry to be involved in mission around the world. I am jealous to maintain these contacts, and see how we can use them to be involved in the world that God has opened up for us, to be a blessing to the nations. I’m also aware of how much benefit the leaders in other nations carry for the church in the UK, perhaps more so now than ever. I am also thrilled to hear about all the great things that are happening which will never have anything to do with us!
 
Thank you to those of you who hosted us, fed us, welcomed us, prayed for us, shared your lives, your money and your church communities with us. I realise now that when God said ‘This is your family’, he had a whole lot more in mind than I first understood.

 

Launching in Swahili

Recently we launched the teaching material in Swahili in the beautiful location of Pongwe, Zanzibar. Three pastors from the island, three from around Dar es Salaam and two from Mbeya met together with Colin and his friend Zakhile. Fortified by rice, beans and spinach, they spent five days working from breakfast until 10 o’clock at night, such was the appetite for biblical theology! Even on the last day, during a discussion, one of the pastors said how much there was still to learn, and told Colin, “You need to come back for a month!”

They were incredibly grateful to receive visitors who had materials in the right language, and time to help them work through it, so once again, a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped make this happen. Fabian’s desire is that these resources would reach the whole of East Africa, not just Tanzania and Zanzibar. God loves men with vision!

If you have donated recently 

The first batch of the 'Introduction to Biblical Theology' booklets translated into Swahili have arrived ready for taking to Zanzibar in August. Meanwhile Fabian is forging ahead in Dar es Salem, using the translated text that was written to send to the printers! He sent this note to our group:

Hi Guys hope you are doing well by the grace of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. Just wanna to ask your prayers for our weekly program of teaching Swahili booklet  "Introduction to Biblical Theology" Swahili translated copies as we were started last week in Dar esSalam only for church elders and Deacons, we meet one per week, the leaders from other churches are invited. Fabian



These photos depict the verses from Habakkuk 3 - 

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 

Thanks for all your support, and if you have given financially recently, we hope this news encourages you greatly!

If Colin's brain were a football pitch, this story is a goal! 

If you know Colin, you’ll know that he is a very happy chap in general. Not overly expressive, but deeply content. But recently he was particularly overjoyed to hear news from Horacio in Maputo. Horacio had done some training with us here in Hilton, with Domingos, Augusto and Calmito - remember the smiley men sitting in the arbour surrounded by autumn leaves?

Then we saw him at the training we did in Maputo in August last year. Since then, he has picked it up and run with it, teaching the material himself in Portuguese! He is reaching much further afield than we ever could have done, and has many people asking him to visit and help around Mozambique. He has huge plans in his head!

Why is this so thrilling for Colin? “Well,” he said, “it’s the first official course that I haven’t been involved with at all. Horacio is working with people that HE feels he can train.”

And that’s the mission: multiplication!

Meet Phiwe 

We thought it would be great to introduce you Phiwe - whose photo sums him up beautifully - nobody is asleep in the back row when Phiwe is teaching!

We first met Phiwe while he was studying for a theological degree. He is a passionate learner, but his journey has been far from straight forward. His story helps explain the need for sharing resources as we seek to do.

When he was born, Phiwe lived with his dad, uncles and grandma, and went to a Zulu-speaking school for his first years. Then he moved to an English school when he lived with his mum, in an Indian area. He was taught in English and Afrikaans. For high school, he was with grandma for a year in Durban, then another school then back to one of the first schools… to be honest, I had lost track at this point! If you are a typical Brit like me, you are in awe of anyone who grasps the basics of a second language, so therefore you are already a fan of Phiwe. And yes – you are hopefully getting a picture of why a lot of the pastors and teachers we meet, feel a bit overawed at studying such topics as the Abrahamic covenant, or the Mosaic law in their second or third language??!! YES, they’re great at faith, and YES to all the praying, but Phiwe helped me see that if you ask somebody to sit down and study the word of God, it’s a massive challenge.

He loved geography and was interested in town planning at school, but ended up doing electrical engineering of all things, just like our very own Mr. Nichols! He went to bible college, but his real passion is local church. He explained that he has a deep conviction that the local church is where change happens in a community, so he LOVES working for his church in a team in Harding (a few hours away). And the theology? Well, why should there be a choice between pastor and theologian? Phiwe wants to combine both, believing that the story of the bible should shape all that we teach, and all our life decisions.

I was curious as to how this passion came about, so I asked where it began. Phiwe explained that good teaching helped him so much in the beginning of his own walk. His friend used to take him around different churches where he’d get asked to preach or testify. He would get asked all sorts of questions afterwards and found himself lacking answers, so he went and studied.

I think this shows real humility as many people would just pretend to know. Also the bible helped him in his personal walk with Jesus – each time he hit a question, he found that freedom followed on from gaining new understanding. And he’s still learning, like all of us.

As you can hear, Phiwe is a humble guy who wants to keep growing in the knowledge and love of the word of God. It takes time to unlearn things and to settle new ideas in our brains, but he is committed to helping people with this more and more. 

Over the time that we’ve known Phiwe, he has grown so much in his knowledge and his ability to teach others. It’s such a joy to see him now taking on leading a church and applying all the things that he’s been learning through his training. 

New Years’ Progress Report 

Here’s a little catch-up with progress, plans and prayer-points from Mobilise Global. Much of the content is lifted from an email to the trustees of 'East End Church’ in the East London UK, to explain how their financial gift is being invested across the world. Isn’t it cool that a congregation surrounded by tanning studios and tattoo parlours in the East End of London can sow into the kingdom and affect the lives of a congregation surrounded by fishermen in coastal Zanzibar? 

We’ve recently finished 3 more teaching modules that we’ll be using for training our leaders. 

‘Empowered by the Spirit’ – teaching people about the role of the Holy Spirit, and learning how to rely more on him for evangelism, serving others and living a fruitful life.

‘Embracing the kingdom’ – learning how to make disciples and plant churches

‘The heart of a leader’ – learning from Jesus as a leadership model, and how to grow in godly character, plus skills training for healthy pastoring and dealing with conflict.

Things are opening up for us to travel again, so if we can raise the money, we will be travelling in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Zanzibar and Kenya to train local leaders. Many of these are in difficult situations, reaching out to unreached people groups. We are also training pastors in Pakistan and Myanmar, and hoping to visit them at some point.

God has opened some significant doors for us among some new networks of churches. This month we’ll be starting some training with 3 significant leaders in South Africa who are leading groups of churches, so that they can then take the training and use it to train their leaders. This is an exciting step for us, as we can see that the materials we have developed so far have been really useful for leaders who haven’t had a formal training. We meet such people often here, and they are desperate for more help. 

Sharing Resources 

Gareth set up a ‘Go Fund Me’ page recently, to raise money for more training material. The first batch had been so well-received, and it’s much cheaper to print in bulk so we gave it a try. Well, the money rolled in, and very quickly we had 500 copies of the ‘Introduction to Biblical Theology’ in English, and 500 in Portuguese. Also 500 booklets on Issachar Alliance stuff (our family of churches), and 100 small booklets for brand new christians, called ‘Introduction to the Bible’.

This is exactly what ‘Mobilise Global’ is about - it called for a local launch! So last week whilst the leadership team were gathered here for 2 weeks, we had a special evening when Colin presented his new material and gave out a load to take back to other areas of South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Liberia, and Zanzibar.




Thank you to everybody who gave money. Our friend here in the purple told us that he recently had a bush knife held to his throat by terrorists, and was told to stop preaching the gospel around Zanzibar. He replied that he wasn’t afraid to die as he was heaven-bound, so he would choose to carry on. We can’t all be in his shoes, but we can certainly support him by sharing resources.

Big brains, big abs! 

If you’ve ever lived near the Nichols, been in the same church as them or attended any parties with them, the chances are that you will have seen their plastic Comedy Chest a few times over the years. Can you believe that it was deemed necessary to be included in a container and shipped across the seas along with our other favourite possessions when they left the UK? 

Here it is, still going strong, this time being sported by Leon during a few days’ training at a gathering of leaders from our network (Issachar Alliance). Leon is an evangelist who leads the module, ‘Empowered by the Spirit’. You can read more about him in ‘Meet the Team’.

The conference delegates worked their way through The Big Story of the bible, and discussed how to deal with false doctrines in their communities back home. The prosperity gospel is one that often pops up as a major challenge.

If you want to feel as if you were there participating, here’s some questions for you to ponder:



These questions explain the photos of people wearing crowns – they studied the story of the kingdom, whereby humanity is set over creation to rule on behalf of God. False belief systems and weird religious views are so demeaning in comparison to this glorious truth. We are His ambassadors, given heavenly authority – take a moment and let it sink in! 

Fabulous Fabian 

Meet our friend Fabian, who is a key part of the team we work with. He brought his friend to the training base in South Africa recently and they joined in with some training. Fabian is pictured on the right, and Kamole on the left. More on him another day – it’s quite a story.

These men care for several churches in Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Here’s what Fabian had to say. “This theological input is not just for us, but for the entirety of Tanzania – for our whole nation. I would love people from all over Tanzania to come and stay and do this teaching. I would love different tribes and denominations to do it because in our nation people believe in Jesus but they are not born again.

There is a lot of bad teaching and sometimes people get stoned for bad behaviour – people are confused and deceived in my nation. Lots of people in Tanzania believe in Jesus but they don’t believe in salvation. Sometimes people get saved and they are taught wrong things. eg. If you are rich then heaven isn’t your place. If you are poor it’s because of a curse through the generations. The pastor asks you for offerings of money so that you can be delivered from poverty – they measure the amount and try to deliver you from the curse.

There are all kinds of colleges for getting certificates and degrees in theology but there is sometimes no truth. If we brought this good teaching of Mobilise Global into Tanzania and Zanzibar it would be like Joseph going into Egypt bringing food to the hungry people.”

When asked, Fabian said he would like you to pray. “Please pray for a centre where people can come and hear. Pray for a door to open. And please, from the bottom of my heart, we need this material translated. It is something serious. We meet people who are born again and they don’t know the truth – they need it in Swahili.”

A few days in Maputo 

It was a real joy to connect with the pastors and leaders who form Calmito’s team in Maputo. Colin and Pam spent 3 days in a little room with a blackboard, Colin’s big brain. Calmito’s translation skills and our new Portuguese booklets on ‘Biblical Theology’. The students were bright and enthusiastic so there was a lot of lively discussion and mental gymnastics – this is always brilliant to see. They were from a variety of churches and organisations who work together and encourage each other.



We handed over the booklets and Colin said ‘this is 4 years’ work!’. Calmito unwrapped them and handed the first copy to a pastor called Manuel Cossa who exclaimed, “I am the first man in the whole world to receive this book!!” Everyone burst out laughing. They were all so appreciative -  thanks once again to John Evans for translation, Rachel Ireland for design, East End Church and Redeemer Church for money and Calmito for all his continued enthusiasm.

Pastor Cossa stood up and addressed the room, exhorting the others to join him in the coming months to go through the material and to share it with all their leaders.

At one point Colin was explaining some of the amazing truth around Jesus as the true Sabbath and they broke out in spontaneous applause. In a world where they haven’t been allowed to worship because of COVID, and there is very little expression of their faith, it was quite a moment.



On the left is Horacio – one of the senior leaders of that community. He is a highly-respected man who we are enjoying getting to know.

We are dreaming of a training centre right there in the outskirts of Maputo - we saw some land on the west side of the city. Calmito has already put a deposit down on it, but for now it is just bush. People like Calmito encourage us to open our eyes of faith!!



Please pray for finances, for the right people to be able to run a training centre, and for huge fruit in this part of Africa which will cause unreached people to hear and believe the gospel. Calmito has a huge heart for the refugees in the Muslim north – that they would be able to come and stay right here on this land, be trained and then be sent out with the gospel.

A happy milestone 

Today is a momentous day – the first version of the “Introduction to Biblical Theology” booklets has been sent off to the printers. It has been translated into Portuguese ready to take to Mozambique ASAP. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but they should also say it takes a village to get a booklet produced!

The 76 pages represent weeks and months of Colin’s brainpower – you could even argue a lifetime! Then came Calmito in Mozambique, overseeing a professional translator and working together with him. Then John Evans in Mexico took the version from Mozambique, tweaked it and checked that the theological terms still made sense. Next Rachel Ireland designed the overall look and formatted the content in Worthing UK. Then finally TODAY we sent it to a printers in Pietermaritzburg, SA. Let’s hope they clear this final hurdle! Anything can happen in South Africa!

Ultimately it is God who does the work. He loves to breathe on our feeble efforts and do mighty things. Let’s pray He uses this booklet as a tool to empower the leaders in Mozambique, helping them understand the bible well themselves. Then they’ll feel confident to train a whole new bunch of leaders. One day they hope to have a training centre there too!

Many thanks to everyone who has helped and prayed. All glory to God.

Faithful Mr Martin 

Teaching online doesn’t compare with sitting in the same room, discussing things and sharing different points of view. It does have advantages as well though, one of them being the re-connection with old friends like Letsema Martin from Lesotho. The Nichols family lived near him for a while, and he was always so kind to them, right from the first visit in 2010. He would take time to explain things, and was very gracious when mistakes were made. Pam writes, "We also had a lot of fun together, like the time we were showing him a photo of Evie’s beloved guinea pig, ‘Fairy’ who we had left back at home. Letsema admired Fairy for a while and then asked ‘so when will you eat it…..?’ Cross-cultural friendships can be difficult but also they can be hilarious fun too!”

Anyway, a few months ago Letsema signed up for the theology course online so we asked permission to share his story and introduce him to you.

“I grew up in a rural area of Lesotho as a shepherd, in a Catholic Church. In my life nose bleeding had been troubling me, and some people encouraged me to smoke cigarettes to stop it, but it never stopped. I went to initiation school because where I’m from, that is when you are recognised as a man, but it never brought me as much satisfaction as being a born-again Christian.

“I grew up with a fear of divorce because it was happening a lot in my village. I also had a fear of witchcraft as I was forced to consult traditional doctors. I got married and my wife was the first person to introduce salvation to me. I received Jesus into my life, my nose bleeds stopped, and my fears of divorce and witchcraft left me. I am a free man, satisfied with who I am.

“I started reading my bible, and I got baptised with water and the Spirit. I recognised my gift as an evangelist but I took it lightly at the time. I was working as a security guard in one of the security companies here in Maseru. One day 3 men came to my working place to steal money and one of them pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger but it failed to shoot. I pointed my gun at him and commanded him to throw his gun down. He did so, and I arrested him. When the police arrived they tested his gun and it did shoot. From that time I made up my mind to serve God with my life no matter what challenges are in my life. Til today I have never regretted serving my Lord Jesus Christ.”

When asked why he would take the time to study the bible, Letsema answered, “For me, the bible is God’s word, a mirror to help us to see in God’s heart. It helps us understand his thoughts about us, and gives us wisdom to help us on our daily decisions – marriage, business, everything. There is no question that the bible has not answered.”

When asked how we can pray for him, Letsema said, “Please pray for my business – the economy is not good now, and my house is not yet finished. Please pray for our finances. Our vision as a family is to have a greenhouse to produce vegetables and organic salads and to start a snack bar in town – we don’t want to buy vegetables and green salads any more! These crops on the left are in the greenhouse. They look more healthy than the ones in the open space:



So let’s pray for Letsema – a faithful man of God, teacher, farmer, family man and father to many in his community. If you have known the Nichols family a long time or even visited Maseru, you might remember Maheru, his eldest son who has physical difficulties with his legs and feet. Well, can you believe these photos, he is training to be a chef! Amazing! So please pray for him too…. Go Maheru!

Mozambican Beacons 

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about our friend Calmito working into the refugee camps in Mozambique. Here is a short interview with him and some of his team conducted when they were at the training base recently for a conference and training. 

Above, from left to right, Domingo, Horacio, Augusto and Calmito.

They’re from the same region of Mozambique, around Maputo city, but they represent different denominations – 3 churches travelling and fellowshipping together. Calmito and Horatio have been together for 20 yrs since they were at bible school. Before the interview, they had spent a few hours looking intently at the concept of Sabbath: Jesus is the true sabbath and the fulfilment of all that the sabbath pointed to! It was kinda mind-blowing!

Here’s a well-used bible and some well-used brains, wrestling with some big topics in 2 languages simultaneously ….



Q: “So, you’ve been to bible school and you’ve got decades of experience and wisdom. You’ve planted lots of churches and seen amazing fruitfulness. Why would you travel all this way (3 days?) to come and learn more things?” 

A: “We speak things but we don’t really understand them and sometimes we get told to stand up and speak! Pastors have to preach but now since my time with Colin it’s fine, I’m saying, “Nobody can lie to me now about the sabbath!!” 

Q: “Please can you tell us a little bit about the people in your country and their traditions and faith?”

A: “Well, it’s Portuguese so the Catholic faith dominates. People are turning away from that, and running away so we are praying for them for revelation. We need good teachers. A pastor will start another movement after preaching 10 times! He thinks he’s better but he doesn’t know his bible. He says, ‘I’m leading by the spirit! The spirit is upon me and I am the man, I don’t need to learn, it’s a waste of time!’ Then he passes this on to others … he doesn’t want to receive but you can only give what you have received….”

Q: “Wow. So, we commend you guys for not being like that! You are still willing to learn and to build good foundations. What are the main needs your churches have in Mozambique do you think?” 

A: “Moz needs good teaching because although people receive the gospel easily, they don’t have a deeper understanding. They come to church but they don’t come to Jesus and they don’t have their thinking challenged. They don’t have this challenge of thinking about what they’re involved in when they accept Jesus. They are busy following the crowd.”

Q: “OK, so there’s lots of people reading this, thank you. How would you like them to pray for you?” 

A: “It’s a blessing for us that we can take this message home and preach with more understanding. Pray for Mozambique, for better understanding and for God to open their eyes and for everyone to see. There’s clapping and singing but no understanding because there’s nobody to teach the people. We pray for revelation to come and for scholars who are gifted by God.” 

AMEN. We also had a bit of fun testing out a bit of Portuguese from google translate. Have you ever had that experience when you finally share your prepared words but everyone looks at you blankly? Eventually they realise you’re trying to speak their language, and they start giggling …. ! 

Mission to Mozambique 

This is Calmito who visited our training base recently from Mozambique (pointed out on the map). He joined in with some of Colin’s training, along with a couple of others from his country.



Calmito is always such an encouragement – a man of real faith and energy for spreading the gospel amongst unreached people. He and his wife Benita live in Maputo, where they lead a church, feed and house numerous orphans, and lead a network of other church leaders. During the last few weeks, they left their home and travelled up north to the refugee camps where people are escaping ISIS. It’s very humbling to think of friends stepping out in such a way, imagining all the sights they see and stories they hear.

He also visited his friend’s church near that area and sent our family of churches a photo of him sharing some of Mobilise Global’s training that he’d just picked up. That church started in 2010 when Calmito was travelling through. He felt God lead him to a particular person so he knocked on the door, the guy got saved, and the church got started! They now have 15 small groups running out of this church (but the numbers change and grow quickly!).

Let’s pray for dear Calmito and Benita, and all the people that they serve, train and love. They do the tough stuff that most of us don’t do, but prayer back-up for their world is vital.

From the poorest of the poor, to Princess of the King 

It’s not every day that you meet a phenomenal human, but here is one such person – Topsy from Clarens in the Free State. She is a highly respected leader in her community, alongside her husband Sam. She spends her life working with the poor, discipling and pastoring many. She can really preach up a storm, and even runs a business making clothes. 

Topsy completed our online course in June 2021, which was facilitated via WhatsApp. As part of the introductions, Topsy wrote about her upbringing, which we’ve asked to share as it’s so interesting.

“I grew up in South Africa in the time of apartheid.  My dad and my mom were working as domestic workers on the farm. Life was very hard at the time. As a young girl I was not allowed to go to school until the last year. The owner of the farm was saying girls needed to attend school only to know how to write or to speak Afrikaans so that you can be able to communicate well with them. My dad stood firm and said ‘no, my kids are going to school’. We were raised with the sense of ‘you are not good enough, you can’t achieve anything in life’. As if you value nothing as a black child. We were also worshiping ancestors and doing rituals.  We were told that God does not have power by himself, He needs our ancestors.  We used to believe that our ancestors are our mediator between us and God. 

I used to look down on myself in so many ways especially when I was with those that looked more educated or those with lots of money. 

Praise God in 2000 Jesus called me to Himself. Even though at the beginning of my Christian journey I struggled with fear of what if….. but Jesus revealed himself to me and changed my life. And my life was never the same.” 

In at the Deep End 

Andrew and Tryness are from Malawi, but live in South Africa in an area called Sweetwaters. They recently started opening up their home for prayer and worship, so a group quickly started gathering, mainly people from Malawi and Zimbabwe who are away from their families for work. Suddenly Andrew found himself in the spotlight, being asked to preach and teach his people! You can imagine how useful he has found the online theology videos - he’s been able to watch them over and over again and take notes. 

When asked what he’d learnt, he said, ‘so so much’. He feels more confident now as he understands about the different parts of the bible and how they hang together as a whole. And Tryness said she learned about the Roman Empire at school, just to pass exams, but now she realises that the bible is set in that time - the same Roman Empire! Suddenly her history lessons from long ago are useful. She used to read the bible ‘like a newspaper’ but now enjoys reading it in a deeper way, and it is bringing her life. 

She has started getting asked lots of questions - ‘where is that verse?’ and ‘what does this mean?’ So they are both really keen to learn as much as they can.

Andrew described how he and his wife used to preach most weeks, and the main message was, “Repent! Repent!” Now they are mixing things up a lot more and he says their little church is much more joyful and happy as a result! 

Let’s pray for these two - they are being so brave stepping out and leading their new flock.