J-LIFE AFRICA

To check out their official website, visit:  www.jlife.org.za  This page will highlight current newsletter issues.

2011 in Review

It is hard to believe that 2011 is nearly over. We are so grateful to the Lord for all that He has done in and through us this year. Thank you all for your support and prayers over this year.  There are many things that we could mention … but just a few are:

* Training of new Country Leaders/Country Pioneers: Leaders have been trained for Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This means that J-Life is now actively working in 17 countries in Africa.

* GC² Alpha Groups: During 2011, J-Life Africa made an intentional shift away from seminar based training and started implementing what we call GC² Alpha Groups. A GC² Alpha Group is comprised of 12 key youth leaders from different churches and denominations, who are trained in the life and ministry of Christ. Each of the 12 key leaders have to recruit 8-12 people that they will in turn train. During the course of this year, J-Life Africa started 29 of these groups throughout Africa, and have trained 1197 people so far. It is exciting to see how God is raising up people out of these groups to run their own GC² groups.

* Purchase of land: J-Life Malawi and J-Life Cameroon have both purchased land in order to develop training centres for their respective country and/or region.

* Regional summits: For the first time, J-Life hosted two regional summits. This was an opportunity for J-Life Country Leaders/Pioneers to get together in order to pray, vision and plan for what God wants to do in their specific region of Africa. The two summits took place in East and West Africa respectively.

* Re-Writes and DVD’s: During the course of 2010 and throughout 2011, we re-wrote some of our core training material. We believe that this material is fresher and more impactful than what we were previously using. We also produced several training DVD’s to accompany the material. Ensuring that our material is fresh and relevant will be an on-going process for us.

* Increase in staff and volunteers: Throughout the continent, God is building an incredible team of staff and volunteers. During 2011, the overall team increased by one third. We are so grateful to God for the incredible people He is raising up to join Him in what He is doing.

God has tangibly demonstrated His faithfulness to J-Life through the continued generosity of His people. Thank you so much for all that you have invested in prayer, time and finances to make the above possible!

You can be involved…

The New Year is almost here, and as such there are a number of partnering opportunities for 2012. Please would you prayerfully consider whether one of the below-mentioned opportunities is where God is leading you to give. Giving can take the form of regular, monthly donations, or once-off gifts.

* Support a Country Leader: Many of our country leaders come from communities where it is challenging to raise the full financial support required for both their ministry and personal needs. Supporting a country leader will help them do what God has called them to do more effectively. We are trusting God to raise an additional R1500 ($200) per month per Country Leader.

* Support one of J-Life’s pioneering endeavours: During 2012 J-Life will be starting up work in four new countries: Lesotho, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. These are all brand new opportunities for J-Life and we are excited about how God is continually expanding our influence. Obviously this type of pioneering work does not come without cost. We are stepping out in faith to provide training for an individual from each of the above countries. The training is 3-months long and costs R3000 ($400) per person for 3-months.

* Support a key leader: The cost of training a key leader as part of a GC² Alpha Group is a once-off cost of R850 ($110). This includes all the training material, DVD’s and four training intensives of two days each.

* Office equipment: Many of our country leaders are in need of office equipment such as printers, laptops, data projectors, etc. The cost of outsourcing the printing of training materials is prohibitive in many of our African countries. Helping our leaders with office equipment will be a huge help to them with regard to productivity and cost-effectiveness.

* Building of a training centre in Cameroon: J-Life Cameroon recently purchased land for a training centre. This centre will be used to train leaders from Francophone African countries. It will have a huge impact on the work being done in West and Central Africa and will allow J-Life to be more strategic in training leaders from French speaking countries.

Thank you so much for considering this. If you believe that God is leading you to give to any of the above, please contact me and I will send you the relevant details.

Should you require any further information on any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are in the USA and want to give we have a 501c3 organisation State side that handles out money and will give you a receipt for your gift

Please pray for the South African team as they start a 5 day camp with over 300 people on Camp Eden – pray that God will move mightily in the lives of those who come

God bless,

John

 

September, 2011

Family Update (Even Family)   Hello all! As you can see the kids have been quite busy with sports in the last month. Matthew played soccer and Grace played hockey. They both did really well. It was quite a hectic time. A new change for them will come in January when they will be changing schools. Liz has received a job as high school science lab assistant and the kids will go to school with her. This will be a better school for the children. Also Liz will be able to further her ministry outreach with the High School students. The name of the school is Waterstone College. We are VERY exited to have this opportunity!    J-Life Ministries This August David has been busy organizing a Regional Summit. The dates are September 25-29th. It iis being held in Harare, Zimbabwe. Our leaders from all over Southern Africa will be joining him for some business and reflection time. We hope to have another Regional Summit for the Northern African team later this year.  Liz has been working with her volunteer school, Arcon Park Primary. There are so many kids in each classroom (about 45) that her work there is much appreciated. Liz also spent a day in Extension 23. Many of you have worked in Ext 23 with us. She spent a day with Dudu sharing about issues in women's health.      Prayer Praises and Request Praises: **David's health has been much better!! He visited the Headache Clinic in Johannesburg and is getting help managing his headaches.  **Grace and Matthew took the entrance exam to Waterstone College and were accepted for January 2012.  Request: **David with travel mercies for Regional Summit.    **Possible home trip for us in December. We need additional support or someone willing to donate miles for us.

 

August, 2011

Just a quick update and prayer requests. 

 

Summer is in the air (sounds like a song) here and it is getting wonderfully warm – it is always nice to see the seasons change.

I must say, I am soooooo glad winter is nearly over – fires are such a problem on the farm during winter.  We have already had 3 that have affected us this year – One of these, I started while burning fire breaks J. It went through 3 other farms but praise the Lord only burnt grazing.

 

Uganda trip

Pictures of my trip to Uganda

    -Transport-         -James, Maria, Blessing-       -Trainees-                                 -Toilet-

 

My trip to Uganda was a great success.  I was able to spend really good time with James, Maria and their 3 cute children.  We started a GC² Alpha group with 14 leaders.  This went really well and the trainees responded to the material well.  They found it a little hard to adapt to a more interactive style of learning but once they realised that we were not going to dump information on then “lecture” style, their involvement and interaction increased drastically.  I also had the opportunity to coach James as he did some of the training.  It is going to be exciting to see this work grow in Uganda. James plans to be in South Africa for 3 months in the new year to gain a better understanding of J-Life and the work so that he can better mobilise it in Uganda.  Watch this space…

 

Prayer requests…

·       For Ghana (Palgrave) to find an office and the financial support to rent it – the  Ghanaian team of staff and volunteers has grown so much that they really need to find a permanent office to house the work there.

·       Safe travel for a number of the J-Life team all over the continent, David from Zambia has gone to Malawi to work with the Malawi team. Jann from South Africa is in Namibia working with Patrick for the next week. Palgrave, Mgliwe, Sabin all go to Nigeria on Monday to the Mani conference. Billy, Darleen, Jarred and Amanda go to Kenya today to search for a house and a compound to house the work in Kenya  – they plan to relocate to Nairobi at the end of October.

·       For the 2015 vision of 500 GC² Groups starting – we have started 24 of the 28 planned for this year.  Pray for multiplication of groups out of the groups we have running at the moment. 

 

Praise items…

·       For the momentum God is building through the GC² Groups that have started – we are seeing unbelievable fruits

·       For funding pledge toward completing electrical installation that is desperately needed at the Zambian training centre.  (We never even asked for it)

·       New staff that God is raising up to work with J-Life

 

Thanks for all your prayers and concern

 

APRIL, 2011

 

MALAWI:

 

TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA:

I finished my training on 7th of this month. now am at home looking forward to start the process of the ministry. I can see that God has  given me the open door for the ministry in Tanzania. please pray for me  to get people to stand with me for this vision.  - Michael & Monica

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