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Glad Tidings
Official Publication of the Mission Committee of the
Heritage Reformed Congregations
Jake Sinke, Chairman
[email protected] Telephone: 905-262-4633 Cell: 905-979-6253
Dr. Cornie Bleeker, Vice Chairman
Scott VanGrouw, Secretary
Bill Klyn, Treasurer
John Beeke, Henry DeVries, Dr. Marty Faasse,
Edward Otten, Rev. Johnny Serafini, Bill Tanis
Dome sti c Outrea ch Comm ittee
Rev. Mark Kelderman, Chairman
[email protected] Telephone: 616-608-5464 Cell: 616-516-5759
Jim Beeke, Vice Chairman/Secretary
Bill Klyn, Treasurer
John Beeke, Dr. Cornie Bleeker, Rev. Terry Klaver, Corney Les,
Rev. David Lipsy, Edward Otten, Rev. Johnny Serafini,
Doug Vandenberg, Russ VandenToorn, Dick Westrate
Editorial Committee
Jake Sinke, Chairman, Editor
Bill Klyn, Miskin MLC
Dr. Cornie Bleeker, DeVries MLC
Rev. Johnny Serafini, Molenaar MLC
John Beeke, Korevaar MLC
Bill Klyn, Finance Committee
Managing Editor - Jane Korevaar
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 011 27 73 608 6529
Youth Editors - Marty & Jess Slingerland
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Telephone: 604-392-5022
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and used books in Dutch), write: Reformation Heritage Books, 2965 Leonard
Street, NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, or visit our on-line bookstore at
www.heritagebooks.org.
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49501.
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www.puritanseminary.org.
In all publications the Heritage Reformed denomination aims to remain true to
inerrant Scripture and its Reformed heritage as expounded in the Reformed doctrinal standards: the Belgic Confession (1561), Heidelberg Catechism (1563), and
Canons of Dordt (1618-1619), Westminster Standards of the 1640s (the
Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms).
For additional information on HRC ministries, please visit our website at www.heritagereformed.com
CONTENTS
Decemb er 20 14 ~ V o l u m e 1 6 , N o . 3
MEDITATION – Rev. Jan Neels
Praying for Our Missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
EDITORIAL – Jake Sinke - S i g n s a n d S i g n a l s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
MISSIONARY UPDATES
Haiti – Let us Love One Another – Jason & Will Krul . . . . . . . . . . . .
Indonesia – Report on Sumba Mission – Rev. David Lipsy . . . . .
Malawi – Teaching in Lilongwe – Barbara VanVugt . . . . . . . . . . . . .
South Africa – Testimonies – Jane Korevaar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
South Africa – Times of Change – Dr. Arthur &
Dr. Sonja Miskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
2
3
4
7
CHURCH EVANGELISM
Jordan, Ontario – Steve VanPagee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
DOMESTIC OUTREACH
Domestic Outreach Committee Update – Rev. Mark Kelderman 9
Harrison Outreach Report – Elina VanderZwaag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
BOOKS to Advance Your Mission & Evangelism Skills
– Esther Beeke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
YOUTH EVANGELISM – Marty & Jess Slingerland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Burgessville Youth Group – Henk and Michelle Vrugteveen &
Rudy and Karen Schuurman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Jordan HRC Senior Youth Group
– Hanna DenBoer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
MISSION FINANCES
August 1, 2013 – July 31, 2014 – James van den Brink . . . . . . . . 13
POEM
Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters – Phoebe A. Hannaford
MISSION STATEMENT
The purpose of the Heritage Reformed Congregations missions program
is to glorify the Triune God, by proclaiming the message of salvation alone
in Jesus Christ throughout the world, in order that lost sinners might be
reconciled to God in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Niagara Migrant Ministry
You can find this magazine electronically at
http ://her itagerefo rmed.com/reso urces
MEDITATION
EDITORIAL
“Withal praying also for us, that God would open
unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of
Christ, … That I may make it manifest, as I ought
to speak” (Col. 4:3, 4).
Christians are praying people. In fact, to
prove that Saul had become a Christian, the
Lord told Ananias, “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts
9:11). In Colossians 4:3, Paul instructs us to
“continue in prayer and to watch in it with thanksgiving.” Then
he says that while we are praying he wants us to pray for him and
other servants of the Lord. Instead of asking us to pray for their
safety, their health, or their comfort, he directs us to what is most
important. When we pray for our pastors at home and our missionaries abroad, here is what our main focus should be: Pray for
us “that God would open unto us a door of utterance.” Most ministers, when given the opportunity, have no problem speaking at
length on any given subject. When Paul requests this, however, he
is not referring to their gift of speaking. The Greek phrase for ‘a
door of utterance’ is better translated as ‘a door of the word.’ So
we are to pray for our missionaries that God would open a door
of His Word. This implies that the door is closed and that God
alone can open it. But what, specifically, is Paul getting at with this
request for prayer?
When God opens the door of His Word for His servants they
begin to “speak the mystery of Christ.” In the New Testament a
mystery is something that was hidden in the past but is now made
known in its fullness. For example, the Passover lamb of the Old
Covenant is now revealed as “Christ our Passover, sacrificed for
us” (1 Cor. 5:7). The glory of the mystery of Christ is defined in
Colossians 1:27b as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Paul knows
that this is the core of the gospel, even the mystery of Christ.
When Christ is preached in all His fullness, God’s people’s souls
are fed with the bread of life. When the mystery of Christ is
preached, sinners are earnestly called to repentance and faith in
Christ. The problem for missionaries and pastors is that unless
God constantly opens the door of the Word, the mystery remains
hidden even for them. Not only do our missionaries need an open
door of the Word, they need an open door for the Word.
Pray for us, Paul says, “That I may make it manifest, as I ought
to speak.” Pray that I might make it known, or bring to the light.
Our missionaries need to make known the mystery of Christ by
proclaiming the gospel. Paul desires our prayers for the very
words they are to speak. So let us pray for our missionaries abroad
and our pastors at home that they may make known the mystery
of Christ, not according to their own wisdom, but in the way that
it is necessary for them to speak. To put it simply, let us pray for
our missionaries that God would open a door of the Word and a
door for the Word. The goal is that they might proclaim the
mystery of Christ to saints and sinners. To God be the glory both
now and forever!
Dear Mission Family,
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a
manger. Luke 2:12
Every day I am confronted with signs and
signals! How I react to them has a crucial
impact on my life. Signs that tell me to stop,
yield, notice a sharp curve ahead, etc., are for
my safety and well-being. Signals that warn me of a train crossing,
or a traffic light that informs me when it is safe to cross the
intersection, are also crucial for my well-being. As we have signs
and signals for guidance and safety, we also have signs and
signals in God's word that we need to heed for our daily and, most
importantly, for our eternal well-being!
Your Mission Committee met for our semi-annual meeting on
September 27, in Burgessville. As we deal with our agenda items
we also need to look for and heed the signs and signals in God's
word, for what He would have us to do. For us as your Mission
Committee, it is often difficult to see and understand the signs and
signals that our Lord places before us and sad to say we often disobey the signs and signals our Lord has given us! Despite our lack
of obedience, we may report that we had a profitable meeting with
much mutual understanding and united focus on the mission field
that we as a denomination have been granted. Here too we must
continually look for and heed signs and signals where our faithful
God would have us to go! At this time we believe that the doors
remain open in Africa.
Dear Mission family, we are grateful for your continued prayerful support as well as your financial gifts! As you can read in the
financial report in this edition of Glad Tidings, we are blessed to
be able to forward the finances for our obligations quarterly,
through your support, which is much appreciated by our Finance
Committee. In order to streamline the Glad Tidings magazine, and
to stop the overlap mailings (single mailed issues and church
delivery) we will discontinue sending single issues of our
magazine unless you specifically request it. Please note the mailin card that is inserted in this issue and send it back to us so we
can maintain a proper mailing list. If your church would like
copies for your literature table, we would be pleased to send a
package. You can obtain an electronic edition of Glad Tidings at
http://heritagereformed.com/resources
Dear friends, this month we again commemorate and celebrate
that our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in order that
sinners like us may have hope. Yes, as we seek to heed the "great
commission" we may and must bring that message of hope
through salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ alone! In Luke
2:12 we read "And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Have you found
Him?
With Christian Greetings, Jake Sinke
Praying for our Missionaries
Rev. Jan Neels
DECEMBER 2014
Glad Tidings
Signs and Signals
Jake Sinke
1
MISSIONARY UPDATES
HAITI – Let Us Love One Another
Jason and Will Krul
August 7 found us back in Haiti after several months of being in
Canada awaiting the birth of our third child. Alexander Peyton
was born on June 3, weighing a solid 7 lbs. 13 oz. We thank God
for a strong, healthy boy and a safe delivery.
Several weeks after Alexander’s birth, Jason experienced an
ATV accident in which he seriously injured his back. God was
once again gracious and kind and strengthened and helped us
through this trial. He comforted us with the words from Psalm
29:11 The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his
people with peace. Thankfully Jason is now well on his way to
recovery and is able to continue his work here with MAF in Haiti.
In these last months God has been teaching us the importance
of loving the people He places around us. It started one day as I
watched my two young sons play together in harmony. It was an
unusual event, as they always seemed to be quarreling and fighting about something. As I watched them, God brought to mind
the verses found in Psalm 133: Behold, how good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment
upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that
2
went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as
the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord
commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
It was indeed good and pleasant to watch my two oldest sons,
who I love very much, play so harmoniously together! Suddenly
another thought struck me. How much more does God enjoy
watching His children get along instead of being selfish or
quarrelling over little inconsequential matters?
As I wondered about this, another verse came to mind. John
13:35 says By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another.
In Haiti there is no way to escape being noticed. With our white
skin and blue eyes we are constantly being watched. Although this
used to bother me, I suddenly saw it for the opportunity it really
was. Could people see the love of Christ shining through me in the
way I treated others? Or was love something I just liked to talk
about and think about; a wonderful idea, but not something I put
into practice all the time? 1 John 3:18 says My little children, let us
not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
So how should we act? Philippians 2:14-15 tells us, Do all things
without murmurings and disputings. That ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; and
Matthew 5:14-16 says Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on
an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the
house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
What if someone is challenging to live with or is unkind or
selfish or simply rubs us the wrong way? Romans 12:18 says: If it
be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. And
Ephesians 4:32 reminds us: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you.
So Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:7
INDONESIA – Report on
Sumba Mission
Rev. David Lipsy
It is helpful to keep in mind that a report on a visit to a mission
field is a snapshot in time. How can one adequately summarize
fifteen years of the Lord’s mercies in a brief report? How can a
visitor really understand the complexities, challenges, issues, and
Glad Tidings
DECEMBER 2014
dynamics of a multi-faceted work in a mere ten days during July?
The mission work in Sumba can best be described as a beacon
of hope and a haven of safety. Each child and young person at the
mission has a story behind him. Each staff member does as well.
Most of those stories are tragic, even heart-rending – yet there they
are: working together, laughing, helping, praying, learning.
Contrast this to much of the situation in the villages surrounding
the mission, and the wonder only grows in magnitude. We must
humble ourselves in gratitude for what we have seen and
experienced. Surely the Lord has planted this work.
Missionaries visited
this island many decades
ago. Christian churches are
seen here and there as one
wends his way along the
winding, sometimes treacherous roads. But these
churches face the same challenges, the same tendency to
drift, as ours do in the West.
The mission leadership does what they can to work with the local
churches, but it can be very challenging. We so need to pray for
God’s reviving work, there and at home.
When a place houses nearly twenty staff – teachers, cooks,
laundry personnel, etc. – and nearly eighty students of varying
ages, one can just imagine the issues those who lead this work face
on a daily basis. “Opa Sommer” is the overall head of the work,
Christina oversees the children’s home, and Raymond is the principal of the school. There are other faithful helpers who oversee
the kitchen staff, laundering, etc. They share the same overarching
goals, but how to realize these goals, when to do so, at what pace,
and many other variables need to be worked through day by day.
This isn’t always easy. Let us please pray for the leaders and staff
as well as for the children.
The food served is nutritionally-balanced, tasty, and is derived
primarily from sources on the island. The children are wellclothed and go to school in neat uniforms. The facilities and
grounds are kept up and cleaned on a regular basis. There is much
to be thankful for, also for these things.
All the children, except for the youngest, are schooled through
grade nine at the mission. We were impressed with the course content we observed. The teaching staff has two certified teachers and
a handful of others at various stages of their teacher’s training
program. For grades ten through twelve, the young people must
DECEMBER 2014
relocate to Waingapu about an hour and a half away to take up
their studies in the government school. It appeared evident that
a high school on the mission grounds would be preferable to the
present situation so as to further the Christian training the young
people would receive during this critical time in their lives. We
discussed ways to promote the training of more teachers, hopefully including some from among the young people at the
mission. Let us pray alongside the leadership as they labor to see
if the Lord would provide what is needed for this.
Sumba is a very long way from North America and Europe
but not from prayer. Though nestled in the sea, much of it is dry
and barren and, sadly, much spiritual barrenness exists as well.
An outpouring of rain during the rainy season would greatly
enhance life for all. An outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit would be
far more beneficial. Let us pray that the “cloud the size of a man’s
hand” which we saw might result in such showers of blessing.
MALAWI – Teaching in Lilongwe
Barbara VanVugt
When a teacher spends a Saturday climbing a mountain, she
cannot help but be moved by the sight of dozens of clustered
huts, all surrounded by scrubby trees and red dirt, and promptly
be reminded of how much the people in the valleys below need
the love of Christ for the transformation of their lives.
These were my thoughts the day I first climbed Nkhoma here
in Malawi, and they remain with me as I continue my day-to-day
life as an upper school English teacher at African Bible College’s
Christian Academy. The most humbling conclusion at which I
find myself arriving is the realization that I need the transforming power of Christ in my life no less than anyone I may reach
out to here in Malawi. The daily challenges of a teacher may not
Glad Tidings
3
involve the diseases, hunger, and spiritual darkness that I know
many of my neighbors face, but I stand in great need of no less
grace.
I arrived in Lilongwe on August 5th, and began the school
year on the 18th of that month. During the interim two weeks, I
was greatly blessed in being welcomed by the Molenaars, who
took my father and me on a trip to a Malawian national park and
helped me start to get to know the city and the ABC campus. I
also had about a week of orientation, during which time I learned
more about Malawian culture and the mission and protocol for
the Academy.
need of the people here in my two visits to Chinsapo, the village
where Mirjam holds the Nyenyezi women and children’s
programs. As joyful as the children are as they greet their visitors
and receive the gift of white bread, it is clear that these children are
heavily burdened with various forms of pain. Many scalps are
spotted with an unsightly fungal disease. Many small girls are
weighed down by the weight of a younger sibling tied to their
back with a chitenge. As we enter the village, many women and
children are drawing up buckets of water from a dirty, grungy
stream, because they cannot afford the 5 kwacha for water from
the village well—in USD, that’s just over the value of $0.01. This
community does value the blessing of the Nyenyezi program, for
these children turn out every Thursday for the Bible lesson, music,
coloring pages, and bread. This is a fantastic example of Jesus’
command put into action: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”
As much as these people have physical needs, their greatest need
is, like each of ours, to hear the gospel and to know the Lord.
Admiring creation at Liwonde
Then school started, and this has been the key factor of my life
since August 18th. My time and energy are strongly invested in
teaching four classes of Language Arts to grades 7 and up. Each
school day begins with my homeroom class, seven 10th-11th
graders, during which time we turn our thoughts toward God
with an opening devotional and prayer. Even this is an opportunity to reach young people for Christ because, as I have been
slowly realizing over my time here, my students are from a great
variety of backgrounds: some are Muslim; some are missionary
kids; and some question their Christian parents’ values. They
bring up hard questions, and I pray for the words to give them
answers that point them back to Jesus.
Living in Malawi has its own set of unique experiences. Once
I had a phone, I discovered that to buy minutes, one makes the
same stop used to buy bananas: on the side of the road. Driving
itself is an interesting experience—and not only because we
follow the British traffic pattern of driving on the left side of the
road. Police stops are unpredictable, as the law enforcement is
careful to check your license and vehicle for any possible violation of traffic codes. Furthermore, bicycles, pedestrians, and
minibuses provide constant, dynamic obstacles to driving. Any
trip to town has the potential to become quite interesting. Finally,
there are social contrasts in this city that are mind-boggling.
Across the street from our walled, watered, well-tended campus
is a village where dozens of children crowd the narrow, dusty
roads, barefoot and dirty. Whenever an American or European
drives through these streets, these children laugh and point,
yelling, “Azungu! Azungu!” in order to alert the rest of the town
to the presence of a white-skinned person. The poverty here is
hard to stomach; the need is so great.
I have witnessed one of the most poignant examples of the
4
Coaxing some girls to smile during coloring time
Please feel free to read my updates during my time here, at
barbaravanvugt.blogspot.com. From each of you, I ask for prayer.
Pray that the Lord would guide me in His will for my time here.
Pray that He would strengthen me in my role as a teacher and use
me to reach these students with His love. Pray that He would pour
out His blessings on Nyenyezi, move people to give to the ministry, and bring many of these village children into His kingdom.
Pray that He would be glorified in the lives of all of the missionaries working here in Malawi, who cling to Him for daily grace in
order to obey His commission to tell the world the good news of
His love.
Barbara VanVugt is an Upper School English teacher at African Bible
Colleges Christian Academy, Lilongwe and a member of Heritage
Reformed Congregation of Kinnelon, New Jersey. Her email is
[email protected]
SOUTH AFRICA – Testimonies
Jane Korevaar
Greetings to you all. With thanksgiving it can be reported that the
Lord continues to encourage us with growth of the Mukhanyo
Glad Tidings
DECEMBER 2014
Distance groups and students. Some of the tutors and/or students
have shared testimonies of their experience.
Port Shepstone, South Africa
A. Tshobonga, a second year diploma student writes, “I would
like to thank God Almighty for affording me this opportunity to
be able to give a message of gratitude. He has changed my life. I
work as a Circuit Manager for the Department of Education in the
Eastern Cape. I manage 27 principals, from 27 schools, of different
ages and cultural backgrounds. It is in this diverse world where
Mukhanyo studies on counselling have helped me most. I can
deal with any kind of misconduct with confidence and my
colleagues have developed a lot of trust in me. I belong to the
Methodist Church and I am a full time preacher. The information
I gained from Mukhanyo has taught me how to prepare a sermon
in order to inspire and evangelize the congregation. God has used
me in a way that I never thought. I thank all those who have contributed in this tremendous job that God is doing in my life. I ask
God to bless you and your families in abundance and let lack
never be your portion. I pray that He continues to deposit wisdom
and encourage in you that this fire that He has started in our lives
never dies and you continue to bless others in the name of Jesus.
God bless you.”
N.H. Madikizela, a first year diploma student writes, “I am
grateful to God for having afforded me the opportunity to attend
Mukhanyo courses this year. These have to a large extent opened
my eyes of understanding as to the proper interpretation of the
Bible. Practically all of them have impacted on my spiritual life
positively…now I know that Scripture has to explain Scripture. In
my church I am a Bible Teacher. I am learning what it means to be
an exegete and to rely on God’s Word. The Holy Spirit is helping
me. These courses have built my confidence in the Lord. With
deep appreciation for your kindness in reaching to us. May you be
richly blessed.”
Lilongwe, Malawi
Mayamiko Kuthyola, the training officer of Logos Ministries,
used my usual distance introduction presentation and then wrote,
“I am finally done
with the presentation.
We had 29 people who
showed up for the
meeting. I am filled
with joy and happiness that people are
now
aware
of
Mukhanyo Distance.
They seem to be very
interested; let's get
started with the next
steps. Thank you so
much for the material
you sent me; it has
helped me a lot. May
God bless you.”
DECEMBER 2014
Bumala, Kenya
Dr. Eric Ngala Mutumbi, who resides in Bumala, Kenya,
which is near the Ugandan border, writes, “The 15 students who
are following Mukhanyo Distance completed the first module of
Spiritual Formation and did the exams which I will post to South
Africa. Meanwhile they have started on Systematic Theology I.
We hope to be through with this soon and start Systematic
Theology II and hopefully then Old Testament I before December.
We trust God for more modules. We value your prayers for the 15
students who are taking this course; they are very committed.
Pastor Job Otieno is my co-tutor and as such the work will continue even if I travel to attend to other work. I am already promoting the Distance programme to other pastors in different forums.
Pray for our class in Bumala because they would like to put more
time in the studies so as to cover the modules in a shorter period.”
Dr. Mutumbi has a degree in agriculture and leads a Pastor’s
Poultry project so that pastors can support themselves. As well,
he teaches at African Bible University, has a ministry to children,
teaches computer classes, and teaches Kenyan and Ugandan
pastors how to confront the local cults. He is also part of a group
that is working on translating some books into local languages.
They are very thankful as they received a large television screen
from a donor along with several books to aid the students that are
studying.
Masakona and Tzaneen, South Africa
Dr. Edmund de Beer is a tutor of two Mukhanyo Distance
groups and writes, “The Masakona group started in 2011 at the
Reformed Church Middle Letaba in Venda where Rev. Nathaniël
Muhadi ministers. In 2014 the group moved their venue to the
Glad Tidings
5
Theocentric College. The College is more centrally located and it
is easier to reach. Currently three students attend classes. Since
the inception of Mukhanyo Distance in Masakona, more students
have attended some of the modules, but due to lack of time not
all of them could continue. Rev. M.N. Muhadi and myself share
the same passion, namely to help to equip church leaders to
understand the Bible better with the ultimate aim that they may
use their knowledge to lead other people to the Lord or to build
believers in their faith. I want to share the knowledge I have
acquired over the years with people who do not have the same
opportunity. Rev. Robert Makungo from the Reformed Church
has joined as tutor this year. His involvement has made it possible to share the workload so that we can have a class every
Saturday.
Mathews Hlongwane (28) was one of the first students who
started his studies at Masakona and has finished six modules. He
is a social worker and has an influence in
his community. He is an elder in the
Reformed Church Middle Letaba.
Mathews is also very involved among
the youth of the Venda-speaking
Reformed Churches. He uses his knowledge as an elder and also at youth
conferences where he has a leading role.
Mathews came to study after being
invited to attend a presentation of
Mukhanyo Distance.
The Tzaneen group started in April 2013. It started after
enquiries were made at Mukhanyo College. The group has six
students who meet every Friday afternoon at the Reformed
Church Laeveld in Tzaneen. I act as tutor for all the classes at
Tzaneen.
Phillemon Sekgoela (63) is a pastor of the Emmanuel
Assemblies at Mogapeng Village, Shilubane. As a respected pastor in his community, many people
look up to him for guidance.
Mukhanyo Distance is helping him
to understand the Bible better in
order to give more Biblical orientated guidance. He enrolled at
Mukhanyo Distance Tzaneen after
reading about the course in a local
newspaper.”
Distance Student that Lives on a Muslim Island:
This student is anonymous due to security issues and writes,
“In the month of May I marked my seventeen years of mission
work among the Muslims. May God's peace and love be with you
continually. Thanks that we were able to meet with one another
and that I was able to share with you about my mission work. I
will continue communicating to you from time to time on what
our almighty God is doing in the mission field of the Muslim
community. There are a few who respond to the gospel without
opposition even though they are monitored due to the close relationship that I create with them. Those who try to challenge their
6
religion of Islam are mocked and threatened and sometimes being
warned of their friendships with me. This ends up in breaking the
relationship.
Others end up keeping quiet and tend not to criticize the
religion openly or speak positively about Christianity. With this
type of person we continue to have long lasting relationships.
Once I had a whole family having a friendly discussion on the
Christian faith without any problem as they continued to ask
some questions from one of the Christian books they have.”
Please pray for this student and for his prayer requests: “Thank
God for the care he has given me all these seventeen years; also for
the relationships that have been created within the community.
Pray that people may continue to be more open to the gospel
without fear. Pray God to give me wisdom at times that I deal with
critical issues in marital counseling, caring for abused children
and those involved in drugs. Pray God to provide my physical
needs in abundance, especially at the moment, as the costs are
quite high. Pray God for the healing of sick children and also pray
God to open ways to get funds to buy medicine for the school as
they are in great need. The number of children who are sick keeps
increasing.”
Benoni, South Africa
Students within this distance group are from four different
churches and led by Rev. Adrian Nathaniel,
Pastor of Northmead Baptist Church.
Kampala, Uganda
This group is led by Rev. Albert Mangeni, Pastor of
All Nations Discipleship Church.
Pinetown, South Africa
One of the tutors, Dr. Riens de Haan writes, “Since 2013, Lucky
Mtshengiseni Dube is one of the students of the Distance Group in
Pinetown, and enjoys preaching the gospel, especially from the
Old Testament. He likes to share with others how God prepared
Jesus’ coming and what difference Jesus makes in the lives of people. Lucky was born in 1970, grew up on a farm, in a family of four
including his mother who worked on the farm. Lucky’s family
Glad Tidings
DECEMBER 2014
members are not regular churchgoers and he cannot remember
ever going to church with his mother. He went along with one of
his friends to the Sunday school of the nearby Dutch Reformed
Church and later, during Secondary School, he came into contact
with the Student Christian Movement. Since then, Lucky has
been an enthusiastic Christian. After moving, he started to look
around for a Dutch Reformed Church until one Sunday, he saw
somebody carrying a songbook that he recognized from his former church. The owner of the book led him to the Reformed
Church in Kwamashu. When there is no other preacher available,
Lucky preaches and also serves as a deacon. He visits church
members at their homes, sometimes to assist them with practical
issues such as a shortage of food or just to help them to clean their
house, but especially to support them
spiritually. Lucky feels that the studies
prepare him as a spiritual soldier as
described in Ephesians 6, to be a
prepared servant and how to grow as a
preacher in understanding the Bible
books against their original background, but also in applying them in
our present context. He already feels
more confident in choosing Scripture
readings relevant for the different
situations we live in. “
Please pray for all the of the Distance tutors, students and staff to
share the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that each
one can give a testimony to the Lord and partake of the promise
as written in Psalm 119:88-90. Quicken me after thy lovingkindness;
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. For ever, O LORD, thy word
is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast
established the earth, and it abideth.
Moloto, South Africa
SOUTH AFRICA – Times of Change
If there is one certainty about life in this world, it is that change
is constant. Whether it be the time of life we find ourselves in or
the continent in which we presently live, change seems to be so
rapid and ever accelerating that our minds spin and we certainly have difficulty keeping up. How wonderful it is then to be
reminded of the frailty of life and that our God and Heavenly
Father holds all things in place by His Almighty Word and
Spirit. So much has happened in the past six months, we hope
to bring a small insight into our work and world in this update.
The Reformed Church Tshwane was highlighted in the last
Glad Tidings, giving a history from inception in 2006 up to the
present. Our Lord has constantly given us encouragements
regarding this work of His Hand because, quite honestly, we
sometimes become discouraged. The congregation continues to
grow both in number and, more importantly, in knowledge of
the grace of God through the Gospel of His Son, our Saviour.
Since the enlarging of our patient capacity at Nakekela
(thanks to Word and Deed for help with the building extension),
the sick and infirm in Kwa-Ndebele continue to pour through
our doors. We understand that each needy soul that comes
through our front door is sent from the Father of all mercies, and
we endeavour to treat whatever ailments present themselves to
us. The admission of a patient always leads to a discovery of
deeper underlying pathology of both body and soul, in the
individual and in the family involved. Sin is an intricate web
from which not one is free. It is expressed in various ways, but
the ultimate end is always self-destruction, unless our Lord
sovereignly intervenes. Often the cause of misery is the result of
sinful life choices, but we also see those who have been sinned
against, and here we mean the children born with a dreadful
disease not of their own making. Recently we have had a
number of 12- and 14-year-olds admitted for care; some have
recovered but others not. We commit them all to our Lord’s care
because we don’t know how much of the gospel they understand and believe when they are so sick.
Our newest distance group is led by Jeremie Havugimana, the
previous caretaker and alumnus of Mukhanyo who has helped us
with translation of a module into French. He also pastors Family
of God Church in KwaMhlanga.
DECEMBER 2014
Dr. Arthur & Dr. Sonja Miskin
Glad Tidings
Nakekela staff on Heritage Day
7
Support Group with patients
time to sit and talk (which is so difficult with a full house) and
consider the wonderful ways of our Lord and how He has done
and keeps on doing for us what we cannot do ourselves. All the
occasions were very joyful, colourful, and made all the more
special by friends and family from overseas.
So, there are times to work and times to rest…times to cry and
times to laugh…times to sing and times to write, and our hope is
that as we share the writing of this short update with the readers,
you would find time to pray for us. We are growing older and
slower, but the work multiplies and responsibilities increase, and
we highly value all petitions to the Father on our behalf. In service
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
A new avenue of service has presented itself in the form of
requests to help with individuals addicted to a local township
drug called nyaope. This comes in addition to our attending
increasingly to the palliative care of patients with cancer and the
frail care of weakened and infirm elderly people. Truly these are
the marginalised of society that really need special care in their
final days, which we feel the Lord has equipped us to do.
We have also launched an educational arm to our work, by
which we hope to do preventative work in the community in the
form of workshops for Pastors, community leaders, and
teenagers. Add to this our ever-expanding counselling ministry
and it becomes obvious we have more on our plates than we can
often deal with. However this is a position of strength because our
prayers are then more frequent and fervent. How absolutely
marvellous it is to see answers so directly and tangibly as we do!
All praise to Him Who hears for Jesus’ sake.
The work of helping prepare men for sacred ministry is difficult, time consuming, draining, and only accomplished with
much understanding of personal weakness and sin. However, it is
glorious work and is carried out in the context of a good, trusting,
personal relationship built between teacher and student. That has
been the satisfying character of the new Biblical Counselling
course presented by Arthur at Mukhanyo this second term.
Students have been taught that they can only reach the hearts of
others if they have been reached by the Lord themselves. The
transforming power of the gospel of our Saviour alone is totally
sufficient for every need, and in the African setting this is often
greatly misunderstood in the problematic culture we encounter.
The students have been given assignments that include practical
counselling of in-patients at Nakekela, and they are often apprehensive about these visits. Together we pray always for these
men, knowing the difficulties they will face and asking our Lord
to make them profitable servants.
It is with great joy that we can announce the weddings of our
children, Gordon and Sarsih in July and Scarlett and Jean-Pierre in
September. As well, Morgan turned 21 on September 22, and all
the events were celebrated in style. All were memorable
occasions, not only because they are important milestones in life,
but because of the grace of God so humbly and keenly felt by us
as parents. Being empty nesters now, the two of us have had some
8
Marie Kegel, Sarsih, Gordon, Sonja, Arthur, Morgan
& Scarlett Miskin
Gordon, Sarsih & Arthur Miskin, Scarlett & Jean-Pierre du
Preez, Sonja & Morgan Miskin & Jan Venter
Glad Tidings
Morgan & Arthur Miskin
DECEMBER 2014
CHURCH EVANGELISM
JORDAN, ONTARIO
Steve VanPagee
As we see the change of seasons upon us, we are reminded again
of God's promise in Gen. 8:22 "While the earth remaineth, seedtime
and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night shall not cease".
It is during this change of seasons that we also see a change in
the Niagara Migrant Worker Ministry. Many of the workers go
home to their families for a few months, leaving only a few to stay
the winter months. Most of the workers who come to the Niagara
Region to work on the various vineyard, fruit or flower farms
come from Mexico, while a smaller number come from
Guatemala. We have both male and female workers, ranging in
age from 20 to in their 50’s.
The Niagara Migrant Worker Ministry is a joint effort of three
local Reformed churches. We employ a full time fluent Spanishspeaking "pastor" with family roots in the Spanish-speaking
mission field in Mexico. Wilf Bout has been with us for several
years now and is a wonderful asset to this ministry.
Each of the churches takes turns every week organizing the
pickup of all the workers from the farms and bringing them to
church Sunday evening. This effort takes a lot of volunteers for
whom we are continually grateful. Not only do we host a Sunday
service for them, we also do English classes on Tuesday evenings
where Wilf and two other volunteers teach basic English skills.
This is followed by a Bible study, where we have another
opportunity to bring the gospel message.
Sunday services in peak season will generally be attended by
130 migrant workers and some supporters from the host church
for that week. We begin by singing many songs; because they are
usually in a familiar tune the Canadians can also sing along. It
doesn’t take long to be able to sing along in Spanish, and you get
to know the favorites quite well as the same ones are usually
requested week after week. After about 15 minutes of singing,
Wilf opens in prayer, reads Scripture and then gives a message.
Generally he will follow a short Biblical series or do practical
topical sermons. Many of the workers do not have a church background or have received very little Bible teaching in Mexico. We
do, however, come across men and women who were Christian
before they came here. It is our prayer that many more may go
home being born again by the precious blood of Christ and be able
to testify to their own families and friends. Many workers return
to the same farms year after year, so there are familiar faces each
year, and relationships and friendships are built between the
Canadians and Mexicans.
Wilf also does some small Bible studies throughout the week,
and discipleship courses are held, as people are interested. Wilf
goes around to the farms during the week and talks to the
workers, ministering to them according to their circumstances.
Some fight intense spiritual battles against the devil;, others fight
substance abuse and immoral lifestyles. At other times Wilf is
driving workers to doctor’s appointments and translating, or
doing hospital visits. Wilf also generously opens up his home and
DECEMBER 2014
has many of the workers over for social time with his family or
personal visits.
Another aspect of the ministry involves a monthly barbeque
from May to September. A typical picnic will bring out over 300
people! There are organized soccer games for the Mexicans to play,
and over the years we have introduced our Canadian game of hockey to them. Many people take this opportunity to socialize with
other workers from the various farms. After games and enormous
servings of food consisting of hamburgers, sausages, salads or even
a roast pig, Wilf has another wonderful opportunity to give a
gospel message. With a gym packed full of people many of whom
have not heard the gospel, it is amazing and humbling to see the
Lord at work, and to witness the Sovereign power of our God. "But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12).
The unique challenge of this ministry is the language barrier. For
the most part, our Spanish is about as good as their English, but
there are some who can speak English quite well. Another
challenge is that these people are from a completely different
culture than we are used to. The battle against demonic powers,
superstitions and even witch doctors is a very real thing that Wilf
has to deal with. Many people carry scars from past lives that we
would never even dream about.
Let us hold up this ministry and Wilf in prayer, and support the
Lord’s work being done with the migrant workers in the Niagara
area. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and
whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also
glorified" (Rom. 8:29, 30).
DOMESTIC OUTREACH
Domestic Outreach Committee Update
Rev. Mark Kelderman
It is with pleasure that we welcome to our committee four new
members: Cornie Bleeker, Corney Les, Pastor David Lipsy, and
Pastor Terry Klaver. They join us six who are presently serving. We
also thank those who have served for the first year of our committee to help get it started.
The highlight of the past few months has been the appointment
Glad Tidings
9
of Mr. Ruben Martinez, with the approval of the Grand Rapids
HRC congregation, to begin laboring in an outreach in the
Holland, Michigan area. There was a group gathering there for
some time and this group has now been formalized as an outreach
of the Grand Rapids HRC and Mr. Martinez, a PRTS graduate and
member of Grand Rapids HRC, brings the Word of God in English
for two services. There have been up to 29 people in attendance at
these services and the goal is to begin to reach out to the Hispanics
in the area and begin a Spanish service as well. In the next Glad
Tidings we hope to have a fuller report on this new work.
For this time I want to leave you with one thought. Our Lord
commissioned His disciples to a great work, but that commission
to the world began with the words, “beginning at Jerusalem”.
These words are a reminder to us that the work for us too begins
close to home and among Jerusalem sinners. Religious Jerusalem
sinners, those who had put the Lord to death, were the ones Jesus
says “being there”. Likewise, in our ‘religious’ country there are
those who do not yet know the Lord, we need to “begin there”.
Increasingly, there are numbers of people in our neighborhoods
who not only do not know the Lord but have never heard a simple presentation of the gospel. So, as we continue to reach out to
our immediate families and coworkers, let us also consider how
we can reach our neighbors with the gospel as well. Pray for us as
a committee as well as we meet to discuss how to better serve our
smallest congregations, outreaches and also those desiring to
reach out to others.
Outreach in Harrison, Arkansas
Elina VanderZwaag
The sanctuary of our little Reformed church in the Ozarks is in a
former retail building, located on the busy town square of
Harrison, AR. It is one long narrow structure, which you enter
through the well-lit storefront. Behind the storefront is our pastor’s office/library, and behind that is our roomy sanctuary with
its vaulted ceiling. At the back of the sanctuary is a small nursery,
behind which we have the dining hall and the council room, and
at the very end is the kitchen with a door to the back alley.
The storefront was set up as a library with mostly used
Reformed books in the hope that people shopping at the square
would come in and avail themselves of some good literature.
Volunteers dedicated hours to cataloging the books and setting up
a workable lending system. Despite all these efforts only a few
people have walked in the storefront and looked at the books. This
is puzzling seeing we are in such a prime location. It’s always
busy on the square with people coming and going and frequenting the shops around us.
Even though few came in to look at books, we have had more
visitors walking in for counseling. My husband counsels men by
himself, but women he counsels only with me present. We have
met some colorful people during our first year here. One man
came in to ask my husband if he would pray for his ongoing
stomach troubles. Of course my husband did, and afterwards they
had a good conversation (my husband thought). But the longer
they spoke the more my husband became uneasy, and sure
10
enough, all along they had been talking about two different Kings.
My husband of course meant the Lord Jesus; for his visitor
however, The King meant Elvis Presley. It would be wonderful if
this incident ended with a complete turnaround of this Elvis
Presley worshipper. But most often our witnessing about the one
true God and His Son, who suffered and died for sinners, is not
met with immediate repentance and faith. We do pray that my
husband’s words have planted a seed in this poor man’s understanding.
My husband also had a mother call to ask if he would counsel
her married son. Of course he would. So soon a young man walked
in to talk about his porn addiction and how he could save his
marriage. Unlike other counselees he was very receptive and very
repentant. He truly wanted to get right with God and his wife. He
made no excuses for his addiction, but was asking for help to overcome it. He returned eager for more counseling and ready and
willing to put what he learned into practice. He went back to his
home church, began to read his Bible again, and showed his wife
with his actions that he had changed for the better. We have not
heard from him for a while and prayerfully hope he is still on the
right path.
We have also had a few homeless women come in the storefront
to ask for help. They were adept in using ‘Christianese’—words
packaged in pious sounding phrases. But when probed a bit, they
got very defensive and blamed all and everything for their miserable situation. We saw so little sense of sin or the need for a Savior.
We helped them as best we could (one of the women slept over one
night) and welcomed them warmly to join our Sunday worship
services and our midweek Bible study. However, they showed no
interest.
We have found that a lot of people in this area are “religious”.
They grew up knowing quite a bit of the Bible, and regularly went
to church, but then something happened or someone disappointed
them and they turned away from organized religion. As a result
they are often swept along by all kinds of doctrines and strange
sounding teachings. You’d think this would make them feel ignorant and at a loss where to find real Truth, but instead they seem
so confident and wise in their own eyes and have no ear for the
Truth as it is in the Lord Jesus alone.
We counseled another woman who walked in, concerning her
second husband. She claimed to be a Christian, and responded
well to the Biblical counseling. A huge part of her problem was the
lack of real communication. (Sad to say, that is often the case
among believers as well.) We suggested some ways on how to
approach her husband, and when, but above all to seek a close
relationship with the Lord. The closer we are to the Lord, the
greater sinner we know ourselves to be, and the offenses of our
fellow men become smaller. I am not talking here about abusive
relationships; in such a case the woman needs to seek shelter away
from her husband. We’re talking about relationships that are
stranded on the beach of selfishness, where each has a castle of
their own with a deep gulf in between.
These counseling opportunities are a good part of how our
church has tried to be a light in this world, but we want more
people to have access to the Reformed truth. The idea was born to
Glad Tidings
DECEMBER 2014
make the storefront more attractive and instead of having lots of
shelves filled with second hand books, have fewer shelf units but
with eye-catching new titles; in short, to have our own bookstore.
Some young men of our congregation ripped out the old, stained
carpet, and created more floor space by taking away the deep
windowsills, finishing the project with laying a beautiful new carpet surrounded by freshly painted trim. We now have three cozy
corners, each with two comfortable chairs and a little table in
between—yes, we did get the idea from Barnes and Nobles! We
also will serve free coffee or tea—unlike Barnes and Nobles.
Reformation Heritage Books gave us a nice discount for our
beginning stock.
We decided to call the store the Grace Reformed Christian Book
Nook. The Lord willing, the first day of operation will be the same
day as this article is due. Therefore we have no photos yet of
customers in the store. It will be the only place in this area where
one can find Reformed literature. We also have quite a few helpful little books and pamphlets we can give away, but all the books
will have a reasonable price. At first we toyed with the idea to
make the books available for free, or for a suggested donation.
Instead we decided to sell the books for RHB’s price so that the
buyers will value their purchase more. And it will give us the
means to re-stock our shelves. We will start out with opening the
store Wednesdays and Thursdays only, the days my husband
works at the church. Some of the women of our church have
volunteered to help us manage the store; if and when there is
enough interest we hope to have the Book Nook open more days.
We covet your prayers that the Lord would bless our efforts in
bringing people in and acquainting them with truly Reformed
teaching by selling them good books. What we hope will happen
is that people will become familiar with us and walk in regularly
for a chat, a cup of coffee and a good book. Maybe we will have
opportunities to have Bible
studies with small groups of
women, or men, or students.
Please pray that the Lord will
give a hunger for Truth and a
desire to be taught weekly in
that Truth so that our church
family may increase in numbers as well.
BOOKS TO ADVANCE YOUR
MISSION & EVANGELISM SKILLS
Esther Beeke
Good News to the Poor
Tim Chester
Social action or gospel proclamation? Quite often we find
ourselves gravitating toward one of those modes over the other
– at times going so far as to pit word against deed, as if the two
are mutually exclusive. Yet Good News to the Poor shows us
how both are integrated in the biblical vision of mission so that
we may become both evangelists and activists – Christians who
talk the talk and who walk the walk. (Crossway, PB, 214 pgs)
$15.99|$12.00
Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the
World
John MacArthur
The signs of compromise are all around us. Church-member
count has become more important than the gospel. Pastors have
turned to the marketing industry to help draw people to
services. In this book, MacArthur calls us back to a firm and
humble reliance on the power and sovereignty of God for
salvation, urging us not to be “carried about by every wind of
doctrine” and to resist salesmanship and shallowness in our
proclamation of God’s Word. (Crossway, HC, 304 pgs)
$22.99|$17.00
Send orders for these and other titles to:
Reformation Heritage Books
2965 Leonard St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525 USA
Phone: 616-977-0599, Fax: 616-285-3246
Website: www.heritagebooks.org
E-mail: [email protected]
YOUTH EVANGELISM
DECEMBER 2014
Dear Youth,
Another year has come and gone. What are some ways that God
has blessed or helped you in this past year? How have others
helped you? How have you been able to help others? Let us often
thank God for all of this and especially for the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Gospel! Let us also pray that the Holy Spirit will work in
us a growing love for others. Enjoy the reports from the
Burgessville and Jordan youth groups.
Happy New Year, Pastor & Jessica Slingerland
Glad Tidings
11
Burgessville Youth Group – Henk and Michelle Vrugteveen &
Rudy and Karen Schuurman
The Burgessville, Ontario HRC Youth Group meets twice a month
from September to April. God has blessed us with a large group of
approximately 35 young people who range in age from 14 to 19
years old. We are currently studying a series called “Life Choices”
together: a practical series of lessons on how to deal with life issues
such as personal trials, friend issues, family issues, dating, and most
importantly, our relationship with God.
Each year, we try to reach out in our community by finding ways
to serve others. The young people plan, cook and serve a dinner for
the seniors of our church and we spend an evening at the hospital,
visiting patients, talking to them and handing out flowers. Each
Christmas we sing Christmas carols at a seniors’ home, and lastly,
we volunteer at a street mission. Every month or two, we help out
at Ark Aid street mission in London, ON, where we serve dinner to
60 to 90 poor, needy people. Once dinner is served, we have the
opportunity to talk to the people, and each time we are blessed by
this as much as those who are served. They are touched that such a
young, enthusiastic group takes time for them.
We are thankful to God for this opportunity to learn together
and serve others. We hope and pray that everything we do together will assist these young people to become a united church family
of the next generation, that serves the Lord and seeks to honour and
glorify Him in all they do.
Youth Group for this Year
Jim Beeke and Pastor Klaver. We are very thankful for the speakers
mentioned, as well as numerous others, who took time to show our
youth their love and concern for their spiritual well-being.
One highlight of our last Youth Group season was our Mission
Trip to Agua Prieta, Mexico. What a humbling and awesome experience this was for all 30 of us. On our trip we held a VBS and were
able to complete the building of two homes. I will share one of the
many experiences we encountered on this trip. Our desire was to be
a witness to children outside of the church community, who have
possibly never heard the Gospel before. We were invited to hold our
Vacation Bible School in a family’s yard, several kilometers from the
mission post. When the neighbourhood children saw us setting up,
a few at a time began to come. We began with singing, and more
children trickled in until we had a group of 25 to 30 kids! We told
these children the wonderful story of Moses lifting up the serpent in
the wilderness. One boy raised his hand and said it was like Jesus
being lifted up on the cross; whoever looks to the cross will be saved
by Jesus’ blood! It was such a joy to be with these precious souls,
some squished together at a small table and the rest content to listen
sitting on the ground. We pray that these children will be given more
opportunities to hear about the finished work of Christ.
Looking forward, we pray that we will again be richly blessed in
the 2014-2015 Senior Youth Group season. We hope to focus our
attention on issues within the church that are scarcely discussed or
perhaps even ignored. We have decided to use the dialog Elephants
in the Church: Conversation We Can’t Afford to Ignore, as our guide.
This dialog contains topical studies such as materialism, a
Christian’s perspective on sexual sins, addictions, etc. We have
already completed our first study on hospitality. We were thankful
for the lively discussion on ways to create an open atmosphere with
unbelievers and seek opportunities for evangelism in our society.
Please pray that our Youth Group meetings will serve to be a
place where our youth will be comfortable to openly discuss these
difficult topics,
while at the
same
time
preparing
them to be
lights in a
world of darkness.
Some of our group with a very grateful family who we distributed
food to and invited to church
Helping out at the London, Ontario Ark Aid Ministry
Jordan HRC Senior Youth Group - Hanna DenBoer
The past season of HRC Senior Youth Group was marked with
exciting opportunities, enthusiastic young people and many blessings. We were privileged to have Pastor Neels meet with our young
men to discuss the role of men in the church and Mrs. Neels speak
with our young women about a woman’s role in the church. We also
had the opportunity to attend a Paul Washer conference on True
Conversion, as well as hold a Panel Discussion led by Pastor Elshout,
12
Glad Tidings
Thanks and Appreciation to the
Members of the Glad Tidings
Mailing Team that Volunteer
their Time -- Coby deJonge,
Adrian VanderHart, Corrie
VanderHart, Bill terHarmsel,
Nel terHarmsel, Trudy Heikoop,
Leneke Fintelman and
Lindsay Fintelman
DECEMBER 2014
MISSION FINANCES
James van den Brink
Dear Friends of the Mission,
As I was recording all the deposits and putting all the numbers into the Excel sheets, stamping
“Posted” on the final entry and then seeing the total balances for this past year, the famous hymn written by Fanny Crosby To God be the Glory entered my mind; it continues “great things He has done;
so loved He loved the world that He gave us His Son.” It is indeed the Son that is the greatest gift this
world will ever know. However I couldn’t help but think of the great things He has done this past year
in giving so liberally to our mission endeavors through the hearts and hands of so many of you. On
behalf of the Finance Committee, a sincere thank you to you all for your generous support this past
year.
As you can see in the reports, for the year ending July 31, 2014, our income far surpassed the budget. On the expense side, the expenses were also carefully controlled. One note for the careful reader
of the financial statements: the mission staff related support is well below the budget. This is due to a
one-time timing difference correction to properly allocate the support costs paid for in this fiscal year
to the fiscal year to which they relate.
As autumn has clearly arrived for most of us in North America, it is also the time where we in a very
public and national way give thanks. Let us continue to do so, while also praying for and supporting
our dear Brothers and Sisters who are enacting the Lord’s command to “go therefore, teaching all
nations”.
HRC General Mission Fund
2013 - 2014 FINANCIAL REPORT
For the 12 Month Period from August 1, 2013 to July 31, 2014
Year to Date
Year to Date
Variance
Actual
Budget
+ / (-)
Income
HRC Church Group Donations
$ 261,547
Word & Deed (transfer in)
26,000
* Individual Donations
123,521
* Donations for Mukhanyo Distance Learning
33,836
* Donations for Nakekela Clinic
4,772
* Gift to Haiti
196
* Gift to Malawi Women & Children's Ministry
3,025
* Interest Income
240
Total Income
$ 454,136
Expenses
Bank Charges
Currency Exchange - Loss/(Gain)
Glad Tidings - Publishing & Distribution
Administration
Mission Staff Related Support
North America Delegates Travel
Word & Deed (transfer out)
South Africa Mercy Ministry
Malawi Mercy Ministry
Emergency Fund
Fund Raising Expenses
* Mukhanyo Theological College
* Covenant College - Zambia
* Mukhanyo Distance Learning
* Nakekela Clinic
* Gift to Malawi Women & Children's Ministry
Total Expenses
Surplus (Shortfall) in Fund Balance YTD
Total General Mission Operating Fund Balance
$
923
636
14,753
1,611
207,746
1,765
20,000
10,092
6,624
10,000
30,513
10,232
5,974
$ 320,867
$ 133,269
$ 156,752
$
353,473
24,000
$
$
377,473
$
76,663
$
377,473
$
56,606
$
1,100
4,000
22,611
1,000
279,262
4,000
24,000
9,000
2,500
20,000
10,000
HRC Outreach Ministers Support Fund
2013 / 2014 FINANCIAL REPORT
For period 8/1/2013 - 07/31/2014
Year to Date
Year to Date
Actual
Budget
Income
HRC Church Group Donations
* Individual Donations
Total Income
$
$
80,600
-
$
Variance
+ / (-)
87,943
$
80,600
$
7,343
61,910
Total Expenses (including * items)
$
Surplus (Shortfall) in Fund Balance
$
26,033
51,437
$
Total Domestic Outreach Fund Balance
Notes: * These items are not included in annual budget figures
$
80,600
$
18,690
Expenses
Bank Charges
Currency Exchange - (Gain)/Loss
Outreach Ministers Support
DECEMBER 2014
$
80,502
7,441
$
$
$
262
61,649
$
170
80,430
$
SPECIAL DATES and PRAYER NEEDS
Please remember the following with prayer, praise and/or greetings:
• Pray for the conversion and/or spiritual strengthening of all that
read this magazine and all those that are included in these pages.
• Marriage of Scarlett Miskin and Jean-Pierre duPreez
• Sarsih Miskin Birthday – December 16
• Wilhelmina Krul Birthday – December 27
• Dr. Sonja & Dr. Arthur Miskin Anniversary – January 18
• Micah DeVries Birthday – February 8
• Mirjam & Rev. Cees Molenaar Anniversary – February 10
• Justin Krul Birthday – February 28, 2012
• Mirjam Molenaar Birthday – March 4
CONTACT INFORMATION
DeVries Family, P.O. Box 4, Montana Park, , Pretoria, South Africa, 0159.
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Telephone: 27 79 933 9884, MTC: 27 13 947 2179
Sarsih Miskin, P.O. Box 1158, Derdepoort, Pretoria, South Africa, 0035.
Email: [email protected] Telephone: 27 72 869 3810
Jane Korevaar, c/o Mukhanyo Theological College, P.O. Box 594,
KwaMhlanga, South Africa, 1022. Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 27 73 608 6529
Krul Family, Postal Address: 3170 Airmans Drive, MAF - Unit 2119, Fort
Pierce FL, 34946, USA, Email: [email protected]
Telephone 011 509 37 44 38 71
Miskin Family, P.O. Box 1158, Derdepoort Park, Pretoria, South Africa,
0035. Email: [email protected] or email
[email protected] Telephone: 27 83 657 4980
Molenaar Family, c/o Logos Ministries, P.O. Box 3337, Lilongwe,
Malawi. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Telephone: +2651761393
Mr. C.W. (Bill) Sommer, P/O Box 130 Waingapu, 87100 Sumba Timor
NTT, Indonesia, no email, Telephone : 62 868 1211 9875 (if access is
available) / Mrs. Marion Sommer, 8 Cedar Street North, P.O. Box 298,
Otterville, Ontario N0J 1R0, Canada, email: [email protected]
Telephone: 519 879 6247
PLEASE SHARE AND DONATE
Your contributions will help bring the gospel and spiritual encouragement to the
areas where our missionaries/domestic outreach pastors are serving the Lord.
Please include your name, telephone, address, city, province/state, country,
postal/zip code, email and a reference of what person/project the funds should be
directed to. (Tax receipts available)
All Canadian donations should be forwarded to:
HRC Mission Fund, P.O. Box 147, Burgessville, Ontario N0J 1C0 Canada
or
All U.S.A. donations should be forwarded to:
HRC Mission Fund, c/o 540 Crescent St., NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 USA
Spending of funds is confined to Board-approved programs and projects. Each
restricted contribution designated towards a Board-approved program or project
will be used as designated with the understanding that when the need for such a
program or project has been met, or cannot be completed for any reason
determined by the Board, the remaining restricted contributions designated for
such program or project will be used where needed most.
Glad Tidings
13
Glad Tidings
Sales Agreement #41497514
Return Undeliverable Mail to:
P.O. Box 147
Burgessville, Ontario, Canada
N0J 1C0
NB: TO CONTINUE RECEIVING GLAD TIDINGS, BE SURE TO ADVISE METHOD OF DELIVERY
See insert in the centre of this magazine
Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters
Cast thy bread upon the waters,
Thinking not ’tis thrown away;
God Himself saith, thou shalt gather
It again some future day.
Cast thy bread upon the waters;
Wildly though the billows roll,
They but aid thee as thou toilest
Truth to spread from pole to pole.
As the seed, by billows floated,
To some distant island lone,
So to human souls benighted,
That thou flingest may be borne.
Cast thy bread upon the waters,
Why wilt thou still doubting stand?
Bounteous shall God send the harvest
If thou sowest with liberal hand.
Phoebe A. Hannaford
DECEMBER 2014
Glad Tidings
Vol. 16 ~ No. 3
Official Publication of the Mission Committee of the Heritage Reformed Congregations