Dear Reader,
Half a year ago we launched the first articles in the MMA website, and since
then we have seen a number of great things take place.
A New Church Plant
The MMA-Project, which we wrote about in January has had a good growth. From
teaching and training of a team in Ashdown Township of Pretoria in evangelism and
church-planting, the next step was set into motion with a tent-crusade. This took
place in the neighbouring township of Mbali, where the beginning of a new congregation
was initiated in mid-June.
There is excitement about the “birth” of the new assembly, and now begins the great
task of building it up, under the leadership of Pastor Simon Mathabela. During this phase
I will be quite involved, in cooperation with the Pastor, but soon the local Christians
will be taking over the full responsibility for the young church.
Cooperation with the Zulu leaders
We enjoy warm cooperation with the leaders of the Zulu church, The Apostolic Church
of Southern Africa. There has been collaboration between this church and the Apostolic
Church in Denmark for about 60 years.
During the last part of this year, a number of evangelism seminars will be held in
each of the six large regions of the Zulu church. The objective with such seminars is to
encourage the ministry of evangelist in the church, and to equip potential evangelists
for the challenging tasks facing us all over this huge country.
We have an agreement with our Zulu brothers, that the teaching-ministry is going to
be shared evenly between them and us white missionaries. I personally feel privileged to
be able to work shoulder by shoulder with my African brothers.
Two previous students, …gripped by the MMA-vision
Two previous students, who have completed their studies here, at All Africa Bible College,
have returned to their homeland, Tanzania. These two men are mentioned specifically,
because they grasped the MMA-vision in a special way. Agreements have been established
between them and us to keep a close contact and cooperation in the days ahead.
Invitation to hold a MMA seminar i Tunduma, Tanzania
One of the mentioned students, Eliud Kalinga, is the district-leader for a large part
of the church for which he works as a pastor and overseer. He lives in Tunduma, which is a
border-post town to the neighbouring country of Zambia.
Since his return from Bible College he has acted on what he received through the course
on missions, and he and his congregation have already sent church-planting teams to two
new places.
We have a standing invitation to come and hold “MMA-seminars” in Tunduma, where he will
be able to gather scores of evangelists and other leaders to intensive courses.
The teaching and training will focus on how they, with God’s word in their hearts,
and with the help of their own resources, will be able to reach out to people-groups that
have not yet been reached with the gospel.
The Sonjo-Tribe, an unreached people group
The second previous Bible College student lives towards the North in the country of Tanzania,
in Arusha, which is about 1600 kilometres from Tunduma. His name is Bupe Mwakatundu and
he also has a passion for equipping and mobilizing churches for missions.
Bupe has a special burden for reaching out to an unreached tribe, the “Sonjo Tribe”.
Only a small number of Christian missions have as yet begun to bring the gospel to this
people group, and there is a need for making a well-prepared effort to impact them with
the good news about Jesus Christ.
Bupe also has a big desire to have MMA-seminars taking place in Arusha, which is a
relatively large city in Tanzania. Mission teams could be sent from here to just such a
task as evangelising the Sonjo Tribe.
The other part of the MMA-vision
The MMA-vision aims at two vital sides of the task of evangelism:
The one side (which has the highest priority) is to preach the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and to expand God’s kingdom in Africa.
The other side is transformation of communities. One way of doing this is by
bringing help to those who are suffering in various ways. During the two years, in which
we have been in South Africa, we have become acutely aware of our responsibility to help
people in need where we can. We feel a special responsibility for those that are suffering
under HIV/AIDS, which is a scourge over the whole country. We especially long to help the
many orphans.
Progress in Project Hope
Together with 4 Zulu ladies, Tove has started a caring-ministry for a group of AIDS-orphans
and other vulnerable children. Right now there are “only” 9 such children in the group,
since this is what the available (private) funds could allow for.
Recently Tove wrote in a letter:
“Tomorrow we will receive a little 7-year old girl, who will then be the ninth of the
residing children. She has a tragic story, as is the case with all the children. Her big
brothers have sexually abused her, and her mother, who should have been taking care of
her, is an addicted alcoholic; the father is nowhere to be found. I am deeply moved by
the fates of all these children; I will do all I can to give them secure conditions,
but the harm which already has been done to them, and the deep wounds in their minds
and bodies, only God can heal. Recently we were to receive yet another girl who had been
molested; she was taken to the clinic for the doctor to inspect her. But she died on the
way there.”
There are more than 15 children more, who are on our waiting list, and we are sure that we
will soon have the means to give them the same care as the others.
This work with the children has been named, “Project Hope”. We know that the help,
which we can offer, is like a small drop in an ocean of need, but we must stretch out
our hands to as many as God gives us the ability and strength to care for.
The first regular support for Project Hope
In the middle of last month, June 2004, we received a first monthly support from an
organization called “Children’s Ark International”, which has its headquarters in Sweden.
This organization has a vision of helping to get orphanages started up in many parts of
the world, and has decided to bless Project Hope in South Africa too. Praise God for this
good beginning.
Just before this happened, a youth group from Denmark called “Euroclass” was visiting,
and when they saw the children they decided to give a good gift to the work.
These first two experiences of actual donations to Project Hope prove to us that many
people do wish to get involved, if they only get to hear about the need, or – even better
– to see it first hand. We trust that God will move the hearts of many people to support
Project Hope, so that many, many more children may be given loving care and be impacted
with the gospel of Jesus.
Registration of MMA in South Africa
As these words are being written, the organization “MMA DK” and “Projekt HAAB” are
being registered as a formal association in Denmark. At the same time similar things are
happening here in South Africa.
We need to have “MMA Ministries” officially registered as a “Section 21 non-profit
organization” in the country. This is imperative if we are to be able to present ourselves
publicly and legally in South Africa. The registration will make it possible for us to
apply for funds from various government and non-government organizations, in order to
receive food, medicine and other aid, especially in connection with Project Hope.
In the mean time, the name itself, “MMA Ministries”, has been approved, and we are
confident that the last important details for forming the association will all be in
place within the next few months.
The board is made up (apart from Tove and me) of three Zulu pastors and two white South
Africans.
The Steering Group for MMA Denmark and Project Hope Denmark
MMA Denmark (MMA DK) is obviously in complete unison with Project Hope Denmark,
and have the one and same vision. Our son, Mikael Thomsen, is the contact-person and
leader of the steering-group for MMA DK and Project Hope. He lives in the city of
Hjørring.
You are welcome to contact MMA Denmark by calling Mikael Thomsen.
His contact details are the following:
Telephone no. (home) 98 13 32 32 or mobile phone no. 30 22 96 14
The country code for Denmark is ++45.
Please also see the link, “CONTACT”, in the website.
Our present financial situation
The background for our situation is that during the first two years after our
arrival in South Africa, we were able to manage our daily expenses by the help of
a bursary that I received for my studies in missiology for a period of exactly 24
months (from Feb.2002 to Jan.2004).
In this period of time I succeeded in completing a Masters Degree course with a
South African university office. Once the period for the bursary funds expired, in
February 2004, the mission board of the Apostolic Church in Denmark decided to support
us. However this was on the condition that we could not depend on this as an ongoing
support, since the mission was (and still is) in financial difficulties.
At the present moment we have no promises for support after August 2004.
Our decision to stay and serve God in South Africa is based on our complete trust in
His personal guidance and provision. We are more convinced than ever that we are just
where He wants us to be. At the same time we know that He has chosen to work through
human channels.
So we are deeply thankful for the work being done in Denmark by MMA DK, and we believe
that the people whom God has ordained will become our partners in the MMA Ministry and
Project Hope. (Please see the website under “PARTNERSHIP”)
We wish God’s blessing for each and every one of you.
Tove and John Thomsen
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