{"id":1670,"date":"2018-01-10T07:12:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T11:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2018-01-10T07:13:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T11:13:51","slug":"here-for-our-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/2018\/01\/10\/here-for-our-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Here for our comfort?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As we look back at 2017, we are reminded that God\u2019s ultimate goal with us isn\u2019t\u00a0comfort<\/em>, it is\u00a0character development<\/em>.\u00a0 We are to be transformed into Christ’s image. He is always more interested in what we\u00a0become<\/em>, rather than what we\u00a0do<\/em>. I don\u2019t know about you, but this is not always easy to grasp!<\/p>\n

Christmas 2016 we had no idea that it will be our last Christmas as a family in Mwinikaland.\u00a0 In January 2017, Leanna, the kids and I flew to Cape Town where we waited for Francois to catch up with us later\u00a0 for a 3 month visitation to supporting churches in the Western Cape.\u00a0 It was there in Cape Town, while staying in the \u201cArk\u201d of Logos Church, that the Lord started to move our hearts and minds to the changes He has for us as a family.<\/p>\n

Fast forward one year, and here we are in South Africa after 20 years in (mostly) Mozambique, with the same mandate: to make disciples of all nations and specifically under the unreached peoples of the world; the same dreams to see a maturing church under the Mwinika people and the same willingness to be used by Him in whichever way He sees fit.\u00a0 We still want to do His will and follow His lead, no matter the cost or where it leads us.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Still\u00a0not our comfort, Lord….<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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The place and our everyday doing have changed radically in the last year!\u00a0 In fact, to move from the isolation of the African bush, to one of the biggest, bustling cities on the continent, has been one of the most profound changes we have ever faced.\u00a0 We have been willing to follow the Lord where there is no electricity or running water, shops or doctors, deep into the bush where we have been (to many people there), the first white faces they have ever seen, but the most of all: where there was no church whatsoever.\u00a0 Living in tents and later in a tiny mud hut, we became learners of a new culture and language, babes in the community, starting life in many ways from scratch.\u00a0 We made deep and lasting relationships, and became part of the community of our little village in the bush.<\/p>\n

During our 13 year stay in that community, we saw an unreached people group transformed\u2026\u00a0 We saw 6 churches planted and two more communities being taught the Word.\u00a0 We saw an unwritten language written, and literacy classes being taught by the Mwinika to the Mwinika.\u00a0 We even saw the first Mwinika missionaries move out to plant a church under a neighbouring people group!\u00a0 We saw God at work in remarkable and miraculous ways!\u00a0 To see a new church born under an unreached people group is and will always be one of the\u00a0greatest privileges of our lives<\/em>!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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To be continued…<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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The Lord has now come and lifted us out of our (by now!) comfort zone and placed us in a new space to continue with the same mission He\u2019s had for us since the beginning:\u00a0to make disciples and bring the Gospel to all nations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>He has broadened our horizon to include more people and places than just the Mwinika in Mwinikaland.\u00a0 From Cape Town we are involved in training missionaries and cross-cultural workers to be able to reach more people that haven\u2019t yet heard the Gospel in a way they can understand.\u00a0 Although we see ourselves still as very much part of the Mwinika team and what is happening there, we are now also part of the new training team working from South Africa.\u00a0 We are four families on this team that will start the first Integral Vision (NTM in Africa) training program in this part of the world that will not only prepare the missionary, but also the church family that will sent him\/her out. We hope to see the first class launched in May 2018!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Training others for cross-cultural work<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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What this involves:<\/p>\n