Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ministry photos
Ministering to refugees impacted by xenophobia
Prize giving - Cpx's soccer tournament 
Time of worship - CPx
All Nations' first "Explore Africa!" vehicle to raise up & train African leaders!
The Champions! - The Red Hill Attackers
Time of worship - CPx
All Nations' first "Explore Africa!" vehicle to raise up & train African leaders!
xenophobia - masi & soet water ( by Floyd McClung)
It is a sober time in South Africa. Violence has swept through the nation like a wild fire.
I have to tell you about the terrible events unfolding in South Africa, and what God is doing in the midst of tragedy.
You’ve seen the news: Unbelievable racial violence has broken out all over the country. There are xenophobic riots taking place in every major city of the nation. Much of the violence has actually been under-stated for a change. It is worse than any one TV network can cover.
It is a case of the poor attacking the poor in the townships and shantytowns and squatter camps. No one knows how it actually started, but it has spread from one part of the country to the other, until tens of thousands of people are homeless and hundreds of people have been killed.
It is mainly jobless, homeless poor people turning against political and economic refugees from Zimbabwe, Malawia, Mozambique, Angola, Somalia and the Congo. There are 3,000,000 refugees from Zimbabwe alone in South Africa! South Africa is looked upon as the breadbasket of Africa, a safe haven for the destitute and oppressed. There are ruthless dictators in Zimbabwe and the Congo and other countries close to us that squash any sign of criticism or freedom of speech. So people come from those countries to South Africa looking for jobs so they can survive and send money back home.
Massiphumelele, or “Masi” as we call it, was spared from the violence. Many people worked tirelessly to stop the violence from breaking out. We held prayer meetings, worked with the local pastors and community leaders and police, and did what we could to help.
Community meetings were held in Masi, foreigners from neighboring countries were invited back to the community (many had fled in fear for their lives), and people went door-to-door recovering the stolen property of the refugees who had left in haste, fearful for their lives.
I spoke with some of our Malawian friends in Masi, and they were frightened for their lives. About 25 Malawians, Somalians, and Zimbabweans fled Mai and spent the weekend sheltered in our team house. Vuyo, who is part of one of the little churches we have started in Masi, got assaulted - he is a local but was in the wrong place at the wrong time - he got hit twice on the jaw and head.
Last Saturday night there was a joint community and police effort to recover all stolen property by going door to door, and Sunday morning people were still spontaneously bringing stolen stuff back. A national Television news station reported on how local Masi community pastors and leaders acted to stop the violence. In effect they were saying the violence was not acceptable in their community. They condemned the violence, acted proactively to stop it, and set an example for the rest of the country!!
Sun afternoon the premier of Western Cape Province arrived in Masi to congratulate the pastors and community leaders. A deputation took a memo to the refugees to invite them back to Masi. More than 70 foreigners were welcomed back to Masi with a KFC supper late last Sunday evening!
But things were much different in the refugee camp just a few minutes walk from where Sally and I live. This is the camp for the foreign refugees driven from other communities by the violence.
I would like to quote from a report I read about what the conditions were like in the camp:
“There was Alvin from Angola, whose brother was killed on Friday, and who was so traumatized by the guilt of leaving the body to save himself, he could barely speak. There was Maria (not her real name) from the Congo, who was raped on Thursday, didn’t know where her teenaged son was and just wanted to be given a pair of panties and a place to sleep. There was Noor-Ali from Somalia, a very smart young man in a stylish leather jacket, who had spent years working his way up from cleaning cars for change to owning his own business, only to have absolutely everything he owned snatched away from him in minutes. They, and most of the estimated 1500 people there, were in an extreme state of shock…
“…, two more buses arrived, offloading yet more shell-shocked people. Tensions amongst those who had been waiting 24 hours already without a single word from the authorities on what was going to happen to them began to mount. Sharp words were exchanged between Somalians and Congolese, each feeling more vulnerable than the other… many of the refugees have survived genocide once already in Rwanda and the Congo…
“…Unlike the foreign residents of Masiphumelele, who were evacuated by the police on Friday as a precaution, these people - from Phillipi, from Du Noon, and from Khayelitsha - had been violently chased from their homes…”
The camp where the refugees are staying is a few-minute walk from where Sally and I live. These people are homeless and without hope.
Please pray for us, and more importantly, for the refugees as we try to serve them.
Being here in Africa reinforces to me how great the need is for leadership training. There is a desperate need for honest, servant hearted leaders, for leaders who seek to find significance in God’s eyes, not success in man’s eyes. Leaders who want to make a difference like the leaders in Masi did this last weekend.
All Nations Leadership Institute is involved. The students from the All Nations CPx leadership school are involved in Masi and in the refugee camp. They have been serving the Zimbabwean refugees for months, feeding them, bringing them blankets, and sharing the good news of Jesus. I am proud of them for serving without recognition.
These are the men and women who are the hope of Africa.
Yours,
Floyd and Sally McClungAll NationsCape Town, South Africa
-->
I have to tell you about the terrible events unfolding in South Africa, and what God is doing in the midst of tragedy.
You’ve seen the news: Unbelievable racial violence has broken out all over the country. There are xenophobic riots taking place in every major city of the nation. Much of the violence has actually been under-stated for a change. It is worse than any one TV network can cover.
It is a case of the poor attacking the poor in the townships and shantytowns and squatter camps. No one knows how it actually started, but it has spread from one part of the country to the other, until tens of thousands of people are homeless and hundreds of people have been killed.
It is mainly jobless, homeless poor people turning against political and economic refugees from Zimbabwe, Malawia, Mozambique, Angola, Somalia and the Congo. There are 3,000,000 refugees from Zimbabwe alone in South Africa! South Africa is looked upon as the breadbasket of Africa, a safe haven for the destitute and oppressed. There are ruthless dictators in Zimbabwe and the Congo and other countries close to us that squash any sign of criticism or freedom of speech. So people come from those countries to South Africa looking for jobs so they can survive and send money back home.
Massiphumelele, or “Masi” as we call it, was spared from the violence. Many people worked tirelessly to stop the violence from breaking out. We held prayer meetings, worked with the local pastors and community leaders and police, and did what we could to help.
Community meetings were held in Masi, foreigners from neighboring countries were invited back to the community (many had fled in fear for their lives), and people went door-to-door recovering the stolen property of the refugees who had left in haste, fearful for their lives.
I spoke with some of our Malawian friends in Masi, and they were frightened for their lives. About 25 Malawians, Somalians, and Zimbabweans fled Mai and spent the weekend sheltered in our team house. Vuyo, who is part of one of the little churches we have started in Masi, got assaulted - he is a local but was in the wrong place at the wrong time - he got hit twice on the jaw and head.
Last Saturday night there was a joint community and police effort to recover all stolen property by going door to door, and Sunday morning people were still spontaneously bringing stolen stuff back. A national Television news station reported on how local Masi community pastors and leaders acted to stop the violence. In effect they were saying the violence was not acceptable in their community. They condemned the violence, acted proactively to stop it, and set an example for the rest of the country!!
Sun afternoon the premier of Western Cape Province arrived in Masi to congratulate the pastors and community leaders. A deputation took a memo to the refugees to invite them back to Masi. More than 70 foreigners were welcomed back to Masi with a KFC supper late last Sunday evening!
But things were much different in the refugee camp just a few minutes walk from where Sally and I live. This is the camp for the foreign refugees driven from other communities by the violence.
I would like to quote from a report I read about what the conditions were like in the camp:
“There was Alvin from Angola, whose brother was killed on Friday, and who was so traumatized by the guilt of leaving the body to save himself, he could barely speak. There was Maria (not her real name) from the Congo, who was raped on Thursday, didn’t know where her teenaged son was and just wanted to be given a pair of panties and a place to sleep. There was Noor-Ali from Somalia, a very smart young man in a stylish leather jacket, who had spent years working his way up from cleaning cars for change to owning his own business, only to have absolutely everything he owned snatched away from him in minutes. They, and most of the estimated 1500 people there, were in an extreme state of shock…
“…, two more buses arrived, offloading yet more shell-shocked people. Tensions amongst those who had been waiting 24 hours already without a single word from the authorities on what was going to happen to them began to mount. Sharp words were exchanged between Somalians and Congolese, each feeling more vulnerable than the other… many of the refugees have survived genocide once already in Rwanda and the Congo…
“…Unlike the foreign residents of Masiphumelele, who were evacuated by the police on Friday as a precaution, these people - from Phillipi, from Du Noon, and from Khayelitsha - had been violently chased from their homes…”
The camp where the refugees are staying is a few-minute walk from where Sally and I live. These people are homeless and without hope.
Please pray for us, and more importantly, for the refugees as we try to serve them.
Being here in Africa reinforces to me how great the need is for leadership training. There is a desperate need for honest, servant hearted leaders, for leaders who seek to find significance in God’s eyes, not success in man’s eyes. Leaders who want to make a difference like the leaders in Masi did this last weekend.
All Nations Leadership Institute is involved. The students from the All Nations CPx leadership school are involved in Masi and in the refugee camp. They have been serving the Zimbabwean refugees for months, feeding them, bringing them blankets, and sharing the good news of Jesus. I am proud of them for serving without recognition.
These are the men and women who are the hope of Africa.
Yours,
Floyd and Sally McClungAll NationsCape Town, South Africa
-->
feedback from Zanzibar team - COCONUT COMMUNION
Coconut Communion
"Just keep your eyes on the horizon," was the advice I followed on the 3 hour ferry trip to Zanzibar. The boat kept on launching itself over big waves, tilting dangerously from side to side. Inside me my stomach was doing the same tilting and sloshing against the sides. It wasn't very pleasant to say the least. Today, after 11 days on the Island, I'm back in Dar Es Salaam after surviving another grueling ride. This time I kept my eyes on the TV in front of me and Jason Bourne whacking a few bad guys around. But what happened in Zanzibar the last 11 days? No one could have guessed. For one the main electricity line to the Island is damaged and has left the island without power for the last 2 and a half weeks. The president promised it would be back on before September. Meanwhile its crippling the whole island's economy and making life fairy difficult.
On our first day on the island I felt led to go back to the place where we stayed last year, called Bububu. We were there for approximately 15 minutes when we found our men of peace (not man of peace). David, a Christian, immediately invited us to his brother Clay (an unbeliever's) house were we slept for the next two nights. Since then we've become good friends with Clay. He's a local dive instructor and has been organising everything we need. But the real man of peace is Sadat who we met on the same night just in front of Clay's house. Since then Sadat has become known as the guy who sounds Christian but is Muslim. It's unbelievable. He is a self-professed Muslim but speaks a lot of truth and is virtually on the edge of giving his life to Christ. We are all praying for him. He speaks very good English and interprets all our Bible studies for us. When we disciple the young believers he translates as well and even motivates them. Sadat is a teacher in a private school in Bububu.
Three people have given their hearts to the Lord. One of them is a Muslim Background Believer called Abdul and the other his friend Simon. They were both baptized in the sea. I baptized Abdul, the first person I've ever baptized, and I thank God for the opportunity. We've been meeting with them and some other believers in a Bible study every night and we're seeing the fruits. People are blown away by the simple idea that you can study the bible. Even believers! We're amazed at the low bible knowledge among the Christians. The group has grown to a place where we can split into two and we are excited about the prospect.
We are, however, weary of just attracting more Christians and trying hard to open more doors into the Muslim community. In our last Bible Study on Thursday evening we teached about the Communion or the Lord's Supper. Since bread is very scarce, especially with the electricity failure, and juice is very expensive we've been using a Coconut during communion. Breaking open the hard shell is very symbolic of the punishment Christ suffered and pouring out the coconut water symbolic of his spilt blood. It's very effective and on Thursday night the Holy Spirit touched every single body in the meeting. Believer and unbeliever. Sadat was the first to say something was different, even though he didn't participate in the communion. I remember how he sat with the bowl of coconut in his hand, thinking long and hard if he should take some before he refrained in the end and passed it on. It was interesting that a lot of people witnessed that they felt very cold. It's always very hot and humid here and so we think it was the Holy Spirit's way of touching them in such a way that they knew it was different.
Yesterday we broke into two teams . One going to the north of the island and one going south. It was in the south that our team came to a village that was remarkably very friendly and open, unlike any of the other villages or towns. Here we met Muha, a christian, which was also strange, and was interested to hear that he has to travel to Stone town every Sunday to go to church. Imagine the look on his face when we told him he could have church in his house. So we are thinking of sending two or three team members there for a week or so. So why am I back in Dar? We're getting two more team members, Ester and Rone McFarlane, who are flying in from SA tonight. Can't wait to go get them. Please pray for Abdul and Simon, Sadat as well Mohamed and Ali- two other Muslims that has been coming to our Bible Studies and are very interested.
"Just keep your eyes on the horizon," was the advice I followed on the 3 hour ferry trip to Zanzibar. The boat kept on launching itself over big waves, tilting dangerously from side to side. Inside me my stomach was doing the same tilting and sloshing against the sides. It wasn't very pleasant to say the least. Today, after 11 days on the Island, I'm back in Dar Es Salaam after surviving another grueling ride. This time I kept my eyes on the TV in front of me and Jason Bourne whacking a few bad guys around. But what happened in Zanzibar the last 11 days? No one could have guessed. For one the main electricity line to the Island is damaged and has left the island without power for the last 2 and a half weeks. The president promised it would be back on before September. Meanwhile its crippling the whole island's economy and making life fairy difficult.
On our first day on the island I felt led to go back to the place where we stayed last year, called Bububu. We were there for approximately 15 minutes when we found our men of peace (not man of peace). David, a Christian, immediately invited us to his brother Clay (an unbeliever's) house were we slept for the next two nights. Since then we've become good friends with Clay. He's a local dive instructor and has been organising everything we need. But the real man of peace is Sadat who we met on the same night just in front of Clay's house. Since then Sadat has become known as the guy who sounds Christian but is Muslim. It's unbelievable. He is a self-professed Muslim but speaks a lot of truth and is virtually on the edge of giving his life to Christ. We are all praying for him. He speaks very good English and interprets all our Bible studies for us. When we disciple the young believers he translates as well and even motivates them. Sadat is a teacher in a private school in Bububu.
Three people have given their hearts to the Lord. One of them is a Muslim Background Believer called Abdul and the other his friend Simon. They were both baptized in the sea. I baptized Abdul, the first person I've ever baptized, and I thank God for the opportunity. We've been meeting with them and some other believers in a Bible study every night and we're seeing the fruits. People are blown away by the simple idea that you can study the bible. Even believers! We're amazed at the low bible knowledge among the Christians. The group has grown to a place where we can split into two and we are excited about the prospect.
We are, however, weary of just attracting more Christians and trying hard to open more doors into the Muslim community. In our last Bible Study on Thursday evening we teached about the Communion or the Lord's Supper. Since bread is very scarce, especially with the electricity failure, and juice is very expensive we've been using a Coconut during communion. Breaking open the hard shell is very symbolic of the punishment Christ suffered and pouring out the coconut water symbolic of his spilt blood. It's very effective and on Thursday night the Holy Spirit touched every single body in the meeting. Believer and unbeliever. Sadat was the first to say something was different, even though he didn't participate in the communion. I remember how he sat with the bowl of coconut in his hand, thinking long and hard if he should take some before he refrained in the end and passed it on. It was interesting that a lot of people witnessed that they felt very cold. It's always very hot and humid here and so we think it was the Holy Spirit's way of touching them in such a way that they knew it was different.
Yesterday we broke into two teams . One going to the north of the island and one going south. It was in the south that our team came to a village that was remarkably very friendly and open, unlike any of the other villages or towns. Here we met Muha, a christian, which was also strange, and was interested to hear that he has to travel to Stone town every Sunday to go to church. Imagine the look on his face when we told him he could have church in his house. So we are thinking of sending two or three team members there for a week or so. So why am I back in Dar? We're getting two more team members, Ester and Rone McFarlane, who are flying in from SA tonight. Can't wait to go get them. Please pray for Abdul and Simon, Sadat as well Mohamed and Ali- two other Muslims that has been coming to our Bible Studies and are very interested.
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