Dear Friends,
We are very grateful to the Lord for blessing our gathering again. We didn’t expect a big turnout in the difficult times we are going through in Zimbabwe, and now in the world at large, but well over two hundred came to hear and share what the Lord is doing
through FGW.
There seemed to be a joyful seriousness of intent that pervaded our time together. The Lord is bringing a real deepening of understanding and conviction in what He has called us to do. On the first day I was amazed at how the veteran delegates never get tired of hearing the story of what, why and how God introduced FGW to us, and also how the newcomers immediately get enthusiastically caught up in the exciting adventure.
For many years the Lord has reminded us that FGW must be founded on His Word and the humility and unselfishness of Christ Jesus, and it was very beautiful to hear and see this spirit coming through in the testimonies from many of the senior champions from many different countries. Again we heard how in most places the only ones who had grown any food were those who had done FGW wholeheartedly, and it was precious to hear how many first time practitioners and trainers were reporting overwhelming results.Many of those testifying mentioned how FGW creates such an opportunity to show people who God is, and is such a wonderful evangelistic tool.
We received a number of prophetic words during our wonderful times of praise and worship. Most of these words brought a message of repentance in terms of the Lord reminding us how He loves it when we turn to Him with all of our hearts. We saw that this fitted so well with the theme of the ‘Kingdom’ that the Lord had given us for this Champs. The Lord impressed on us that the Kingdom comes on earth when God’s people turn away from their own rule of their lives allowing the Lord Jesus Christ to have complete rule and reign in our hearts and lives. This thrilled us all because this is the essence of doing all things God’s Way.
We were so privileged to have seven speakers wonderfully open up this theme to us. There was such a spirit of us all seeking God together. Scott Marques established a beautiful foundation for us when he reminded us of who God is and the completeness, love and unity there is in God the Trinity. Scott also reminded us that a true turning to God must not be done in a performance based legalism, but it must be done by believing who He is and by obeying Him wholeheartedly out of an understanding of His astounding grace and unconditional love for us, which is then emulated by our love for Him and for others. It was so good to have Scott’s apostolic gifting to set us on our way.
Grant Dryden then helped us to see the situation and the scope of the quest before us. He highlighted how important it is for the message of the Kingdom to be preached and enacted in our continent, because an estimation of three billion people have put up their hands for salvation, yet there are less than one billion people in Africa, and those very ones are the poorest, hungriest and sickest people on earth. Grant described the seriousness of the syncretism /dualism problem in Africa. He had just returned from training FGW in Uganda, where 80% of the population claim to be Christians, yet nothing moves in the whole country on Wednesday because that is the ancestor’s day. Grant shared how the Kingdom of God begins in the heart through a personal relationship with Jesus, trusting in His love, truth and grace.
Joseph Dhlamini and Stan Tembo then spoke on “Taking the Kingdom into the Heart of Africa”. Joseph began by describing how this process starts by going to the humblest and poorest communities in the humility and love of Christ. He gave a very gentle and moving
explanation of how God’s love and His Kingdom are almost synonymous, and that this love opens the heart and results in the obedience that defines God’s Way. Stan then spoke powerfully on how we must reach out to African communities in the context of Africa, and how there must be no confusion between “the packaging and the product”. Stan bravely pointed out the poor self-image of the African people and how any inconsistencies in our message and any vestiges of racialism can be very harmful to the cause. He also said that Africa must take responsibility for itself and stop blame shifting and that we must take issue with such things as idolatry. Stan finished as he had started with a reminder of Jesus’ great prayer in John 17, where He asked the Father that we, His disciples, might be one as He and the Father are one. Stan exhorted us to face the realities of Africa in the love and unity of God.
Darryl Edwards and Onesimus’s group, and the Grassroots training team, ably assisted by the intern students under Josie’s supervision, gave a number of very powerful and entertaining drama skits on the FGW principles. Then Darryl, with backup from Willie Badenhorst and Eric Harrison, gave us another stimulating teaching on composting, and then we had a farm tour where we saw the very promising work we are doing with alternative and natural methods of fertilisation for our crops. We are becoming increasingly convinced that the Lord is leading us to a combination which will be much more appropriate and sustainable than the expensive and difficult-to-obtain inorganic materials.
Trevor Lowden-Stoole gave a very inspiring address on how the Kingdom of God is accompanied by signs and wonders. He gave a wonderfully scriptural description of how the Lord has ordained this and how signs and wonders point to God’s love, power, rule and authority over all things. He showed how important faith is and that signs and wonders are miracles of the Holy Spirit that accompany those who believe. He told us how he believes for signs and wonders whenever he goes to minister and shared a number of wonderful incidences of this happening. He graciously said that FGW is a sign and a wonder that points to God and His transforming power, when we do things God’s Way with faith.
Dr Goodwill Shana who is the current president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and president of the Combined Heads of all Denominations very kindly took time out of his very busy schedule to give us the last address. Dr Shana began by telling us that although he is a trained lawyer without a hint of farming experience, he has been so affected by FGW that he has launched out in faith and bought a farm in these difficult times. Dr Shana then spoke very powerfully about the foundations of the Kingdom. He emphasised that we cannot build bigger, taller or stronger than our foundations. It was a message of real theological weight, but given with delightful humour that had us rocking with laughter.
After heart-felt prayers to the Lord of thanks and guidance, we had wonderful fun at the soccer tournament and braai, which was lead by the world champs of braaivleis, the South Africans, captained so wonderfully by the senior braai champ, Wilhelm Els. Thank you Wilhelm and your team.
I would like to thank all of you for praying at home, and for those who travelled from so far, and also all the wonderful team of helpers, who made it such a special conference. Craig Deall did a magnificent job as MC/teacher and also led the execution of the preparation operations. Josie was again a pillar of blessing as she orchestrated and co-ordinated the whole operation to an amazing standard considering the constraints upon us in these times! Craig and Josie insisted that Cath and I would be free from the humdrum of all the organisation. What a joy it was for me to be able to sit next to my precious wife, who had been banished from the kitchen, so that we could have more personal time with the visitors and be able to absorb together all that the Lord is doing.
As is our practice now, in separate meetings, the FGW board and the Senior Champions Forum gather the day before the main conference and on the day afterwards. We had deep and sincere fellowship as we listened to what God is saying and doing in our spheres, especially in relationship to the greatly escalating call to share FGW far and wide. A major highlight for us was when Johann van der Ham showed us a preview of the feature length film that he has nearly finished of an older man returning to Malawi after three years in Zimbabwe. He visits his nephew and teaches him about FGW and in the process brings him to know Jesus. It is scripted with such sensitivity and beauty that it had ten men in tears. Someone remarked that it drips with the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. It is in Chewa, but warrants to be dubbed into as many languages as possible. We sincerely feel that this film will have an incredible role in the advance of the Gospel, not only in Africa, but also in many parts of the world. Such is the grace, gifting and favour that the Lord has placed on FGW.
May we listen carefully to God and remain in love, unselfishness, humility and unity, in the days of expansion and warfare ahead.
Much love,
Brian & Cath Oldreive