Save the dates

Win a City: Addressing the Brokenness

 

 

In October, Logos Christian Church will be hosting the Win a City conference.  The one lesson that stood out during last year’s gathering was the thought that we will never win a city, or see movement, unless we address the brokenness in a city.  Recently our prayer ministry leader sent a message where she asked these three questions:

 

1.  What does the brokenness look like? (Implying in your area, your life, ministry, work etc.)

2.  When do you pray?

3.  Who prays with you?

 

These questions really made me think.  Firstly, I was thinking: How or where do I even begin to answer the question of what brokenness looks like?  Whose story do I tell?  My own, or yours, or yours or yours…?   Do I tell the stories of abused women and children and adult survivors of sexual, physical, emotional, spiritual and economical abuse?  Or do I tell how we as a society at large are guilty of rather conforming to a conspiracy of silence, and blame and bully the whistle blowers and protect the perpetrators? Or perhaps the stories of how we betray each other in business, are unethical, steal money, and then justify our actions with denials and wonderful religious reasoning?  Or perhaps the stories of those who attempt or are successful at suicide?   Or the stories about rejection by the church, ministries and culture because we feel called to do things a little differently than usual or outside of what tradition would prescribe?

No, these are not stories of far off communities or countries or people that we do not know, or that live in some refugee camp somewhere in another corner of the world.  It’s our stories, yours and mine.  It’s the story of the person that sits next to us in church.  It’s the people I work with, gym with or socialise with, it’s their stories.  They are ordinary people who have ordinary lives, professional people with private practices, own businesses, loyal employees, students, pensioners or housewives. The vast majority of people I know with stories like these are 100% functional human beings.  They drive a car, pay tax, raise children, send them to university, have ordinary lives and are people who love the Lord.  They are Christians, members of the body of Christ – I am not even talking about the city’s brokenness yet!  Reflecting on this made me realize that maybe this is the greatest brokenness of our time, the brokenness in the church itself and our inability to walk in redemption, holiness, healing and the power of the Holy Spirit.  So maybe this is where we need to start – at the sanctuary?

The next question was – when do you pray?  While thinking about this I realised there’s a myriad of small groups connected through a common interest and experience forming community in many different ways.  We share each other’s lives and pray together on WhatsApp, sometimes on Friday afternoons or Friday evenings over a meal, sometimes we prayer walk together or share a break-away weekend.  Some of us purposefully and intentionally move mountains, like making plans to take friends in wheelchairs on prayer excursions of various kinds and to attend prayer meetings or even weekends, defying all odds of what is comfortable or easy.  We pray together on ministry weekends or when someone is having a birthday.  Sometimes we pray together in church or at cell group meetings.  Some small groups form in the wake of ministry weekends, mostly these small groups of people fellowship together and reach out to others as best they can.

The last question was – who do you pray with?  The answer?  The broken are praying – on their own and together.    These same people with these very broken stories are the people who are praying.  They are the prayer warriors that understand that nothing happens without prayer.  They understand righteousness and grace that walk together at the same time.  There seems to be a  flexible, fluid network of diverse people that come together for a purpose and allow God to fulfil His agenda, sometimes inside but very often outside of the official structures of what we traditionally would define as ‘church’, yet building Kingdom with what I perceive to be increasing effectiveness.  Broken people with immense broken lives all in the process of being restored by God, and the Holy Spirit seems to be moving powerfully in and through us… and yes, we are addressing the brokenness and seeing the movement, movement towards victory and healing.  We grow in intimacy with Jesus and worship wholeheartedly.  We reach out to one more broken person at a time joining them to Christ so that they can start to taste the wholeness He gives us and intends for all of us.   So we may be broken people but we are privileged… privileged to know Him… to live Him… to have each other to fellowship with… to worship together… to love Him… to love each other… What a life we have corporately… what a blessing to be part of God’s Kingdom in this way… in this time… We are surely called for a time such as this.

So having said all this, I undertook to ask you – those that I mention above.  If you see yourself as part of this, if you recognise your story or your passion in the above, I invite you to pray with me during the week of 1- 8 September specifically for the brokenness in your city, area, church, ministry group, work, wherever you are.  God is a God of the broken, He is the healer, the restorer, the life-giver.  Let us ask ourselves these 3 questions:

 

1.  What does brokenness look like where I live and move?  Describe it specifically, single it out, and commit to pray about it directly and not just in general terms.

2.  Are there others in your vicinity that you can invite to pray with you during that week?

3.  Decide and organise a time when you will pray, either individually or together.

4.  If you feel led to – we would love to hear the stories of your prayer journeys, WhatsApp me, or mail them to free2celebrate@gmail.com 

5.  For those that can and would be interested, consider attending the ‘Win a city conference’ at Logos Christian Church the weekend of 4-5 October 2019.  Follow this link for a program with speakers and topics and registration information:  https://www.logos.org.za/winacity/ 

Much Love to all

Gerda Venter

Free2Celebrate

 

 

Extravagant Worship: A Celebration of Sound, Movement and Display

 

Through my journey with redemptive gifts over the past 9 years, I have discovered many valuable treasures and insights, one of them is that God intended all the gifts to flow in a beautiful synergy, uniting much like an orchestra.  Each musician plays their own instrument, but in tune, in harmony with each of the other instruments to produce the most beautiful symphony.

 

Yet in that togetherness there is a place for individuality.  Long before the orchestra can play together, there are many hours of practising alone until you can play your own tune with excellence.  The culmination of many hours of practice is the honour of the solo performance, yet the orchestra does not disappear in that moment – they either wait silently or softly play in the background and enjoy the solo performance of their fellow orchestra member, rejoicing with the musician in the beauty of the moment.

Such is the image I have of worship in the body of Christ.  Worship is meant to be an orchestra ascribing glory and honour to the most High God, and it will and should include the solo performance.

I think the African cultures demonstrate this so beautifully when, in their traditional dancing, they dance in a circle and every tribe member gets a chance to dance a solo performance in the middle of the circle – lots of fun and everyone enjoys it, yet every individual’s performance is unique and different.  So – I invite you, to come and stand in a circle or play in the orchestra and savour an exhorter’s solo performance of extravagant worship in God’s Kingdom:

In the beginning God created the heavens and all that is in it, the galaxies, the planets, the suns, moons and stars.  He placed them in the skies to represent day and night. 

In the day the sun brings heat and light and life to all that grows and lives on earth.  Just like Christ brings us life and warmth for spirit, soul and body.  He enlightens our eyes so we can see the beauty and splendour of His creation in all the shades of colour possible.  We feast on the Garden of Eden, we can see, smell, taste the goodness of life in Him in the garden.

He made the planets and the stars, the galaxies and placed them in the night skies to forever shine, bling, display, to move, spin and orbit around in joy.  They never cease to move and dance around, never tiring, always joyful with a twinkle and a fire in the eyes.  Created to represent the thousands and thousands of generations of worshippers (Gen 15:5) who bring honour and praise to the King of Kings, they invite us to worship with sound and movement and display.  These three elements are ever so important in exhorter worship, and so powerful in the hand of the Holy Spirit, yet so misunderstood and perverted by an enemy who fears extravagant worship of the sovereign God.

 

Yet, the heavens invite us to join in the declaration of His glory (Ps 19) night after night… day after day… Singing and dancing in honour of our covenant keeping God (Gen 15:5), they invite us to move and shout out and display the glory of the King forever and ever.  They invite us to join in the celebration of Him with thousands of generations before us and those who will come after us, never to envision a moment without celebrating in His honour. 

The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows off His handiwork and they continuously celebrate all of it – the fullness thereof.  They utter speech day after day revealing knowledge night after night (Ps19).  Their voices are heard in every tongue by every tribe and nation, having heard and seen the Glory of God and their celebration of Him.  Their sound goes out to all the earth, their words to the end of the worlds.  They carry the message of Christ deep in their very being, deep calling out to ever so much deeper, the depth, height and width of the universe too small to contain the hugeness of their God. 

In the midst of the heavens He has set a tabernacle for the sun (Ps 19) just like He has set a tabernacle for Himself, the Bridegroom, in the midst of His people, His bride, to provide a picture, an illustration of heaven (Hebrews 9).   He who is the light built a place of worship in the desert, a tabernacle, so He could fill it with a celebration of His Glory through movement, sound and display (Ex 36-40).  He chose Moses to build it in the exhorter key of music.  He stirred up the hearts of the artists and artisans to build with precision and decorate it with prophetic purpose and splendour.   He instituted the priestly service (Leviticus 8) and filled it once again with purposeful sound, movement and display.  In the movement of the sin, wave and other offerings, He was honoured and praised, for the Law of the Lord is perfect, it converts the soul.   The testimony of Him is without doubt sure, right and pure.  It makes the simple wise, it causes the heart to rejoice and it enlightens the eyes (Ps 19), removing the blindness of the soul heeding His warning, and in keeping His commandments there is great reward.

In the movement and display of the High priest’s garment the bells sounded, the gemstones glittered.  The colours weaved and flowed together in perfect harmony as they were woven into luxurious, embroidered, texture-rich fabrics.   The movement of the fire of the lampstand, the beauty of its intricate patterns set in gold, the aroma of the specially crafted oil for the lamp that was to display its light night and day.  The glorious intimate presence of the Bridegroom in the fire and the cloud hovering on the throne of grace and mercy, displaying His intimate, soft, graceful yet overwhelmingly powerful presence.  Wonder-creating, Awe-inspiring sights and sounds and continuous movement.

Feast after feast He was celebrated with the sound and movement and display of worship, drawing the sinner into an experience of redemption, obedient and reverential fear and Awe of an Almighty God.  Awe for the beauty and splendour of the Bridegroom, for His Holiness, Righteousness and Justness.  When looking into the skies we have Awe for the sheer size, the hugeness of the eternity of eternities displayed in the ever-moving galaxies and knowing that it is a fraction of the greatness of our God.  The endlessness of the universe a demonstration of the endlessness of our God.

Even when days are dark and the chariots of the enemy gathers in their multitudes, Yahweh Shabuoth comes with sound, movement and display and in His might He makes the sun and moon and stars stand still (Joshua 10).  In a moment all of the earth, and everything that is in it, together with the entire universe is holding its breath in a moment of silence and breath-taking Awe of the display of the sovereign might and all-powerfulness of our God.  With the sound of His mighty thunder and the fierce movement of the hail and the display of His lightning He overcomes the enemy and renders them powerless and it would not be the first nor the last time.  In Judges 4, 5 as His people face the formidable enemy of the Canaanites with their 900 chariots, He once again  thunders His mighty sound from heaven and releases the display of lightning into the heavens declaring the end to His enemy, rendering the weapons of warfare of the Canaanite null and void, stripping the soldiers of their weapons, displaying their vulnerability.  He empowers the believer with His Spirit to overcome the enemy stuck on the muddy river banks, and celebrate profoundly afterwards as Deborah and Barak – the only judges to celebrate the victory - join together in an Awe-filled celebration of the victory handed to them.  In Judges 5:20 there are these amazing few words that states: “They fought from the heavens, the stars from their courses fought against Sisera!”  I really do not have an idea what that means in practice, but what I do know, is that a formidable enemy with formidable weapons was made null and void when God sounded, moved and displayed His might and glory in and through the heavens and the stars!  What an awesome God!  

Therefore, ascribe unto the Lord beauty and glory and strength.  Give Him the glory as is due to His Name. Worship the Lord in the beauty (display) of His Holiness (Ps 29).  His voice is over the waters, His glory thunders. His Voice (sound) is powerful and full of majesty.  His Voice makes the cedars break and makes them skip like a calf (movement).  It divides the flames of fire and shakes the wilderness.  His Voice makes the deer give birth, strips the forests bare and in His temple all cries ‘Glory’.  He sits enthroned on the flood, He is King forever.  He gives strength to His people and He blesses His people with peace.

Oh Lord, come move my heart into meditation of your glory and holiness and righteousness and justice.  Let the sounds, words of my mouth and meditations be acceptable in your sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer (Ps 19).  Fill my heart with Awe of you forever and ever.

And so the solo performance comes to an end – for now, however the celebration of my God will never end. Eternity will be too short to worship through every piece of scripture, every revelation of His character.  Celebrating with sound, movement and display has a whole new meaning in my spiritual walk.  Sound to me represents Father God.  It is His Voice that speaks.  Display to me represents Jesus Christ our Messiah.   He became flesh and came to live among us (John 1), displaying every aspect of God to us in human form.  Movement to me represents the Holy Spirit.  In Him we move and live and have our being (Acts 17:28).  Selah!

 

Much Love to all

 

Gerda Venter

Free2Celebrate

 

 



 

 

Remembering and Honouring Minet

It is very definitely one of the most difficult posts I had to write in a very long time.  It is with great sadness and sense of loss that Free2Celebrate mourns the loss of a much cherished team member. Minet van Aarde of our Hamlet team went home suddenly and unexpectedly on 18^th June 2019.    My silence for the past 2 weeks, was on the one hand caused by the fact that we were on holiday with limited internet connectivity, but on the other hand it should reflect my utter lack of words to adequately describe or express my emotions and thoughts.

I will always remember and honour Minet for her friendship and wholehearted support of Free2Celebrate.  She was one of the core people that God raised up and used in those very difficult first years to create a safe space for me to practise presenting Free2bMe over and over and over again.  It was a safe space where new questions were asked and new answers sought out of His Word, without prejudice and judgement, and with a whole lot of mercy and grace.  As Free2Celebrate grew and expanded into topics like the ‘Face2Face’ weekend and ‘Come to the Well’ etc, Minet continued to be part of the very patient and supportive audience actively helping to shape the course of the ministry.  She was part of our intercessor team, shofar team, food and prayer walk crew.  Minet will be remembered for her absolutely razor sharp sense of humour that brightened many of my days.  Thus, in spite of my sadness and loss it’s really kind of hard to try and write about her without getting a smile on my face and a twinkle in my eye.  She will most assuredly be remembered for her love for Jesus and her soft way of carrying His presence with her, this will be greatly missed.  If I could, I would have loved to thank Minet for the role she played in those early formation years of Free2Celebrate and I would have loved to tell her how big the empty space she leaves is.  I know she loved being in His presence with her whole being and I would have loved to tell her that I bless her with that! I would have loved to be able to say:  ‘Good bye my friend’, knowing that I am consoled with the thought that it is not farewell forever. 'You now are truly Free2Celebrate, and I believe you are doing so with gusto and a whole lot of humour!'
 

What I did realise is that I most probably do not express my thankfulness and appreciation of the people close to me for their support, love, prayers, questions and messages of encouragement  nearly enough!  So I do want to use this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you, to each and every one of you, for who you are and what you mean to me.   I do not take this for granted neither does it happen unnoticed.   May we continue to discover who our Bridegroom is, getting to know Him better and better,  and may we continue to walk in His calling for us day by day until He calls us home.    

Lots of Love

Gerda  Venter

Free2Celebrate

 

Free2Enthrone Him - Struisbaai 26-28 July 2019

Ceres Free 2b me 12-14 Julie 2019

Changes and additions to our dates...

Hi Everyone

Here is an update of our dates for the year since there were some additions and changes to take note of.  In particular please note the change in the date of the 'Enthrone Him' weekend in July.