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Summaries of messages
Summaries of some of the messages
KWASIZABANTU
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Tel: (032) 481-5500 Table of Contents
1. REV ERLO STEGEN Curriculum Vitae 4 “SEPARATING DROSS FROM THE SILVER AND GOLD” 5 2. REV DR WARWICK COLE-EDWARDES Curriculum Vitae 6 “FAITHFULNESS TO THE WORD OF GOD” 7 3. REV CHARLES GUILLOT Curriculum Vitae 8 “LET’S GO!” 9 4. DR WIM RIETKERK Curriculum Vitae 10 “POST-MODERNISM” 11 5. REV CHRISTIAN SEYTRE Curriculum Vitae 17 “JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE” 18 6. BISHOP LOUIS SIBIYA Curriculum Vitae 19 “THE AIDS DISASTER, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CHURCH” 20 7. REV STEPHEN ZULU Curriculum Vitae 21 “THE MARKS OF A TRUE DISCIPLE” 22 1. REV ERLO STEGEN Curriculum Vitae Erlo Stegen is the leader of KwaSizabantu Mission in KwaZulu-Natal. After having finished studying at a Bible college in the early fifties, he preached the Gospel among the Zulus for 12 years. Although thousands reacted to his invitation to come to the Lord, he reached a point where he was deeply disappointed with the lives of those who repented, and seriously considered leaving the ministry. His personal experiences were so vastly separated from the Biblical standard and promises. Together with a small group of Christians at Maphumulo he started to earnestly pray for Revival and in 1966 the Lord, in His mercy, started to work mightily. They stood amazed at how the Lord immediately started to draw the most hardened sinners to Himself. Witches, witchdoctors, murderers and many others came under conviction of sin, and streamed to the centre of Revival day and night to make peace with God. In 1970 they obtained a place 20km further, with the name KwaSizabantu, meaning “the place where people are helped”. The Revival that began in 1966, still continues up to today, and has spread to many different places. There are always visitors from all over visiting the Mission station, people from all church backgrounds who come to share in the blessing of the Revival. Erlo Stegen often preaches at the Mission, but he also travels world-wide in response to invitations at different churches, conferences, etc. As director of the Mission he has 140 full-time co-workers and 150 part-time volunteers assisting him. He is married to Kay and they have 6 daughters.
Summary of Message Malachi 3:1-5 Rev Erlo Stegen gave the key note address on Tuesday morning and also closed the Conference on Thursday morning. His text was taken from Malachi 3:1-5. Verse 1: God doesn’t work in the way we expect - may we be in tune with Him so that we don’t fight against Him when He works, as the Pharisees did when Jesus came. He comes in His fire and deals with sin and darkness in our lives.
Verse 3: The purifying of gold and silver is often used in the Bible as
an illustration of the purification process of our faith which is “more
precious than gold”: Each servant of the Lord must go through that cleansing and purification process in order to become fit for the Master’s use (2 Tim 2:21). The Bible speaks of the “beauty of holiness”: we must be holy as God is holy and serve Him in righteousnes. If not, we are busy with things in our ministry that will burn up one day. 1 Cor 3:12 – Let all servants of the Lord examine their lives and ministry, asking themselves with what they are building. Is it gold, silver and precious stones which have gone through the fire, or wood, hay and stubble which will burn up (which means that one’s ministry has been a waste of time)? Matt 3:11-12 - Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. Let us learn from the experience of a group of Christians who were praying together for the Holy Spirit to come, and then one after the other experienced His fire burning them in the area where they had not been living in holiness – their eyes, feet, lips and one of them felt that he was being cut in two (like the evil servant in Matt 24:51), because he had been “hitting his fellow servants”. Verse 4: If we have been cleansed and purified like silver and gold, our “sacrifices will be acceptable to the Lord”. Let us live lives which will bring joy to God’s heart, which are a sweet fragrance to Him. Let there be joy in heaven because of us, and may God one day be able to say to each one of us: “Well done, good and faithful servant…” Let us be “workmen who need not be ashamed” (2 Tim 2:15). r 2. REV DR WARWICK COLE-EDWARDES Curriculum Vitae By God’s grace I was saved on the 5th May 1967 and after completing my schooling, studied at the Bible Institute of South Africa. This led to further studies in London University and finally in the Trinity Theological Seminary in the United States of America, where I obtained the Doctorate in Theology. I have been the rector of Holy Trinity Church in Pietermaritzburg for 23 years and the Principal of Trinity Academy, a Bible College established by the Church for the training of pastors and missionaries, for 14 years. I am married to Mary and have three sons - Jonathan, Murray and Gregg.
Summary of Message 2 Tim 4:1-5 Dr Warwick Cole-Edwardes based his message on 2 Tim 4:1-5, which he described as a great challenge to preachers. The Bible is to be our teaching manual. Therefore we are to preach the Word (verse 2). The Word we are to preach is the Bible because it is the inspired Word of God and is without error. It is inerrant. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness. It thoroughly equips us for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17). The best way of preaching the Bible is through expository teaching. That is, we are not just to preach from our favourite passages or on themes we like. In our preaching, we should move systemically through one book of the Bible at a time. In this way, we expose our people to the whole teaching of Scripture. The preacher must be instant (verse 2) because the message is urgent. The time is short and the days are evil. We must not waste time. The message must be in season (verse 2). In other words, it must be relevant to the day in which we live and to the people we are ministering to. It must meet their intellectual needs. It must also meet their moral needs. One of the problems we face today is the Aids pandemic. We must deal with this issue on the basis of the moral and sexual teaching of God’s Word. Aids will only be conquered when people abstain from sexual intercourse before marriage and are faithful to their spouses in marriage. The word we preach must also meet the emotional needs of our people. In South Africa today there are many stresses, tensions and worries. We must help people who are struggling with these. In addition to faithfully preaching the Word, pastors must be prepared to handle the response of the people to the preaching. We would like to think that people would accept the word preached, be blessed by it and be happy. However, we must also be prepared for disappointments. Often there will be a negative response to our preaching (verses 3-4). People will refuse to hear the Word of God. On the other hand, they will not refuse to hear those whom they want to hear. As in Paul’s day, many will leave churches where the high standards of sound doctrine are proclaimed and follow those who will entertain them or who will lower their standards. But we must constantly remember that our prime responsibility is to God and only secondarily to our people. As we continue to faithfully proclaim the truth, this will be recognised by those who long for God and they will be edified. The work to which the preacher is called is demanding work (verse 5). He is called to be patient and faithful in his service. He is to watch over his flock to encourage them to go on with the Lord. He is to protect them from those who would draw them aside. He is called to endure afflictions, sufferings and discouragements. He is to do the work of an evangelist and to bring souls to the Lord. As he discharges his ministry faithfully, the pastor will find the Lord Himself will stand by him, giving him the encouragement support and inspiration he needs. r 3. REV CHARLES GUILLOT Curriculum Vitae Rev Charles Guillot studies at the University of Theology in d’Aix en Provence. He is a minister in the Free Evangelical Churches’ Association of France. He has an Evangelist’s ministry within the Scripture Union. He was the Director of “Radio Evangile” (Radio Gospel) – the French speaking partner of Trans World Radio for 18 years. Presently he is the International Director of “Radio Evangile” for the French speaking African countries, and the vice president of the French Evangelical Alliance. He was also the president of Youth for Christ – France.
Summary of Message Matt 28:18-20 Rev Guillot spoke on the well known topic of “The Great Commission”. Using the above text as basis, he recognised three universal aspects in it.
1. The almightiness of Christ Therefore we can compare our mission with His mission. God sent Jesus and in the same manner we are sent. Jesus came to serve and in the same way we are called to serve. Jesus has the right to send us, because all power is His.
2. The second universal aspect is found in the command of Christ. We focus on especially one aspect of this command, “...and make disciples...”. This aspect is universal. Not all are called to baptise or teach, but all are called to make disciples. Making disciples means to walk according to this command daily. It means to introduce Jesus, to explain Jesus and Jesus alone. Jesus has come for the forgiveness of sins, and this is the good news. Forgiveness of sins for those who believe, repent and confess their sins.
3. The third universal aspect is found in the promise - “I am with you
everyday...” 4. DR WIM RIETKERK Curriculum Vitae He was born in 1941 near the coast in Lisse in Holland. He studied theology in Kampen and finished a doctoral study in Philosophy of Religion at the State University of Leiden. Became involved in the l’Abri work of Francis Schaeffer in the sixties together with his wife Greta (born in Germany), co-founders of the Dutch l’Abri centre in Utrecht and chairman of the international board of directors of the l’Abri Fellowship Foundation. At the same time he pastors a l’Abri affiliated Netherlands Reformed Church in Utrecht. His wife is always together with him in all the work. They have three grown up children and two grandchildren.
Summary of Message
Introduction The man who used this term “postmodernism” for the first time is the American artist Ihab Hassan, who wrote several articles on modern art in the mid-70’s. In these writings he coined the word “post-modern” to indicate post-war art. Phenomena like urbanization, mass-culture and high technology have created a great variety, if not a plurality of lifestyles, which led to the rise of what Hassan called “post-modern ” art. After the publication of his book, many artists, especially in the United States, started to label themselves as “post-modern”. Especially in the field of architecture a discussion raged about the exact characteristics of post-modern buildings. I refer to a book written by Charles Jenks, who stated that the main characteristic of post-modern architecture was “disharmonious harmony”. By this he meant that different styles coming from various stages in the past are being joined together in a fragmented fashion, without there being just one leading principle or one dominant idea. Nevertheless, such an architecture is pleasant to behold and attractive to live in. Post modernism became characteristic of the world view of western man in the 80’s. This was done by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Lyotard in a book entitled “La Condition Postmoderne” (1979). He applied the term to indicate a particular way of thinking, which exerted its influence on the entire western culture of the 80’s, in the same way that Existentialism had dominated the intellectual world view of the 60’s.
What is Post-modern? If these were the ideals of modernism, the post-modern movement has arrived at the conclusion that all these ideals have been shattered, and that they were largely utopian anyway. The twentieth century has done away with them all. I cannot find any other root for this entire post-modern world view, apart from this deep disillusionment with the ideals of the Enlightenment which have not come true. The world we live in is not more liberated than it has been before: poverty has increased in the Third World, unemployment in our world, pollution, etc. If we are to anticipate the future, it can only be done with a strong sense of foreboding and imminent danger. No other century has created so much misery as the 20th century. Look East, at the Soviet Union and the Marxist ideology. It cannot be denied that modernism has failed miserably, world-wide. All over the world we witness people who have been led astray, or put in bondage, by ideologists and religions alike. Prisons and concentration camps have been erected, not as a coincidence, but as an inevitable consequence of this way of thinking. Each totalitarian way of thinking leads to concentration camps. Lyotard therefore says that, hence we ought to reject every all-embracing truth. There has been enough terror in our world. We have to declare war on the “Whole and the One”. He even speaks of postmodernism as a “mourning process after the death of God” (35). “Picking the fruits without the roots” has deeply influenced the western society. It helps us to live together with many different traditions. Each European country lives with strong minorities from other cultures and religions, just like you here in S.A. At the same time there are the differences between humanist, liberals and professing Christians. They propose that we should just take the flowers of each culture as a bouquet, put them in a vase and not bother about the roots. But, we must realise that this will inevitably lead to up-rootedness. That is one of the deepest problems of our western societies. We live in a fragmented society and we have no real values that keep us together. Thinking of Europe: in former times there was a church in each village or city from Sicilia to Finland, (and the symbol of the EEG are 13 stars as if around the head of Mary) expressing the roots of Europe in Christianity. But today the only thing that really keeps us together is the market and the Euro - materialistic values. Economic growth and material welfare are leading to pure and unrestricted hedonism, the search for pleasure. Let us have fun. “Come let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die”, Paul puts it. But woe to us, when there will be economic regression and crisis like in the thirties. Then it will become tragically clear that we do not have common roots, that we are literally up-rooted. We will return to the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest, war of everybody against everybody, as in the Balkan and in parts of Russia, where the veneer or varnish of the welfare society is absent. What else can I say than that we are called to build a wall against this wave of post-modernism. In a way we are taken back to the early church of the book of Acts: we are called to be “root providers”. That is what the apostle Paul did when he traveled from one country to another. The Hellenistic world in which Paul lived was even more fragmented than ours. It was pluralistic, with many races, tribes and nations under the one political roof of the Roman Empire. The Roman emperor knew how to keep the differences together: by bread and games, just like today. But what was the result of Paul’s preaching : it gave the uprooted citizens of the Roman empire real roots. Read literally what Paul was saying to the Gentiles in Romans 11: “you are engrafted in the root of God’s Covenant People: you are not carrying the root, it is the root that supports you!”(vs.17,18). Paul was a “root provider”. It changed the outlook of his world and paved the road to the European culture. It provided unity, and (which is the beauty of this root) also for real diversity. Listen to what Paul is saying about this unity and diversity: Galatians 3:28: whether you are Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, you are all one. Merely by belonging to Christ you are the posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised!" That is how deep our roots are. The French philosopher, J.P. Lyotard has expressed this post-modern philosophy the best in his book on “the post-modern condition” saying that history has no goals. The time of the great story is over. Death to all mega-narratives! History has no final meaning. There is no pattern that any man can or could discover. Anyone who has listened to me thus far could say, “but on the whole this is a very pessimistic world view!” But the amazing thing is, that this is not true. Instead of pessimism, there is the joy of de-burdening in postmodernism. In other words, their attitude is: “OK, there is no such thing as a universal truth, but let’s keep smiling and enjoy life”. Postmodernism is “nihilism with a smile.”
How should we respond to this post-ideological aspect of the post-modern
mindset? Here Christians should confess their sin: many of us and many of our churches have been guilty of creating or following ideologies! We learn from postmodernism that that was deeply wrong. Once we have confessed that, to each other and to God, there comes room for forgiveness and repentance. A new story can be told! And what is most important: we should learn the difference between prophesy and utopia: UTOPIA VS. PROPHECY
NEGATES CORRECTS This difference with respect to reality is apparent in another way as well. As we said before, utopian expectations are simply dreams of nowhere-land, while biblical prophecies are true visions. The prophets see the future through the spirit of God. The consequence of this is that utopian expectations encourage you to escape reality as it is, while prophecy encourages you to endure it. When you are influenced by a utopian dream, you always tend to hate the present reality, even enough to want to destroy it. Biblical prophets, on the other hand, do speak honestly about brokenness, but they teach one how to endure it, how to restore it from the inside. Where an ideologist would gladly escape to a new land to start anew, a prophet says, no, I will stand here in the midst of misery and try to bring liberating relief in small measure, asking God to bless this work. Biblical prophecy gives endurance, it does not call for escape. The Bible-writers are almost all of them in the first place story-tellers. I believe that we should be! In the first place: root providers, but in the second place: story-tellers. In a way nothing is so healing than recapturing your story! The story of your own small life, and the story of all of us together! Let us be storytellers in an age in which all stories are suspect. We may have to acknowledge in shame where we have told a wrong story, where we have been misled by ideologies. But having worked through the pain of disappointment with ourselves let us move back to the story of the Bible. In the light of that we believe that history is His story! Because I know it is true. This is the deepest crisis in post-modern thinking. Up to the twentieth century scientists , writers, and the man on the street were sure of one thing: a word or a sentence expressed a reality. Truth was the correspondence between the word (the symbol) and reality! Georg Steiner called it a contract. But in the twentieth century “that contract was broken! (as Steiner put it). Words became empty. Indeed false ideologies were one of the reasons. Words are no longer symbols that describe reality, they are meant to create reality. The only relationship that counts is the one between the text and the reader. J.Derrida calls this ‘deconstruction’. Language does not give names to things but makes them into things. The emphasis is on man creator of reality through symbols. We as Christians have a very definite calling: always to emphasize the reality of what we believe! We must be proclaimers of truth: root-providers, story-tellers, and truth-proclaimers. At the same time: if we do this in the wrong way, we destroy more than we build. Especially today even the word ‘Truth’ is suspect. When I hear the word ‘Truth’ says Lyotard, I smell the smoke of the chimney. He meant the destructive concentration camp. For him, truth is by definition something that harms and violates the human personality. People want to force you into it. This is indeed characteristic for each ideology, the individual personality is submitted to the collective. For that reason we have to spell out very carefully the different character of the truth of Christianity, which I will try in the next paragraph.
Characteristics of biblical truth So let us rejoice about modern philosophers unmasking the real character of ideologies, calling them horrible lies. The truth of the Christian faith is not to be found in a system, but in a Person.
What is Christian Truth?
Paul contrasts the truth that he proclaims very clearly from the truth
that the Jews or, for that matter, the Greeks were looking for. He is entitled
to do so, because the truth he proclaims is a Person. I cannot emphasize
too strongly how important it is to hold on to this Pauline message. The
final universal truth is not to be found in an unveiled, impersonal reality
- or an undefined, equally impersonal power: it is a Person! It is Jesus
Christ, and He has been crucified.
If the final truth is a Person, we do not need to fear that faith in this
truth means the loss of our personality. But post-modern man cannot even
bear the word “truth” because he believes there is no such thing as a universal
truth or an all-embracing structure. According to him, such a universal
truth always means the death of man.
The Search for True Freedom and Humanity (Identity)
We are guilty people. We have taken the place of God and we have killed
our brother Cain. We deserve to die. But in the cross of Christ, God offers
us reconciliation. When we bow down before this Person and at the same
time accept our true personal nature, we will be set free. This initiates
a process of growth, that finally leads to the reception of a “white stone,”
with a new name on it, that no one knows except the one who receives it.
“To those who are faithful I will give a white stone, on which is written
a new name that no one knows, except the one who receives it” (Rev 2:17). We have therefore heard of another type of truth, a truth which is personal. The High Priest, the General who will lead His people one by one and will help each one of them to find their own unique identity.
A Legitimate Place for Plurality God’s truth allows incredibly much room for diversity. It has mystery, there is inexplicable depth in it. Differences between people, races, sexes, languages, lifestyles and professions are enormous. This truth gives man identity and sets him free. “If you follow me, you will know the truth and the truth will set you fee” (John 8:32) r 5. REV CHRISTIAN SEYTRE Curriculum Vitae Christian Seytre is a pastor of the Apostolic Church in Paris, France. He is married and has 4 children. He has been a pastor in several parts of France. From 1990 to 1993, he was the Secretary-General of the French Evangelical Alliance, and Director for France of Billy Graham’s Crusade by satellite “Mission World 93”. Since 1996, he has been the Secratary-General of the French Protestant Federation. The French Protestant Federation gathers about 80% of the French Protestants and is composed of Lutheran, Reformed, Evangelical, Baptist and Pentecostal Churches.
Summary of Message John 14:6 Rev Seytre, the president of the Protestant Federation of France, focussed the attention of the ministers on the basics of our faith. Jesus is the Way: Many people seem to think that there are other ways to come to God. For instance, the illustration that all religions lead to the summit of the mountain which is God. Yet, the Bible says that there is only one way, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus the Truth: Many are asking the question: where is the truth and what is the truth? If you go to libraries there are thousands of books on so many subjects in the quest for truth. However, the Bible says that the truth is a Person. It is not a doctrine, a philosophy, a study in anthropology or sociology - it is a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Life: Christ gave His life for the forgiveness of our sins. He has promised eternal life with Him and even now, He gives us His life by the Holy Spirit. The Truth is not a doctrine or a philosophy and so we cannot claim that we have the truth. Rather, we should say that the Truth has us. With regards to doctrinal differences among churches we should remember that Augustine said: Unity in important things, liberty in secondary things, love in all things.
Let’s look now at experiences; if God is a living God, we must have an
experience with Him. Rev Seytre reminded the ministers of the importance of prayer fellowship with God and the study of His Word. The only truth about God is in the Bible. Without the Bible it is not possible to know God. We need to learn how to be patient in waiting on the Lord when things are not clear to us. It is also important to listen to others. We are not alone in the Church; there are others, and God wants to use them to talk to us. We must be especially careful in spiritual matters (convictions, visions, revelations, etc.): the others have to weigh if it is from God or not! (1 Cor. 14:29-30; Acts 16:9) The diversity in the Church, the variety, is a sign of the wisdom of God. (Eph. 3:10) r 6. BISHOP LOUIS SIBIYA Curriculum Vitae Bishop Sibiya is from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa - South Eastern Diocese. Louis Sibiya was born on the 12th of February 1944 on the Ekuhlengeni Lutheran Mission in Vryheid. He obtained his Diploma in Theology in 1968, and also has the Junior Diploma in Business Management (Damelin). He was ordained in March 1969, and is married.
Areas served include Mandini, Eshowe, Khangelani and Johannesburg. In August
1984 he was elected as Dean, and served in this position until 1993. Church involvement includes the Unity Commission, serving on the Lutheran Seminary Board as Secretary, and also sitting on the Projects Screening Committee. Community involvement is also part of his tasks, being a member of School Committees, and sitting on the Johannesburg Choral Society. For the SACC - Choir Resource Project, D.C. of C. he served as Chairperson as part of his Ecumenical involvement. Some of his interests include Brass Choir and Choral Music and reading.
Summary of Message
1. The Scope of the Paper
2. Introduction Based on his experience of 1997 when he was one the 12 who toured Kenya and Uganda in order to learn how the churches in those countries were addressing this epidemic, he is convinced that only the Church has the answer to the problem.
3. From the Bible
4. National Aids Commission
5. The Role of the Church
5.1 Education
5.2 Fellowship
5.3 Dealing with the root causes The Church must be concerned with the elimination of Aids on a long term basis, because its cause is a lack of spiritual focus. 6. He ended off by sharing what is happening in his Church at circuit level. 117 Pastors, all pastors of his Church, have met in 1997 aiming at getting ±800 volunteers who will co-ordinate work at congregational level. r 7. REV STEPHEN ZULU Curriculum Vitae Rev Stephen Zulu is the Secretary General of the Alliance Church in South Africa and Chief Superintendent of Education Management, Newcastle District. He was born on 16 November 1945, married Elcah in 1971 and has been blessed by 3 boys and one girl. Born in an illiterate, poor but Christian family. Through the grace of God he was saved in December 1959 at an age of 14 years. For his schooling he went through Ekucathuzeni, Noordkaap and Kaapschehoop State Primary Schools; Emjindini Secondary School and passed Std 10 through private studies. He is a graduate of Phumelela Bible College in White River, Indaleni Teacher Training College, University of Zululand (B. Theol I) and Vista University, South African College for Teachers, Graduate School of Marketing. He lectured at Mgwenya College of Education in Nelspruit, Phumelela Bible College and Union Bible Institute in Pietermaritzburg. He is the former Principal of Glenthorpe and Sithuthukile Primary Schools, and Khuthalani and Thembeka High Schools. He is also a former Producer for Religious Programmes, SABC, Ligwala gwala before joining SABC TV: Ukholo Lunje Programme. He is the founder of Vista University Christian Fellowship and Vista University Choir and Harambe Comprehensive Mission. He served and still serves on Councils such as Vista University, EBsemSA Union Bible Institute and Sukuma Comprehensive School, Phumelela Bible College. He has visited and preached in countries such as: Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Holland, Germany and seven times in Sweden. He formerly served as Public Relations Officer and Ombudsman of the ex-Department of Education and Training, Natal Region, as Circuit Inspector for Glencoe Circuit and Madadeni West Circuit in Newcastle. He pastored Kabokweni, KaNyamazane, Edendale and Osizweni Congregations and served as Youth Director for the Church for many years. Currently he is involved as pastor of Osizweni Parish, this post is to be relinquished shortly. He is also the Chief Superintendent of Education Management, in the Newcastle District. And he also serves as the Secretary General of The Alliance Church in South Africa, w.e.f. 1 February 2000.
Summary of Message 1 John 2:6 If you have given your life to the Lord Jesus, you have entered an exciting new world. Things should be different for you. Your life will feel fresh and new. If God has really taken the throne of your heart, you will see these changes in your life:
A Desire for Scripture
A Difference in Standards
A Disciple of Self
A Despised by Society
A Seeking of other Disciples
A Serving of the Lord
A Sticking to the Task |
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