This is the story of the wonderful and incredible journey our congregation has been on for the past 14 years after we joined ourselves to Joshua Generation, a Four12 partnering church. Maybe you have heard of us, perhaps you and your church are looking in, or on the verge of joining our partnership. Perhaps you already have, and now you are in the process of transitioning into what we believe is authentic New Testament Church.
Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you will find something in our story that will stir up hope and faith that God is still building His Church.
As an Afrikaans-speaking church in a small town called Swellendam in rural South Africa, almost all of us have been part of a church in one way or another. Most Afrikaans-speaking towns have churches and buildings that have been around for centuries – they are often the most prominent feature in town. It is just part of our culture. I had been in ministry for 13 years prior to our partnership and knew it was time to call out to God for the life of Christ in our church.
In John 6:44 Jesus said, “Nobody comes to me unless the Father draws him.” God put a deep hunger in our hearts. It was as if He continually whispered that there is something so much more real and alive than what we had known and experienced throughout our lives.
In April 2011 we heard of a group of believers who called themselves JoshGen, who were camping at the Breede River, close to Swellendam. More than a thousand of them arrived for the weekend. Our leadership team decided to send one of our leaders to the camp, much like one of the spies sent to Canaan, to come back and report what he saw and experienced. I remember his reply to this day when he was asked what he saw: “I think I found them.” “Who?” I asked. “The people and the church we were looking for.”
God put a deep hunger in our hearts. It was as if He continually whispered that there is something much more real and alive than what we had known and experienced throughout our lives.
He shared of the love and acceptance he experienced, how deep and sweet the worship was, how tangible the presence of God was, and how the preaching cut right to the heart of people, leading to repentance. When I heard this, my own heart cried out for this, beginning our great and awesome journey.
I believe we could have missed what God had for us even after we joined the JoshGen family. But God had worked some keys into our hearts that made the transformation real and life-changing. We were part of a religious group known for our traditions, culture, and unmoving convictions for centuries, but God met us where we were and then worked His Kingdom values into us by His Holy Spirit – He can do it for anyone and any church.
I trust that these keys will give you hope that change is possible when hearts are willing and help you cross over into what God has in store for your church.
Acknowledge Your State
The first key was to acknowledge our unhealthy state and take full ownership of it. In Revelation 3:17 the Lord says: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
‘Not realise’ can also mean not willing to realise. When Andrew Selley started the journey with us as our apostolic leader, he said to us, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” And I want to add to that, “You will never know if you don’t let go.”
We drew a line in the sand and did not take anything we considered valuable with us when we transitioned if it was not a value in His Kingdom. We cleaned the slate and deleted the files – we wanted to start from scratch.
Lay Down Everything
Before we committed to building the church biblically, we had a leadership team of seven men. They were willing to lay down everything – they all stepped down from their positions. We had no elders or deacons at that time because we had an unbiblical conviction that the season had passed for these offices in the church.
I will never forget that wonderful Sunday morning when we, as leaders, stood in front of the church and announced this, repenting from our entitlement, ministries and rights we thought we had. We also made a promise to the whole congregation that we will embrace all the authentic values and that we will lead by example. We even gave the responsibility and right to the congregation to address any one of us if they feel we are not living out the values of New Testament Church.
The church embraced it completely and joyfully because we believed that God would restore us to the New Testament pattern of building church, including the appointment of elders and deacons. And believe you me, He has restored it completely.
I believe that leaders willing to lay down everything should not be a ‘once-off’ event. That is how we should always live – serving God and serving the people with our lives.
Focus on Community Life
We were not new to small groups, cell groups, or life groups, but we had never experienced or understood truly living as family and sharing our lives with one another. It was easy to have another meeting on a Wednesday, but we had to learn what it meant to have open homes.
This starts with open hearts. We are a friendly people, with ‘low outer walls’, but it was not easy to get into our lives or ‘higher inner walls’. God has really changed us. We love fellowship in our homes, and it has become part of our DNA, our way of life.
One of the greatest influences that brought about change, was the willingness and love of communities from Cape Town who visited us regularly. The saints who came and stayed in our homes changed our lives. Their love, servanthood, spontaneous worship, and joy were so infectious that we had no option but to change.
Hunger for the Presence of God
The most important key is the presence of God. We must be hungry to meet with God when we come together. His presence is not something that you can fabricate, but we began to experience wonderful times in His presence during our meetings. It was not like that before, as we always had well planned, structured meetings. We have since come to realise that it is neither our skill nor our experience or sound theology that will usher in the presence of the Lord: it is hearts that hunger and thirst after God Himself.
We decided to surrender everything so that we could meet with Him. No church will be authentic or healthy without the presence of the Lord.
Sometimes it may seem a little bit confusing and a little bit chaotic, maybe we are still very young in experiencing God’s presence, but we are seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit and waiting on the Lord. We have a desire that we will meet with Him and experience His life in our relationships, church meetings, our communities, our worship services – in every meeting we have, even our eldership meetings. Oh, may we never lose our first love, or exchange God for something or someone else!
We decided to surrender everything so that we could meet with Him. No church will be authentic or healthy without the presence of the Lord.
Today our little church has grown into a healthy, authentic, and vibrant body of believers. We have become a base church that really has an influence in our town and region, with numerous healthy communities, elders, deacons and saints who are on fire for Jesus.
This is just a short testimony of what we have experienced, and are still experiencing, in Swellendam. I believe that there are more keys to transitioning successfully, but I trust that you will find hope, vision and faith that Jesus is building His church. All glory to Him!
