Possessing the kingdom of God: A live presentation by DNA leader Hein van Wyk

The kingdom of God is a mysterious but central aspect of the Christian faith.

Out of the 40 parables Jesus taught to his disciples and to others within earshot, 18 specifically were about the kingdom. In the four gospels, the phrases kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God are referenced 97 times!

Hein van Wyk, part of DNA’s Global Leadership Team and an excellent teacher, gave perhaps the most thorough  explanation that we have seen of the kingdom of God at the 2013 DNA Global Forum in Brazil. Here, you’ll find his presentation in two parts. Please watch and share with your friends and colleagues!

Possessing the Kingdom (Part 1) by Hein van Wyk from Disciple Nations Alliance.

Possessing the Kingdom (Part 2) by Hein van Wyk from Disciple Nations Alliance.

About Hein van Wyk

Hein van Wyk’s passion is Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom in every area of life. For the last 17 years, he has facilitated Kingdom development as it relates to leadership formation, collaboration initiatives, community upliftment, mission mobilization and strategic planning.  He has been a conference and motivational speaker on topics that include worldview, transformational development, missions, prayer and partnership.

Hein resides in South Africa and ministers nationally as well as internationally. In addition to serving on the DNA’s Global Leadership Team, he works from the platform of Hope for Africa Strategic Alliances and serves as Samaritan Strategy Africa‘s regional coordinator for southern Africa, as well as Africa director for both Churches Together and Experience Mission.

Hein is married to Helene and has three children: Jannandi (24), Heilene (20) and Daneiko (13).

Contact Hein at hein@hopeforafrica.co.za.

Vision Conference coming up in South Sudan, May 2013. Join us!

All are invited to a DNA Vision Conference to be held in Rumbek, South Sudan at the end of May. These conferences have a history of sparking life-changing vision, new ideas and partnerships. Please join us and pass this on to anyone who might be interested!

The Republic of South Sudan became an independent nation on July 9, 2011.

Contact Karobia Njogu (karobia.njogu@cms-africa.org)
with any questions.

DNA’s work in Africa: Finalist for World Magazine award

Last week, World Magazine released this year’s finalists for its prestigious Hope Award for Effective Compassion, and we were so excited to see the work of Chris Ampadu, West Africa Coordinator for Samaritan Strategy Africa (SSA), selected as the only international ministry on the list!

Read the full article here.

Chris, a native of Ghana, was one of the first DNA trainers in Africa. After attending a Vision Conference in 1999, he walked away from a successful business career to be mentored by DNA co-founder Darrow Miller. He has been a highly effective trainer and mentor of church leaders in West Africa since. Today, Chris serves on staff with Harvest.

Chris (right) is on the leadership team of Samaritan Strategy Africa. SSA and DNA share the same mission: To encourage, prepare and equip local churches with a Christian worldview (mind-set) to carry out wholistic ministry in their communities.

Since 2005, Chris and his fellow SSA colleagues have worked to raise up indigenous training teams in every African nation. Since they began:

• More than 400 African trainers have been certified
• National training teams now exist in 26 African nations
• More than 600 Vision Conferences have been conducted
• Nearly 30,000 African pastors and church leaders have been trained
• Thousands of Seed Projects have been implemented

These African leaders offer a shining example of DNA’s prayer to see local believers catch a vision for their communities and run with it in a way that multiplies impact.

The Hope Award began with 200 nominations, from which five finalists were selected. Each finalist received a $4,000 prize, and votes from the public will determine who wins the $21,000 grand prize.

World Magazine’s editor-in-chief, Marvin Olasky, and his wife saw Chris’ work first-hand earlier this year.

Click here to cast your vote by September 30!

SSA’s mission aligns perfectly with World Magazine’s criteria for the contest: “programs that are not just evangelical and not just economic, but unite body and soul.”

A full-length article in the September edition explains: “DNA sees Christian worldview teaching as the missing link between evangelism and economic development. Without that understanding, Africa’s Christianity takes a gnostic form, with extravagant worship on Sunday but no connection between that and their lives the rest of the week, or between the spiritual and the material.”

DNA is privileged to partner with Chris and SSA, acting as a behind-the-scenes catalyst and supporter for this movement which continues to gain speed. Just a few months ago, three new teams took root in Niger, Benin and Lesotho.

If you’d like to vote for Samaritan Strategy Africa to win this $21,000 prize, please do so here. To financially support the spread of a biblical worldview across Africa, give through our website (choose dropdown “DNA’s work in Africa”).

If you give $30 or more, we’ll send you a free copy of Against All Hope: Hope for Africa, written conjointly by the DNA and SSA.

An Unlikely Journey Toward Transformation

Steve Chia is a Consultant Civil Engineer in Jos, Nigeria, where he also works for Youth Leadership Development Forum (YLDF) and chairs the Biblical National Transformation Committee.

After serving in leadership in his local church for many years, Steve grew concerned about a trend in lives of the Christians around him.

“When I was growing up, Christians were pretty predictable … If they said something you could depend on them. … Not any more.”

During his search for answers, Steve found two DNA books: Against All Hope: Hope for Africa and Discipling Nations. He read both and started passing out copies to friends.

Although Steve was invited to several Vision Conferences, he was unable to attend any. He first met DNA co-founders Darrow Miller and Bob Moffitt last March when he had the opportunity to attend a global forum in Pretoria.

In this video Steve shares his story about how the message of DNA changed his world, and what he is doing to spread that message in Nigeria.

[youtube.com/watch?v=9QVwr4NALCg]

Men Can Fetch the Water?

Johannes Aucamp works as a facilitator with Hope for Africa and TOPIA (Training of Pastors in Africa). He first attended a Vision Conference in 2010 facilitated by Hein Van Wyk in South Africa.

In this video Johannes tells the humble beginning of transformation that happened when a group of African men resisted cultural norms by taking their turn to fetch and heat the water for the morning baths.

A Vision for Burundi, Rwanda and Beyond

In 2001, Christopher Holimbere was a student in Bible College in Rwanda. He had the opportunity to attend a vision conference, and for the first time heard the DNA message as presented by Bob Moffit, Darrow Miller, and Chris Ampadu.

Today, Christopher pastors Good Shepherd Community Church, and is an associate staff member of Harvest Foundation in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

In this video, he  tells the story of his personal transformation and the beginnings of a Samaritan Strategy harvest in his part of Africa.

“We Are Not Cursed!”

Some long-believed lies in southern Africa were exposed during a recent Biblical Worldview and Transformational Development Conference.

Over 40 people attended the three-day event, conducted at Mawilini in September. They came from the communities of Mawilini and Kandeni and represented four denominations: the IRM, Kalibo Church, Methodist, and Catholic.

Hein van Wyk (center) facilitating with Pastor Jose Ganhale (L) translating into Takwane and Rev. Danie Murray (R) translating into Portuguese.

The session was sponsored by four partners: Hope for Africa (Hein van Wyk), Hande Vat Project (Rev Danie Murray), TOPIA (Rev Johannes Aucamp) and The Tumbine Synod of the Reformed Church of Mozambique (IRM). The IRM Synod was represented by Pastors Souza Estaforde (IRM Liazi) and Jose Ganhale (IRM Namitimba) who are both being trained as conference facilitators.

The IRM congregation at Mawilini, pastored by Pastor Carlos Herbert, Moderator of the Tumbine Synod,  hosted the event.

This conference was the first in Mozambique to be arranged and funded by the local community. The desired outcomes were: 1) a growing vision for community development through cultural transformation, 2) a basic understanding of worldview and of the role of the Church in society, 3) all of this practically applied through the demonstration of God’s love in every area of community life.

The facilitator team debriefing

During the conference the delegates had the opportunity to deal with cultural lies like tribalism, male superiority, the lie that work is a curse, and fatalism. In small groups they discussed the roots and fruits of these lies, how they are transmitted in the culture, what the Bible says about them, and what practical steps can be taken to expose these deceptions.

The group made one practical application during the week. The married men left their benches to cross the aisle and sit with their wives on the floor on the other side. The next morning the wives in turn sat with their husbands on the benches. This simple action showed a changed mindset, one which acknowledged that Jesus Christ had demolished the wall of separation between male and female.

The following are some of the comments delegates made during the course of the conference:

A wide range of ages was represented

• We as Africans are not cursed; we do not use our opportunities and what we have. Because of this others take away what we have.
• Now we know that God sent us to work.
• I’m encouraged by Galatians 3:28 which say that there is now no separation between different tribes and between male and female. It liberated me.
• We discovered Africa has two sides – blessed and broken. We know the reason is our thinking; our glasses. We should change our glasses.
• We now have new ideas to start new things.
• We talked about fatalism that we cannot change anything, but now we know that we can change things.
• All things are possible in Christ.
• Wives can now sit with their husbands in Church.
•  Church is not the building but people who believe in Jesus Christ.
• Christ is the Head; we are the body who demonstrates His love.
• Christ came to reconcile us; all of us – with one another and with God.
• Jesus is who God is.

Pastors Souza Estaforde (R) and Jose Ganhale (L) being trained as facilitators

As a result of the training, three Seed Projects were done by the participants. The first was the repair of a damaged bridge at Maramotondo. A second project, done by people from different denominations to demonstrate unity, was repairing the house of Pastor Kalito Mario (the pastor from Kalibo Church) which had recently burnt down. The small group also raised 100 Malawi Kwacha and presented the gift to him at the closing of the conference.

A group of youth did the third project. They composed a new song and sang it to the conference attendees at the conclusion of the three-day gathering. One of the truths of the conference lessons was captured in the lyrics: “To work is not a curse; it is a blessing. Go and read Genesis 2:15.”

By Hein van Wyk

Transformation in the Shadow of Kilimanjaro

Paul Kibona lives in Tanzania near Mt. Kilimanjaro where he works with Imara Ministry Foundation as a Seminar Coordinator.

Paul first heard the DNA teachings in 2007 when Darrow Miller spoke at a YWAM Leadership Training School in South Africa. Later, he attended a Vision Conference co-sponsored by the Imara Ministry Foundation and Samaritan Strategy Africa, which Dennis Tongoi facilitated.

In this video, Paul shares the story of what happened in his life and the church in Tanzania when he discovered the teaching of DNA.

Exciting Open Door in Sudan, North Africa

Stephen Langa

God has just opened a new door of hope in Sudan, and through Sudan, into all of North Africa.

Hope for Africa is a ten-year initiative of DNA Africa Affiliate Samaritan Strategy Africa (SSA) aimed at catalyzing a movement of church-based transformation across the continent.  Since it began in 2005, over 30,000 pastors and church leaders have been impacted. National training teams (comprised of 339 certified trainers) have been established in 22 African nations. Thousands of Seed Projects have been implemented. Many have grown into significant programs: schools for slum children, micro-enterprise initiatives, HIV-AIDS related ministries, among others.

But the tremendous success experienced by Hope for Africa has has not reached North Africa.

Until now.

In March, Stephen Langa, a member of the SSA Africa Working Group and Executive Director of Transforming Nations Alliance was invited by International AID Services to conduct a one-day Vision Casting in Khartoum. Among the 40 attendees of this event were top NGO and Sudanese church leaders, including the Anglican Bishop of Khartoum and the Chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches.

These leaders were so impacted by Stephen’s presentation that they asked him to be the opening speaker at a gathering of all major Sudanese church leaders organized and hosted by the Sudan Council of Churches. This gathering was held in Juba just a few weeks later, on March 23-26.

Khartoum

Again, those in attendance were deeply struck by Stephen’s message. Doors were opened to conduct full, five-day Vision Conferences in Khartoum, Juba, and Yei.

Stephen and Pastor Franco Onaga of Watoto Church have already facilitated a full Vision Conference in Khartoum during the first week of June. Here are excerpts from Stephen’s June 11 report:

Pastor Franco and I have just concluded facilitating the Khartoum VC which was sponsored by International AID Services [IAS].

In a nutshell, it was one of the best Vision Conferences we have ever conducted and our sense is that this conference is going to have a significant impact in the Church and nation of Sudan. Bishop Ezekiel Kondo, Chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches who attended the conference, said at the end, “This should not be called a vision conference; it should rather be called an ‘Open Door Conference’ because it has opened a great door for the Church in Sudan”

The 50 participants were  pastors, denomination leaders, mission organization leaders, theological school leaders and Christian NGO leaders. The selection was carefully made such that every participant was strategic in their own right. Three of the leaders were Eritrean and have significant contacts with the Church in Eritrea and the Diaspora.

Most of the participants said that the conference was a life changing experience.

“Every lesson that was taught contained something that was directly relevant in my life,” said one.

“There are questions I have had in my life and have not had answers to; this conference has answered them,” was the testimony of another, who has been in student ministries for many years.

Several wished that the conference would continue for several more days. Every participant left with at least one thing that they are going to do or implement within the next one week.

There was also a general feeling that this conference came at the right time to the right people. After the recent elections, tribal clashes and killing of innocent people have continued in the South. It appears that some of the army leaders from the South have joined the Islamic Northern government and are being armed to destabilize the South. It is reported that some of the leaders in the South believe that their tribe is only tribe that should rule, and that it is causing unease and dissatisfaction among other tribes. It is therefore not clear to what is going to happen after the referendum next year.

The Church in the Islamic North is still somewhat afraid to engage in open evangelism fearing attacks from the Islamic government which imposed Sharia law some time back.  Although this is the situation generally, new initiatives by some Christian organizations and churches are using innovative methods to evangelize in the North.

Clearly the Church as well as the nation needs direction and transformational leadership. The Vision Conference has provided these key influential Church and Christian leaders with foundational truths, values and principles that could provide lasting solutions to problems faced by the church and the nation. The conference also exposed the church in Sudan to wholistic ministry and evangelism, which is a new concept to them. The testimonies from Watoto Church and the small groups concept opened the Church to new possibilities of ministering wholistically to the Muslim world. One pastor of a Pentecostal church in Khartoum said, “We only knew one way of evangelizing – direct evangelism. The idea of seed projects has opened our eyes to an effectively way of reaching out to Moslems”

As part of the way forward, an Interim Task Force [ITF] composed of eight leaders (six men and two women) was formed to provide leadership and coordination of the Samaritan Strategy in Sudan. Bishop Kondo is part of it and so are some key Pentecostal leaders. There was overwhelming desire to see the VC conducted in other parts of Sudan, especially the South in places such as Juba. I am going to be in touch with the task force with a view of providing guidance and mentorship.

A two-day meeting is scheduled next week between the Government of Southern Sudan and representatives of the Church in Sudan [The President of Southern Sudan is going to be present at the meeting]. Some of the representatives of the church delegation, who are going to represent the Church in Sudan at this meeting, attended the VC. Please pray that God would give the Sudanese church leaders the courage, wisdom and love to articulate God’s mind and purposes for the nation of Sudan.

Sudan is a gateway country to North Africa as it shares a common border with nine countries. The Sudanese church understands how to work in a Muslim context and is strategically located to influence the church across North Africa.

Here are a few photos from the recent Vision Conference:

Hope for Africa – A Decade of Growth and Fruit

In 1999, DNA’s very first Vision Conference was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya. Within two years, a network of African trainers and practitioners had formed to Vision Conference and train trainers across the entire continent. This network, known as Samaritan Strategy Africa, launched a project in 2005 called Hope for Africa, with the goal of mobilizing and equipping national training teams in all 53 African nations.

As of April, 2010:

• Over 339 African trainers have been certified
• National training teams exist in 22 Africa nations
• More than 600 Vision Conferences have been conducted
• Nearly 30,000 African pastors and church leaders have been trained
• Thousands of Seed Projects have been implemented

The steering committee for Samaritan Strategy Africa (known as “The African Working Group”) is comprised of Dennis Tongoi (Kenya), Stephen Langa (Uganda), Demelesh Lemma (Ethiopia), Hein VanWyk (South Africa), Chris Ampadu (Ghana) and Simon Nziramakenga (Rwanda).

For greater detail, please see the SSA Progress Tracking Sheet, 30 April, 2010.