Missionaries Mobilised through the Great Commission Course 2003
By God's grace, Frontline Fellowship has completed the Great Commission Course in Cape Town. Pastors, evangelists and missionaries came from Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Canada, South Africa and the USA to participate in this uniquely practical, hands-on missions training seminar.
At the end of the Great Commission Camp, 19 participants came forward to be prayed for in a Commissioning service. Each of these were going out on various short or long-term mission outreaches, including to Bangladesh, Nigeria, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Spain, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Great Commission Course involved daily outreaches and practicals, starting with daily physical training every morning, intense lectures and multiple outreaches to railway stations, taxi ranks, bus stations, market places, door-to-door, prison ministry, film evangelism and visits to other missions. The programme often went on till after midnight with numerous night hikes.
The GCC participants distributed 40 000 Gospel booklets, primarily in Xhosa, English and Afrikaans and showed Christian films including the Jesus film in Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. In Khayelitsha, Guguletu, Dunoon, Msipumulele, Wellington, Velddrift, Villiersdorp and Philippi.
One Saturday aftenoon, GCC participants and Frontline missionaries engaged in soccer evangelism in Khayelitsha. There is a huge settlement of mostly Xhosa people. The missionaries beat the home team 5-0. That evening the church was packed out for the film evangelism and it was even more overflowing the next morning as I took a communion service and preached on Jesus – the lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). The next week the missionaries beat the Khayelitsha home team at Volleyball: 3-1.
Many of our GCC outreaches were to assist church planting projects. One church planting project in Khayelitsha, which last year was meeting in a home, for which we had rented a tent to hold the special outreaches in, this year had moved into a fine new building, including their pre-school and a large church hall - which was full on Sunday mornings.
The GCC participants took part in night-time prayer vigils and street outreaches outside several night-clubs, brothels and pornography shops in the sleazy part of the city; and prayer vigils, protests and side-walk counseling on Saturday mornings outside a Marie Stopes Abortion Clinic. Some of the participants had the joy of leading people to Christ in prisons and outside brothels and night- clubs.
One of the 5 hikes included a 7-hour climb up and over the full length and breadth of Table Mountain. The descent was accomplished in the dark. As with the other hikes, participants carried back- packs, each laden with over a thousand Scripture booklets in Arabic. Some of the hikes ran up and down river- beds so we had the Scripture booklets securely water- proofed.
Aside from daily PT, outreaches, lectures and hikes, there were several exams written as well. At the end of the course, while vast quantities of Gospel Literature, Bibles, books and audio-visual evangelistic equipment were being prepared for mission outreaches and teams to go across the boarder, some of the written responses from GCC participants included: “Outstanding. Completely amazing. The content of the lectures was incredible and inspiring. Different from what I have previously known or expected” ; “I have been challenged to only accept God’s best for my life. Mediocrity and complacency will not be tolerated in any area of my life”; “I have attended many missions conferences, but I have never been so inspired or practically equipped before”; “Boldness has been built within me; fear removed”; “I want to be completely obedient to God in every are of my life – to be faithful in all circumstances despite the consequences.”
GCC Report 2002
Every July Frontline Fellowship runs a Great Commission Course (GCC) in Cape Town. This year participants came from Canada, USA, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The GCC is an intense and practical mission training programme. It involved many outreaches, film evangelism, literature evangelism and personal evangelism in overcrowded informal settlements, prisons, hospitals, railway stations, shopping centres, mosques and on the streets. Blankets and Bibles were distributed in squatter camps; and film outreaches were held in civic centres and in a tent that we specially hired to assist a Church planting project in Khayelitsha.
Residents of Khayelitsha challenged the missionaries to a soccer match – which was held on rough terrain with livestock wandering on and off the field. The game was very intense and ended in a draw! In overtime the soccer match was won – by the missionaries! This was in spite of our people having been marched across the mountains the whole night before. There were some aching muscles afterwards.
Part of the practical training was placing participants under physical and emotional pressure and depriving them of sleep. Each morning began with PT and running at 6:30am. Most mornings were filled with intense lectures. Most afternoons and many evenings we were engaged in outreaches. And some nights there were "practicals" which on one rainy night involved hiking up and down a river in a dark forest. As this was to simulate a Bible smuggling operation in a restricted access area, strict silence was maintained and no flashlights could be used. Candidates were laden with hundreds of Arabic Gospel booklets each. These had to be carefully waterproofed as everyone got soaked slipping and sliding up and down the river. All this was during a freezing Cape winter.
The night before the soccer match, we completed an outreach in Khayelitsha, then we held a prayer vigil, placard protest and one-on-one evangelism outreach outside a pornography shop, then at 10:30 pm, we began an all-night hike across the magnificent mountain ranges that surround Cape Town. Of course the participants wore backpacks which were filled with hundreds of Arabic Gospel booklets. This time it wasn’t raining and we enjoyed a spectacular starlit view of God’s creation. By the time we all were able to stagger back to base, it was after 6:30am!
The parallel children’s programme Great Commission Kidz was also a tremendous success with the children mastering the Evangelism Explosion presentation, the Walk Thru’ The Bible (Old Testament), the Apostles Creed, the Ten Commandments and many Scriptures. Some of the children took part in outreaches in the townships as well.
The last command of our Lord Jesus ought to be our first concern.
