MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP
6 July 1979 In the first week of his military service, Peter Hammond starts the daily Bible study and prayer group out of which the vision for Frontline Fellowship developed.
July 1980 The Bible study fellowship organise the first military evangelistic mission consisting of 40 meetings in 10 days. Of the 2000 soldiers of all ranks who attended each evening rally hundreds dedicated their lives to Christ.
June 1981 During the last week of his military service, while sick with foot infection, flu and chicken pox, Peter sees a vision of a mission made up of Christians with a military background infiltrating communist lands with Bibles, assisting persecuted churches and evangelising enemy soldiers.
November 1981 At first called the “Motorbike Mission”, the fellowship publishes its first tracts and newsletter and obtains its first motorbike.
December 1981 Our first secretary,
Diane, begins work in our first office (a
2 x 3 metre room) above a chemist in
Oxford Street, East London.
April 1982 The first cross-border outreaches into Mozambique begin with 2 off-road motorbikes, a thousand New Testaments, and a 16mm copy of the “Jesus” film. The “Jesus” film attracts thousands of people from all over Maputo (the capital city) to see the first Christian film screened since the revolution in 1975.
September 1982 Our first outreaches to
Beira (the second largest city in
Mozambique) begins.
December 1982 Our first outreaches amongst terrorists and soldiers in Zimbabwe begin.
February 1983 We move our office to Cape Town and, Phyllis, our typist for the last 9 years joins the Fellowship.
July 1983 The “Motorbike Mission” is renamed: “Frontline Fellowship”.
April 1984 United Christian Action (of which FF is a founder member) is launched.
July 1984 First Frontline team (Peter and Derek) to be ambushed and arrested (repeatedly) on outreaches to Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
November 1984 First FF Field Worker Training Course held.
January 1985 First cross-border outreaches involving woman field workers, Laetitia and Marianne. New FF secretary, Cindy begins work.
April 1985 Peter and Rob (an Ex Rhodesian SAS and Recce veteran) establish first contacts for Bible distribution and evangelism amongst RENAMO anti-communist guerillas in Mozambique.
July 1985 First FF outreaches to South West Africa (now Namibia).
September 1985 Peter and Rob undertake first major military outreach speaking tour conducting 93 meetings and 41 film showings, to 20 military bases, throughout South West Africa.
October 1985 Peter and Rob swim into
Angola and deliver first shipments of
Bibles to Christians suffering in that war
torn Marxist state.
July 1986 FF pioneers first outreaches into the northern Zambezia and Tete provinces of Mozambique. During this Bible teaching and literature distribution mission, Peter interviews about 300 survivors of Marxist atrocities, and documents 42 villages burnt down, 74 churches destroyed, 60 occasions when Bibles were burnt and 28 massacres. The research and eye-witness testimonies are published in “The Mozambique Report” which receives international TV and newspaper coverage.
September 1986 First “Frontline Fellowship News” published.
October 1986 Frelimo dictator of Mozambique, Samora Machel, dies as his Tupelov aircraft crashes in a thunderstorm.
May 1987 First English field workers Chris and Steve (an SAS captain) begin outreaches with Peter.
June 1987 First FF overseas speaking tour. Peter takes 3000 copies of the newly published German translation of the Mozambique Report to Germany for the “Kirchentag” church conference.
July 1987 FF field team sets a new record for productivity by travelling 8000km and conducting 62 evangelistic meetings in 24 military bases, in just 18 days.
October 1987 FF missionaries Peter, Rob and Chris are arrested and imprisioned in Zambia. During their enforced prison ministry they preach to almost a thousand fellow prisoners and lead many to conversion.
February 1988 First FF speaking tour to USA.
March 1988 First field trip behind the “Iron Curtain” into East Germany.
July 1988 “The Christian at War” booklet published. US missionary Lenora joins FF and establishes FF office in Newlands.
December 1988 The first of the monthly Fellowship Meetings in Cape Town is held with FF board member Col. Jan Breytenbach as the special guest speaker.
January/February 1989 Outreach 435, the largest FF field outreach yet held is launched with 3 teams of 9 members involved in a country-wide evangelistic campaign. The teams, which included Peter, Rob, George and Colonel Breytenbach, conducted over 170 evangelistic rallies throughout South West Africa in the final months of the war before UN435 was implemented.
March 1989 The “South West
Special Report” is published.
25 March 1989 The Director, Peter, and Ministry Co-ordinator, Lenora, are married in Cape Town.
April 1989 Peter and Lenora undertake extensive Eastern Europe outreach including to Romania and Croatia.
July 1989 FF launches “A Box With
Love” emergency relief project out of
which the Mozambique Refugee
Outreach develops.
October 1989 Peter and George captured by communist troops in Tete, Mozambique, escorted by Soviet pilots in Mi-8 helicopters to Machava prison.
November 1989 “Faith in Action” book published. To cope with its growing mailing lists and publications ministry, FF obtains its first computer.
December 1989 The overthrow of Ceaucescu in Romania, and the busiest year yet with Peter having addressed 450 meetings in 8 countries during the year.
March/April 1990 Peter undertakes 3rd speaking tour to the USA, and first preaching tours to Mexico and Poland.
May 1990 George begins a systematic leadership training programme for Mozambique church leaders.
August 1990 Pam becomes new FF secretary.
November 1990 Peter participates in the WCC sponsored Rustenburg National Conference of Churches (NCC). He makes a lone stand for pro-life, moral and family issues at the Conference, and exposes the deceptions and hypocrisies of this event in the media.
January 1991 FF participates in the
historic KwaSizabantu Ministers
Conference and in the drafting of the
KwaSizabantu Affirmation 1991.
March 1991 Peter, and FF missionary volunteer from Texas Martha, launch Cape Christian Action - a network of 20 Bible believing organisations united in rebuilding pro-life, moral and Biblical standards in our society.
April 1991 Peter and Martha launch Salt Shakers - a grassroots movement that has already established over 200 prayer, strategy and action groups and succeeded in persuading over 600 stores to stop selling immoral publications.
June - October 1991 George and Johan undertake four extensive Bible distribution and Bible teaching trips throughout Angola. They manage to deliver Bibles to churches that have been without the Word of God since the revolution of 1975.
August 1991 Frontline Fellowship returns to Zambia for Crusade ‘91 which includes ministry on national television and amongst the prisoners.
January 1992 FF hosts the first Biblical Worldview Seminar in Cape Town. FF then organises its 19th field worker camp - the Discipleship Training Course - which attracts evangelists and missionaries from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, South Africa and America.
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