I felt led to write this small article as an encouragement to those involved in church planting or who partner Moriel in our planting program. In this fallen world we live in its easy to get side tracked and focused on the opposition we receive from the world, the flesh and the devil and we fail to step back occasionally and recognise the joy that new believers receive at their Baptism. yes Yeshua is still in the business of drawing souls to Himself through the leading of the Holy Spirit and it was with real joy and a time of celebration that 6 people from Moriel came through the waters of Baptism and it was a privilege to assist Ps Bernard Mathe in our small pool. One of the people baptised ‚  was Yvonne one of our elderly missionaries who was sprinkled as baby but at 70 now recognises the need to be obedient to our Saviour. Jesus said 'If you love me you obey my commandments', Baptism was a step of real obedience for these people.

In respect to cross cultural missions, for our African brethren this was also a time to overcome an age old fear. You see in the traditional African cults such as the ZCC, we have known Baptism to be used in an occultic way, even baptisms to end tragically. We know of one ZCC prophet who held three of his congregation under water to purge them from evil spirits for so long that they were drowned. I remember ‚  several years ago in Kwazulu, before we planted the mission station the look of fear in one young ladies eyes as we Baptised her and the look of relief when we brought her out of the waters safely.

As many of you know, Baptism can also be followed by a time of persecution. The evil one hates it when people come to faith in our Messiah and publicly declare their faith to the world. So please pray for these obedient brethren that their time of testing will refine them as pure Gold. ‚   Please read 1Peter Ch1:3-9

God Bless

Pastor Dave Royle
Mission Director Southern Africa