A Warning From The Lord
/It's not easy when you receive a warning from the Lord regarding false teaching, but the Lord gave me just that kind of warning recently. I was impressed with Paul's warning to the elders of the church in Ephesus (Acts 20) to guard the flock against wolves in sheep's clothing, and God spoke to me to be on guard against false teaching coming in to our churches.
There is an abundance of false teaching in Africa (ancestor worship, extreme prosperity teaching, witch doctors, multiple-wives, very domineering authority robbing people of their priesthood, witch doctors in the church, "don't read your Bible" kind of teaching, etc.). Sadly, there is not just false teaching among the African indigenous churches, but there is also a lot of false teaching coming from the West.
To help our African emerging leaders and church members discern truth from lies, we have found it important to put an emphasis on reading the word with a focus on simple obedience, discovering what God is saying in inductive Bible study, then obeying the word as God speaks to one's heart.
By obeying that "one thing" God emphasizes to be obeyed, we see people grow in knowledge of truth and spiritual maturity. We believe and teach that false teaching gains a foot-hold primarily through lack of obedience to the simple and obvious truths of the gospel, particularly as it relates to daily life: how I treat my wife/husband, honesty, sexual purity, taking responsibility for my choices, sharing the gospel, loving one another, forgiving our enemies, rejecting lies about ourselves and God, refusing to submit to witch doctors and elders who practice ancestor worship, etc.
The theme that is growing in my heart for this year for our movement here in Cape Town, and other parts of Africa/Middle East, is to "build the church". To build it on solid Biblical foundations, to equip our leaders with "heaven's resources" to live anointed and Holy Spirit empowered lives, and to train leaders who can build healthy, multiplying churches.
Please pray for us as we enter this year, would you? We are waiting on God this week, fasting, worshipping, seeking fresh power from the Holy Spirit to see breakthroughs in our churches and our work among the poor and the lost, needing discernment and protection from the enemy without and our weaknesses within. We are confident in his grace and power and need your love and prayers.
Thank you.
With gratitude,
Floyd and Sally
P.S. A few days ago I spent two hours discipling three young Malawian leaders about "church planting leadership" from the book of Acts (they are economic refugees here in South Africa). I have been mentoring and coaching them to plant churches back in their own land some day, encouraging them to get a vision to go back to Malawi and plant churches. What a privilege to invest in young men who want to learn! They asked about the need to plant churches even though there are many people back in Malawi who are Christians already - but in name only. They understood the need for right foundations in building God's church. I walked away from our time together thinking that that is why God brought Sally and me to Africa, to invest in teachable, passionate Africans who will give their lives for the gospel!