Newsflash: Friday, 1 June - AFM South Africa

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1 JUNE ENG 2018

1. THE AFM OF SA CELEBRATED 110 YEARS!

CENTURION ON 25 MAY 2018

On Friday the 25^th of May the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa celebrated its 110^th birthday! This historic milestone was celebrated with a special event that was held at the AGS Centurion Assembly in Pretoria, with Pastor Rudi Briel and Mariesa Briel as hosts. The theme for the service was “The Going Gospel – Moving Forward” and demonstrated by means of a 110 Year emblem that was specifically designed for the occasion. The main feature of the emblem is the arrow that symbolises the AFM’s apostolic DNA of breaking new ground and moving forward with the mission.

Guests included the National Office Bearers, Regional Office Bearers in and around the Gauteng area (representing regions, networks and national departments), the AFM national office staff, leadership from the AGS Centurion Assembly as well as special guests from the Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian community. The programme was divided into three main sections.

The first section was titled “Rewind – to move forward we need to understand where we come from”. The guests were pleasantly surprised when they heard the programme director, Past. Rudi Coertzen (Regional Leader of the East Rand Region) call Past. Dudley Goodenough, the great grandson of Mrs. C.L. Goodenough to the stage. It is well known in the AFM’s history that Mrs. Goodenough was the sent one to receive two American missionaries (Jong G. Lake and Thomas Hezmalhalch) at the Johannesburg Park train station in May in 1908. He delivered a beautiful rendition of her life. Connecting further with our roots and history, Dr. I.S. Burger (Former President of the AFM of SA) talked about missionality and how the early church was spontaneously and practically a missional church. He reminded us that the church is in the business of “sending” – in the business of MISSION (John 3:16). Every AFM member is sent to “go and be church”, a representative of Christ in the world.

The second section reflected on the current impact and growth of the AFM and was titled: “Pause – the current footprint of the AFM in South Africa and globally.” Dr. H.J. Weideman (General Secretary) did a presentation on the growth that the AFM experienced from 1911 to 2018 as illustrated in the figure below:

Dr. H.J. Weideman also explained that the AFM is in the process of becoming a modern day missional movement and made reference to the One AFM Game Plan – the AFM’s Missional Strategy that was launched in 2013. To give perspective on the AFM’s footprint globally, Rev. F.C. Chikane (President of AFM International) reported on the AFM presence in approximately 35 countries on 6 continents of the world. The unity that was achieved in 1996 resulted in many new international opportunities for the church.Past. M.G. Mahlobo (President of the AFM) concluded with the last section titled: “Play – where is the AFM heading in the future?”. The President provided the modern-day context in which followers of Jesus find themselves in today. The vision of the AFM was reinforced: “We see a church (AFM) that is accessible to all people, celebrating its unity and God-given diversity, empowering its members for caring and transforming communities to the glory of God”.

He also casted clear vision on the two major shifts for the AFM as the church is heading into the future:

Moving from a passive member to an active modern-day missionary. May every AFM member understand what it means to be “sent” by God impacting the lives of others with the love, character and message of Jesus.
Moving from Pastor/Shepherd to Coach. May every AFM Pastor understand what it means to be a missional coach by empowering members to become modern-day missionaries in their communities. May AFM assemblies be breeding grounds for these apostolic modern-day agents.

The event was concluded with a powerful poem by Past. PN Kekana titled “The AFM on the move!”. This poem was especially written for the 110^th birthday celebration and was the perfect ending to a blessed celebration service!

Various regional structures and assemblies hosted their own 110^th birthday celebration services – it was wonderful to attend some of these events and also see video clips posted by AFM assemblies on social media. (Please do remember to tag “@The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa” so that we can see the celebrations from a national level.) For those that still want to host their own celebrations, we would like to make the resources available. All available resources can be downloaded from the AFM website link below:
http://afm-ags.org/category/events/

2. AFM GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING (GBM) 2018

The AFM National Office is looking forward to hosting the 2018 General Business Meeting. We can confirm the following:

Date: 9-13 September 2018
Venue: AFM Woord en Lewe (Boksburg)
Early Registration Fee: R300 per person before/on 30 June
Late Registration Fee: R350 per person

Please take note that a Circular will be distributed to all assemblies. For an electronic copy refer to the Events page on the AFM website: http://afm-ags.org/category/events/. On this page you will also find:

The Registration Form
Annexure A: Agenda
Annexure E: Programme

3. LAND EXPROPRIATION WITHOUT COMPENSATION: AFM PRESENTATION

The AFM presentation is available from the AFM website and can be downloaded from the following link:
http://afm-ags.org/category/media/

4. EMPOWERED21 AFRICAN CONGRESS: A GATHERING OF NOTE

BOKSBURG ON 16-19 MAY 2018

The theme of the Congress was “Living to impact generations through the Holy Spirit.” – and part of the overall vision of Empowered21 which is:

“That every person living on earth would have an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit by Pentecost 2033.”

Both the theme of the Congress and the vision of Empowered21 are in tune with the AFM’s strategy to become a missional church. My appeal is that we should find ways in which we can embrace the theme and make it our motto. The Congress was attended by approximately 2,000 delegates from 50 countries. Some of the highlights of the Congress included:

A 2,400-voice children’s choir filling the stage, all dressed in white shirts, captivating the delegates with animated praise and worship songs. Apostle, Dr Opoku Onyinah, one of the co-chairs for this Congress had this to say about the children’s choir: “It moved me to the core of my being and brought tears to hear these children commit their love to Christ in song and spoken word to the 2033 challenge of Empowered21—to see every person on earth have an authentic encounter with the Holy Spirit by 2033.”

The Empowered21 Africa Congress ended on Saturday, May 19 as more than 1,100 young people came forth to be anointed for ministry. Dr. Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University and global co-chair of Empowered21, remarked: “To see the altar filled with young leaders under the age of 35 ready to accept their destiny to make a spiritual impact as Spirit-empowered leaders was amazing. It was an honor to pray over them as the future doctors, lawyers, presidents, evangelists, pastors, bishops, government officials and professors…the next generation of leaders for the nations of Africa.”

Empowered21 is a useful platform for Spirit-empowered churches and ministries to reflect on the ministry of the church and to share ministry resources. Some of these resources are available on its webpage: http://empowered21.com/. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all AFM pastors and members who prayed for the success of this event and those who attended.

Blessings!
M.G. Mahlobo

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