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IN
THE HEAD OF THE LION TARGETED
AREAS Since 1988, four churches have been planted in the province: Believer's Bible Church in Boksburg, and Sandton Bible Church in Douglasdale no longer rely on BMW personnel; Benoni Bible Church in Benoni and MountainView Bible Church in Alberton have BMW personnel. Now that two solid independent churches are in place, BMW has been shifting over time from a primary leadership role in church-planting to a "facilitating" role, where we assist South African churches to reproduce themselves in daughter church plants. MountainView is a daughter church of Sandton Bible Church.
SOUTH
AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE The nation was deeply divided in her past. First-world, industrialized Europeans colonized the region in the 1600s, ran into increasing conflicts with third-world African nations moving southward, and eventually set up a nation where the two cultures lived in close, but separate and unequal settings, preserving this arrangement by denying blacks the vote. In 1993, this all changed with the first free elections, and dramatic changes in government. The nation is now experiencing a re-birth of gigantic proportions. This has resulted in massive change for everyone. South Africa is arguably the most advanced nation on the continent of Africa - 80% of the wealth of Africa is in South Africa - but the country is still classified as a developing nation. LEADERS
TRAINING LEADERS Our biggest challenge is to train church leaders, missionaries and pastors for the churches we plant, so they, too, can fulfill the Great Commission. To do this, we have utilized Church Ministries Institute (CMI), a five to seven-year, church-based mentoring, internship and academic program that will give a student an accredited degree through a local university. Because it is church-based, CMI offers intensive training in practical ministry skills and character development. We strive to teach leaders how to think, not just what to think. In this way, we reproduce ourselves in a South African leader. The beauty of
this concept is that not only have we produced a fully-equipped
worker, but we have also enabled that leader to replace himself
in another countryman. The missionaries then become co-workers with
the graduates. This stage has already been reached, and has greatly
enhanced our educational abilities as a team. Survey work in Gabarone and Maputo has revealled a lack of almost any Bible-teaching, evangelical churches, and the new teams would not be too distant from the current team located in Johannesburg. Gabarone is a lovely town with modern conveniences in the semi-arid region approaching the Kalahari Desert; Botswana was formerly a British colony, so English is still a prevalent language.
Both Gaborone and Maputo need churches, schools to teach English using the Bible, ministries to teach job-skills, and orphanages. Can you help? PERSONNEL
NEEDS Related Ministries: As a church-planting organization, we believe everything in missions should be done to establish, strengthen, and reproduce local churches. At times, believers ask about serving in an AIDS orphanage, doing youth evangelism, etc. There is a network of organizations here with whom we are in touch that can provide those opportunities.
You are also enabled to learn new skills from colleagues. Working in BMW-SA requires that you are equipped to a minimum standard, and that you are teachable--willing to learn and stretch yourself to new levels of effectiveness in our Master's hands. In areas where you are weak, we have someone on whom you can call, and get help--a colleague who will disciple you in that area of weakness. The 20-20 Teams: We would like to have a minimum of three families on each team before entering these neighboring countries. It would be optimal if the couples or families were from the same church, or school background, and had a synergy of ministry already developed between them. The Maputo team would need more diverse skills in construction and mechanics. If you are interested in more information about South Africa, or one of the 20-20 Teams in Botswana and Mozambique, contact BMW's Area Director for Africa, David Brown, located in Johannesburg. Check out the websites for Sandton Bible Church, a BMW church north of Johannesburg, and MountainView Bible Church, a BMW church-plant south of Johannesburg. Home | About | Mission Fields | Opportunities | Support | Resources BIBLICAL
MINISTRIES WORLDWIDE Site
maintained by Biblical Ministries Worldwide |
The
BMW-SA team is targeting the various cities situated on the beltway
around Johannesburg (Sandton, Kempton Park, Boksburg, Benoni, Alberton,
Glenvista, Roodepoort, etc.) and those along the highway north toward
Pretoria (Midrand and Centurion).
The
population of 40 million consists of people of widely differing
backgrounds and cultures. There are 11 official languages in South
Africa, and many more that are spoken. Most of the people are multi-lingual.
It is a country of rich cultural diversity, previously divided by
race but now united as the "rainbow nation." There is
huge untapped potential in this land once described as a "World
in One Country."
It
is the overall goal of BMW-SA to plant new churches in our target
area. The team of BMW-SA church planters have now partnered with
South African churches to start other churches. Planting churches
involves evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development by
mentoring, modeling, and equipping.
Extending
from its 20 years of work in Johannesburg, BMW has established its
20-20 Vision for southern Africa. We are looking to establish new
church-planting works in the capitol cities of our two neighboring
countries - Gabarone, Botswana and Maputo, Mozambique
- by the year 2020. We are also looking to establish church plants
in two or three other high-development areas within South Africa
such as Rustenburg and Hermanus.
Maputo
is a different story. The city is a harbor on the Indian Ocean and
is much more humid and third-world. Mozambique is a former Portuguese
colony that erupted in a terrible civil war in the 1970s when the
Portuguese pulled out. The war ended in 1993, leaving Mozambique
the poorest country in the world. The team going in must have or
acquire language skills in Portuguese. The government will grant
an abundance of free land to churches, schools, rehabs, orphanages,
job-skills clinics - anyone trying to help the country come back
to health.
We
work as a team. That means we don't expect you to be able to
do everything - you can work employing your unique strengths and
giftedness. Where you might fit into the team is up to the existing
team of BMW missionaries and South African church leaders based
on a preliminary visit you should make to the field. 
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