RENEWED Ministries Update – 7 June 2022
NEWS AND PRAYER UPDATE – AFRICA MISSIONS 2022
This is the RENEWED Ministries update for 7 June 2022, as provided by Reverend Courtney Richards.
Dear friends and prayer partners. Greetings! Shalom Aleichem!
It’s been several weeks since you last heard from me. Quite unusual. I have been quite busy and also took a week off for solitude and rest with my two sons, Alex Altidor and Oshane Campbell who are traveling with me and doing a great job leading the ministry here in South Africa where we are now so their father can focus on being “head cook and bottle washer!” Haha!
Two weeks ago we had a very productive and inspirational time with over 40 key leaders from across South Africa in our consultation/conference where we shared about Vision25 expanding the vision of making disciples The Jesus Way in 25 countries in East, Central and Southern Africa by 2025. This vision celebrates God’s goodness and greatness in our ministry over the past 25 years!
The leaders were passionate and enthusiastic in their response to the vision and in their acceptance of it. We have consequently moved into the strategic planning stage for our trainings over the next 3 years or so. We are working with teams in Rwanda and here in South Africa to do several trainings in these two countries next year. The Rwanda training will include persons from neighboring Burundi and from The Democratic Republic of Congo. The South Africa trainings will be regional trainings. We are also working on trainings for Malawi and Tanzania for next year. So, next year will be a very busy year for RENEWED Ministries in training pastors and leaders to train others and to make and multiply disciples The Jesus Way!
Not all of these trainings will be done by me or Alex. We have developed and continue to develop some of my sons who are key leaders in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa to conduct training on their own or to assist us in the trainings we are working on. Indeed, they are already doing it!! The responsibility will not rest on us alone! Please be much in prayer that God will lead us to the right persons to be trained who will then be responsible for leading disciple-making movements and training others to follow Jesus in their respective countries. We are developing national leadership teams to drive the process in each country.
Currently, we are in Paarl, South Africa, which is a 45-minute drive from Cape Town. We have a team of 5 of us from 3 countries. On Thursday and Friday of this week, 7 others from 4 countries will join us. There will be 3 persons from Bethel University in Indiana – Nick and Melyssa Garver and Shalyn Rathbun; Oral Roomes from Canada; Clayton Florent from Guadeloupe and Chad Nehemiah and Shannon Chen See from Jamaica. What a rich tapestry of younger and older Christ-followers coming to serve here in Paarl. The ministry is with children and youth and has been going on since last week with those who arrived earlier. There have been daily school ministry; sports ministry and ministry to those who are homeless.
Last weekend, we had an inspiring and challenging time with over 30 children and youth at the Manyano Centre as we hosted a weekend camp. The gospel of Jesus Christ impacted many lives. We have a hectic schedule of ministry for the next week. In addition to our daily school and sports ministries, we will host another youth camp this weekend with young people from a violent inner-city community; a day hosting and ministering to senior citizens, and a day celebrating Youth Day which is a national holiday here in South Africa on Thursday the 16th. We hope to minister to 200 to 400 children and youth on Youth Day. These are all RENEWED Ministries funded outreach in partnership with our host ministry here, The Manyano Centre.
What an AWESOME GOD!!! We NEED you to pray fervently in the Spirit for a great outpouring and a mighty move of God upon all these children and youth many of whom are terribly wounded and traumatized by their families and living conditions. So pray that God will bring many, if not all, to become followers of Jesus who will then be used by God to be disciple-makers.
Thanks for your constant prayers and generous support. Oh, how we need and will need MORE finances in the years ahead to train and minister to diverse populations – The Jesus Way for the Kingdom and glory of God. So please prayerfully consider giving us a generous gift or regular gifts to meet the needs of our expanding vision. Gifts can be sent to: RENEWED Ministries, P.O. Box 1229, Mishawaka, Indiana, USA 46546 or via PayPal on our website: www.renewed-ministries.org.
God bless you and your loved ones with His choicest and best gifts. Coram Deo!
Always in God’s grip,
Courtney Richards
For more on Reverend Richards’ missionary journey, go to our Archive pages.
