The team - locals, staff, interns - all join in the painting.

Speaking to the Deep Needs of the Community…

      Preparations are being made for the opening of the “Options Center” within the new Litsemba Community Center. Offering pregnancy care, life skills training, HIV/AIDS education, and basic decision making skills training, the project meets a huge need in poor community of Daantjie. Over a year ago the regional director of Youth for Christ South Africa told us that they were interested in establishing a program in the Daantjie area but they did not have a facility.  We are happy to report that they now have an office and training space at the Litsemba “HOPE” Center. The Center is now open, with just touch –up work to finish and interior cabinetry to complete. Now we move beyond the ‘bricks and mortar’ stage of building the Center and begin training locals to help build healthy lives and communities.

    Thanks to supporters and friends in Raleigh, NC, we now have a huge suitcase and chest full of training materials, beautiful baby clothes, bottles, coats, and toys. You see, every time a young woman comes to the Center for a counseling session she will earn points toward the infant care items.  If she attends all of the counseling or training sessions she will redeem her points for a beautiful layette (baby outfit, bottle, blanket, and a cool rattle!)     

What kind of training or counseling will these women receive? 

First and Foremost;   they’ll learn about God’s love for them and for their baby; that they are not a mistake and their baby is not a mistake but made in the image of God. That God has a plan for their lives.   

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) 

They’ll learn about:

·           pre-natal and infant healthcare 

·           healthy ways to raise children.

·           positive family dynamics. 

·           opportunities for further education and job skills training. 

·           self-esteem and personal value.

·           HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, prevention & coping with infection

·           childbirth and infant care if they are already HIV positive. 

·           child and adult nutrition.

·           marriage and sexual integrity

·           safe places they can go to in their community

·           post-abortion care and recovery

     The young women will also be invited (completely voluntary and unrelated to service delivery) to participate in a Discovery Bible Study with a group of peers.  During this time, through a question and answer format, they are free to discover the nature of God and explore living a life that is filled with the goodness of God through Jesus Christ.

     By the way; The Options Center in Daantjie isn’t just for women!  There will be counseling and classes for the fathers, too.  There are millions of young fathers in South Africa who never knew their own father while growing up.  They are starting from scratch.  So many are just crying out for some help….help in being a man, help in being a father, and help in being a future husband.    Of coarse the best place we can lead them is into a real relationship with Jesus Christ and to know God as Father.  As they come to understand the nature of their Heavenly Father, they can begin to understand what it means to be a real man….husband….and father.

“….the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving……”  Exodus 34:6 (NIV)

The Litsemba Center is intended to be a community resource, a wellspring of Hope for life skills, for micro-finance development, for discipleship, and for overcoming the strongholds that shackle this generation.

MeniscusInc… serving, equipping, transforming

Please keep the Center, the communities and our work in prayer. Your support goes directly to the needs of the young generation in Africa. We’re very excited!

    The Litsemba Center and MeniscusInc are critically short of funds at this time. Any donation would be greatly appreciated and will go directly to the field and to the need.  Donations can be made securely via PayPal at MeniscusInc.com, or by sending checks to “MeniscusInc”, P.O .Box 12764, Raleigh, NC 27605.  All contributions are tax deductible, as MeniscusInc is a registered 501(C)3 non-profit organization. Thanks for your support.

Mentoring, servant leadership, grass roots discipleship, community impact

Hope Camps a Big Success, Impact to Grow

We just completed a great two weeks of Hope Soccer Camps, held at the new Litsemba “Hope” Center in Daantjie community. In a collaboration of Africa and Canadian ministries, alongside a local church and 12 local schools, we trained 50 young adult leaders and helped them minister to over 900 children -all OVCs (orphans & vulnerable children). To these poor & vulnerable children we provided over 18,000 total hot meals, each child receiving 40 hours of individual attention in discipleship mentoring and psycho-social ministry.

It’s exciting to look to the coming days as we begin working with the 50 young leaders in simple church planting, discipleship, Discovery Bible Studies, and compassion-mercy ministry within their neighborhoods. Workshops begin this week. Your prayers are key to this good work. Thanks so much.

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Project Hands of Grace, Masoyi. Update: Where there is true freedom.

Exciting happenings in recent weeks with the women’s micro-enterprise-discipleship project. This month “Diski”, a sangoma-witch doctor, wove her last curse! After participating in the DBS (Discovery Bible Study) for a year, exploring the nature of God, she was just captivated by the durable love of Jesus and chose to follow him in obedience. Triggered by a group study of Deuteronomy 9, and its exhortation to cease speaking to the spirits of the dead, Diski appealed to her DBS friends to help her step away from her occult ways. Amazing ministry followed. We rejoice in her decision and in the new freedom she has found. More on the wonderful details in coming days.

Ayoba! ‘Incredible, Wonderful!’

Taken just after two friends pray together!

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Becky Lycan is in the USA for July with sewing project samples from the Project Hands of Grace, Masoyi South Africa.

If you’d like to see some of these quality products: purses & handbags, French press cozys & pot holders, aprons and “fly tents”, Christmas stockings and much more, please call Becky at 828-260-9313. We can also send you a full color catalogue PDF file, just request your copy at Meniscushome @gmail.com.

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Did you know?

HIV/AIDS incidence

Nigeria 2.6 million

India 2.4 million

South Africa 5.7 million people infected

Rest of the World  22.3 million

1 in 6 cases worldwide is in South Africa

One of the reasons we’re working in South Africa - planting seeds of a different Kingdom

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Litsemba Center Nears Completion, Ministry’s Already Begun

Interior courtyard; solar heater, 'jojo' water tank, & loyal "boekie" truck

The final touches are being made to the construction and renovation of the Litsemba Center. Solar water heating, plumbing and toilets, interior finishing, doors and windows, roofing and security wire, most all are completed. We are awaiting the utility company for electricity, then we’ll finish all wiring. The last rooms – classrooms and skills training shop- are now being finished. Three young men will be moving into the residential section next week. Tutoring will begin and the pregnancy/life skill program with Youth For Christ is moving forward. Please pray for the impact in Daantjie.

Sam Nkabule & Sipho Nkosi are stepping up as program & facility managers, and local leadership is developing for the Center’s Board.

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Almost the Last Word…..                How You Helped This Month. Hope Camps wouldn’t happen without You!

Thanks to your support Meniscus was a key partner in the camps:

Logistics… Meniscus’ Toyota Hilux was the only truck servicing the Camp’s needs. With another smaller borrowed “boekie” we helped deliver supplies, food, and staffing to the 12 school sites.

Ministry… Meniscus’ Scott & Becky Lycan served as leadership trainers for the three day long Leaders Camps, focusing on discipleship and evangelism.

Community Center… The camp program reached out into the poor township community through twelve schools sites, but was based out of the new Litsemba Center. MeniscusInc is a key player in the collaborative effort to establish this new community center, renovating a derelict twelve room site provided by tribal leadership. The Camps give a huge boost of impact and good will into the Daantjie, Msogwaba, and Pienaar communities. It is for good reason that the neighborhood adjoining the Center is called “Goboza”- Swati for “Gossip-Too Much Talk”. Word on the work is already getting around and local folks are already asking to get involved.

We cannot say enough great things about our seasoned partners; Africa’s Mamkulu.org and Canada’s Reachout to Africa , Heather Stephens and Nick Short are just amazing servant leaders. And the young South African and Canadian leaders worked tirelessly in effective ministry in difficult circumstances. But it is your support that allowed a “Kingdom” message to be sent; that daily joined together Jesus’ love demonstrated and Jesus’ love declared. Thanks from the field!

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The Construction Crew thanks Ya'

MeniscusInc is a faith-based holistic community development organization, devoted to the ministry of joining practical, strategic assistance to underserved people groups with transformational discipleship to Jesus Christ. Our core values include servant leadership, equipping local leaders, building collaborative partnerships, planting simple churches, and in all things fostering sustainable, reproducible efforts in the economic, social, spiritual, and psychological. We are a 501(c) non-profit organization, based in Raleigh & Banner Elk, North Carolina, and governed by an independent Board of Directors. For more information please contact us at www.MeniscusInc.com or by email at Meniscushome@gmail.com

Lil' Blessing thanks you!

All of the 800+ orphan recieved hot meals,took home lots of high-protein beans, and the gift of Hope.

Continue reading

Meniscus Inc. News… April 27, 2010.

Mbombela/Nelspruit Community Forums Sharpen Skills in Child Nutrition, Trauma Care, and Cultural Worldviews

MeniscusInc and a South African partner, Betor House Ministries, were excited to offer three community workshops in March and April. Our partnership is committed to working toward the transformation of our community through practical compassion ministries, marketplace impact, increased understanding, and radical spiritual renewal through following Jesus Christ.

** “Growing Weary of Doing Good: Trauma; Caring for the Traumatized and their Caregivers“. This workshop was aimed at those helping individuals and communities affected by trauma. The twenty people in attendance spent the day learning of the biological, relational and spiritual impact of trauma; along with essentials to prevent and recover from direct and vicarious traumatization. Dr. Stewart Wakeman MD, FRCPC is a Christian psychiatrist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Stewart works in community mental health practice in Winnipeg and has a special interest in post-traumatic disorders as well as the role of spirituality in mental health. He teaches psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and family therapy at the University of Winnipeg. Stewart is especially skilled in ministering healing and health across cultural divides.

** “Understanding Animism; a Dominant Worldview”. Led by Zambian minister, Emmanuel Mulenga, a long-time missionary into Mozambique. This insightful workshop dealt with the role of culture, worldviews, and spiritual formation in general and specifically dealt with Animism, the “world-view grid” and spiritual baseline of approximately 40% of the world’s people. Understanding Animism; its fear-based nature, its very real spiritual power, and the resultant cultural imbeds, is crucial to helping people groups move from ‘decision & conversion’ into becoming authentic ‘disciples and followers’ of Jesus with the freedom of a biblical worldview. Animism is little examined or understood by Westerners, historically dismissed as a web of simplistic superstitions born of ignorance.

Young Men & Women of Integrity, Hearts for God's Best in their Community

Hosting the Soccer World Cup; Hope Camps Protect & Care for Vulnerable Children A large upsurge in child trafficking and in the sex worker trade is already occurring in southern Africa, spurred by South Africa’s hosting of the Soccer World Cup in June & July. As one of the host cities, Nelspruit/Mbombela is scrambling to prepare for the event. See the links below for more news on this from the NY Times. Area schools will be on holiday for a month and many thousands of children –most particularly orphans – will be unsupervised and drawn to the raucous ‘Fan Parks’ in the area. Officials anticipate huge crowds at these Fan Parks -located outside the stadiums- and every sort of appetite can be satisfied there. Projections are that 40,000 extra sex workers are beginning to cross borders into South Africa this season, beyond the huge number of’ domestic sex workers.

MeniscusInc is partnering with two other organizations to conduct children’s soccer camps during the height of the World Cup activities. Local schools in the townships of Daantjie and Msogwaba are providing free use of their facilities and submitting the names of their most vulnerable and needy children, ages 8-18 years. Making use of a dozen school playing fields, at the Hope Camps the kids will learn soccer skills, be trained in social safety matters, taught on matters of personal character, and engaged in discipleship and evangelism through drama and dance. Over 950 children will be involved and 60 young adults will be engaged as mentors and coaches. Each child will attend the camp for a full week and will be provided two meals each day.

Part of our role is to help ‘coach the coaches’ during the leadership training sessions in the week prior to the camps, ministering to their needs and helping in their own spiritual formation. Each of the 12-14 camp sites (both primary and secondary schools) are located only a short distance from the new Litsemba Center, and all food preparation will take place at the Center. These Hope Camps are one of the very first broad-based community development projects undertaken in the area, and should be a great aid in advancing the impact of the Center in the community. Thanks to South Africa’s “Mamkulu.org” and Canada’s “ReachOut Africa” ministries for their willingness to work in partnership.

Please pray for the upcoming Hope Camps, for the encompassing township communities, for the World Cup events, the host communities, and the nation of South Africa. Also, please pray that the construction of the Litsemba Center, located in Mpumalanga’s Daantje community, be completed in the next thirty days, and that it is be a source of practical and spiritual transformation in the community from the very start.

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Bonds are growing between women of Masoyi's Project Hands of Grace and USA Church Small Group Ministry

Masoyi Sewing Coop sends first product to the USA;
A Story of Economic Sustainability, Food Security & Spiritual Renewal
Celebrating new steps into women’s empowerment, food sustainability, vocational skills development, and community discipleship, the women of Project Hands of Grace shipped their first bundle of nearly 50 textile handiwork items to Greenville, South Carolina, USA last week. The Hands of Grace team is producing school uniforms, shoe bags, aprons, and sweaters for the local market along with placemats, men’s BBQ aprons, coffee press ‘cozy’ covers, saddlebag purses, laptop carriers, purses, make-up bags, pot holders and throw pillows for the overseas market – all with in a wide selection of authentic African textiles. The Project currently provides skills training and a self-directed weekly Discovery Bible Study for fifteen women, providing food security to more than one hundred people. Please pray as Project Hands of Grace grows beyond the current site in the Masoyi community and seeks to multiply its impact in other needy townships.

A special thanks for the Durham Life Group of Holland Park Church in Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA for your support, encouragement, and investment in the women, orphans and vulnerable children of South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province. Interested in this work, or interested in receiving some of the sewing items? You can impact lives. Check out our website, www.MeniscusInc.com and the Hands of Grace website http://project-handsofgrace.webs.com/ in the coming days for updates and quality textile craft items.

[

A Msobwaba Street Scene; 24 hour burial society. Just down the street is a sign,' Wholesale Coffins". Sadly, AIDS is a South African growth industry. AIDS impact Everyone!

Good Links... Meniscus wants to provide a

valuable service to our friends and supporters; helping make people aware of significant events taking place –especially in southern Africa- that effect all our lives. The links below are worth reading;

• Nelspruit, South Africa and World Cup Issues... (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/world/africa/13stadium.html?emc=eta1) 

· NY Times, Africa eager for China’s embrace.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/world/africa/25niger.html?emc=eta1

· African Youth League’s Leader Malema;”This Country Belongs to Foreigners.”

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20100417171137263C784356&set_id=1&click_id=13&sf=

· Headline: Survey Reveals Signs of Inter-Faith Tension in African Continent
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004150267.html

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MeniscusInc is a faith-based holistic community development organization, committed to helping locals build healthy lives, families, communities and cultures. “Serving. Equipping. Transforming” links economic, social, physical, and emotional development with spiritual transformation. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in Raleigh, North Carolina and Nelspruit/Mbombela, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. All contributions made are tax deductible under USA law.

Please send your thoughts and comments along to us at meniscushome@gmail.com, we love to hear from you. Also, please keep our work in your prayers. We appreciate your support and promise to be good stewards of your trust.

Work continues at Litsemba "Hope" Center in Daantje,Mpumalanga Province. A June Opening

On behalf of the Meniscus Board and Staff,

Scott & Becky Lycan

www.MeniscusInc.com

Showing the good work that will help feed the family... food security

Note: Names used in this account have been changed to protect true identity

 Yesterday was incredible!  The women of Project-Hands of Grace -the Masoyi women’s sewing micro-enterprise - moved from sitting outside into a room that has been provided by a local church.  Now there is a place to keep sewing machines and large tables for cutting fabric, and chairs to sit on. Now the women face one another during sewing instruction and the Discovery Bible Study.  This was very exciting for everyone….it gets really chilly in June and July so having a place out of the weather will be a great asset and the new seating arrangement fosters group interaction. 

     The Discovery Bible Study for the week was John 1:1-17 where Jesus tells the Pharisee, Nicodemus, that no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again… unless he is born of the Spirit. During the prayer time one of the women, “Triphena,” who has late-stage AIDS, stated that she has been unable to forgive her relatives for past abuse.  Her face has always been full of pain and bitterness.  After the prayer time ended, we felt led to gently hold this lady’s hands, ask her to close her eyes and picture Jesus on the cross. We then simply began saying, “Jesus loves you, Triphena.  Jesus loves you Triphena.” There was no interpreter, no translator to communicate into SiSwati, but none was needed. God was present, and his Holy Spirit was at work. Triphena put her hands over her face and began to weep. This broken, bitter lady, weakened with advanced AIDS and immersed in the syncretistic cult of Zionism, was born anew, asking Jesus to become her only God and Lord.  I can’t describe the change in her face-the ‘before’ and ‘after’.

        The palpable presence of God was so strong in those moments that everyone standing close by was impacted. “Spiwa”, the sangoma (witch doctor/Zionist), who like Triphena, has been hardened in her heart, began to feel the touch of the Lord.  Her face softened and we were able to just hug her and tell her (now using an interpreter), that Jesus loves her and that He is with her and knows her. Spiwa’s sister, her last sibling, died last week from an AIDS related sickness. In the midst of tragedy and suffering, God is bringing comfort and change into hearts that are open.

       Back to Triphena…. Regina, a Swazi friend, and I shared with Triphena the lessons of Romans10:9-10; that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved.  She said she wanted to receive Jesus into her heart and she repented and asked for forgiveness for her past life.  Honestly, it was like night and day.  She was truly born again.  I guess we’ve been disciplining her for the last eight or nine months into a place of trust and into conversion. We’ve not taught dogma or pushed our culture, she has discovered for herself the goodness, the trustworthiness, the nature of God.  Now we are able to help disciple her more and more into the truth, light, and freedom of Jesus.  The Project-Hands of Grace sewing group will be her “church”. 

     We believe that Spewa is next on God’s heart and that, in time, all the people who have come together over the last nine months will be walking in a relationship with Jesus.  This week they were sharing with one another of how their lives have changed since the Discovery Bible Study started and how their temperaments have been affected.  One said, “I use to be filled with anger and I would hit and fight… but now that has changed and I am different, not angry and not fighting.”

     It’s interesting how yesterday was such a breakthrough day; last week we were about ready to throw in the towel in discouragement.  It has at times seemed like grinding work, work, work… but yesterday was a “tipping point”.  Now we are really taking off in sewing production and sales, as well as in authentic thanksgiving, praise, worship, testimonies and Bible Study.  We are seeing a ’simple church and holistic community business enterprise” in spring up in Masoyi.  Wow!  Thanks, Lord!

"Hands of Grace" sewing guild. All interested women remain for a Discovery Bible Study. Lots of smiles, lots of grannies, lots of babies.

Becky and I are back stateside for a short time, snuggled into our little cabin in the North Carolina mountains. Wrestling with the questions we all face in these days, ”Lord, what is going on here?”, I have come to a profound (that may be a bit too self-aggrandizing) conclusion, a word I must share with you in this Christmas/New Year season in which so much seems to be shaking. The advice, to use a mountain term, is to“Ride the horse what brung ya’.”
Now track with me on this. MeniscusInc, Becky and I are working in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, for one reason; we are ‘riding the horse what brung us’. In a time of much uncertainty, we remember that our ‘sending’ was powered by the story of Jesus’ sending out seventy-two of his followers found in Luke 10, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask th Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves… When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’… Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’… The seventy-two returned with joy and said,”Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
Those of us engaged in MeniscusInc need to remind ourselves that Jesus has been faithful in doing the same thing in our midst in Africa as he did with his disciples in Judea and Galilee. This is the ‘horse what brung us’ to the teeming townships of Mpumalanga. We are just following Him. As we have stepped out in faith God has done miraculous and amazing things.
We want to declare to you, and encourage you, that God is good, God is active, and God is working to extend his “Peace” and his “Kingdom” in all our lives, as we are willing to follow him.

Take a few minutes today to read Luke’s amazing account here; deeply spiritual and intensely practical. Your own ‘sentness’ may not involve Africa, but it surely does involve wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Regardless of your economics, education, or personal particulars, one sure way to find your footing in these days is to walk in His ways in ministering the “Peace” and “The kingdom is near” right where you live and work. Step out this season and“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added.” These words, spoken by Jesus and recorded in Luke 12, are applicable to those who’ve been following Jesus for years and also for those just now seeking the Truth in troubled and uncertain times. True truth then and true truth now.

After all, on the first Christmas, in the greatest story of all time, isn’t this the just what happened writ large? And Mary said to the Angel of the Lord, “Here is your servant, may it be unto me according to your purposes.” And she, in faith and pregnant with Jesus, rode on a donkey to Bethlehem. She just rode the ‘horse what brung her’ to Bethlehem, into her destiny and role in God’s great, good plans.
As we all face a new year of challenges, may we all remember and be strengthened in our Father’s faithfulness, love and purposes, made manifest in Jesus’ coming, and present with us now by the Holy Spirit. May you come to “ride on that horse” with joy and confidence. Have truly joyous Christmas and an overcoming 2010.

Scott & Becky Lycan for Meniscus Inc. www.MeniscusInc.com
meniscushome@gmail.com

The Year in Review
Meniscus, Inc. works from the conviction that social, ethical and personal reformation depend upon spiritual transformation and the establishment of supportive communities. Toward that end we have been engaged in southern Africa nations since 2006, helping link community development efforts with the facilitation of self-sustaining indigenous discipleship growth.

In the second half of 2009, we have helped establish South African partnerships and efforts that:
*Glean from farmers’ fields and poultry farms, averaging 400-600 pounds of fresh produce and nearly 500 eggs per week.
*Gathered food is distributed by Swati and Zulu disciples within their neighborhood communities to those in the greatest need, typically widows and orphans.
*Meet weekly with self-replicating discipleship groups in the teeming informal township communities. As strategy coordinators our goal is to establish 200 communities of disciple-making groups or churches in two years time. We seek to help indigenous African disciples make disciple-making disciples who transform their communities in deeply spiritual and imminently practical ways. In the last six months we have helped establish five discipleship communities established in the Daanjte, Msogwaba, and Masoyi townships.
*Established a Memorandum of Understanding with a Swati tribal trust and two South African charitable works to open the Lithemba (Swati for “Hope”) Center, with the plan to provide key community development services; feeding programs for vulnerable populations, housing for young adult orphans, after-school tutoring, small business training and micro-financing, and life-skills training in sexual integrity, pre-natal pregnancy care, marriage preparation, and basic decision-making skills. The Lithemba Center will also serve as a training center for indigenous leadership development, house-based church development and basic discipleship. The Center is now undergoing renovation, available for occupancy in January.
*Serve as training partners to two South African church fellowships and an international ministry in their plans to establish disciple-making movements and church-planting bible studies.
*Continue partnership with “Hands of Grace”, a South African charitable work, in the work of growing a women’s sewing guild providing sustainable income growth, and providing an ongoing discipleship training group. The guild has been working since August, 2008, providing needed income for over one hundred people in the Masoyi township community.
*Provide training opportunity for five ministry interns in conjunction with Iris Africa and three other South African and Mozambican ministries.

Social indicators - Mpumalanga Province and South Africa

Poverty and Employment.
•Nearly 5 out of 10 South Africans still live in poverty, over 22 million people.
•One is considered ‘poor’ if one earns less than $100 USD per month, a family of four with income less than $440USD. A loaf of bread costs about $1, a gallon of gasoline costs about $3.85, the cost of most staple groceries, produce, meat, and dairy are comparable to US costs.
•Current unemployment nationwide is currently 26%, and estimated at 70% in the informal township communities.

Crime.
•South Africa is reported to have the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world.
•A woman is raped every 23 seconds in South Africa. Reliable sources estimate that over 1 in every 4 women will experience a rape, 5 times greater than the USA rate.
•One in four children will be sexually abused before they are 18 years old.
•Conservative estimates place spouse abuse rates at 25%.
•Johannesburg, SAis the “car-jacking” capital of the world, and the country has one of the highest levels of violent crime in the world.

Health and HIV/Aids
•Mpumalanga HIV rates are now estimated at 40% of those over the age of 18 years, second highest provincial statistics in the country.
•Mpumalanga adjoins Mozambique and Swaziland, with the highest AIDs rate in the world.
•Over 5.4 million AIDs cases are in South Africa, more than any country.

We encourage your involvement in the work of Meniscus, Inc., and we are in very real need of your support in prayer, finances, and friendship. Any contribution in any area will be greatly appreciated and applied efficiently. Meniscus Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. All donations are tax-deductible.
Contact us at www.meniscusinc.com, or by mail at P.O.Box 5626, Cary, NC 27512 USA , and by e-mail at meniscushome@gmail.com

Street side view, Daanjke and Msogwaba, Mpumalanga, South Africa

-Scott Lycan

The “Nuts and Bolts” edition

October was a busy and exciting month for Darryl, Jeanine, Scott, and I. We helped facilitate the start of the fourth Discovery Bible Study in the Msogaba Township. These groups were not added but they multiplied from the original group which was started three months earlier. New participants in these groups are what is called the ‘second generation’, as they are being discipled by the disciples that we are discipling.

We will periodically give you a brief description of each group simply because each group is different and hopefully, these descriptions may help you to begin a church planting movement in your neighborhood, workplace, family and or sphere of influence. We are beginning to see the strength and wisdom of this simple, focused, and relational means of making disciples that make disciples that make disciples.

If God can do it here, He can do it where you are…

Each DBS uses the same set of questions for each meeting. The regular attendees take turns facilitating the meeting by asking the questions. Nobody teaches. The Bible and the Holy Spirit are the teachers. We are only allowed to discuss the passage that we read that day or how it relates to the passages we read the previous weeks. You would be amazed at how much meat can be gleaned from a short passage by being disciplined in this approach. This method is very important for training, in that we don’t add to or subtract from God’s word. It’s very simple and clean. If rigorously applied, it can yield amazing fruit.

Below are the questions, applicable to both literate and non-literate cultures.

Weekly Discovery Bible Study

Review

1. Is there anything you are thankful for this week?

2. Is there anything you are stressed or troubled about this week?

3. Share how you have experienced God since our last meeting.

4. Who did you tell last week’s story to?

Read this week’s passage – Ex. Genesis 2:1-24

• One person reads the passage out loud while the others read silently in their Bibles.
• Another person reads the passage again while everyone closes their eyes and thinks about the story.

Discovery

1. What is this story about?

2. What in this story was interesting to you or touched you?

2. What does this story tell us about God?

3. What does this story tell us about people?

4. In light of this story, if we believe that this story is true, what is God telling you to do or change in your life in order please and be obedient to Him starting within the next two days?

5. Who do you know that needs to hear this story and who will you tell in the next 24 to 48 hours?

6. Do you know anyone who needs help? What can this group do to help them in this week?

7. Is there any way people in this group can help one another this week?

A few ground rules for understanding:

The foundational presupposition in the CPM/Discovery Bible Study approach is that Jesus never told us to go and make “converts”; but He told us to, “Go and make disciples.”

A second important point; the studies are designed so that people can “DISCOVER”, who God is by discovering for themselves what He is like, what He has done, what He expects of those who say they are His disciples. Let the Holy Spirit guide and the Word instruct.

The third major point is that God’s word says that if we love God we will obey God. We can’t be Jesus’ followers if we don’t obey Him. If we don’t obey Him then we are just fans. Jesus has many fans but what He wants is disciples & followers. Jesus following calls for an ‘obedience-based’ faith, not just a ‘knowledge-based’ faith.

These are tough lessons for all us Western “grace-full” believers who put a high value on “knowledge”, but they are true nonetheless. His goodness & grace births our love; love fosters following, which bears fruits of obedience, which cultivates trust, faith, and increased knowledge and wisdom.

What it looks like in Mpumalanga… Discovery Bible Study Groups

The first Discovery Bible Study (DBS) started in mid July 2009 and has now launched 3 groups:

Group 1 meets in Petunia’s House on Tuesday afternoons.

Petunia is a 16 year old girl who has been groomed to be a sangoma (witch doctor); has suffered from terrifying nightmares, is an orphan living a somewhat Cinderella existence in a relative’s household. This unlikely household has been the foothold into the Msogwaba Township. Severe poverty, unemployment, crime, government corruption, lack of water, poor schools, drugs, alcoholism, rape, and witchcraft that includes rituals using human body parts, are all common in this township.

Group 2 – Meets at Victoria’s house on Thursday Afternoons

By far this is the neediest of the houses that we meet in. A number of teen and young adult orphans live in this house that belongs to 26 year old Victoria. They live a day to day existence and many times go without food. The house is just packed with people. Tony, at 18 years old, has been leading this group that started in early October. Humble beginnings; it started with an older Swati granny who can’t speak English and her three grandchildren. Within three weeks it became the place to be, with up to 19 young people. They cram into a small, dark room; they read their new Bibles, answer questions, and work on the three column studies. We are imparting to these young men and women that each one of them can begin a group in the near future. Prayer walking this neighborhood seems to have made a big impact on those who were involved and those who watched. They want to continue the prayer walking. The fellow who owns the “SK Bar” next door – over which we’ve been praying- has asked to start a DBS group. We’re stunned… Yea, God!

Group 3 – Meets at Nokutula’s house on Friday afternoons.

Banele and Nokutula live close to each other so they decided to start a DBS for their community. Nokutula’s family has graciously invited us into their home although they are Zionists (The leading South African religious group that blends some Christianity with traditional African religious practices; ancestor worship and receiving direction not from the Holy Spirit but from dead ancestors and their Prophets). So far the group is made up of young men who are so excited about this DBS that one, Luciano, asked to bring a group of old ‘go- gos’ (old ladies) he knows from his neighborhood. We said, “Don’t bring them here. We’ll teach you to start a DBS with them and then they can start a DBS with the people they know”. He is thrilled with this idea. We are praying that Nokutula’s parents begin to join us on Friday afternoons.

Group 4 –Led by Sam and Khanysille - Meet’s at Khany’s House on Weds. 2pm

So far this group consists of Sam and then Khany and her family. (brother, sister, niece, and mother- the third wife of a tribal chief) These are just beautiful people, most of whom are educated and employed, but struggling with the whole ‘township syndrome’, a culture adrift, ancestral religious fear and witchcraft, and some pretty religious church experiences. Although it is taking some time for this group to grasp the concept of personal and community discovery of God versus being taught about God, they are faithfully working through the process. Each one has started to share of how these studies are impacting their life and their understanding of God’s nature.

Our goal is to see 100 DBS groups, three generations deep, take root in the Msogwaba/Daantjie Township area by July 2011. Please pray with us for this.

“Not by might, nor by power, by My Spirit”, says the Lord of Hosts. Zechariah 4:6

We, along with the Board of Meniscus, Inc., appreciate your support in prayer, encouragement and finances. We love getting emails, so please write us at meniscushome@gmail.com.

Just wanted to let you know get a sniff of what has been happening here in the last couple weeks. Our calendars have just begun to fill and we are just thrilled and at the same time we are in need of your prayers as never before.

We are just thrilled that our initial group of young adult disciples are in the process this week of launching two new groups! This is the core of why we are here in the townships; to train, raise up, and facilitate disciple-making disciples. Encouraging to see folks going into their neighborhoods “two by two”, telling the stories of God’s goodness and the good news of Jesus.
Today and tomorrow we will meet with the two new groups. Our role will be to just encourage and to train these new leaders, we will not play a participatory role in the new groups. We sure appreciate your prays for Benele, Noktula, Vicky and Tony.
Last week we went to Vicky’s home to begin to pray walk her neighborhood. The idea is to really begin to pray God’s best over the area in which we are sensing we are to work in. Also, as we walk and greet people, to talk to God about the people before we talk to people about God. Again, Becky and I teach and model, then encourage and step back into a support role. Boy, does Vicky’s area need prayer! Tough, tough town. The young disciples are fascinated that we would begin to “bless” those engaged in theft, muggings, rape, and drunkeness, instead of ‘cursing’ them. We’ll keep working on that! It is just so wonderful to see people who are themselves so abused and broken begin to stand up in their circumstances and become strengthened by the Lord as they reach out to other broken people. Pray for us and pray for them and pray for God’s movement over the “S.K. Bar & Tavern”, a rough ’shebeen’ (unlicensed bar) next door to Vicky’s house.
It’s interesting that this neighborhood is the same one that Vicky and Tony have been ‘ministering’ into for the last months, distributing food items and crops that we have gleaned from the fields of generous farmers.
We’ve had family and friends - especially those from a more “academia-centric” perspective ask if we are not being insensitive to the indigenous culture.
Our response? Every culture has its beauty and its darkness, whether American or African. Every culture is worthy of honor where it shines bright and cultivates the best and most honorable traits of mankind. But we are striving to come from a place of “Kingdom culture”, where we work hard to strip culture out of our message and our actions, so that those following us might find the ‘best’ expression of the True Truths of God and humankinds’ relationship within their own culture. Our central conviction is that a culture is doomed to self-destruction and social ‘cannibalism’ where it devours its weakest, if it does not rediscover and honor cultural mores consistent with its Creator’s nature. More on that in the days ahead, but you might look over the short passage in Exodus 34 on the nature of God. Blessings.

   Life continues to be exciting here in Mpumalanga, South Africa because doors continue to open in all sorts of interesting ways for spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.  Although we had never planned nor had given a thought about being used in the ministry of food (except for our House Church penchant for eating together at least once a week), we have stumbled into opportunity after opportunity to receive free food.  I’ll explain in a moment how we are distributing this food but it’s important that we give credit to the Lord and to the farmers who are giving what they have to the poor.

One farmer invited us to pick cabbages in his fields.  The vegetable vendors had already picked the biggest and best cabbages.  The farmer could have made money from the remaining cabbages but he and his wife said that the Bible talks about harvesting once and then leaving the rest for the orphan, widow, and alien, ie: the poor!  In the last two weeks Scott and Kobus DeWitt have picked and delivered about 1000 heads of cabbage.  Cabbage is an important food in Africa as the people cook it and eat it with paap/sudza, a white, corn meal stable, piled high on the plate!

A family poultry-egg producer in a nearby town has been contributing 45 dozen eggs a week for the past three weeks.  They ask for no money.  They just want to know that this important protein is getting to the most vulnerable people.  They said that we can come and collect the 540 fresh eggs every week!  Jeanette De Witt felt that the Holy Spirit led her to make a call to this egg farm and ask if they had any eggs to contribute.  She had no idea how generous these people would be.

Although the season just ended, for several weeks we were invited to glean in the fields of a local citrus farm.  Darryl Mather-Pike ran into an old acquaintance that owns the farm and asked, “Do you have any oranges that you can’t sell?” The farmer gave us permission to take every orange that was lying on the ground.  The citrus farms aren’t able to sell fruit that has fallen because by the time it gets to the market in other parts of the country the fruit has developed bruised areas.  All in all we were able to collect and distribute 1,200 to 1,400 hundred pounds of oranges! 

God is amazing!  All of these gleaning opportunities came to us immediately – within 48 hours -after our team prayed for a way to get food to the young people, (many orphans) with whom we have started Discovery Bible Studies/Simple Churches and for their neighbors in need.

We (Strategy Coordinators; Darryl, Jeanine, Kobus, Jeanette, Scott and Becky) have taken this food to two different Townships.  The eggs and cabbages have been given weekly to a feeding center connected to the church where we are part of a Sewing Guild/Small Business and Discovery Bible Study ministry with 12 women from the sprawling Masoyi Township.  250 orphan children eat at this outdoor center, (very primitive-two giant pots cooking paap over an open fire) each weekday.  The 12 women in the sewing guild also receive this food.  They take what their family needs and they distribute the rest to needy neighbors.  (That is part of the Discovery Bible Study emphasis)

Each week we’ve taken a pickup truck load of eggs, oranges, and cabbage to the Msogwaba Township where we meet with young adults for a Discovery Bible Study.  We remind all, “We didn’t pay anything for this food.  It’s a gift, “With Love from Jesus”; take what your household needs but distribute all else to those in your neighborhood who are hungry, especially the widows and the orphans, and while you’re doing that ask them if they have any prayer needs and pray for them “In the name of Jesus”.  To see how God answered this prayer for food has made a big impact on the young adults’ level of faith for God to supply all of their needs.

We’ve had such an abundance of food that we’ve been able to give another pick-up truck load to Iris Ministries South Africa to take to the three townships where they are feeding the poor.

So…although we never intended to get involved in food distribution the Lord has been helping us to understand more and more how we need to find creative ways to “help” meet the baseline needs of the people He sends us to.  Food, shelter, and job opportunities really need to be addressed as we move forward in “Making Disciples Who Make Disciple-making Disciples”.  We are very reluctant to just “give” and thereby make those we work with dependant on us.  We rejoice that the Swati and Zulu people we work with can see that this gift of food is truly a gift from God. We also rejoice that those who are in great need - even “Nmonpondo”, the tiny Zionist (a cult) woman with advanced AIDS - get to join in the joy of taking food to others in great need.