As the new semester started up again, the Lord handed me a garden of girls and said “Make them grow.” The first semester we spent our time sowing seeds all over campus, meeting new students, and sharing the gospel broadly to whomever we met. After following each student up and briefly connecting with those we led to Christ, the semester break came quickly and disrupted our new and developing relationships. I had no idea what to expect at the start of this month, but I am blown away at how much the Lord has done through the lives of so many girls. Since the semester started at the end of July, I have been meeting with 19 girls, growing them in their walks with God by the grace of His Spirit working through me. Each girl has a story to tell. God has pursued each of their hearts with the same Love, same Grace, through the same Gospel...giving them each a beautifully unique testimony to bear witness to His name. I praise God for the work He has done and the story He is continuing to write in the lives of these 19 women. It is a privilege to share and introduce these women to you as I explain what my time on campus has looked like this past month and a half. So I welcome you to come and walk through the garden God has entrusted me with, and taste the fruit of the labor that is rapidly growing here in South Africa.
My Follow-Up Girls
Anele and Donna are two girls who recently prayed to receive Christ just before the semester holiday. Donna grew up in a non-Christian family whose religion was highly forced upon her. Her parents and grandmother encouraged her to baptize with the church as a little girl but Donna continually refused. “I don’t know why, but I just didn’t want to do it.” After saying several no’s in primary school, as a teenager, and all throughout high school, Donna’s family , pastor, and entire church began to look down on her. “You would think I would finally give in, just so people wouldn’t dislike me anymore. But for some reason I couldn’t do it. It was like something inside of me kept telling me to wait for something greater...but I didn’t know what it was.” Even though Donna had no idea what that “something greater” was, the Lord so clearly prepared her heart to fellowship with His, since she was a young girl.
Anele is Donna’s best friend. Both growing up in Pietemaritzburg and receiving the Gospel on the same day last semester, Anele’s story looks very different. When I met Anele for the first time and shared my personal testimony with her, I will never forget the look in her eyes when she said, “That’s what I want. To know Christ the way you do.” Anele grew up with a Christian mom but a father who highly discouraged any mentioning of God in the house. “Deep down, I think I’ve always wanted to believe in Christ, but I was too scared to. And I didn’t know how to believe in something I didn’t know much about, since Jesus was never allowed to be discussed in my family.” Heartbroken, I held her hand and asked if she would like me to explain how to have a relationship with Jesus. “Please,” she said with a smile. After two hours of talking on a little bench on campus, after many questions and several readings from Scripture, Donna and Anele together prayed to receive Christ. Since that day, I have been meeting with these two girls every week to go through a follow-up series to help them understand their new journey with Christ. There are four follow-up booklets total, each one designed to help new believers walk confidently in their faith as they understand the meaning and effect the Gospel has in their lives. It has been such a joy to watch the Lord grow these girls into women who not only accept and understand the Gospel, but who passionately desire to be changed by it daily.
My Beginner's Bible Study
There are 12 girls in this study, who join together every week to fellowship with one another and grow in their understanding of Scripture. For ten out of the twelve girls, this is their very first time to ever experience Bible Study and true Christian community. At the start of the semester, we began the Book of Ephesians and have been going through the book each week, focussing on three main elements during our time together. The first element, is committing to reading the Word each week. As we go through the Book of Ephesians, I have tried to lead these girls in observing the text, understanding what it means, and seeking to apply it to their personal lives. For many of the girls, this is their first time learning how to read the Bible properly and it is amazing to see the growth in which they have come. The second element to our study is committing to nurturing the relationships we have with one another. Many of the students in South Africa, especially in the Zulu culture, keep their lives very private and personal. Vulnerability and deep conversations are hardly ever seen due to the lack of genuine community the students have with one another. I remember the very first Bible Study I had with these girls, I asked questions to help them get to know one another. Not one person spoke. There was such a deep sense of fear, insecurity, lack of confidence, and trust amongst the group which I prayed for weeks that the Lord would break. If you met my girls now, you would have never guessed that that was the case. They have grown so much in their relationships with one another and are continually seeing the value of confession, vulnerability, encouragement, and accountability as the Body of Christ. The third element to our study is focused on having an apostolic mission. Each week, I remind the girls that God does not just want us to grow as a body of believers, but He wants us to take what we have learned and share it with the world around us. Whether through our words or our actions, we are called to be Christ to others. As we grow to become more like Christ through the studying of His Word and in the fellowship we have with each other, we can boldly step into the world and reflect His goodness and love onto others.
At the beginning of the semester, I had the phone number of a girl named Miranda who signed up to be involved with Campus Crusade during one of our outreaches. I called her one afternoon to meet, hear her story, and ask if she would like to join the bible study I mentioned above. When I met for our first appointment, I looked around for a girl who looked as lost as I did. Suddenly I spotted a table with four girls smiling and waving for my attention. “Hey, are you Ali?! I’m Miranda, and these are my girlfriends, Sindy, Peng An, and Nomfundo. We all want to be involved.” I couldn’t believe it. The Lord just kept handing me more girls! I was so excited and spent that first meeting just getting to know their stories and sharing the vision of Crusade with them. But I was taken aback when I found myself talking very little and spending most of my time just listening to their excitement and eagerness to see the Gospel sent out. These girls all grew up in Christian homes and are committed to growing in their knowledge of the Word, growing deeper in their relationships with each other, and being used by the Lord to send the Gospel outward. The maturity of these girls and their spiritual understanding of Gospel led me to start a more advanced bible study with them. Since the start of the semester, we have been going through the Book of James with the same three elements mentioned above as our focus. Last week as we finished study, Miranda approached me and said, “Ali, this is my favorite day of the week. I know I sounded excited about my faith when I first met you, but I also felt like I was being torn for the first time in my life, deciding whether or not I wanted to truly commit to the Lord or go my own way. But since that day, I have grown so much in my faith and am challenged to be a better woman.” Praise God.
You have all heard me talk about Slie, who I have been discipling since I moved to Durban in February. She was my only girl at the beginning of the year, and now there are 18 more! I am continually amazed at the work of God. At the end of last semester, I challenged Slie to think of two other women who she would like to see grow into leaders and disciples of Christ. The Lord aligned both of our hearts to pursue Zandie and Tha. Since the start of this semester, I have met with the three of them on a weekly basis to challenge their personal walks with the Lord, build them up as leaders, and send them out to make disciples on their campus. During our times together, we have been learning the different names of God and studying how His character both challenges us as individuals and how it compels us to be sent into the world as Christ’s ambassadors. To see these girls grow independently in their convictions, in their strengths, and in their knowledge of who God is and has called them each to be, is one of the greatest privileges God has blessed me with this year. We have spent a lot of time seeking to answer the question, “Where is God calling me?” and I look forward to hearing how the Lord uses them next year, as they faithfully answer “Here I am. Send me.”
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