There are moments when you realise the vision of what God has called you into is far bigger than your own vision and comfort. Breaking camp and planting out is rarely a comfortable experience – especially for someone like me. Most personality tests would profile me as an introvert or a shy individual, and yet the pull of what God had called me to do has far exceeded my own discomfort. I was firmly planted in the familiar territory of my congregation, Joshua Generation City Bowl, yet I felt God calling me to break camp and support the birthing of the new congregation, Joshua Generation Green Point.
Green Point is a seaside residential area with a lighthouse as a prominent landmark. The time has come for a new lighthouse – the lighthouse of Jesus
On the 23rd of April 2017, we gathered as saints in a home in the Sea Point area of Cape Town to explore what “breaking camp” would mean and look like. While our meeting space was confined, the dream we were discussing was not. The new congregation was being birthed. Joshua 3:3 says, ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it’. In obedience, I decided I wanted to be part of this adventure, overcoming my initial hesitation and the discomfort of leaving what had looked and felt familiar. Obedience would require breaking camp and moving to Green Point.
Green Point is a seaside residential area with a lighthouse as a prominent landmark. The time has come for a new lighthouse – the lighthouse of Jesus calling forth all to the safe shores of His love; to bring people to an eternal shore of hope. The call for people to Jesus was being sounded!
The launch date was pegged for 21 May 2017 at the Greek Club. It was a day to remember. I remember the burgundy hues of the sunset falling over the soccer pitches adjacent to our venue. All of us had eagerly anticipated this day. It was a surreal experience. The Lord had turned our vision into a tangible reality. Here we were, in our new home and venue. I saw in an instant how I was able to share the love of Christ and how I could share God’s comfort with those who were broken-hearted. I saw the lost coming in to be set free. All in our first service! From that day, there has been no going back. Why? As in Romans 1:16: ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek’.
Because there are lives at stake, I cannot afford to be shy or to hold back.
Would I dare to break camp again? The answer is a resounding ‘YES!’
While many would consider me a shy, shrinking violet, I am BOLD in Christ. It is the Lord who gives me the confidence to share His life and truth. Because there are lives at stake, I cannot afford to be shy or to hold back. God is not a secret to be kept. I am going to keep going public with the message of the gospel.
Green Point had often been a reference point of my favourite ice cream parlour, which sells scrumptious homemade peanut butter ice cream on a sugar cone, and now it has become so much more than that – my new family in Christ and a longing to see the lost found in God!
