June 2009

Anathoth is the headquarters of Africa Upper Room Ministries. On five acres of land near Johannesburg, South Africa, it takes its name from the Jeremiah passage in which land at Anathoth is purchased as a sign of hope for the future. Anathoth is, for Upper Room Ministries, a sign of hope for the future of Africa. This newsletter from staff-person Roland Rink brings news from this important ministry.

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SEASONS

Greetings to you from Anathoth. The winter season is fully upon us, and with it the associated dry khaki colored grass, bone-hard ground, thin high altitude Highveld air permanently tinged with the acrid smell of burnt grass/bush fires, frosty cold mornings and hard crystal clear night skies interspersed with relatively warm days.

We have willingly or unwillingly gradually made the transition from summer through autumn to winter. It is worth noting that many meteorologists recognize the periods between seasons as normally being characterized by weather that is unstable or unsettled. This pattern of unsettled weather continues until the forthcoming season, be it winter or summer becomes fully mature.

So it is with us. We are perpetually always in a season or between seasons be it in our personal lives, our corporate or church community lives, our lives as nations, or even as planet earth.

It follows then that "the time between" personal or corporate seasons is also quite often characterized by a sense of being unsettled or unstable.

As a nation we experienced this "instability" recently with the appointment of Jacob Zuma as the new president of South Africa. As it so happens, it has all turned out to be a time of real creativity with many new ideas and proposals being put forward to address the various pressing items on the national agenda.

Whatever the season, be it summer or winter, our loving God continues to ensure that there are fruits to be enjoyed. Fruits which remind us and make us thankful for the season, but most of all remind us that God loves each and every one of us with an unmatched, unrivalled intensity.

At Anathoth we are in a season of creative tension as new possibilities emerge:

• We look forward to the arrival of two refurbished shipping containers that will serve as storage and office space for AURM. This will free up space for the computer skills training that will begin in the conference room during July. Currently the conference room space is completely taken up by our Upper Room book inventory. The wireless internet campus we have created and the gift of laptop computers we received from the USA will be used in this endeavor. Candice Adams, a member of our mission partners, Come Back Mission, will be running these classes. We're confident that the classes will become important in offering the Eikenhof community a window to the world as well as a valuable life-skills training tool.
• The current season of financial instability and hardship has brought to fruition a new AURM South African book resource authored by Rev. Wessel Bentley entitled 28 Days of Prayer During Financial Crisis. Please feel free to contact the AURM office to place orders for this valuable and very timely resource.
• Due to ongoing demand we have had to place orders for the reprinting of the Upper Room booklet, Prayers for Encouragement. These will soon be available again in Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, Setswana and Sesotho. Stock of the English edition are still available should you require these. Please call the office to ensure that your community receives an adequate supply of this amazing compilation of devotions and prayers by people from around the world who have been affected or infected with a life threatening disease. There is no charge for the booklets, but we do request that recipients and/or communities cover the cost of postage and packaging.
• It's very hard to believe, but next year marks the 20th Anniversary/Season of The Upper Room's well-loved and respected Walk to Emmaus program in South Africa! To mark the season, AURM has plans to publish a book. If you have any Emmaus photographs or team sheets which you feel are worthy of inclusion, please send them to us at your earliest convenience.
• This Anathoth Newsletter will be the last during which Rev. Stephen Bryant is Upper Room World Editor/Publisher. Stephen takes leave of us at the end of June. A season of twelve years draws to a close. We're honored to have had the privilege to work alongside Stephen in this part of the vineyard. We have all been blessed by the fruit of his ministry and personal example. Stephen's bold and visionary leadership has been one of the critical success factors in the establishment of Anathoth as the African office and base of operations of The Upper Room Ministries. We look forward with great anticipation to watching where next, and in what capacity God will use Stephen in Africa.
• We're delighted to welcome Sarah Wilke as the new incoming World Editor/Publisher of The Upper Room. We are looking forward with much anticipation and excitement to a twelve year season of continued progress for AURM on the African continent under Sarah's guidance and leadership.

To all intent and purposes it would appear that this time in the history of the planet is a season for prayer. There are many millions of people who today, some for the very first time, find themselves thrust into a seemingly lonely, tense and anxious world. They face a future of economic uncertainty and job instability. Too often, especially in times of abundance, we speak far too little to God. Can it be that it's because we feel little need of God? We feel omnipotent? Perhaps it's a resultant fruit from a season of secure and sheltered living.

Whatever the case, now is a season to perhaps intentionally live a little more dangerously -- to experience the power of prayer. Pray!

We go forward
Roland Rink