Our time time in Dipahagane on Feb 05, 2011

Jim Brock & Brenda travelled to the House in Diphagane on 2011/02/005

for a meeting and training session with Pastor Chris Maupa.

The training session how to use and train the membership to use the Home

Bible Reading Program went very well. Pastor Maupa seems very pleased

with the materials and the training process. Our relationship continued

to deepen and a sense of confidence and trust is becoming established.

He has undertaken the translation of the HBRP and is supposed to have

it ready when we make our next trip on 2011/02/19. At that time we will

do a legibility check on the translation to make sure Brenda can read and

key the Pedi. We will return the keyed and formatted Pedi copy to

Pst. Maupa on 2011/03/05 for him to proof read. We will return with it

from that same trip so that we can do the final edit and take it to the printer.

The English copy has gone to the printer. HBRP is a book with a relative

high number of pages.(38 A5 pages in a self-binding folded A4). The quote

we have received for 300 copies is R1,400.+ or roughly $200. USD.

Projecting from that we will be able to produce the complete set of

materials( 300+ of 5 books and 5,000 + of 1 tract to leave when making

home visits in both languages) for the proposed Church Member's Training

Program for +- $2,000. USD. Brenda & I are wanting to use money we

have in our special funds to fund all this literature so that it will not impact

our budget as we really don't have one for the Diphagane work.

We will be taking the home visits tract up for discussion and translation

also on the 2011/02/19. If it can be translated that night we will remain

and key the Pedi on site for proofing on Sunday the 20th of Feb. If that is

not possible, we will pick it up its translation on 2011/03/05.

Decisions that were made:

The first training session for the general membership will be on 2011/04/10.

It will be done during the Sunday morning worship service and will take

the complete service time.  We will have the HBRP printed in both languages

along with the 'home visits' tract for this training session.

The second training will be on 2011/04/17 in another of the missions.

There are still some issues to be sorted out about single-language or
dual-language training running concurrently. My desire is that the first
training take place in the Diphagane church but that is still undecided.
And I would prefer concurrent dual-language because it would clearly
show myself and Pst. Maupa as equals in doing the training before the
body of the church. This type of training may not be possible in the
other missions because the English level may not be as high as
in the Diphagane church. In that case we will have to team teaching in
one longer session.

Phase 1 = Feb. 5th

Training of Pst. Maupa to teach HBRP has begun and will continue for the

next 2 meetings.

Phase 2 = Target date 2011/04/10

This phase will be marked by our teaching the evangelism tool in the churches.

Issues that will need to be resolved:

1.  For Phase 3 - (Tentatively, target date is June/July 2011)

We must work with Pst Maupa to structure a full day or it's equivalent of the 

teaching of the 1st book in the Church Member's Training Program.(CMTP)

This will be required for each of the 4 churches/missions. While I feel that

he is in favour of the training there will be his work schedule and the church

member's 'life' schedule to be worked out. There is no short cut in the time

this will require because these materials contain teaching that these church

members need. At this point, Brenda & I may offer to stay over from Saturday

thru Wednesday Morning so that we can have training on Sunday PM and

Tuesday day.  Whatever format is worked out, this teaching format must

be continued in all the churches/missions for the remainder of the CMTP.

2.  Branding of the churches identity and the training programs identity. We

have agreed on a materials layout so that there can be a consistent identity

across the program materials. A logo design has been done and will be printed

on the HBRP but it has not been formally accepted by the pastor. We will be

presenting that design to him on 2011/02/19. He did approve a hand drawn

idea at this last meeting.

3. We have acquired 4 sign boards which can be used on the 4 buildings.

We will be discussing their use and the sign layout so that we can get them

completed and mounted before training starts in Apr.

4. On 2011/02/19 we will looking at the possible books for the layout of

the CMTP. We will be making the finial decisions on which books will and

will not be included.

Brenda & I are so thankful that the relationship with Pst. Maupa and his

wife Shelly continues to grow. They invited us to lunch with them on

Sunday afternoon and it was a wonderful time. Mama Shelly is a wonderful
cook!

Please pray for us:

1. As we work with Pst Maupa in getting all our 'ducks in a row'.

2. For God to be preparing the church members for the training on

April 10th and 17th.

3. For safety for Brenda & I on the 4 hour road trip to Diphagane. There

are a large number of local taxies on the road and they are a major safety risk.

We have passed major accidents on each trip so far. Also, I have to admit

that the hours on the road is reminding me that I am not as young as
I used to be.

The First Meeting - Jan. 22, 2011

This is a late entry about the meeting in January

Jim Brock travelled to the House in Diphagane on 2011/01/23 for a meeting
with Pastor Chris Maupa.

Pst. Maupa & Jim talked about the work and training for approximately
2 hours.

Concerning the current status of the churches we learned:

There is a ‘Mother’ church. It is located at Diphagane.

Pst. Maupa is the only Baptist pastor in the area.

There is church ‘Council’ of 7 members. They are the pastor, 2 males and
4 females. If this council serves only for Diphagane Church or for all the
current churches has not been determined.

Mother Church: Diphagane Church, located 2 km from Diphagane House.

Attendance = 30 per pastor.

Matlalaotwane Baptist Church, located aprox. 70km from House.

Attendance = 25 per pastor 

Mmotong(sp) Baptist Church, located aprox. 70km from House.

Attendance = 15 per pastor 

Madibaneng(sp) Baptist Church, located aprox. 70km from House.

Attendance = 15 per pastor 

Church Language is Pedi with a small amount of English.

Pst. Maupa and Jim Brock discussed the need for a work that will train the
local church members in evangelism and discipleship and then launch them
out where they can have an experience where they see God using their life
to help the life of others. We both agree that ‘this’ experience is life-changing
for a church member and is often the event that transforms a marginal person
into an active servant-directed member that incorporates evangelism and
discipleship into their lives.

We looked at some evangelism and discipleship materials from IPS that
Jim & Brenda have seen used effectively in Mozambique. We discussed
the need for the first phase of our training to be only with the pastor so
that when we begin training in the churches then the pastor and the
missionary could team-teach most subjects. The reasoning is that the
missionary is temporary. The long-term goal is to develop Pastors and
leaders who will continue the training process without the missionary.
This concept was well received by the pastor.

We discussed the teaching process of first teaching the materials to the
church members. Then teaching how we taught the materials. Then have
students teach in small groups. And then have volunteer students teach the
whole learning group. Evaluation is then done by asking the full group two
questions about the student’s teaching. The questions are: What did they
do that was clear? What did they do that could have been clearer?

After a few student teachers are evaluated by the group each new
teacher only wants to do the ‘clear’ things and not do the ‘not-clear’
things. This allows a learning process that fits the local mindset of
the people in that they select that which is ‘clear’ and they select that
which is ‘not-clear’. By this process we will model for the students
how they should approach their own teaching of the materials.

The teaching approach was approved by the pastor in that it would not
embarrass the students as they learned and yet is still critical in a way to
help them develop and improve their individual teaching style.

Initiation of Phase 1

On Feb. 5^th we plan on making our next trip to start teaching and training
Pst. Maupa to teach the evangelism tool ‘The Home Bible Reading
Program’ by Carroll Shaw. We will teach the pastor by the same model
as we will teach the church members. We will also start working with
Pst. Maupa to translate the materials into Pedi.

Pst. Maupa has set aside the evening of Sat. 5 Feb. for our first training.
This will give us 2 hours of training time with him on that evening.

Phase 2

This phase will be marked by our teaching the evangelism tool in the
churches.

It is my hope that that we will be ready to begin training in the churches by
the first week in April.

We will have to work with Pst. Maupa to find a day when he and the
church members can commit to a full-day training session. This, along
with many other details, are still to be worked out. The most important
issue is that a strategy has been discussed and accepted. And that
relationships and visions for the work are again moving in a positive
direction.

Translation of teaching materials:

Pst. Maupa has stated that there is justification in the time and effort to
translate the materials we will be using into Pedi.  After some discussion
it appears that the orthography for Pedi was transferred from English
thus the phonetic correlation to the orthographies of both languages are
very much the same. As a result, learning to read in either language
results in a basic sound reading of the other. At church I talked with
some secondary students. They said that both English and Pedi are used
in teaching in their classrooms. They said that they read both languages.

On the 5^th of Feb. we will take some time to help Pst. Maupa understand
what we will need from him for us to type and produce Pedi materials
even though we will not be able to read it.

We will be buying some supplies for him to use in the translation process
from special gift money Brenda & I have on account.

Pst. Maupa feels that there is value in the evangelism and training
materials being produced in both English and Pedi. We can have the
English evangelism materials ready by April, 2011 when we hope to
launch Phase 2. The Pedi translation may require more time. It is not my
intention to delay the launch of Phase 2 teaching in the churches simply
because the Pedi translation may not be ready.

All in all it was great first meeting. Pst. Maupa is clearly a man of both
worldly and spiritual maturity. He has a very clear desire for teaching
and training in his churches/mission. I believe that this work could result
in a strong effort of evangelism by the church members reaching out
with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Please pray for us as we and Pst. Maupa work and prepare ourselves
to used by God among the Pedi People.

Jim Brock