Note: all of the rebirth members did the Missions Discipleship Training course. It’s a great course that Operation Mobilisation gives. It’s a six months course and you also live on the “campus”. We all met here and the fact that we were together most of the time was very beneficial for us to spend a lot of time praying and meeting for our future plans.
Our Story
One evening in March we had a power outage and we sat around a mosquito repellent candle discussing our futures. Two of us live Europe and the other three of us were all going to Europe for various ministries and outreaches. When we started talking about our possible travels afterward we realised that traveling on the train should be ministry. We don’t have anything else to do and the travellers need Jesus. We then saw the opportunities we have on the trains and dreamed to make it a ministry on its own.
An idea was to start a program for groups of people who want to minister for a short period of time, and take different teams for a month at a time.
We were so excited about our new plans and ideas, and sat together till late night, every night, talking about our visions and what we want to achieve with this ‘project’.
Part of the course we did was outreaches. About a week after this evening we had our first outreach, the rural one, and ironically out of the five of us we were in four different teams. In this outreach each team goes to a different village and this meant that only the two of us who were in the same team had contact for the duration of this rural experience (16 days).
The outreach was a great time of learning and hearing from God for each of us. One thing that stood out very prominent as we talked about our experiences, was the fact that we all, on our own, felt God teaching us that we need to have more FAITH, trust Him more. It was amazing to see how we all felt the same convictions in our own little African village.
Before we went on the outreach we made a decision that we will skip breakfast every day for the next three weeks, to meet and pray. We kept to our decision and started meeting every day.
As we met and talked about what we felt, we realised that God wants us to rely on Him, without testing Him, and in doing that inspire others to do the same. This meant little money, which became NO money fairly soon, and no accommodation. We decided if this is from God He will provide. Aaaand…. HE DID! One of us had NO support and the funds were there a few days after we got the news that he won’t have support. HE DID!
With these basic ideas we had a framework to determine a vision, what we wanted to achieve and how we are going to achieve it. We decided to document how reliable our God is to inspire others.
That’s how our idea of ministering on trains was broadened to ministering, AND disciple ling those we minister to, everywhere and inspire those we do not minister to. Rebirth’s dream is now more than trains and bigger than Europe. We want the world and the church to live by faith again and to rely on God!
Europe. A nation vast asleep. With 732 million people where only 3% are born again. We have to wake up. We are a nation that, for so many years, have looked the other way, and basically turned away from God. And we don't want to get out of our comfort zones. Our world, where we spend our lives that we treasure so much, carries a lot of need. (Stats)
We are compassionate about reaching out to them. To Gods people. The Christians in Europe, and all over the world. The woman and the poor. The trapped, the captives. But how do we, as five guys, reach out to them?
Our vision is for you to do it. We've been given a desire and passion to see Christians wake up, step out of their comfort zone and grow this longing, to come to know the Lord, and make Him known. We want to create a ripple effect – where we, as five guys, inspire others to do what we do. So that more can be reached.
But now how can someone, who wants to be part of this, who wants to create that ripple effect, and who has compassion for Gods people, see that come true?
Bottom line is – we can't. But letting God work through us, having Faith that fruit will bear, we can start something.
We want to, in our relationship with God, go out and practice a radical faith, bringing people hope, and showing them love. Our first step is: an outreach in Europe.
From the 8th of August we will travel on trains with a one month pass EuRail ticket. We'll be living by faith, not asking anyone except God for the needs we have. Not food, not money, nor a place to sleep.
"Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. [...] for your Father knows that you need them." Luke 12:29-30
On the trains, or wherever we are, in our every day life, we want to spread the gospel, reaching out to people in need and building friendships.
There are 80 thousand train departures per day: a great place to start and what an opportunity to spread the gospel through out all Europe. Trains are one of the only places where the busy europeans sit still. This gives us a lot of time to spend with them, hear their stories, build relationships and share the Gospel.
Since we'll be there during the summer holidays, the big european cities will be busy with millions of tourists. This an other opportunity for us. We can share the Gospel in the streets.
We'll also be working with churches and other organisations that have ministries going on in the different cities. In different countries. Helping people on the streets in unfortunate circumstances, showing them the love and bringing them the hope of Jesus.
We're not only going to work with the churches, but also try to mobilize them, the youth in particular, by getting them involved in our outreaches to the streets.
Our whole outreach will be documented on film. The purpose of the documentary is to inspire people all over the world. Show them that God is alive and how he provided for us and worked through us.
We have a dear friend who will keep you up to date during the whole period, uploading news and pictures. Follow us as we're sure God is going to do great things.
GOD'S AMAZING PROVISION - 07/10
Today is a historical day: our team had their first official church presentation! This church visit came at an especially significant time. Our team has recently been struggling with much opposition, and challenged with the notion that a faith trip without bringing any finances is an act of testing God rather than trusting God. We have been dedicating these struggles in prayer before the Lord, and today’s incidences served as an amazing confirmation from God that, “Yes, I want to provide.”
We visited Kerk Sonder Mure (Church w/o walls), an Afrikaans church in Pretoria, with the intentions of sharing about our passions, and seeking prayer partners. Our team remained loyal to our conviction of never openly seeking financial support or for accommodation. Yet, the first financial support of the Re-birth movement was R100 (€10) initiated from a young boy, given even before the end of the church! Other church members continued to approach our team with €160 collectively (part of it already in Euro currency), as well as a precious contact from a Belgium church. Amazingly, one of the ladies was not even a member of the church, and only realized why she was led to attend this church today when she heard the presentation from the Re-Birth team.
By this time, our team was overjoyed with screams and singing. Yet the day only ended when God provided another R1000 (€100) as a gift from one of our relatives.
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.” - Hudson Taylor
The €270 God provided for us today served as a confirmation and a great testimony to God’s sovereignty.
