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Mario Maneville and his brother, Quinton, are planting Reformed Faith Mission Community Church in the Belleville South area of Cape Town, South Africa.  His updates are always interesting.  Below are some segments from his latest:

Pastor’s Seminar

We recently held another successful Pastor’s Seminar, with well over 40 people attending; 22 of them being pastors and 6 of those being new pastors. We had a full house praise God! This year our intention was to teach our Pentecostal pastors that everything is about Christ, and that Christ should be the theme of every part of their lives and ministry. So at our last seminar we taught on Christ-centred preaching. Our theme for this seminar was Christ-centred discipleship.

Since we’ve started with the seminars, we’ve seen a positive change in the preaching and structure of church services among those who regularly attend. After the seminar, one of the pastors approached me and told me that he needed to move on. I immediately thought he was talking about leaving the ministry, or getting a bigger title (they love their titles). I asked him what he meant by moving on. He pulled me aside and told me that he has been studying the notes from previous seminars and reading the books that we’ve given him. He came to the conviction that much of what they are doing and teaching in the church, and much of what has been taught to them by previous generations is not Scriptural. He said he needs to move his church on to the truth as the Bible teaches it. He also wants to register for Bible school next year. This is why we do these seminars!

Preaching in Hard Places

One of the oldest drug dealers in our area passed away. It is at his drug den that we had the privilege of preaching once a month. We were concerned that his son or some of the older men that live in the house would not allow us to preach there again. We made it a serious matter of prayer. When we spoke to his son and asked him if we could continue with the services, he was eager to let us continue. We are so grateful that the Lord has kept this door open for us.

We’ve also been doing street preaching every Friday evening in Bellville South. We’ve been preaching in front of another drug house. What’s amazing is that every time when we get there the music is turned off and the owner and everyone in the drug house comes to stand outside to listen to the preaching of the Word. They even brought out a jug and a glass of water for whoever is preaching. When we’re done, they come with their heads bowed to thank us for the Word and will not go back into the drug house until we leave. Please pray for these people. Several of them have promised to visit the church services.