Recently, we at NETS held a training weekend for TEE group leaders.
Our goal is to organise things so that groups start to function without the co-ordinator being present. So, with this in mind, I carefully chose people to invite. The training (as well as group leaders’ course fees) is paid for generously by CMS sponsorship.
One of the ladies invited was an Anglican priest, Rev Elevine Shilongo-Michael. Though ordained, she has not completed any formal theological training. I was not sure whether to invite her as, not only was she not leading a group, she had not even started the course herself. Anyway, I did invite her and, at the last minute, she came.
Well, she signed up for the NETS course that weekend!
A week later, she called me to inform me that she had got a group together, and they would like me to come to kick things off. So I visited. She had no fewer than 12 takers; among them Anglicans, Lutherans and a Roman Catholic.
Thrilled beyond measure, I signed them all up with NETS, and got them started. The group meets, under Meme Elevine’s guidance, every Sunday, after church. They meet at the hospital at Eenhana, very close to the Angola border. Meme Elevine has since signed up others and is motivated to get some other Anglican churches on board. She is an extremely efficient administrator, keeping track of every book bought by every member of her group.
I arranged to go and meet with them a month later.
Fully expecting to lead the group, I got myself ready and came with all my gear.
When Meme Elevine arrived, she welcomed me, and then said “You have come to watch, haven’t you”.
I said “Er … yes!”. So I was able to just be a spectator and to listen and enjoy, whilst Meme Elevine continued to lead a lively discussion, sticking closely to the books. I was brought into the discussion once or twice, and was lured away on a tangent at one point, which I was happy to follow … but Meme Elevine brought me back into line, and to the issue being dealt with by the NETS books. I couldn’t help being amused (and pleased) at her efficiency.
Anyway, for those who have prayed about group leaders for the NETS Tee programme, and for those who have contributed towards it financially, please be encouraged: Meme Elevine is the “first-fruits” of your labour. Praise God for her. Please pray for her and her group at Eenhana, that they would learn much about God and the Bible by means of the NETS TEE course. And that they would faithfully continue meeting and learning together. Please also pray that God would raise up more Elevines, and that more Anglican churches would ‘catch the vision’.
PS Other photos posted with the one of Elevine include a recent workshop we did in Ondangwa, at the CEN church.
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