July 2010

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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We're normally kept on our toes at Anathoth, but quite frankly, the past three months have been exceptionally busy! As the staff of AURM we have had the privilege of being invited to be a presence at many events, conferences, outreach programs and synods around South Africa. The items we've elected to tell you about are but a sample of the work that seems to be increasing with every step we take. For all of this we give thanks to God.

There is no end to the unlimited blessings we receive on a daily basis as we continue to honour our calling: To afford every African the opportunity to spend time with God each day by the regular use of the affordable resources of Upper Room Ministries.

• The CABSA HIV/AID Conference—We were again invited by Lyn van Rooyen to provide more copies of Prayers for Encouragement for delegates to take home with them to their local communities. By the way, we now also boast a German translation of this remarkable little booklet that has been distributed to more than half a million people around the world in many languages. Lyn's husband (a very brave soul) did a fantastic job of dressing up their church as host for the event and making a brave and bold statement to the world.

The Church Has Aids

• We attended a number of Methodist church synods around South Africa. Many favorable comments were received about the quality of Upper Room Books on display.
  
  
• The Global Day of Prayer event was held at the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre) during May. It really was a marvelous opportunity to meet with people from many countries such as Korea and Brazil. Once again it was good to be able to celebrate the global nature of The Upper Room magazine, and we made sure we had a variety of different language copies available for delegates. Each delegate also received a copy of The Upper Room in his or her conference bag.
  
  
• The 2010 soccer world cup has been a wonderful opportunity for AURM to show off the global brand that is The Upper Room daily devotional guide! We have partnered with TUG (The Ultimate Goal) network in providing Christian resources to many different denominations, outreach initiatives, Christian radio stations, evangelism drives and Christian hospitality centres for this global sports event across South Africa. We have provided literally thousands of copies of The Upper Room magazine in French, Portuguese, Spanish & English (all locally printed to save costs) as well as receiving Dutch, Greek, Korean, Japanese and Italian language editions which The Upper Room translation and editorial teams freighted to us in SA from those countries. Besides The Upper Room magazine, we also received and distributed thousands of copies of devozine (our young adult magazine) that features the Brazilian star Kaka. We could have done with at least 5,000 additional copies; such was the demand for this valuable magazine. The Prayers for Encouragement booklet was distributed in many local South African as well as international languages. For the first time we were able to offer the booklet in German, thanks to local German translation work being done prior to the event. Other Upper Room resources in demand were booklets such as Prayers for Hope; Pocket Prayers; and 10 FAQs of New Christians.
  
  
• One of the outreach events we supported with printed resources was run by our friends at Bryanston Methodist Church in the Diepsloot informal settlement. As our cameraman Kyle Lauf stated, "It was a truly amazing event!" Upper Room resources were eagerly received by many of those who had assembled from the local community.

Anathoth Outreach

The 2010 world cup is truly a global sporting event. It has touched the vast majority of people in South Africa in a very positive way. In the space of a few short weeks by simply supporting our own national football team we have rediscovered each other, rekindled the hope and dream of 1994 of authentically being a truly rainbow nation, and of living in peace and harmony together. I invite you to view pictures in our photo gallery that hopefully convey and depict the exhilarating, joy-filled, positive, exciting atmosphere that has overwhelmed South Africa.

The World Cup event is at the halfway stage as this newsletter is written. More than half the teams and their fans have already departed. Many more incoming fans are expected to arrive soon to throng the airports, stadiums, hotels, fan-parks and streets of South Africa as the remaining 8 teams all battle for the title. In all of the exuberance, the excitement, the colour, spectacle and celebration of humanity in its glorious diversity, our loving creator God is with us. I am convinced - God smiles!

Roland Rink
Africa Upper Room Ministries