ALARD’S MINISTRY NEWSLETTER VOL. # ONE ISSUE #2

Dear Friends,Grace and peace to you who are praying for and supporting us financially in the work of the ministry with Entrust at Alathea Bible College (ABC) in South Africa. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. Psalms 118:1 is such a great reminder to us to give thanks to God because of who He is in our lives. “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting.”

Three months have gone by since we moved to Siyabuswa, and so much has already happened and we are very thankful to God for giving us strength and wisdom in the ministry here in Siyabuswa. I (Arthur) am settling well into my role as the principal and have been afforded some great opportunities to guide our students in growing in their faith and understanding of the Bible. Olga and Pasha are also settling in well. Olga is doing a phenomenal job with tutoring Pasha in his homeschooling activities. Pasha is growing up very fast physically as well as intellectually. Living and serving in a rural South African environment and culture has been quite a change for us and learning the Zulu language even though challenging is fun since Olga, Pasha and I are doing it together.

“Alathea” in Greek means truth. It is our desire to see our students transformed by the words of Jesus Christ when he said in John 18:37, “for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” We desire to adequately equip our students to be competent in handling the Word; and for them to reach the lost with the gospel Truth; and disciple new believers; so that their communities may be transformed spiritually and socially. Our training philosophy is based on 2 Timothy 2:2 where Paul says to his protégé Timothy, “entrust what you heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who would be competent to teach others as well.”

We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us in 2014 as we endeavour to impact Africa with the Gospel of Truth to develop quality competent mission minded church leaders from Africa to serve the Lord in Africa.

And entrust what you heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who will be competent to teach

others as well. (2Timothy 2:2 NET)

VisionWe see church leaders in Africa

developing ministry competencies resulting in

effective ministry transforming their communities spiritually and socially with the Gospel of Jesus

Christ

Mission To equip believers for the work of the ministry, with a focus on

training pastors, church planters, strengthening

experienced pastors, and empowering lay-leaders

in the building up of the body of Christ

Arthur, Olga and Pasha Alard

Registered as Alathea Skills Training & Higher Education College (ASTHEC)

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Excessively Evangelised - Deliberately DeceivedOur communities are exposed to many different kinds of teachings by evangelists and prophets who have three week revivals constantly throughout the year, some purposefully deceive our people with their false prophecies and teachings. The prophet makes his or her profit and then makes way to the next community.

The lack of formal biblical training is not the overall reason why people are being deceived by false teachings, because there are people who have no formal training here who have in fact rejected false teachings, whereas those who have gone through some formal training have been deceived by false doctrines and continue deceiving others in their teachings.

Formal biblical training undergirded with sound doctrine being implemented through discipleship and mentoring practices are needed to impact church leaders and their emerging church leaders. It is the church leaders who have the most impact in the lives of the people in their church and community. We see a need to develop these strategic people who would in turn teach their people sound doctrine and model practical Christian living in the midst of challenging life situations.

Here are just a few of the questions asked and statements made by pastors and lay people in the Christian community that we had to respond to in the past three months:

1. “Does the Bible really teach that we are “little gods”, that we are divine and not human?”

2. “Is Jesus really not the Son of God, because he is our brother?”3. “My pastor has the gift of healing, he says that he is the one who

determines where and when the healing will take place; is this true?”4. “When a believer commits a sin and does not repent immediately he

will lose his salvation and will need to be saved again, otherwise he will go to hell.”

5. “My pastor said that he is the one who will determine at a special service, when laying his hands on new believers, when they will receive the Holy Spirit.”

6. “Do I need to speak in tongues to prove that I am saved?” 7. “Is it true that God will only turn my situation around if I give a

special financial offering to the church?”8. “The Holy Spirit told me that the soul of the sangoma (witch doctor)

could communicate with my soul...that is how she knows things about me.”

9. “Is it not true that Eve is the one who is responsible for sin coming into the world, Adam was not there when she ate of the fruit?”

10. “Is hell real? I heard from a pastor that there is no hell.”

Over the past three months the Lord gave us the opportunity to disciple and mentor our students at the college guiding them to be able to answer questions related to many false teachings that they and others had been exposed to, but have now rejected, based on understanding what the Bible says.

If three months could be this impactful, imagine with us what kind of fruit three years of intentional discipleship and mentoring would bear… The reason why we are impactful with these students is because we implemented the learner driven educational philosophy into our class room setting balancing lectures with discussions and group activities along with giving them the opportunity to implement the theory into real life practical ministry. Everything our students learn here is what we want them to teach in their own ministry contexts. Not all Christians desire to serve as pastors, but all Christians need to be taught truth by their pastors and be equipped by their pastors for the work of the ministry in their church.

Students finishing their final class in the Certificate in Church Leadership Development Program for 2013

Arthur preaching at Hope For Africa Christian Church, where he also teaches on the Core Bible Doctrines each Sunday morning for the church

leaders and emerging leaders

Dr. Haddish Abraham from Ethiopia is the Regional Director for HFAM’s newly established Horn of Africa Region, and visiting with Arthur at the Hope For Africa

Mission home office in Siyabuswa – Training of new pastors in this region is essential to help their church planting ministry and the people to grow in their faith

and understanding of the Bible

Brian Marange (2nd yr Bachelor Theology Student from Zimbabwe) submitting his online assignments in the ABC computer lab

ZULU greetings: Sawubona – Hello (singular); Sanibonani – Hello (Plural)

Student TestimoniesOur Bachelor of Theology students are actively involved in ministry while they are studying at ABC. They have been able to apply what they have learned theoretically into real life ministry situations at our church planting ministry with Hope For Africa Mission.

Rev. Sylvance Okumu is a resident second year Bachelor of Theology Student from Kenya. He says that “the best way to assess the understanding of what students learn through their studies is by evaluating their competency in practical ministry. Alathea Bible College has offered me this opportunity both academically and practically. Academically, my studies have enlightened me on how to study and understand the Scriptures, and to interpret it in a manner that is relevant to the cultural context in the Scripture, and that I may apply the theological truth that was relevant then also into my own ministry context. The Lord has afforded me an opportunity to develop my spiritual gifts, one of which I have progressively learned to be teaching. It is my prayer and desire that the Holy Spirit will give me the discernment to continue to teach proper biblical doctrines so that the people whom God has placed in my care may grow in their faith and understanding of Scripture. It is also a blessing for me to have the privilege to develop my leadership skills at the college where I am able to oversee the welfare of students who have come from diverse cultural backgrounds in Africa, and to serve together with them in our church plant ministry in Nkosini where I am also developing my preaching and teaching gifts.”

Khoshiwe Chakombera, a resident second year Bachelor of Theology degree student from Zimbabwe gave a testimony saying, “My involvement in practical ministry at the church plant in Nkosini has been a great encouragement to me during my studies at Alathea Bible College. I have learned and seen the results of the need for people to be taught the truth of the Word of God because it is vital for their spiritual growth. Furthermore, I have grown in the area of teaching at the college where I am facilitating the learning of our certificate level students under the guidance of our principal. I have heard many perspectives about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. During a class, one of the students asked if her pastor had the power to determine when believers in his church would receive the Holy Spirit. I was able to share with her that this is a false teaching and that the Bible teaches that the believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit at salvation when they also receive their spiritual gifts, and that spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and He gives gifts to whom He determines, not the pastor. I am so blessed to be part of a ministry where I am able to guide people in the Word away from false teachings.”

Sylvance Okumu (2nd yr BTh student) from Kenya preaching at the Nkosini church plant ministry, where the ABC students are doing their practical

ministry. The church is renting space from the post office for their Sunday morning services.

Khoshiwe Chakombera (2nd year BTh student) from Zimbabwe putting into practice what she had learned theoretically by teaching sound doctrine

to the certificate level students at ABC. We use the second year BTh students to co-facilitate the certificate class with Arthur as their mentor

Our 4x4 comes in handy for getting to the college campus when it rains

Nelson Muneka (2nd yr BTh student) from Zimbabwe and Bennett Ntene (1st yr BTh student) from South Africa in our modest ABC library

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Kunjani – How’s it going? (Singular); Ninjani – How are you doing? (Plural)

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Arthur needed to fix the damp and mildew on the walls before we could all move into the house we are living in now

Our living room walls after it was fixed and was given a fresh coat of paint

The summer rains came and we discovered the roof needed fixing after our kitchen ceiling started leaking

Hope For Africa Christian Church had a community integration project sharing the gospel where we used the Jesus film in Zulu, and provided food and blankets for the widows and orphans in the church and the community

Our house at the Hope For Africa Mission home office in Siyabuswa

Alard’s visiting with the ABC students’ church plant ministry at Hope for Africa Christian Church Nkosini

Arthur praying for high school students who were writing their end of year exams from the Nkosini church

Olga with Hope for Africa Mission staff at the community integration lunch – these ladies are awesome cooks

Arthur’s first dedication service at Fellowship Bible Church in Ennerdale Johannesburg just before we moved to Siyabuswa

Olga and Pasha walking around the grounds at the church plant at Nkosini where our students are serving in ministry

Prayer Requests

Praise God for: The opportunity He has given us to serve together as a

family in Siyabuswa The many teaching opportunities which guided many

people to recognize truth and reject false doctrines The students who are progressing well in their studies and

practical ministry Friends who donated a much needed oven for our college

kitchen Healing Pasha from a stomach bug and severe rash a few

weeks ago Providing for our needs over these past couple of months

as we transitioned to Alathea Bible CollegePray for: The Lord’s protection over us as a family both spiritually

and physically Open doors for more partnerships for our financial support Our family to progressively adapt into our new rural and

cultural ministry environment in Siyabuswa Wisdom and strength for Arthur as he leads the Bible

College as its principal, teaches at the church, and oversees the students’ practical ministry at the Nkosini church plant

Pray for Olga as she serves as Pasha’s homeschool teacher and continue to pray for her health

Receptive hearts as Arthur continues to teach on the Core Bible Doctrines on Sunday mornings before the main church service

Some of our students who are learning for the first time how to use a computer and the internet

Arthur as he continues to do one on one counseling Discernment as we do pre-marital counseling with a young

couple in Siyabuswa who is getting married on 8 December

Invitation for Volunteer Faculty

We are able to keep the cost of tuition low because we invite volunteer visiting faculty from all over the world to teach 2-3 weeks or more throughout the year. If you have the gift of teaching and would love to serve the Lord by teaching at Alathea in 2014, then please contact me (Arthur). I will send you our visiting faculty application form. We have a fully furnished guest house for visiting faculty at the Hope For Africa Mission home office where we live.

Please Refer Individuals and Churches

Please consider helping us by referring individuals and church mission committees to this ministry who may be interested to pray for and financially support our vision for training quality, mission minded church leaders in Africa.

Contact Details

ArthurEmail: aalard@entrust4.org

Skype: arthur.alardFacebook: Arthur Olga Alard

Telephone: +27(0) 13-973-3440;Cell: +27(0) 71-810-9667

OlgaEmail: oalard@entrust4.org

Cell: +27(0)83-857-9113

ADDRESS

207 Siyabuswa B, Siyabuswa 0472Mpumalanga South Africa

ABC Website

www.alatheabiblecollege.com

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FINANCIAL GIFTS MAY BE SENT TO ENTRUST

ENTRUSTP.O. Box 25520Colorado Springs CO  80936-5520

www.entrust4.org

Please write our missionary number M128 on the memo line of your checkOr

Follow the link below to set up one-time or recurring gifts toward our ministry with Entrust in South Africa: Choose our names from the first drop down menu (click on Donations: Entrust staff) our names are first on the list

– then scroll down to the bottom of the page to choose the details for the frequency of your giving:

Secure Online Giving

Ngikhona – I am well (Singular); Sikhona – We are well (Plural)

To give to this ministry you may make your financial contributions to Entrust here…