Editor's Letter

What an eventful month we have just experienced as brothers and sisters in Christ. The sudden violence and displacement of foreigners around South Africa has truly revealed the role of the Church.  Never before have I experienced the Church working together in such unity as they did recently.  Well done to every believer who assisted with this crisis.  JOY! has designed a pull out page (pg.20) listing key elements that will make working together even more  successful in future times of crisis, and we trust you will find it useful.

Do enjoy our article entitled, Whatever happened to the prayer meeting? Prayer is a vital component of our faith and requires much discipline. Lana’s prayer column (pg 12) also shares insight into the different types of prayer. The Bible tells us that “the effective prayers of the righteous man avails much”, so let’s ensure we are all praying effectively! 

We at JOY! have been praying a lot about the article on Knysna’s anti-family ‘tourist initiative’ (pg 56) as it is so ‘politically incorrect’ to report on issues such as these.   There is often a lash-back, but we will not give way to fear.  We are a team of faith-filled believers and know that “with Christ for us – who can be against us?”   We understand our mandate is to be ‘Biblically correct’ and to honour God, and - as we state in our values - we want to provoke readers to fulfil the Biblical mandate to be “salt and light” in society.  To do this, we have to be informed.  The secular press will not publish photographs like these and will definitely not give an account of the parade in the same light as we have.  We need to protect all children in our society and therefore ask that you pray, right now, for their protection and ours at JOY!

Lastly, the Emerging Church is creating heated discussions and many confused debates worldwide. We trust that our article will clear things up a bit…It has been fun recording the reactions and comments from various church leaders in this regard.

God bless you and thank you for your continued support.

Erin