Equipping the saints

Ephesians 4:11-13 ESV
[11] And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

What a privilege to be called the Global One Year Expedition team of 2025. What a privilege to have had the opportunity to be equipped during training ‘for the work of the ministry’ that lies ahead of us. However, as 19 teams before us can testify, the equipment is for the rest of our lives, ‘for building up the body of Christ’ and not merely for the one year journey.

The team gathered early January to start training led by the amazing team in Jeffrey’s Bay. And what better way to get acquainted with 20 strangers than to live in one big house together? It sounds daunting, but we navigated it with flying colours in no time.

Training itself consisted of both teaching sessions and practical activities. We started with the values of Global and listened to many testimonies from the community.
We did a treasure hunt in town, which was our first challenge, and amongst other tasks required us to pray for people and share a meal with someone. Following were sessions on experiencing the Holy Spirit and practicing the gifts presented by uncle Joe. Several of us received our tongues and many prophecies were shared. Next we had 2 weeks of intense training on how to do proper Bible study. Then of course the multi-day hike that brought us even closer together as a team. Last but not least, we had Live to love (with Jesus) by uncle Norm, which challenged some of our beliefs but also inspired us to ask the Lord in prayer who He wants us to love daily.

Each of us had something impactful we experienced or learnt during training.
Here follows some accounts:

“I learnt that if everything in my life is taken away I should still consider Jesus as enough.”

“I experienced community outside my home community for the first time.”

“Community was redefined for me in the sense that people support and encourage one another without being asked to do it.”

“I saw how intentional the Lord is in everything he does and in His creation.”

Then of course probably the highlight for the team was the baptism of four members of our team.

In second place concerning highlights, we had our…ROUTE REVEAL!

Unfortunately our team is too big to travel together at all times, which required us to split into 2 smaller teams:

We have waved Jeffrey’s goodbye for now and are on our way to Makhathini. Followed by Eswatini and our last training of Bible study in Pretoria before we board our first flight to the nations.

There’s a poem by Robert Frost called ‘The road not taken’, here is an excerpt:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

As we are on the road less traveled, hand in hand with Jesus, we can testify that it has already made all the difference.

Love and blessings,
One Year Team of 2025