E-T-S EXPLAINED
What is ETS?
It's an acronym for EQUIPPING TO SHARE and is an initiative of Lutheran Hour Ministries South Africa to mobilize the Lutheran Congregations in South Africa.In 2004 Lutheran Hour Ministries - South Africa realized a need in the Lutheran Congregations in South Africa. This need was for lay people to be mobilized.
The first step in mobilization lay people was the ENGAGE-EQUIP-PROCLAIM (EEP) initiative. This is a Biblical understanding that is intended to not just ENGAGE and meet Lutherans where they are in their Christian walk, but also to EQUIP them to fulfill their purpose in life, to PROCLAIM the Gospel.
EEP grew exponentially into the Lutheran churches in South Africa over the past two years. Calls for EEP workshops have come in from Bloemfontein, Durban and even Cape Town. Truly what glorifies God is blessed, and the Lord is placing many blessings on this initiative by Lutheran Hour Ministries South Africa.
So it was when LHM International required of the South African office to also promote and train with the ETS- Equipping to Share innitiative and materials, an easy transition for LHM-SA.
EQUIPPING TO SHARE (ETS) is the EEP focus on "Sharing the Gospel". This includes the promotion and training of lay people with the ETS materials, like the "Shared Life" Bible Study Course, and the ETS Workshop.
So if you want to know more about this fresh and vibrant movement called ETS, take a look at the "Highlights", the Pictures, or read the Case Studies and reports below as to how ETS has worked for others and can work for you.
To view pictures from ETS Workshops
If you would like ETS to be presented in your church, talk to your Pastor and contact Lutheran Hour Ministries on (011) 791-1661
ETS Case Studies
Madagascar
First ETS workshop held in December 2005 with 9 congregations and 35 lay people trained who have become ETS Volunteers. The second ETS workshop took place in April 2006 with 7 'key' congregations. The pastors identified 5 lay people from each congregation to attend the church according to the following criteria:
- Leaders in the congregation
- Active in outreach ministry of church
- Interested to learn how to improve their skills as evangelists/missionaries
- Able to teach others as well
- Willing to share their faith effectively with the lost through personal testimony
and/or personal media
- Willing to work with LHM staff
- Recommended by the local pastor
- More or less available for ministry activities
Malawi
The first ETS Workshop was held in August 2005 in Lilongwe in the Luther Hall at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi (ELCM). Since then two other workshops were held, in Salima and Katewe respectively. At each workshop 4 parishes (20 congregations) were invited - 40 participants in total - including the Bishop, the Deans and the Pastors. As a result of these workshops and the subsequent outreaches, 4 Muslims converted to Christianity and are now Lutherans. One family stopped praying to idol gods and converted to Christianity. They are now very active members of the ELCM. A woman stopped practicing cultural-animistic beliefs and a boy who confessed that he was a witchdoctor received Christ as his Saviour and is now a practising Christian. Names and contact details are available from the Kuunika (LHM) Ministry. During the outreaches each participant goes out onto the streets and talks to the people. They tell them about the love of Jesus and bring at least one person back with them to meet the pastor for ministry. In this way the church has gained 55 new members and some are even assisting the congregation to set up preaching points for future Church-planting.
Uganda
The first ETS workshop was held on 30th Nov 2001 with a total attendance of 25 people mainly lay leaders from the different congregations. LMMU has held 8 workshops since its inception. There are usually approximately 50 participants invited per workshop. These come from 10 congregations [we work with congregations not parishes] to give the workshop a fair and equal representation. They invite lay leaders and pastors of various congregations. Each Congregation is represented or led by a lay leader. ETS has been very useful in Church Growth where by people, who are passed out as trained ETS members go out to the field and start off with one-on-one evangelism, home visits and they also train and re-orientate other members on issues they learnt during the workshop. This has seen more people being invited to the churches and as a result many congregations have been opened up. Below are some of the stories that reflect church growth as a result of ETS:
Bakulu Willy [by then the Kampala district facilitator] says that after attending 2 ETS workshops he came to realize that true discipleship and visitation are not aspects that can just be looked at from the Bible but involve taking a step further and reaching out to brothers and sisters in the neighbour-hood with the word of God. Through his visits to different partners a long lasting relationship was formed with people like BCC students who were later became members of our congregations. He wrote to us informing us that the skills acquired from these workshops enabled him turn his once 5 member BCC club into a 30 member group who have since then acted as our ambassadors in the different congregations of Uganda. These have led many people into the Church.
Bamuwamye Aaron [ by then a lay leader of Nakabango Lutheran Congregation] said that after the first 2 workshops of ETS he was able to acquire skills needed in evangelizing to the youth and this attracted many youth to his congregation. As a result they were involved in activities like Bee-keeping and this further attracted many of them to the Church. Nakabango Lutheran Congregation is one of the biggest and active Lutheran Congregations we have in Uganda.
In Uganda all ETS participants are taken through steps to do undertake outreach and are expected to teach other congregational members when they go back to their respective communities. Thereafter they report to the LMMU office on a monthly basis and our office also does the actual monitoring and evaluation of the ETS outreach results at the grass root on a periodical basis.
Reports on ETS Workshops in South Africa
Letter from Bishop DP Tswaedi in response to first ETS WORkshop:
Once more thank you together with your team for the ETS Workshop that you conducted over the past weekend at our church.
The joy, excitement, urgency that was implanted among our people is amazing.
For the first time they have witnessed two major things:
1. That is possible for a Lutheran Christian to stop a person, let alone a stranger and tell him / her about their hope.
2. That there is immense potential to grow our parish to numbers not seen and dreamed before by being trained and equipped.
I'm merely citing these two but there are many others that time and space would allow me to enumerate.
Report back from yesterday: One of the ladies who was contacted came and related her life to me. We prayed in my office and I told her she would have to see me again. But we were late for our Palm Springs service by about 20 minutes. But what a joy for both Mr Mogale, Mr Thema and Mr Bojane! Even Mr Malefo from Naledi is prepared to mobilise their church even better!
Yours truly,
Tswaedi D.P.
