Looking out my hotel window, I can see Cape Town’s impressive Table Mountain in the distance as I write this. The Cape Town Official Visitors’ Guide 2010 describes the mountain as such, “It has been there since the beginning and presides over Cape Town’s history, with the stories of the city etched into its form.” That same guide encourages readers to join a web campaign to name Table Mountain as one of the “New 7 Wonders of Nature.”.

It is a wonder, and here in its shadow, the organizers of Cape Town 2010: The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization are setting the table for dialogue and hopefully consensus on issues confronting the 21st century church. They have in fact quite literally set up 750 tables adorned with light olive green tablecloths. More than 4,000 participants will gather around those tables every day for one week to discuss six cores issues: truth, reconciliation, world faiths, priorities, integrity and partnership. Inasmuch as possible, the six people at each table will represent a cross section of the Congress participants, with diversity in age, gender and nationality.

The Lausanne Covenant that emerged from the original Congress, Lausanne 1974, has greatly impacted the evangelical world. Congress organizers hope that a significant document will also result from this Congress. To that end, a group of respected theologians was assembled in December 2009 to shape the first part of the statement. The rest of the statement will be written during the Congress.

On the eve of the Congress opening, I am praying that as Table Mountain presides over this city, even more so will the Father preside over the Congress. All glory belongs to the One who created the heavens and the earth … and Table Mountain.

Thank you for praying for South Africa during the World Cup. God has demonstrated His power in amazing ways. The Gospel was proclaimed freely and with eternally significant results throughout the nation. Those who wanted to perform animal sacrifices inside stadiums, believing this would please their ancestral spirits, were prohibited from doing so. Efforts to legalize prostitution came to nothing, and prostitutes moan that business actually waned during the event. The problem of human trafficking has received nationwide attention, and more individuals and organizations are becoming involved in efforts to curb it.

Please continue to pray for South Africa. Particularly remember the urban centers, where problems of unemployment, poverty, violent crime, racism and human trafficking demand urgent attention. Intercede for new followers of Christ, for whom learning to walk with Him is particularly challenging in a country with these issues.

Stay connected to South Africa, and learn how God is at work on the African continent by visiting www.africastories.org and www.imbafrica.org.

The World Cup is over (sigh) and the nations are departing from South Africa. The Great Commission is once again “out there,” and South African believers must rejoin followers of Jesus around the world in focusing on the Lord’s command to take His Gospel to the ends of the earth. Pray that insights gained and lessons learned during the past month will be implemented in evangelistic efforts both within and without South Africa. Rejoice that God’s Word promises every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

DURBAN, South Africa — Partially-clothed children of all ages dart between people and cars, playing in the streets and alleys. The children are a mixture of European, Indian, African and Indonesian descent, and their eyes are striking, ranging from bold blue to jaded green to the deepest black. Playing outside all day trails dirt and mud across their faces, hands and legs, leaving decorative swirls on their bodies.

Coming from broken homes and distracted parents, the children are often left to roam the streets, learning how to live on their own. The “broken homes” in South Africa are often unlike the traditional American definition in which parents have split up; here, “broken homes” mean broken circumstances. Crime, drugs, alcohol and prostitution are only a few of the coping mechanisms many of these young people employ when trying to deal with physical and emotional abuse, rape, grief and parents who are drug dealers.

Read Part I

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Bruce and Sheri Erickson were missionary kids who met in boarding school in Kenya. After college, they married, had two children and were public school teachers in California.

Almost five years ago, the Ericksons felt God leading them to work with foster children. One family in their church had just taken in a foster baby girl, Madison, whom Bruce and Sheri began spending time with.

Unsure of God’s purpose for them in the three-month-old baby’s life, Bruce and Sheri prayed how they could be obedient to what God might be leading them to do.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — He was a missionary kid from Ethiopia and Kenya. She was also a missionary kid from Kenya. Now, Bruce and Sheri Erickson are missionaries ministering to young people with their three kids in Cape Town, South Africa.

Bruce was born in Ethiopia and lived there until he was 10, when he and his family returned to the United States for a time due to unstable political situations in the country. After two years, they returned to the mission field to serve in Kenya, where Bruce met his future wife in boarding school.

Sheri was just a teenager when her family left the U.S. for Kenya to serve in medical missions.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Shagmie Levenvall’s life has changed dramatically in the last five years. He grew up in a Muslim home, used drugs as a teenager and was a member of a gang.

Today, Levenvall is a living testimony of how Jesus Christ can change anyone’s heart and the direction of one’s life.

STELLENBOSCH, South Africa — Before the 2010 World Cup kicked off on African soil, a team of Brazilians were already looking ahead to 2014 when Brazil hosts the next World Cup.

Their training ground, however, is in South Africa, where they are ministering to youth and getting ideas on how they can use soccer to minister to their own people in the next four years.

“Our goal was to come here and serve the communities and learn something for Brazil 2014,” said Celio Freitas, team leader for the Brazilians. “We are preparing a great campaign to lead in Brazil.”

JOHANNESBURG — Desperate areas. These are the focus of Impact Africa, a mission organization operating under the belief that people in desperate situations are searching for something that leads to hope and a better life.

The organization, which launched in 2003, ministers among the poorest of the poor, who live in settlements called squatter camps surrounding South Africa’s large cities. Impact Africa has a vision to be an agent of change through Christian outreach events, children’s education, teaching, discipleship and facilitation of short-term mission teams.

During the World Cup, a seven-member team representing Impact Africa are sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ in Diepsloot, a community in northern Johannesburg.

DURBAN, South Africa — Thick mud clings to the shoes of Pastor Xolani (Ko-lan-ee) Klaas and his church members as they walk through an informal settlement in Newlands East.

The mud makes walking difficult, forcing the team to slip as they walk up and down the hills past tiny shacks constructed of scrap metal, tarps and cloth. Each houses an entire family, inadequately providing shelter from the cool, wet weather. Yet amid the struggle of everyday life, the smiling faces of residents conversing with one another reveal there is still joy and happiness in their community.

The evangelism in the informal settlements can be closely compared to how Jesus did ministry, because the needs of the people are so immediate. Klaas explains, “People, if they are hungry, will not listen because their primary needs have not been met.”