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Feedback on 2007 Gathering

United Prayer for France (South Africa) presented: The First International Gathering for France in South Africa 13-18 April 2006

For a feedback document written by Marylise Kelemen, one of the french visitors (in french) click here....

The Purpose of the Gathering was: To establish solid relationships between French and South African believers while stirring Huguenot descendants to develop a passion and to take up responsibility (through prayer and action) for the country of France in order that we may see the French nation return to God.   Gathering Feedback:   The Venue – Goodland Farm The First International Gathering for France was significantly held at Goodland estate, a farm 45 km north of Pretoria nestled in the peaceful Seringveld Conservancy. Eugene Fourie (Huguenots descendant), a medical doctor, and his wife Lalie, a teacher by profession acquired Goodland 10 years ago and have developed the grounds over the past decade as a quality training and accommodation facility for groups.   The father of the Fourie family in South Africa, Louis Fourié, was of Huguenot background. He landed in the Cape in 1689 and originated from Pointaix, Dauphiné. He first married Susanne Cordier who bore him 10 children. After she died he married Anne Jourdan who bore him 11 more children. Today, 11 generations later, Fourie is one of the most prevalent Huguenot Family names in South Africa with more than 33 000 family members.   Goodland was a wonderful place to fellowship and spend peaceful moments in Gods presence as we were immersed in Bushveld surroundings. The weekend on the farm really attribute to family relationships (in the Lord) being established between the French believers and South African believers of Huguenots Descent.    Thursday Evening – 13 April 2006   Session 1: Pesach Meal The starting date of the gathering was very significant as the day correlated with the date that the first Huguenots arrived at the Cape, in South Africa (13 April 1688). As this was not planned by the organizers, we knew that God was speaking to us about the significance of our meeting.   The International Gathering for France also fell on Easter weekend, but even more significantly on the exact dates of the Jewish Pesach (Passover). It was felt that we needed to celebrate the salvation and redemption in Christ that came to us as individuals, but also to the nations and the godly Huguenots descendants that fled France as refugees to other countries.     Kavod congregation (from Pretoria) prepared a traditional Pesach meal for the gathering where the symbolism contained in the Pesach meal was explained to us by Marinda du Preez (also a Huguenot surname). Together we celebrated the redemption work of God through His son Jesus Christ while being reminded that we were engrafted into the redemption work that flowed through the Jewish people to the nations.   Passover preceded the exodus of Israel from Egypt (after more than 400 years of slavery) so that they could inherit the land God promised to His people. Equally we declared that through the redemption of Christ we believe God is releasing the (South African) descendants of the French Huguenots to come out of Africa and go and possess the land of their ancestors as their spiritual inheritance in order that the kingdom of God can once again manifest in France.   Friday – 14 April 2006   Session 2 - Understanding the South African Huguenots During this morning session we shared on the South African Huguenots descendants. Historical and contextual information were shared about where South Africans come from and how their thinking and functioning were influenced through history by the traumas and experiences they went through.   As a people uprooted from a homeland in Europe, it was found that many of them (especially those with Huguenots ancestry) sensed a certain void due to a significant portion of their identity that was violently taken away from them through the religious persecution in France. God is busy working by His Spirit to restore these missing aspects, especially by reconnecting them with believers in France.   We also shared on the importance of understanding the positive things that were inherited by South Africans through their Huguenots ancestors and on how important it is to rediscover these things and take up responsibility in God, to allow these God things to again function in and through our lives.   The session was also deemed important in order to give the French believers a better understanding of the South African Christian so that they could understand the differences and develop a godly passion for the children of France in the Southern tip Africa.   The session was concluded in a powerful time of ministry where the French attendees prayed for the South African Huguenots descendants to be established and restored in their Godly purposes and identity for the end time Kingdom purposes.   Session 3 - Understand the French Believer During this session the French visitors shared much on the condition of the Church and Christianity in France today. The difficulties and godless culture in their nation makes it extremely difficult to advance in the things of God. The churches in France are hampered by disunity, backbiting and control. This information gave the South African delegates a clearer understanding of the need for believers to pray and invest spiritually into the country of France.  Marylise Kelemen shared the experience she had as she left France to come to South Africa, and how she experienced the anxiety of knowing there was no return once she boarded the airplane. This gave her a heart and an understanding of what the Huguenots must have experienced 300 years ago, not knowing whether they will ever see their homeland again.   The time of sharing was once again followed by prayer. Prophetically we called back the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be evident in France again. The French were all given a candle to symbolize the light of truth that God brings to them. The assembly also prayed for the young generation to arise with the gospel of the Kingdom on their lips and the older French generation then symbolically passed the candle to the next generation after which they prophetically placed these candles at the French flag to symbolize the fire of God returning to the land of the tricolor. Session 4 - Journey to the Cross As both the French and South African delegates have shared through the day on the difficulties, traumas and obstacles that they experienced through the centuries in their respective nations, it was felt that we needed to bring all the negative aspects of our histories and ancestry before the Lord. In a time of repentance and renunciation we acknowledged the dark aspects that we allowed in our nation and families. We asked God to bring a pureness and a cleansing from every one of these things that hampered and polluted the purposes of God. Each delegate wrote these different aspects on a piece of paper in order to bring thorough repentance for it.   Then the whole assembly moved outside to a cross that was erected on the grounds and nailed these pieces of paper to the cross, asking God to bring a final removal and destruction to the sins and demonic influences that has blotted the history of our respective peoples. The cross was then lit with fire as a symbol of Gods judgment that came against these things the day that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself on the cross as our sacrificial lam. As we stood and watched all these pieces of paper burn away, we thanked God for what He is doing in our time to bring deliverance from the deceptions of centuries and return us to the godly aspects in our family lines.   In front of the cross we committed to God to pick up the godly and pure things that came through our blood lines; to run with His eternal purposes, that was placed within our people groups. We then stood and worshipped the Lord together as a people that could testify of the greatness and goodness of the God we serve.   Saturday – 15 April 2006   Session 5 - Desert Meeting The persecuted protestants in France had to flee to the wilderness (‘le desert ‘ in French) in the late 1700’s to have their meetings in secret in the forests and mountains of the Cevennes, in order to worship God. On the Saturday morning we therefore held a meeting in the bush with the purpose of praying for all the French believers present. After a time of intercession and prophetic ministry concerning the conditions they daily face in France, we declared that the time has come for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in France to come out of the wilderness to bring the light of the gospel back to visibility. We prayed that God would release His light back to every Frenchman and that the Church in France will be able to possess their promised land by defeating every enemy of the gospel so that the inhabitants of this nation will once again of the revelatory light of God. As a prophetic sign candles were lit in the bush and given to the French to bring out of the wilderness into the daily lives of the French people.   Session 6 – Prophetic Ministry  After a time of praise and worship an opportunity was given for members of a local prophetic ministry to minister individually over the French delegates. The purpose of this time was to bring encouragement to our French believers and to fan the vision that God has placed on their lives.   Session 7 – Prophetic words over France and intercession for the nation of France After the prophetic ministry to the individual French believers, prophecies were brought about France as well as the connection between South Africa and France in the last day plans and purposes of the Kingdom. (See prophecies under the Resources tab)   In response to the prophetic words the delegates divided into groups with the purpose of praying for different facets of the French nation.   Intercession was done for the government of France, for the youth of France and the Christian believers and Churches in France.   During this time of prayer we really experienced the power of God being released for the aspects we were praying for. God also gave several visions, impressions and prophetic actions about what He wants to do, especially to release the next generations back into the kingdom of God, in spite of the godless heritage they have inherited from the generations that preceded them.   Session 8 – Praying for Europe by Gerda Leithgöb During the evening session Gerda Leithgöb (a well known South African lady who often ministers in Europe on prayer and intercession) taught us on the importance of the continent of Europe and encouraged us as South Africans to take up responsibility for our European roots by contributing to the establishment of the kingdom of God in the continent of Europe.     She shared a word from Job 14:7 that God gave her in 1994 for the countries of Europe.   7 “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. 8 Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, 9 Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant.   Europe has seen the removal of the Christian heritage from its soil in the last few centuries. Today France is seen as a country in need of re-evangelization and very little of its Christian history can be seen today.   God encouraged us through this message that if we were willing to pray for the countries of Europe and we endeavored to promote the Truth of the gospel in these nations, we will be able to again bring the scent of water to the stump of Christianity resulting in new young branches being produced, bringing new spiritual life and growth to the people of Europe.   Sunday – 16 April 2006   Session 9 – Sunrise Service in the ‘Veld’ Early on the Sunday morning the delegates walked onto a nearby hill to await the rising of the sun in order to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  During this time Henning Schikora (one of the French delegates) shared a message with us from 2 Pet 1:19. God had sown a seed more than 300 years ago. It seemed to many as if this seed had died, but God was proclaiming that it is time for the resurrection of this seed, the seed of the Huguenots.   He further shared that God was bringing reconciliation between the parents in France and their children in South Africa and that the time has come for the South African Huguenots descendants and those in other parts of the world to be reconnected to their root in France from which they were torn away.   His message to the Huguenots descendants in this land was that our identity is not in our Huguenots heritage; neither in being South African neither in being of French roots, but our identity is in God Himself.   The South African delegates and the French delegates held communion while they watched the sun rise and as they heard the prophetic message from God. Together we remembered the sacrifice of Christ and in a sense the sacrifice of our fore fathers in obedience to Christ. We prophetically mixed South African wine and French wine to symbolize our unity in Christ, through the sacrifice He brought and the heritage we share in that sacrifice.   After sharing communion the French prayed for the South African delegates for a restoration and healing from the past traumas that the Huguenots and their descendants carry because of the persecution and wounding that was brought upon them 300 years ago. We really experienced that God did a deep work in bringing restoration in our identity and emotional experience.   Session 10 - Future Strategies During this morning session (before lunch) we spend some time in discussing the strategies needed in the future to impact France and to help the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in this country to stand up in victory and to accomplish Gods purposes for their nation.    We were again led by the Spirit of God to pray intensively for our French brothers and sisters. Through prophetic actions we spoke God’s life and Word of power over the delegates that represented France in the meeting, ministering to them and calling forth the French descendants to rise up and help carry the burdens of the French Church.   Session 11 – Future Prayer Tours After lunch we discussed future prayer tours with the French delegates as well as the possibility of another gathering in South Africa for 2007.   After dividing into smaller groups, time was spent in prayer to receive direction and possible strategy for the prayer tour to France in October 2006. These impressions were shared and discussed.   Session 12 - Covenant and Commitment The evening was again spent in a significant time of worship after which Leon Coetzee (the coordinator of United Prayer for France in South Africa) shared the principals from Scripture that explain the importance of understanding God’s strategic work in and through family lines and bloodlines. Delegates were challenged to understand the vastness of God’s calling on believers to not merely do little things for God, but to see from Scripture that He has called us to impact nations. God is training us to rule with Christ and every believer has to make him or herself available to impact nations. France is a nation called to be a world changer; delegates were reminded that if we change a world changer we indirectly start changing the world.   After sharing the Word, attendees were challenged to hear from God whether He was calling them individually to France and to react on such a call by committing themselves to the kingdom work of God in this nation. Certificates were made available to the delegates whereby they could formalize their prayer commitment for the fulfillment of Gods purposes in and for the nation of France as well as for the Huguenots descendants.   Monday – 17 April 2006   Session 13 – Feedback and Closing We finished the gathering with a time of thanksgiving and prophetically binding two vine shoots to one another. One shoot was brought from France and the other shoot came from a South African vine.   Prophetically we asked God to unite the French and there descendants back to His purposes and to restore the spiritual heritage and family connections for His kingdom sake.   Then a time was given for delegates to sign their prayer commitment certificates for France after which time was given for feedback on the weekend.   The Gathering was truly a time of reconnecting families back to one another and God blessed us with special times of fellowship and friendship. This was our desire and purpose and God made it possible by His Spirit in spite of language and cultural barriers.