The initial contact
In October 1985 Terry and Dave Holden visited South Africa for a full programme of speaking engagements with various leaders around the nation. Terry should have been accompanying Bryn Jones but difficulty with visas prevented Bryn from travelling.
On that visit Terry and Dave also met Graham Ingram who had previously been leading the South Lee Christian Fellowship in London but was now leading the Vineyard Fellowship in Cape Town. 
A few months after their return Terry received a letter from Graham (the days before emails!) telling him about the work they were beginning to do in Khayelitsha, a township outside the city on the sandy Cape Flats, an extensive tract near Crossroads, the notorious informal housing area where migrant workers had gathered from the rural parts of South Africa in search of work. These were days when apartheid was still very dominant in South Africa and the church was taking some very strong stances against this evil. Lex Loizides helpfully gave some of this history and the situation that pertained in a recent preach at Jubilee Church.
A work party
As an expression of standing with Graham and the church it was decided to take a party of about 50 people, which I led, from the UK to South Africa to work in the townships, building shacks, teaching sewing etc. We even had one member of the team training young men in car maintenance. 
Alongside these workers would be some evangelists – Lex among them – preaching in the streets and praying for the sick.
Looking back, and having spoken to Angela Kemm on several occasions (Angela regularly went to the townships to share the love of Jesus and pray for the sick), 
I realise we did much that was unhelpful. Indeed, after we left some of the new home owners dismantled their shacks and sold the materials to provide cash, such was our lack of involving them in identifying their needs. 
I repent! But our hearts were good; it was just that our practice was bad, often seeming to have superior ‘know it all’ attitudes. This is something I subsequently encountered on many occasions in my travels to many different nations and which caused me to initiate the Life Change Teams in the early 2000s to help people appreciate cross-cultural sensitivities. For those who would like a better understanding of such issues I recommend 
‘When helping hurts’, a book that addresses some of these issues.
Some long-term benefits
However, some good did come from that visit. Of the 51 people who went nearly 20 returned for 
short or long term ‘mission’. These included Simon and Lindsey Pettit with their family, Gary and Nicky Welsh, and Len and Angela Underwood, all of whom made South Africa their home. Simon returned to serve under Graham in the Vineyard, but before the family arrived Graham had moved! So, in due course Simon took the reins of the church, with huge impact within the church itself, in the wider communities in Cape Town, across South Africa and into other African nations.
Simon’s sudden death in 2005 was hard to bear, particularly for the family but also for the many hundreds who knew him as a close friend. But I will refer to his influence and impact in future blogs.
Next time I will share some of the training programmes we initiated during the 80s.