Team
Discipleship:
There will
be weekly one-on-one discipleship for each team member, and group discipleship
and teaching 3-4 times a week, mostly from the FYM team leaders. At times, local
pastors, missionaries, or other believers will share in discipling the team.

A major focus of the FYM program is personal discipleship. You will be
mentored by a godly man or woman, someone committed to helping you mature on
your personal faith journey. Emphasis is placed on daily surrender and releasing
anything that may keep you from close communion with God.

Group discipleship
will focus on growing as a community of believers. Daily teaching hits major
topics such as communion with God, spiritual gifts, evangelism, disciple making,
leadership, church planting, missions, the body of Christ, and worship. Team
discussions are geared to build into each individual the core foundations of
being a disciple of Christ.

Ministry in South
Africa:
While in South Africa, you will each
focus on a ministry internship for roughly 20 hours a week. You will minister
independently as you work in the Townships and poorer encampments of houses that
are built out of scrap wood and other materials. During the first week we will
introduce you to various projects like working with orphans, AIDS counseling,
door to door ministry, soup kitchens, teaching in schools, planning of gardens,
working with local women in the community, kids clubs, teaching individuals how
to read and write, feeding points, sports ministry, building and painting of
houses, etc. These projects are already established and you will join in on more
than one of them. You will also work with the local church in the community.
Building friendships with the local people will be one of the main focuses to
lead them to Christ.

Although the internships are individual, we will also spend a smaller amount
of time ministering together as a team in a variety of settings.

Housing:
You will live with other First Year
Missionaries at our partnering South African mission base, Alabanza and will be
hosted by Mission Sebenzela. Mission Sebenzela shares the ideals of AIM in
investing in your lives to create bold disciples of Jesus Christ. Alabanza is in
a great location in a lovely rural area between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Both
cities are hubs of activity, but the rural setting provides an ideal atmosphere
for discipleship and personal time with God. At the same time, there are many
ministry opportunities in the area through partnerships established by Mission
Sebenzela.

You will have access to laundry facilities and a phone at the base. All your
meals will also be at the Alabanza. Full featured internet access providers are
being investigated but currently are unavailable.

Location
Description:
Within hours of your arrival, you're
going to discover that South Africa is a great melting pot of cultures, colors,
languages and traditions. South Africa broke free from ‘apartheid' ten years ago
and they are very proud of their diversity. It is a nation of 44.8 million
people of different origins, cultures, languages and beliefs. It's not called
'The Rainbow Nation' for nothing. South Africa has 11 official languages - and
scores of unofficial ones - Afrikaans is the most prominently spoken among the
South Africian peoples with English being a strong secondary language including
the most commonly spoken language in official and commercial public life.

The 2001 census revealed five main racial categories by which people could
classify themselves: African/Black - 79%, White - 9.6%, Coloured - 8.9%, and
Indian/Asian - 2.5%.

One of the largest attractions to South Africa is the scenery. Wildlife
abounds and with a vast area of natural settings your eyes will continue to
roam. Mountains, plains, valleys with rivers and of course the coastal line
offers beauty than can rarely be surpassed.

In terms of religious affiliation, about two-thirds of South Africans are
Christian, mainly Protestant. They belong to a variety of churches, including
many that combine Christian and traditional African beliefs.

South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its long coastline
stretching more than 2,500km from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic
coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then north to the border with
subtropical Mozambique on the Indian Ocean.

The need for Christians to
minister here is urgent. HIV/AIDS has taken a major toll and the country hosts a
high orphan rate with pockets of poverty in many locations.

Weather:
South Africa has a mostly temperate
and pleasant climate, with lovely warm sunny days most of the year. Being in the
southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite to those experienced in
Europe and North America, so if you're wondering, yes they spend Christmas by
the pool.

Summer is mid-October to mid-February, autumn from February to
April, winter May to July, and spring August to October.