I would like to share my personal experience with everyone. I am an adventurous person, and so, naturally, I like to embrace new things, but to be honest, when I first heard about Advance, I was sceptical – another piece of material, another resource. Anyone who has been involved in Christian Ministry is likely to say that it’s easy to get over exposed to so many different types of resources and materials. At times you feel like Christians can be the best salesmen and women – everyone wants to be a creator and provide resources for the kingdom, which is not a bad thing necessarily, but often the resources come with an attempt to raise personal profile. I thought, ‘what would be different about Advance than any other material that I’ve ever worked through?’, but now I know, Advance is something different!
When I first started exploring Advance, I realised something quickly. Advance is not just a piece of material or a study guide. It’s so much more than that. It’s drawn me into a network of like-minded people who are passionate about gospel proclamation. Initially when I first joined a group, I sat, and watched the interactions between other believers, people who are established in ministry and those who have bi-vocational ministries. It was so refreshing to see many different leaders, pastors, evangelists and other passionate people engaging without worrying about their profiles or ministries. I witnessed something beautiful in the conversation and community that was promoted.
There was a particular person in my Advance group, who, as we were chatting about the gospel, invited me to join his ministry on an outreach in Zambia, Africa. Since then, I’ve had the privilege to partner in many other missions and have engaged with many more leaders, starting many Advance groups across the southern part of Africa. Advance has been a group where I have built new relationships and learnt from many others. I have loved having the opportunity to be with people who talk passionately about the Gospel and Advance is a great resource for any person and church wanting to sharpen and develop the gift of the Evangelist within the local body.
Advance is not just great content, but it helps to form and foster community, discipleship, and collaboration through meaningful conversations focused on biblical truths. Unfortunately, many times, when people gather, we have this innate ability to get into conversations or talk about the factors where we differ. What I’ve enjoyed so much is bringing people together and celebrating the greatest unifying factor of all, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whenever we meet and talk about Jesus, we all grow stronger together and come out sharper, motivated to speak about the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Written by Bryce Kwant
Bryce Kwant has a passion for the Gospel, missions and the local church. He has been on the Pastoral team at his local church “the Barn Christian Fellowship” in Johannesburg, South Africa since 2010. He has also lived in Livingstone, Zambia in 2017. Setting up a missions base and community project. He is also serving with the Global Network of Evangelists as their Africa Coordinator. Bryce loves good music, good coffee and his Wife, Amore, and his 3 kids, Peyton, Benjamin and Hannah.
