Southern Africa’s Christian Women’s Club Trustee Ailsa Williamson recently challenged Stonecroft women under her mentorship to “actively participate in the exciting 50K challenge” by:

GROWING OUR TEAMS AND CONNECTIONS: Invite a friend or member of your church to join you on the planning team. Hold a Christmas Gathering or a shared interest get-together. Set growth goals for your local group and challenge other groups to better your increase.

SHARING THE GOSPEL: Invite first-timers to an outreach meeting where speakers present the Gospel message so that women are challenged to give their lives to the Lord.

BECOMING A REGULAR DONOR: Partner with Stonecroft by becoming a regular donor to our ministry.

GUIDING NEW STONECROFT BIBLE STUDY GROUPS: Offer to become a guide for six weeks for an introductory Bible study.

PRAYING: It is good to remember that this is not all about numbers. It is about joining God in His work to insure that none will perish, but all shall have eternal life. This goal cannot be reached without all of us, together, seeking God.

So there you have it—great ideas from our South African sisters on expanding God’s work through Stonecroft Ministries. Their theme for 2008 is “On the Way to 50K.”

The following excerpt by District Consulting Coordinator Norma Dougherty is from a presentation at a recent gathering for Stonecroft leaders.

The September/October issue of Stonecroft Today posed this question:

“Can you recall a time when you were challenged to achieve a goal that was so big you knew, without a doubt, success could only come from God?”

Stonecroft has established a new goal for us. They are calling this vision 50K, asking us to commit to discovering 50,000 new “voices”—volunteers, Stonecroft Bible Study participants, donors and people ordering Stonecroft evangelism resources—by 2010.

A large challenge, don’t you think?

Currently, we are adding about 600 new voices globally each month. A quick check of the math shows that at this pace, we will fall short of our goal. If, however, each of our existing 40,000+ volunteers simply encourages one friend to become involved in outreach and Bible study, we would soon hit 80,000.

The Great Commission instructs us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20, NIV). The secret to our success is simply being obedient to the Word of God.

Teaching others to observe Christ’s commands does not involve some big marketing program that makes this thing work. Still, we can learn something from the Geico gecko. The little green gecko simply tells his story and everyone listens. Why? Because he has been empowered with a message.

We, too, have been empowered with a message and are Christ’s get-gos. Let’s get up and get going for Him!

How do you include 50,000 people in ministry? Prayerfully. Intentionally. One person at a time. God has entrusted the Stonecroft corps of volunteers with a goal to add 50,000 new voices serving together by December 31. 2010 and we’ve begun working together to achieve that goal.

Are you a part of Stonecroft’s 50K initiative?

Share how you are discovering new “voices” – or read others’ stories.