India Must Worship

In October last year, a team from the worship ministry was invited to take Shofar’s vision of reaching the nations to New Delhi, where they hosted India Must Worship – a workshop and retreat for those with a heart for worship from different churches and denominations.

In John 4:24 (NKJV) Jesus said to the woman at the well: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Following a word that “the nations must worship”, the Spirit | Truth School of Worship was started in 2015 and has since been presented across South Africa, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Namibia and now also India.

“Our focus is on worship discipleship,” says Richard Wade, pastor of Shofar Franschhoek and a worship ministry leader. “Our heart is to worship together with churches in those nations, discuss issues related to worship discipleship with local worship leaders and praise teams, and learn from each other.”

The program includes teaching on topics such as the theology of worship, songwriting, prophetic dance and worship, music theory and recording. Students attend weekend retreats and complete the remaining sessions online on the Shofar courses site.

There are also designated times of free worship – unscripted, open-ended worship sessions where they really trust for a connection with God.

“We see local worship leaders and band members set free in their worship expression following teachings and times of impartation and praying for them.”

Ministry Training Program (MTP)

Shofar’s Ministry Training Program (MTP) is an established finishing course to equip leaders for pastoral training and expose them to practical ministry in order to plant churches.

But the perception of ‘skills development’ or ‘learning’ does not do MTP justice, according to Kennith Muller, pastor at Shofar Klerksdorp from the MTP class of 2018.

“Both the testimonies of the teachers in the sessions and those of the fellow brothers and sisters in Christ touched me deeply. It stirred my faith in God for my journey in ministry. Although some sessions would be scheduled for a specific topic/theme, the teacher would be flexible enough to listen to the Holy Spirit and teach the theme accordingly.This is also where you learn to work with ‘nations and generations’ you would not normally be exposed to. We arrived there on the first day as strangers: various people from various places; but we left as family. Understanding different contexts and what God is doing in each context also influences one’s faith. Something as simple as quickly having lunch together was a learning experience – of language, etiquette, love and acceptance. Everybody learns and learns to love, just like Jesus. Through community and fellowship, God came to heal and restore what no course, skill, Encounter or sermon could.”