In the fall of 2002, I received an e-mail from a pastor in Cape Town, South Africa. After a few e-mail exchanges we made plans to visit during my trip to his country in early, 2003. Shane Dryden greeted me at the airport in Cape Town. He had graciously invited me to spend a week in Cape Town with his family. During my visit I had the opportunity to spend time with the other members of their church and experience a taste of what is happening there. I was blessed by their friendship and hospitality. I was inspired by their faith and trust. I was amazed to hear the similarities in what the Spirit of God was doing in such different parts of the world.

Shane and his wife, Charise, moved to Cape Town a few years ago to start Southpoint, a network of simple faith communities meeting around the area, mostly in homes. But initially, they weren't planning on starting churches that met in homes. "The community we had in mind then, is very different to the community we have in mind today," Shane says. "Ultimately, we started this community because we felt called and because we passionately love Him and His Church."

Shane continues, "We want to see disciples made, and if church forms out of that then even better!" In fact, this is the evident driving factor amongst the Southpoint community. They wanted to see this happen in a reproducible context.

"Without trying to put too much emphasis on structure and the way we meet, there are obviously reasons why we do the things we do. We could do a lot of what we do in a different structure but the big question would be: why would we want to? There is one thing that I know would be hindered in a 'big church' structure, and that would be the area of reproduction. The kind of simple, organic churches that we are involved with are far easily reproduced than the bigger churches down the road. This I find incredibly exciting!"

While excited about the possibilities. Shane is realistic. He sees value in testing things over time. "I guess we will only know after we have been away for a good 6-12 month period or so. When we return, what we find will be a good indication of our effectiveness. Will we see new disciples? Will we see reproduction? This will be a good gage."

But already, the Southpoint community is seeing people's lives change. "We are seeing people moving towards a new understanding of the kingdom and what it means to be a disciple of Christ… a couple that started coming to our meetings, they were living together and were really in a bad place, struggling with many things. We were able to walk with them through a process of transformation and in this process they agreed to move out and walk the road of preparing for marriage in purity. We had the privilege of baptizing them and went on to marrying them. They have become our closest friends and a testimony of God's grace. This alone has made it worthwhile for us."

The process of starting this community hasn't always been that easy for Shane and his family. While a loving community has been emerging for some time now, as many church planters experience, there was a season of loneliness.

"Certainly, one of the most challenging things for us has been the fact that we did not plant in team. Months after us starting, I had the revelation that my wife, Charise and I are not a church planting team; we are one, a marriage team. We have felt the pain of walking alone; thankfully God has sent men and woman who have for a period felt the need to 'team' with us, even though in a limited sense due to distance. We are praying for a team to emerge and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Because of not being in team we have at times taken things too personally which has been very hard...and very silly!"

The importance of team, marriage and family - and making things flexible around and for those values - is evident in the Dryden home and in the Southpoint communities. Shane normally does web design out of his garage so that he can work yet still be available to his family and their community. Charise skips a meeting to watch a disabled child whose parents couldn't make it otherwise that night. Shane welcomes a young family to bring their baby to a leadership gathering. Young mothers visit the Dryden home every week for tea and conversation and Charise shows love to everyone, listens to every word and still gets the laundry done during their time together.

The daily rhythm of the Dryden's home is calm but far from slow. Life moves at a steady pace for them. The peace in their home and community seems to come from their spiritual life. They always seem confident in the Spirit's direction of their lives. "It is God who builds His church and not us," Shane says in humble confidence. They both show little intimidation to other people's ideas on how they should conduct their lives. "I am desperately trying to get rid of a 'balanced life.' I am not sure if my life should be 'balanced.' I am honestly trying to live in the sphere that I believe God has called me to live in. The moment I step out of this sphere and poach someone else's, then I believe I will be living an 'unbalanced' life."

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To find out more about Shane and Southpoint, you can visit Southpoint's website or visit Shane's blog.