ALON CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

Petach Tikva – Door of Hope

Petach Tikva is based in the Cape province of South Africa, just outside Cape Town.

A few years ago the Alôn leadership felt the call of God to extend the work to the Southern most tip of Africa, to the Cape region. They spied out the land assuming that the work would be similar to the base in that it would perhaps be another farm. They did not for one moment consider that it could be suburban or close to the city of Cape Town, and so they searched along the south-eastern coast, prayerfully looking out for the place God would show them, but to no avail. Nowhere along the south-eastern coast did they feel the peace of God. And so they laid the vision down and allowed the excitement to die.

Then one day during 1997 sometime after all of this, Davit and Sara happened to be in Cape Town at a public place called the "Waterfront" and his eyes fell upon a discarded newspaper which he picked up and turned to the classifieds. He immediately saw the advert for a property situated where he and Sara had been called from so many years before, the town of Somerset West. He had absolutely no intention of ever returning to this town as God had completely removed any love for it from their hearts - but somehow as he read this advert, something in him became alert to the leading of God and he sensed that the Lord was raising up His plan once more.

After hurriedly rushing out to view the property he knew that this was to be the place God wanted him to build and to establish the extension of the Alôn farm. It was to be called Petach Tikva, the Door of Hope, and it was to become a wonderful door for broken people and for those seeking a deeper reality in the Lord Jesus to find Him and His calling and plan for their lives.

A broken shell

The house was a complete mess, and in disrepair. Leaking roofs, broken floors, no garden whatsoever - it was an eye-sore and enough to put anyone off just by looking at it. And yet God gave Davit eyes to see the potential and to see what could be done … and so the team came down, builders, carpenters, painters, gardeners, a mixed bunch with varying talents but with a common purpose - to build Petach Tikva. Throughout the winter they worked and prayed, and worked and prayed !!! And through it all God worked in them … and one day it was all completed and we opened the doors and God brought in the first of many people to stay at the Door of Hope. Lives were touched and transformed, and the Lord used it to set many people free.

Different families came down from the base to lead the work and we enjoyed a good relationship with the body, both Jew and Gentile. It became a base of prayer for the nations and also a place of God's prophetic word being released and touching the lives of people. At times we have up to six or seven families staying there and have accommodated over 30 people over the busy season - we use it as an outreach base and also as a part of the Discipleship school and a place for the families and singles to enjoy after a year of "laboring on the cutting-edge" up on the base at Alôn.

- Alon Christian Fellowship also known as Alon International -