There has been a very significant development following Amanzi and P2P in South Africa in January. Last year, Mitch and Miri Hardy spent a lot of time with a group of young people in Mariannhill using the Kingdom Youth FC program that they developed. Following this they invited about 5 of them to the Amanzi gathering. As a result of Amanzi, Kheta, Precious and Dumisani all got baptised about a month ago. They are all between 16 and 20 years old. Team Stephen (P2P) did amazing work at Mariannhill which helped encourage these young people to be baptised. John Pople also did a lunchtime talk out there which about 35 people attended.
Since P2P and Mitch and Miri leaving South Africa we have been picking up a crowd from Marianhill each Sunday and bringing them to Westville. This crowd seems to be growing bigger each week. The latest development is that God willing. next Sunday, Phinda and Sylvester Cele who are the parents of Kheta and Precious will be baptised. They had to overcome concerns of their aged parents who are Catholics but the Good News of the Kingdom of God was too much for them. 'We don't want our kids to be marching into the Kingdom of God ahead of us and we're folding our hands', they siad to me.
The numbers now are getting too much for Westville and so God willing Ilse and I will be joining the Mariannhill ecclesia when it forms in April. Amanzi and P2P was an amazing experience for us and now it is going to change our lives in a very exciting and fulfilling journey with this new ecclesia. Praise and thanks be to God who has done much much more than we could imagine.
Tim Genders
Sunday, February 17, 2008
New ecclesia at Mariannhill
