Combined Sunday School Concert

After many weeks of planning and practice the day had finally arrived! At 9am on Sunday 30th of November Durban hall was filled with the noise of 80 excited Sunday School children. The day began with a payer and then all the Sunday Schools singing “We’ve got Good News of the Kingdom of God” together. It was such an awesome sight and sound.

Throughout the morning we were presented with the different Sunday Schools singing songs and reading verses from the bible.

Durban Sunday School was the first up singing a number of songs using a variety of instruments such as the guitar, piano and the clarinet.

Lamontville and Mariannhill were next, singing a couple of their favourite songs in Zulu and English. Their enthusiasm could be seen by the volume of their songs and the way they moved to the tune of the songs. There was a small competition between these two Sunday schools as they each tried to be the last with a song to sing – the groups got up one after the other to present completely unplanned songs!!

Westville Sunday School sung the well-known song “Talk Together” and were then joined by Mariannhill to sing “Jesus’ love is a bubbling over”

To end the concert, all the Sunday schools were invited up onto the stage to sing “Days of Elijah”. Once again this was an amazing experience to see and hear: these 80 Sunday School children, from four different areas, singing together!

After a prayer we all headed outside for some refreshments and chat with the kids, young people and the brothers and sisters.

Amy McClure, Australia

2010 and P2P activities result in wonderful growth in Youth Week numbers.

The Annual South African Christadelphian Youth week was held during the second week of December this year. It was wonderful to see the numbers increase from about 30 in the past to 62 young people this year. The main reason for the increase was due to the activities and work of the 2010 and P2P campaigns which resulted in the establishment of the Marianhill ecclesia. Twenty two of the young people from Marianhill attended the Youth Week and for the first time in 10 years we had to hire a bus to get the 40 odd young people from Durban to the camp.

 

The other third of the camp was made up of young people from Gauteng who travelled to the lovely Drakensville holiday resort in a convoy of three cars. The week was thoroughly enjoyed by all and every day was jam-packed with a 15 minute “First thoughts” meditation first thing in the morning, three study classes (two in the morning and one at night), a Bible marking session, recreational activities like swimming, a hike, stalk the lantern, games night, DVD night, visit to a power station,” bolley ball” and soccer matches. Great food at meal times were thrown in for good measure and most nights everyone was happy to “hit the sack” as tired bodies got some well deserved sleep.

 

The lessons for the seniors were given by Bro. David White and myself while Leona and myself shared the lessons for the junior group. Bro. David handled lots of practical issues that impact on the young people today and gave good Biblical perspectives on a variety of issues whilst I focused on showing people how to study their Bibles. The junior group’s theme was on being spiritually sick and getting healed by Jesus.

 

As in the past it was intriguing to see how the young people got to know each other so well and start living together as an integrated family after the third day. Everyone had great fun in leaning about God’s word and participating in many activities. If the current growth continues we will have to split the youth week into two camps, one for Seniors and one for Juniors – what a nice “problem” to possibly have in the near future !

 

We frequently thank our heavenly Father for the way he has empowered us to preach the gospel to others and bring so many more young people into contact with His word and ways.

 

- Lucas Scheepers

 

 

The Margate Makeover

On Monday 24 November 2008 at 12:30 pm, Dan, Leah and I arrived at Margate Good News Centre. We were greeted by Nelson and Alastair (brothers from the Margate ecclesia), with fruit juice, muffins and biscuits. After refreshing ourselves, we got down to work measuring, marking out areas and getting down on paper all we needed: Wood, sand, paving slabs, concrete curbs, fence posts and much more - all to be bought that afternoon! We only had two days plus Monday’s remaining daylight in which to complete our task.

With about two hours to go before nightfall, we all started digging away dirt to level the play area. Alastair and Manje removed the old paving slabs from the front of the BEC, in preparation for renovation. Dan, Leah, Nelson, and I (and even seven year old Eliezer!) tried our hands at digging, raking and clearing dirt. Night came quickly but we were all satisfied with our progress.

I was up at 5 am, anxious to get things moving; we only had two days to go! I emptied the storeroom of its contents, stacking everything in one corner of the BEC. Dan and Leah woke to the clatter of the crèche kids arriving for the day. The sand and paving material didn’t arrive at the promised time, so to fill time, Dan and I covered the top and side of the jungle gym, outlined the areas to be paved, boxed in and fenced. Then we worked on the shelving boards, marking and drilling holes, ready for installation in the crèche storeroom. With the threat of rain looming, we prayed God would give us a good day. He gave us a nice cool wind!

The sand finally came, much to the fascination of all the crèche kids, who had never seen a “skip truck” before. Armed with just one small wheelbarrow and two tiny buckets, we filled the area to be paved and the playground with all the sand in less than two hours!

With only a few loose ends to tie up, I worked on boxing in the sand, Leah did some computer work and Dan finished off the paving (ably assisted by Nelson, who, with hatchet in hand, hacked away any root that was in our way!).

Erecting the fence was made difficult by a huge rock in the path. Nelson and Dan attacked the rock with a hoe and a metal pole, prodding and prying. Suddenly the rock flew through the air, missing Nelson’s head by a hair! Tired after a long and hard day, Dan would not give up, so the shelves just had to go up too!


Hyacinth Linton-Harvey, Jamaica

Getting into the mathematics of it all

I remember once hearing someone speak about the ratio of output to success with just getting people along to outreach/preaching initiatives held by ecclesias when using leafleting (a traditional method). It was 1000:1. In other words, for every 1000 leaflets distributed, 1 person would come along to whatever event they were being invited to.

Two weeks ago, we held a graduation for the students who had completed one or more of the four correspondence courses offered at the Durban Bible Education Centre. We had 55 visitors to Durban hall – that’s right, 55! Just over half of these were students and the others were family or friends who had come to see them graduate. There were about another 20 students who couldn’t make the graduation that day, but will come by the BEC to pick up their certificate.

The graduation started at 1pm with four of the Mariannhill youth (in the last picture) who had come along to help out leading some enthusiastic singing! After an introduction from Sister Mary (who works in the BEC most days) in Zulu, Brother Barry van Heerden did a short talk on the theme of “well done”. We all said “well done Madiba” to Nelson Mandela for reaching age 90 earlier this year, we were saying “well done” for graduating for their course…..but how much more important is it that we hear the words “well done” from Jesus when he comes back to earth to set up his kingdom?! The students were so engaged in the talk – I have rarely seen a group just so involved and interested in what they were listening to – you could tell that the message was really reaching them!

Then there was the certificate presentation, and we had the usual couple of students completely decked out in black gowns! When the last student was called up and they all stood together, they barely fitted on Durban hall’s stage at one time – incredible!!

Then it was time for afternoon tea and judging by the “locust” consumption style, it appeared the snacks were enjoyed by one and all. The students were all very happy and there were many promises of returning to Durban for Sunday mornings or Sunday afternoon first principle classes, now they knew how to get to the hall (and assuming also because it had been a non-confrontational and pleasant afternoon for them).

As we left later that afternoon, our spirits were soaring - the day just couldn’t have gone any better! How many leaflets would it have taken to result in 55 people, interested people, coming to an ecclesial hall had we used more traditional methods? 55,000! But that Saturday, we had 55 people willingly participating in the worship, singing, bible talk and fellowship over afternoon tea.

Why? Not because they simply received an invitation to come. It is because over varying lengths of time of contact with us through the Bible Education Centre, they have come to love and respect Mary who they see all the time and who has such care for their lives and their growth. They have also come to know and trust the other volunteers they see in at the BEC on a regular basis and they appreciate the courses and other services offered by the BEC. So what happens when we send out invitations to these people to come to an ecclesial hall for an activity? An instant audience of 55 listening ears – what a blessing!!

And the story does not stop at the end of that day. There were six new faces who had never visited Durban ecclesia present at the memorial meeting the very next morning and there were 18 students that Sunday afternoon at the first principle class. Absolute proof that God is continuing to call many people to Him in amazing ways , reaching out to people through the “touch and teach” principle shown to us so clearly by Jesus himself.

Leah Egginton, Australia

Miracles happening over the hills and far away

This blog is dedicated to all the wonderful people who spent 5 days at Emakheni Primary (also known as Dumisani’s school) in July earlier this year. The school that you drive and drive over the hills to get to.....and then keep driving!

So you wondered what could be done in five days?

Were you amazed when we levelled an uneven area into a playing field, built a vegetable garden per class with the kid’s help and installed a jungle gym and sandpit for the students who had nothing to play with during break time? Did you think it was incredible that we built shelves in every classroom, we ran bible and life skills classes for each class every day and that the kids loved playing Kingdom Youth for Christ soccer on their new field? And were you touched when we participated in a concert and braai on the last day with grateful children, parents and teachers? Through Christ all things are possible!

And did you ever wonder during those “moments” whether it was all worth it?

When you were still digging the foundations for the jungle gym after 4 hours, when the “soil” for the vegetable garden looked a lot like chunks of rock and clay and when the kids kept pocketing the red and blue crayons when you were trying to teach them about life in England??

Well, a bunch of us volunteers returned to Dumisani’s school a few weeks ago as Liezl and Lilandi Scheepers were performing their 10 plagues puppet show extravaganza. As we drove up the hill to the school, the kids waved as they recognised the Good News of the Kingdom of God magnets on our cars! As we drove in the new entrance on the right side of the school (no longer do you have to brave the toilets just to drive into the premises), we noticed that grass had been planted on the playing field!

Kids were playing around the field, the sandpit was full of sand (which they had obviously taken care of) and there were trees planted here and there from an outreach day Westville ecclesia did a few months ago.

The kids were all over the jungle gym and the paint on the slide has actually come off due to constant use! The swings have to be secured up the top of the jungle gym when break time is over just so the children will eventually go to class!

But the vegetable garden was the most awesome thing. We thought we had cleared a large piece of land to build the 8 class gardens…..well, the school has extended the garden and it now runs all the way down to the fence in depth and right down to the toilet block in length – amazing! And that is not all……the soil was (wait for it!) producing vegetables in abundance – onions, carrot, cabbage, turnips, beetroot, you name it! They now have extra watering cans and long hoses to make care of the garden easier so they can sell the produce to the community and fundraise for the school. We left the garden with a bag full of vegetables grown out of that soil we thought would require a miracle to grow anything. And maybe it did require a miracle!

We chatted to Brother Dumisani and he explained how the locals are now keen to send their children to his school, due to the flow-on effect of P2P in terms of the locals perceiving that the school is helped and nurtured by others who care. And Sunday school courses are going to be run for the children to help them learn about God!

As the kids lined up to welcome us and we helped fit them ALL into one classroom to watch the puppet show, we could hear some of them singing “talk together, talk, talk together, talk together….all about the Lord”.

And we knew that God had been working in this small, rural school long after we left on the last day of P2P in July.

Leah Egginton, Australia

Resurrecting design & technology, kids in drama and seeing God work

Some more blogs from youth reminiscing about P2P in July/August 2008

The week at Happy’s boarding school for disabled children in the Umlazi township was a great opportunity to uncover some skills last seen during year 9 Design and Technology! I wasn’t as bad at drilling as my mum might expect and the kids were furnished with 30 new clothes rails – a big step towards not having to live out of suitcases anymore.

We closed each day with a short bible lesson and some songs, which sone of the kids loved so much, they made me write out the words for them. I was particularly touched to be called their “song writer” by one of the girls crowding around me in wheelchairs. We were greeted positively due to fond and lasting memories of January’s P2P team at the school and if their love of the blond P2Pers this time is anything to go by, any team should have no difficulty in building on the back of our efforts!

Tom Ryder, UK

During P2P, I was part of a group that ran a holiday club at Lamontville. We were a little worried on the first morning as there were not many children, but after walking down the street and advertising to some of the local children, we soon had 25 and each day had a lot more. We ran some Sunday school lessons and played soccer with the older boys. The highlight of this week was the open day where all the children we had during the week attended, plus extra and about 8 parents. The younger children who had been doing the craft activities performed a play on the parable of the sower, which we had been practising during the week. The older children were very helpful, narrating the story both in English and Zulu.

After the play was finished, the children, without any prompting from us, spontaneously began to sing some of the songs we had been teaching them other the week, such as Father Abraham, Shine etc. We finished up the day with a great feeling! It was an awesome experience to build up relationships with the Lamontville youth and I aim to continue to do so during my time spent over here in South Africa.

Amy McClure, Australia

How God Works

We visited Dumisani's school in a rural area 45 minutes from Durban to see what work we could help out with at the school, and decided to try to build a jungle gym and some shelves in the classroom. Several weeks passed and we were a few days from heading out there to start our work, but had been so busy with P2P we hadn't had time to even think about the jungle gym, let alone sort out plans or buy anything for it. Leah was starting to remind me more and more about getting things together.

We had to drop something off at Craig and Nicky's early Wednesday morning and as we were coming out of their driveway we bumped into Mahen going to work. We stopped to chat through the car windows and the first thing he said was "I have a job for you! I have this jungle gym that the girls don't use any more - can you come and pull it down and give it to someone who needs it more than we do?"; he then took off up the road.

I just sat there and looked at Leah and we thought how amazing the timing God uses in our live is - so precise it is incredible and the results he creates are better than we could imagine!

Dan Egginton, Australia

Zuma get's baptized

ZUMA GETS BAPTISED….. 

…..Thulani Zuma, that is!

On Sunday 19 October 2008, there was yet another baptism at Mariannhill!! Twenty-nine year old Thulani has been consistently present at Mariannhill ecclesia since the start of the year – he is the best attending member, as he actually lives in the ecclesial hall as caretaker!! :o) Thulani’s enthusiasm for the things of God has been so wonderful to see and we were overjoyed to be part of his special day.  

The baptism was held just prior to the memorial meeting in the house of Phinda and Sylvester, as the building work on the ecclesial hall has already begun. It was a joyous occasion and, as 30 people jostled in the over-crowded bathroom around the bath holding our new brother, the sound of the song “Never turning back” had never been sung with better acoustics! Thulani emerged from has baptism wearing Good News of the Kingdom of God t-shirt and beaming from ear to ear!  

Brother Ben Dailey gave an exhortation on love in the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan and focussed us on the love of God and Jesus towards all of us. No-one could hide the laughter when Thulani’s first memorial meeting nearly took a turn to disaster in a hilarious mistake where Brother Thulani was asked to give thanks for the emblems instead of Brother Dumisani! Luckily everyone realised and the error was hastily rectified….that would have definitely been throwing poor Thulani in the deep end! 

Sister Precious lead the congregation in a few more songs of praise to conclude our meeting, which was then followed by a time of fellowship over an ecclesial lunch courtesy of Sylvester, who still holds the title of one of the most fabulous cooks ever! 

Sunday was also a big day for another reason – the long-awaited Mariannhill vs Lamontville soccer match was to be held! The Kingdom Youth for Christ course which teaches the gospel through soccer has been running at Lamontville for the past 5 weeks and this crew of about 20 young boys were keen to show their skills against the Mariannhill team made up of our youth and their friends. Team Mariannhill’s initial reaction that the Lamontville crew was “so much younger than them” was quickly forgotten, as Lamontville pulled ahead, 2-1!

On the sidelines, the rest of the Lamontville team and the Mariannhill girls tried to out-do each other in volume, enthusiasm and dance moves as they urged their team on! It was great to see that two BEC contacts who live near Durban, Terrance and Paul (who are considering baptism) came along to witness Thulani’s commitment and also actively participated in the soccer game. Even members of the local community who live around the field came out to watch…and as always, there were the resident goats and a bull munching on the grass – plenty of spectators!  

At half-time, the score was 2-1 and both teams had urgent gatherings on either side of the Mariannhill field. When the ref (Brother David White) blew the whistle, it was on again! We all paused for a moment for Brother Phinda, who fell and injured his arm – he hobbled to the sidelines, disappointed that he could not finish the game. 

The excitement increased with Lamontville scoring again and then leading 4-2. However, team Mariannhill, lead by our new Brother Thulani, were not to be outdone! After two goals scored in about two minutes, the game ended in a draw, 4-4. 

There were handshakes all round before an exhausted Lamontville team left for home, looking forward to a return game to be played at their home ground. There were even suggestions of getting a trophy arranged, but we are a little scared this might induce some loss of life – there was certainly no lack of team spirit displayed! 

What a great day all round – Thulani joining the wonderful “team” of God….and an awesome afternoon of team sports with our brothers, sisters and friends.