P2P team at work in Margate

Our small team here in Margate were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the April 2011 P2P team – we are kept busy with our regular events and there were many jobs being put off until the relevant manpower and expertise arrived – and arrive it did in the form of Mikki, Tamar, Katie, Maggie, Philemon, Justin, Kate, Nat, Hannah, Kelly, Rob, Leanne, Abi & Dave.

They managed to fit some shelves in our store room – we had been accumulating donations with nowhere to put them for some time, install our digital welcome screen and fix all the dodgy church chairs, which we were always hoping wouldn't find themselves under a first-time visitor! 

They gave a dramatic Sunday School lesson on the ten plagues to all classes together, and gave Cecilia welcome help in the Good News Crèche every day.  Some of them taught at the Lorraine special school and the orphanage crèche, some lent their expertise to teaching at After School Klub, some helped plant seedlings at the food garden, and most exciting for me (Caz) we were able to do our first crèche upgrade work, at the Masinenge Informal Settlement.  

The sight of 12 GNOTKOG T-shirted members singing and painting certainly made an impression on the community!  The jaded and somewhat dangerous jungle gym got a facelift, to the delight of the teacher and children, and the teacher got the sign she had been asking for since attending the crèche course in March.

Philemon & Justin's electronic expertise helped truly launch our computer network, and thanks to Justin's design skills we had a superb flyer advertising our classes which we managed to give out about 500 of at the crossroads in Margate, in about an hour!

What a blessing to have so many willing volunteers to be the hands and feet of the Lord in serving our local community, and spreading the Good News of the Kingdom to the people around us!

with love in our Lord,

Ben & Caz Parsons Ignite 2020 Margate 

05/06/10

Wonderful preaching day

We took good advantage of the public holiday on Wednesday 19 May and held a Bible study day at the home of Mickey and Karen Scheepers.  Brethren and sisters from the Congolese ecclesia (in Pretoria); the Kempton Park ecclesia and the Aphiwe ecclesia (Tembisa) attended.  A total of 16 students and 12 brethren/sisters as well as 14 young people/children turned up. Three one hour study sessions with a lunch break in between went by in a flash and everyone enjoyed the day very much. Various Bible topics were discussed and the younger children had a mini Bible Club during which they did Bible activities and lessons.

We thank God for the  blessing of preaching the Gospel to those who have a desire to hear it.

The Ignite2020 team in Kempton Park

Pascal's baptism

It was a very joyful occasion when Pascal Niyonkuru  was baptized into the saving name of Jesus this Sunday past (8 May.) Pascal is from the Congo but has been living in SA for over a year. He met Bro. Paul Kizunguluka of the Pretoria Central ecclesia soon after arriving in SA and became a faithful student to all the meetings of the ecclesia. We were very please and impressed with his confession of faith and his enthusiasm for preaching. Pascal also expressed the peace he now felt knowing that his hope in the Kingdom on earth is sure.

With abiding love from the Kempton Park Ecclesia.   

Patrizia Straulino gave a wonderful confession of her faith two weeks ago and was baptized the next Sunday. It was a lovely day and the members of the Kempton Park ecclesia were delighted to welcome a new sister to our family. Patrizia is a friend of sister Aneta Silva and she has been preparing for baptism for some months. Her faith in God and Jesus and perspective about a life of discipleship in the future is very refreshing and encouraged all of us to keep our focus on Jesus as we all walk to the Kingdom together.

With abiding love from the Kempton Park Ecclesia.

New satellite ecclesia in Tembisa

Last Sunday was a wonderfully exciting day. It was the first meeting of our new satellite ecclesia in Tembisa. Several people that we have met in the course of the last two years have expressed a desire to attend a meeting if it was in Tembisa as transport remains a problem for many to make there way to the Kempton Park meeting.

It was very pleasing to have six of our most regular Bible students to the Tuesday night Bible Class turn up for the meeting. All together we were 12 people and after the meeting we had another hour of serious discussions. Three of the six students that attended are preparing for baptism. It is particularly rewarding that these students are all young men who have very responsible and spiritual heads on their shoulders and have made a decision to commit their lives to God and Jesus.

The term “satellite ecclesia” refers to an ecclesia that is well supported by a nearby ecclesia in terms of studies given and exhortations on Sundays. It is more about establishing a presence and a venue for interested people at first even if there are not enough brethren and sisters to establish an official ecclesia from the very beginning

We thank our heavenly Father for the abilities and opportunities he has given us to preach the Gospel and to now move closer to the next step of having an official and mature congregation in Tembisa that will serve as a true light stand.

The Ignite2020 team - Kempton Park

The Margate Learning Centre goes electronic!

We have been running an after school club once a week from the Margate Good News Centre for about 4 weeks, offering English, Maths and Biology support, but we could really see a need for computer access - about 2 in the group of 30 had either used a computer once or twice, or never.  These kids were going to be graduating high school, competing with the rest of the nation's school leavers, for higher education and jobs!

After submitting a proposal (aka a very good Spirit-guided idea, we prayed) to the Trustees at COPT we were blessed to be able to purchase 11 notebook computers to be able to offer after-school and adult computer skills at the centre, alongside the other subjects.

We collected the machines on Tuesday, Ben worked through the night (almost) to get them synched and ready to go; we were also very mindful of security issues so we had set up a safe and individual locks, it was quite complicated and then, Wednesday 4pm - LIVE!  Thanks to God we had 17 kids turn up, (we had 18 spaces that day) so no one was turned away.  The kids were very respectful and it was lovely to see their eyes widen as letters shrank and grew, font styles changed etc with the touch of a button!  Ben asked them to just 'play' with the text editor to find their way around, and many of them started writing us thank you letters!  

We pray this work will really give these children a better chance in life, but more importantly a relationship with us and the other events at the Good News Centre, so that they may grow in a greater Wisdom eventually.

Caz Parsons

COPT Margate

Saturday Bible Club @ God Is Love Preschool

"It's time for Bible Club!" "Come to Gogo's for Bible Club!" "Kajima kajima! (hurry hurry)"

 This is what we heard as we drove up to Gogo's preschool last Saturday – a whole bunch of the regular kids were marching through the street with a megaphone, rounding up the neighborhood. This is why we love the first Saturday of the month – meeting with a group of 50 odd super excited kids (ages ranging from about 1 to 18), sharing God's Word amongst games and fun and laughter, and leaving to pleas of 'please can't you come EVERY Saturday'.

The Saturday Bible Club was initiated by Jonathan and Megan Sabo during their stay with us, and then taken over by Liezl & Hendri for a while, until Michael & I joined the team and could take ownership. The venue, God Is Love Preschool, owned by Gogo (Zulu for grandmother, as she is the community 'grandmother') is situated is Delmore Gardens, which is a lovely little neighborhood, built in such a way that there is only one entrance – all the roads just loop around back to it, which gives it a very familial feel. Not even 5 minutes drive away each side of it there are two informal settlements, and we pick up kids from one of these settlements for the Bible Club.

We were very blessed to be able to share with Gogo and the kids the wonderful news that Autopage has finally handed over the money to build a community centre, similar to the Aphiwe Good News Centre in Tembisa, in Delmore Gardens!  The news was met with whoops of joy and applause – and all the kids trying to work out just how near they live to where the centre is going to be! For Gogo this also means an upgrade from her double garage & lounge crèche to proper facilities, with decent lighting and new equipment.

Various members of the community are starting to recognize us & the bakkie and will stop us to tell us how much they appreciate our work, and have also shown an interest in attending bible classes and doing the bible courses once the centre is opened. At first Michael couldn't understand why everyone kept calling him "Simon" until he realized they had probably overheard him playing "Simon Says" with the kids!

Overall there are some very exciting developments underway in this vibrant little community, and we are blessed and privileged to be able to see and be a part of God's work here.

Michael & Lilandi