Street Fun with Kids in Esselen Park

Once a month, the Kempton Park preaching team holds a “Street Fun” event on Saturday mornings with the kids in Esselen Park. We select a low-traffic street near where the KINOS (Kids In Need Of Support) from our ecclesial Sunday School class live and invite them and all their friends to join us for fun and games in the street. Yesterday, 70 children showed up and we had a great time together with tug-of-war, sack races, pig-in-the-pen dodgeball, three-man plank racing, soccer, and jump rope. Sis. Liezl, Sis. Lilande, and Sis. Megan provided face painting for the children and we closed by singing praise songs together and giving them a snack to eat.

This type of event offers us an opportunity to spend time with the 30 children in our Sunday School class outside of a bible study setting having a good time together. It also allows them to show their friends that Christadelphians are fun people to be with. Working directly in the neighborhoods of the townships help show the children that we care about them and it helps integrate our preaching work with the community. This community involvement will become even more valuable as the new Aphiwe Community Centre opens in a few weeks there in Tembisa. There is also the potential this could become an ecclesial meeting hall someday with enough interest from the community in bible truth.

70 children showed up for our second “Street Fun Event” in Esselen Park.

The children all had a great time playing games with the Kempton Park preaching team and their friends.

The sack races were a big hit with the kids.

Bro. Lucas Scheepers cheers on one boy who is airborne in his sack.

Games in the street like this offer the opportunity to integrate with the community to build trust for preaching efforts.

Sis. Liezl Scheepers and Sis. Lilande Scheepers provided face painting for the children.

Sis. Megan Sabo paints a heart on one little girl’s face.

One little boy proudly displaying his face paint.

Bro. Lucas Scheepers joining in on the tug-of-war match.

We passed out several bottles for the kids to blow bubbles.

I felt like a human amusement park ride. The kids were quite content to get carried around the street by the tall American.

The boys were naturals at the three-person-plank races.

The girls had the jump rope down pat!

From right: Bro. Hendri Viljoen, Sis. Liezl Scheepers, Sis. Lilande Scheepers, and Bro. Lucas Scheepers lead the children in singing praise hymns.

The children munch on a snack as we close out the Street Fun Event.

Sis. Lilande Scheepers poses with some of the children from the Street Fun Event.

Your brother in Christ's service,

Bro. Jonathan Sabo - Kempton Park, South Africa Ecclesia

Durban P2P Jan 2010 : Team Ruth

Wow! What a fortnight. We’ve had such an amazing time here, coming together from all over the world for one purpose: to learn more about our awesome God and share our hope with others. Allow me to introduce ourselves - We are “Team Ruth”(cue the Dad jokes “Are you Ruthless?” etc ): Steve and Jess Russell  and Ben and Roxy Topham from Oz; Jude Norcross, Julie Machacek, Tim Morse and Ellie Bilton from the UK; Katie Schlageter from the States; Steve Le Duke  from Canada and, of course,  our honourary team members - Kwanda Mzulwlini and Christy Beyers from South Africa.

It all began at Mariannhill. The word was out that a Kingdom Youth Soccer match was about to begin and so we were soon bombarded with energetic kids from all over the township. We had fun running off some steam with them teaching some Bible principles: focus on the goal of the Kingdom, run with endurance and work together. Stumbling through the long grass our next project suddenly became clear: to blitz the playing field with weed whackers.

In typical African style we hired out some weed whackers with no health and safety guidance and started flogging the field barefoot and without ear or eye protection. Two days later, our ears were ringing and we were all grassed out. Thankfully, lots of people from the community took an interest in what was happening and reached for the rakes themselves to get amongst the grass. God blessed us with hard workers and opportunities to talk to new people about The Good News.

Next up, Happy’s. We foolishly told Happy we’d re-vamp all the bathrooms in the girls and boys dormitories in the space of a day, thinking that only a lick of paint was needed. Our hearts sank when we saw the true state of the bathrooms and thought about what the kids have to live with day in day out: mould, peeling plaster and the stench of urine. We soon realised that this was to become an epic project in need of some good financial backing (donations very welcome people!). Despite the setback, we had some good quality time painting, singing and dancing with the kids at Happy’s.

If in doubt, sing and dance. Wherever God guided us and whatever time we had to fill, songs and dance always saved the day . At both the Mariannill and Lamontville Holiday clubs (think 80 hyperactive kids battling over hotdogs) dancing really unified us. Similarly at Margate’s Praise and Worship evening, dancing served as an awesome ice-breaker with some people we’d only just met. God richly provided us with many people from the local area: namely, the local township and Oribi Gorge (Yes, The Extreme Five boys) so thankfully, all our billing and talking felt incredibly worthwhile.

Above all, the best thing about the whole P2P was gathering together at the end of each day to reflect upon our “magic moments”: times that made us laugh or things that touched our hearts and made us simply stand still in awe- “wow God” moments. It was a great team bonding exercise and it made us feel so thankful for all the experieces we'd shared together everyday.

One beautiful moment was seeing the faces of the kids at Happy’s light up as they watched the dolphins leap at uShaka aquarium and knowing that one day, by God’s grace, they will also be leaping and no longer bound to their wheelchairs and crutches. Another key moment was  witnessing Steve Le Duke’s refreshingly uninhibited faith - going into places where many white South African wouldn’t  dream of venturing (Durban taxis and shacks in townships). Finally, the opportunity to simply work together as one family; assembled by God. Who else could have brought together so many different people from different countries for one fortnight of crazy-beautiful life-changing stuff? God has made everything beautiful in it’s time and we just pray that He continues to guide us and bind us wherever we are.

Apihwe Good News centre in progress

The COP Trust's newest project is now well underway. A house is being modified to serve as a community center where a  pre-school will function, Bible education and life skill courses will be given and various other outreach activities will be provided. We will keep the blog updated with the progress and as to when the launch will happen. God has blessed the progress thus far and we pray that He will continue to work with us to bring the good news to the community in a variety of ways.

 

With abiding love.

The 2010 team in Kempton Park

Saturday Morning Bible Club

This morning, some members of the Kempton Park preaching team launched our first Saturday Morning Bible Club for children ages 10-15 that will run every other Saturday morning from 9:30 – 11 am. With this being our first venture into the township of Delmore Gardens for a bible program, we didn’t know exactly how many children to anticipate and expected approximately 30 students… but in actuality 52 children arrived for classes. They were well-behaved, eager to learn, had a respect for God, and we found the older students had a solid bible foundation that we could build on.

We hold the Saturday Morning Bible Club sessions at Dorris “Gogo” Zwane’s GOD IS LOVE Creche where we teach bible lessons, feature fun activities, and play educational games with the children from the township of Delmore Gardens and an adjacent shantytown.

Sis. Megan Sabo from the U.S. led the children in a lesson on understanding how the bible works and how all of the many books fit together with God as the ultimate author. They were quizzed on the lesson afterward and the first child to raise their hand and answer correctly could select a small prize from a grab bag. We played name-that-object from the bible and also sang a song about the bible complete with hand motions that the children picked up on extremely quickly. Small treats were given promptly at our start time of 9:30 am to encourage arriving on time. We also provided nutritional snacks of fruit juice and apples for everyone midway through the lessons.

During the last half hour we broke up into groups and one group played bible bingo while the other group went outside to play pig-in-the-pen with the ball. The children all seemed to have a great time, so we’ll try to increase our expectations and possibly anticipate a larger turnout next time, God-willing.

52 students turned out for the first Saturday Morning Bible Club session.

Sis. Megan Sabo from the U.S. led the bible classes with Sis. Liezl Scheepers and Bro. Hendri Viljoen from South Africa assisting.

The children brought their bibles and came ready to learn and have fun.

Plenty of eager students ready to answer bible trivia questions.

Feeding the masses! Sis. Megan Sabo serving fruit juice while Bro. Hendri Viljoen cuts apples for the children.

One young lady enjoying her nutritional snack served during a break.

The children busily working on their Psalm 23 worksheet.

The boys working on a bible study sheet handout.

The children listening attentively while Sis. Megan teaches a class on the bible.

Bro. Hendri and I explain a game we’re going to play with the children.

The crowd cheers on the rest of the children playing a game.

The girls enjoyed playing the bible bingo game.

While our bible classes were intended for 10-15 year olds, many younger children came along with their older siblings. Oftentimes in townships, teenagers are left as the sole caretaker for their younger siblings.

With nearly double the turnout of students we expected, we were very thankful to have the help of Bro. Hendri and Sis. Liezl.

Closing in prayer at the end of our first Saturday Morning Bible Club.

In the Glorious Hope of Israel,

Bro. Jonathan Sabo – Kempton Park, South Africa Ecclesia

Second Crèche Course in Tembisa now in progress.

Our second Crèche Course kicked off with a BANG today :-) - 25 Ladies registered for the course but 37 turned up. Leona had to re-locate to the bigger hall next door to the room originally booked.

 

The course serves as the "start up" phase of our CUDDLE (Crèche Upgrade, Development, Directives, Liaison and Education) project. The course runs for 6 consecutive weeks for two hours every Friday. After the course the ladies (who complete the course) receive a certificate. We then visit every crèche personally and give the ladies a collage of photos taken during the course. We also then get a firsthand idea of the "condition" of the crèche and how much the crèche is in need of repairs etc. The list of crèches are then prioritized according to certain criteria and we are supporting the crèches according to the priority list one by one. The work is endless but is every little thing we do at the different crèche's serves as a huge encouragement for the ladies who do such great work in looking after the children every day. 

 

Whilst we are doing the work we build relationship with these quality woman of the community and we open up opportunities for preaching through word and deed. We are now in the process of getting a roster together for people to give Bible classes at some of these crèches and the demand for Bible related classes and teaching to the children are growing as we come into contact with more of the crèche teachers. Some of the teachers have also expressed a desire to attend our ecclesia and also want to be taught how to teach Bible education. With the community centre launching soon in Tembisa we will be giving courses to the teachers on how to teach children about the Bible as well as providing a venue for more formal Gospel teaching.

 

We are exited about the opportunities God is opening to us in this way and the way the community has accepted the work we do there and the way we can work together with them. There are still over 250 ladies who are on the waiting list and we thus have a great opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many teachers and children in the future until our Lord returns.

 

With abiding love in Jesus

2010 Team here in KMP  

Kempton Park Bible Education Center Classes Off To A Fast Start!

This week, we launched the lunchtime Bible Education Center classes at the new location in Birchleigh North and it’s been an amazing experience already with a very positive reception to bible teaching. It’s such a blessing to be able to have a venue like this to share God’s word with the public on a regular basis.

The bible classes are held from 1-3 pm Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. We had five sharp, perceptive students who showed up on Monday and four students on Tuesday, which bodes well for the future since many times it takes a few weeks to gain momentum for student turnout in the free classes and the student numbers should only go up and up. Already, our students are saying they’re going to bring their friends for Thursday’s classes and they seemed very pleased with the classes.

We’re very blessed, as a not-for-profit group, to be able to use the Committee Room in the Coen Scholtz Community Center free of charge. The community center is located directly next door to the Birchleigh North Mall where the BEC kiosk is located. We advertise the classes through signage at the BEC kiosk and via SMS messaging.

Bro. Lucas Scheepers and I take turns teaching, and he does a remarkable job of adeptly handling in-depth bible questions with ease, since he’s spent 20 years teaching on bible doctrine. The students showed up on the first day ready to fire away with bible questions and they are a friendly, respectful group that are a joy to get to teach.

Some typical questions they’ve asked so far:
Are sacrifices necessary? (In the culture here, people offer sacrifices for their ancestors)
When we’re baptized, do we receive the Holy Spirit?
Why is there suffering in the world, like with the earthquake in Haiti?
How do the Jews and Gentiles fit into the big picture of God’s plan of salvation?

Bro. Lucas Scheepers using E-Sword bible software and an LCD projector to show bible concepts to the students.

Teaching a class on how to become a better bible student.

The students are sharp and showed up ready to learn and ask questions.

Some of my scribbles on the whiteboard during my first class in answering impromptu questions the students had.

Bro. Lucas Scheepers answering bible questions during the BEC lunchtime classes.

Explaining a bible concept to the students in today’s BEC class.

Your brother in Christ's service,
Bro. Jonathan Sabo – Kempton Park, South Africa Ecclesia