|
Quick Links: Page 1 | Page
2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top
| Homepage
PAGE 4 • St Luke's on the go
• Once again with love
• Step in faith brings mighty blessings
• Abp confirms retirement date
St Luke's on the go
Going up, up, up
Building on the new Young People’s Community Project building in the St Luke’s grounds is under way.
The
building is a combined project between St Luke’s and the
community and will be used for church and community functions, an
AIDS/TB clinic and some of the rooms will be used for counselling and
other ministry. The rector of St Luke’s, Michael Julius, said,
“The project has begun with much excitement and we thank the
business fraternal for their constant support and encouragement. The
parish leadership is hoping the shell of the educational/administrative
block will be complete by December.”
Pic: Community outreach - The walls are going up for the Young People’s Community Project building at St Luke the Evangelist.
Jewish women support
A
visit by two women from the Israeli Embassy in Johannesburg has helped
to boost St Luke’s, Palmridge, outreach to Dr AW Habelgaarn
School in the parish area.
Michael
Julius, the rector, said, “We were honoured with a visit from
Eunice Abrahams and Bernadette McQuire of the Union of Jewish Women.
They pledged their support in helping to revive the spirit of the
teachers and learners who are trying to function under very trying
conditions. Because of vandalism, the Dept of Education was thinking of
closing the school and relocating the teachers and learners.”
Michael is on the support committee for the school.
Pic: Showing
support - Eunice Abrahams and Bernadette McQuire of the Union of Jewish
Women together with some of the Teachers from AW Habelgaam School.
Flood victims
Michael
asked iindaba to thank the people of All Saints’ in Kabega Park,
and St Margaret’s in Summerstrand for their support of the flood
victims in the Northern Areas. Soup kitchens are still operating to
feed the poor.
Once again with love
Richard
and Gay Pumphrey from the UK are visiting the House of Resurrection
Haven once again to lend a hand wherever they’re needed.
 This
is their fourth visit to the Haven, their last being during 2001. They
are always welcomed with open arms as they are so willing to work hard
doing jobs such as painting windows and garden posts, putting name tags
onto clothes, peeling carrots by the score etc., and of course,
spending time with the children.
The couple first visited the
Haven when the Mercy Ship MV Anastasis was in port. They were part of a
group of volunteers from aboard who spent almost a month with the
children at the Haven. They loved the place and have returned whenever
they could to volunteer their time and lots of their love to everyone
at the Haven.
Pic: Home
from school - One of the enjoyable duties Richard and Gay Pumphry had
was taking to, and collecting, three of the Haven children from school.
Step in faith brings mighty blessings
Back
in the Parish of Alexandria after their three-month sabbatical from 1
July - 30 September are Terry and Jeanne Beadon who share with iindaba
readers the exciting ministry they were called into doing in Zimbabwe.
Clergy
in our diocese are encouraged to take a three-month sabbatical break,
outside of normal leave, after every five years of service, for
purposes of refreshment and growth in specific areas of spirituality
and gifts, and doing something quite different to one’s normal
ministry. Jen and I had originally intended to visit Lee Abbey in
Devon, UK, a noted healing and renewal centre. But we clearly sensed
the Lord pointing us in another direction, beginning in April 2005 when
our Zimbabwe friends Bob and Jen Swift visited us, and we heard
firsthand how Christians struggle in that nation. The Church is
divided, pastors thin on the ground, and believers discouraged - not to
mention the dire material needs of the vast majority of Zimbabweans.
Having spent the first ten years of our married life in Kwe Kwe, we
were profoundly touched by what we heard. From then on our daily
readings, ‘coincidental’ people and events, and prayer
insights all confirmed the strong conviction that Zimbabwe was where
God wanted us to go. We remembered what happened to Jonah when he was
disinclined to follow God’s clear call !
Originally we
planned to take a missionary team, but gradually discerned that we were
to go alone with an open agenda, prepared for whatever came our way. We
would go wherever needed, wanted, or called, primarily to be
encouragers and to exercise the ministry of Christ’s presence,
but also ready to plant seeds of unity, preach and minister the Gospel,
and be on-the-spot intercessors at this critical ‘meltdown’
stage in Zimbabwe. We also took gifts of cash and relief supplies (as
much as we could load in our stripped-down Venture, such as e-pap, food
staples, and clinic basics) to help needy locals.
Into hostile territory
We
went with some trepidation into hostile territory as very amateur
missionaries, to do what we had never done before. The unexpected ease
of our border crossing set the tone for the entire three months ahead:
wherever we went we found exceptional favour, were welcomed by
spiritually starving folk as the Lord’s emissaries, and
experienced the deep-water life and power of his kingdom in a way we
don’t usually in our home environment (see Ezek 47). From our
comfortable base on the Swift’s farm east of Kwe Kwe, we spent
our days and nights in the surrounding resettlement areas (where
desperate bulldozed townsfolk come to scratch out a living on arid
plots, in communities abandoned by government, transport companies and
pastors alike). Never were we without Spirit-filled Shona pastors to
accompany us, translate for us, and minister with us, whether it was
Jen’s ministry to children or mine to adults. So often we
discovered that the script had already been written for us in advance:
in one extremely remote spot (it took us 4 hours to travel 30 kms) we
attended a rally to learn that three years earlier a local evangelist
had prophesied that a white South African would one day preach there!
That night round the fire not one single person of the 120 present
failed to came forward for healing, deliverance, or commitment to the
Lord ... and they all came back the next day so the pastors could see
them in daylight!
Despite our inexperience and inadequacies, we
soon discovered that when we did our little part in faith, the Lord
always did his part. So often the results were beyond our wildest
expectations, from the flaring to life of new neighbour-hood faith
communities, to terminal AIDS cases going into remission, to unexpected
conversions, to an entire district deciding to unite for a four-day
evangelistic outreach. Even as we left, the Lord provided pastors and a
mountain bike to minister to the faith communities of children and
adults we left behind (please remember Shepherd Moyo, Melody Chirenje
and their mentors Bob and Jen Swift in your prayers). Jen and I come
home filled with awe for the way our God has allowed us to experience
his grace and be so enriched, but also very conscious that yesterday is
behind us, and each new day is one of fresh opportunities right where
we are.
Abp confirms retirement date
The Metropolitan, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, has confirmed that he will step down on 31 January 2008.
He
said in a press release, “I have determined an Elective Assembly
to choose my successor will take place in September 2007. I will
preside over the Synod of Bishops and the Provincial Standing Committee
meetings, which precede the Elective Assembly, and thereafter go on
sabbatical until the official date of my retirement."
He says,
"I have consulted with the Bishops of the Anglican Church in Southern
Africa and with the senior clergy of the Diocese of Cape Town. Today I
will be sending letters to the Diocese as a whole. It has been a great
privilege and distinctive joy to head this great church,” says
Archbishop Ndungane.
After his retirement the Archbishop still
intends being engaged in the development agenda in Africa through the
organization African Monitor which he launched earlier this year.
He
has also been invited to champion the initiative to restore historic
church schools. These schools were originally incubators of the African
intelligentsia in South Africa, but were closed down during the
apartheid regime. At present they are in a state of disrepair but the
intention is to restore them as centres of cultural and educational
excellence.
News of a possible successor will only come to light
when the mandate for an Elective Assembly has been issued by the Dean
of the Province, Bishop David Beetge, towards the end of May
2007.
Nine years of Global Anglican News and Commentary
Contact OnLine Archives at www.contact-online.org
A Time of Turbulent History to Explore
Keep
up to date with what is happening among Christians in the NMM:
www.pechurchnet.co.za
iindaba
Editor: Frankie Simpson
Layout / design : Frankie
Email: iindaba@anglicandiocesepe.org.za
Tel/fax +27 041 360 6808
- evenings only.
iindaba is the vehicle for sharing
your parish news with the rest of the Diocesan family.
Please send contributions and photos to the editor.
Deadline for contributions:
6th of the month prior to publication
Opinions expressed are not
necessarily those of the Bishop nor the editor.
Articles may be reproduced but
credit must be given to iindaba.
Quick Links: Page 1 | Page
2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top
| Homepage
|
