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• St Luke's leadership camp
• Magnificent Magnificat
• Shocking teen pregnancy figures
• No Alpha, no wedding
• Some facts about water use
St Luke's leadership camp
St
Luke’s had their annual leadership planning camp for 2006 at
Spring Valley from 18 to 20 November 2005, reports Varity Langeveld
The
leaders who attended this camp included the rector, Michael Julius,
newly elected churchwardens, councillors, pastoral executive members,
and leaders from the different ministries in the parish.
Some
of the issues that were discussed included the parish’s building
project, Sunday liturgy, and the parish starting their own monthly
newsletter. They also revisited their policies for 2005 - 2006, which
included confirmation, first communion, baptism, executive meetings,
people joining the parish, and church events.
Events planned
for 2006 include a seven-day camp at Culturama for the youth during the
September school holidays. The parish council suggested that the young
people’s ministry should receive the biggest allocation in the
budget. All ministries presented their annual reports, budgets and
goals for 2006. Some of the skills programmes planned for 2006 included
setting up a CV, preparing for an interview, and presentation skills.
 Magnificent Magnificat
A
comment heard at the Choral Evensong and RSCM Thanksgiving Service held
at the cathedral on Sunday 5 February was, “What a magnificent
Magnificat!”
Over the Saturday and Sunday prior to
the service, members of the Royal School of Church Music (SA), Eastern
Cape branch, held two days of workshop, rehearsals and their AGM.
Members of the affiliated choirs joined Cathedral Choir in leading the
singing during the service. Eric Spencer, organist and Master of the
Choristers of the Cathedral, was the director of music for the service,
and the organist was Phillip Robinson, organ scholar at the Cathedral.
The result was beautiful worship.
 The
officiant and preacher was the Dean, Leon Foster. He spoke on
‘speaking to one another in psalms and hymns’, a look at
the place of music in the history of the church. He said, “We
sing to confess our faith, to praise God, and to give thanks. This must
come from a heart filled with his Spirit.”
At the AGM Jenny Yates was elected the new branch chairman. She takes over the reins from Maureen de Villiers
(pic 1) My
soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord - Eric Spencer ARCO conducts
the Cathedral Choir and members from affiliated choirs of the RSCM in
the Eastern Cape.
(pic 2) Deep concentration - Organ scholar at the Cathedral, Phillip Robinson, concentrates deeply as he accompanies the choirs.
Shocking teen pregnancy figures
In
her annual report at the end of 2005, Jacqui Brill, the CEO of New Life
Family and Crisis Pregnancy Centre in Uitenhage, told her audience,
“One-14-year old girl had two abortions in the same year.”
 When
asked by iindaba to elaborate, Jacqui, a member of St
Katharine's, said, “We are very perturbed at the incidence
of teenage sexual activity in Uitenhage. We only see the tip of the
iceberg, and our teen statistics are very worrying."
During
October and November 2005, 33 young women between the ages of 13
and 18 were counselled. Of these, 16 tested positive for pregnancy -
two 13-year-olds, two 14-year-olds, one 15-year-old, five 16-year-
olds, and five 18-year-olds. "These are shocking figures, and effective
intervention is needed to promote abstinence from sexual activity
before marriage," Jacqui said. "We need to hear this from the preachers
in our churches. These young girls' lives are precious, and the church
needs to help them to make a stand.”
Asked how the centre
operates, she said, “We earn the trust of our clients by
listening without judgement, exploring resources, encouraging action,
and helping in a small way with needs, and thus earn the privilege of
asking questions about their relationship with Jesus Christ. We
go to the core of their pain - alienation from God. Unfortunately not
all women are reached before making a decision - those who choose
abortion as an option are left with the emotional and spiritual
aftermath. We provide individual counselling that focuses on
God’s love, hope, and forgiveness.”
One client said
of the Centre, “Stepping through the New Life door is like
walking into an oasis of calm and comfort - there is an aura of warmth,
friendliness, and compassion.”
New Life Family and
Crisis Pregnancy Centre is a non-profit community-based ministry that
offers emotional, physical and spiritual support to those experience a
pregnancy-related crisis. It is Christ-based, and is committed to the
sanctity of human life. “We believe God loves equally the women
who come to us and the precious lives that many of them carry. We are
committed to reaching women, men, our youth and families with the
life-affirming message. We give crisis counselling as we inform and
educate those involved in a pregnancy-related crisis, giving options
and possible consequences of choices made. We also teach Biblical
prevention, using God’s plan for sex and marriage, by encouraging
single individuals to resist the pressure to be sexually active.
We’ve also introduce the concept of ‘renewed
virginity’. This is done at New Life and by invitation at various
schools on , where we also counsel individual learners by
appointment.”
Jacqui can be contacted on 041 966 2271 or cell 083 721 5606.
No Alpha, no wedding
When iindaba approached Ruthell Johnson, the rector of St Paul’s in
Parsons Hill, he was excited about the evangelistic potential of the
wedding package the church offer couples.
He spoke of the
excellent seven week Alpha marriage course, and emphasised that he will
not conduct a marriage service for couples who have not done the
course. He told iindaba, “Essentially our package is aimed at
young people who are not church-goers. We hope that after they are
married they will join a church close to where they live, or St
Paul’s, of course! Since the write-up in the "Algoa Sun" two
couples have signed up for the course. I also want to make it clear
that I do not believe in selling the sacraments, so not one cent of the
money paid for the package will go to me.”
Asked where the
idea came from, he said, “I was at a wedding reception at a
beach-front hotel, and was shaken at how much it had cost. I spoke
about my concern to one of my parishioners, Di Povey, and after doing
some arithmetic we realised we could put a package together at about a
third of the cost. Of course, that depends on what the couple want.
What the couple save, anything from about R25 000, can be put towards a
deposit for a home. It also means that a couple who may not have been
able to afford a wedding reception can now do so.”
Some facts about water use
Flushing
a toilet uses between 12 and 20 litres, the same amount used daily by a
person in one of the world’s 30 poorest countries;
a washing machine - at least 70 lt;
a short shower - about 60 lt;
a bath - about 120 lt;
washing dishes in a sink - about 18 lt;
an automatic dishwasher - about 265 lts per load.
Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery and Hillandale Guesthouse
PO Box 6013, Grahamstown 6141
046 622 8111 Fax : 046 622 6424 E-mail : guesthouse@umaria.co.za
Brother
Andrew has let iindaba know of the weekend dates that are available for
groups to come to the guesthouse at Mariya uMama weThemba
Monastery. They are the following :
10 - 12 March
31 March - 2 April
28 - 30 April
12 - 14 May
26 - 28 May
2 - 4 June
9 - 11 June
16 - 18 June
23 - 25 June
14 - 16 July
28 - 30 July
and many more later in the year.
iindaba is proofread by
Mike McCoy of
WriteRight Editing
Copy-editor, proofreader and consultant on written English
www.writeright.co.za
Cell: 083 664 3982
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you in touch with events in the Anglican Church?
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An Anglican website for Christians in Southern Africa
www.contact-online.org
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iindaba
Editor: Frankie Simpson
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Email: iindaba@anglicandiocesepe.org.za
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