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PAGE 4 • Exchanging ideas
• Firstfruits and Tithes
• A heavy load
• The Bible on cell phone
• Smile!
• Muslims attack Christians in West Bank
• Be Smart - Be Safe
Exchanging ideas
St John’s in Walmer have a young missionary with them at present in the person of Faye Woollard who is from the UK.
Faye
is part of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG)
Experiential Exchange Programme (EEP) and arrived about a month ago.
Over the next eight or nine months she will be getting an overview of
the church and ministry within another culture from that of the
UK.
"As a twenty-something young British Christian I chose this
programme as I hope to be able to experience a new culture, see how the
church is run here, exchange stories and ideas. I'm still finding my
feet as I've only been here for so short a time. So far I have able to
visit two other parishes, Holy Trinity and St Augustine's, and have
been to two schools. It is very different from the UK where, in some
areas, the church is losing it altogether. However, in some of the
other areas the church is still very strong," she told iindaba.
 Faye
comes from Ipswich in Suffolk and will be involved in general pastoral
work as well as assisting with youth work at St John's. She is hoping
to be able to travel as well with the Transkei being on the top of her
'wish to visit list'.
If other parishes would like to invite
Faye to speak to their youth groups, young adults groups or others,
please contact Robert at St John's to organise a visit.
Tel: 041 581 2162
Please note that the parish office is only open in the mornings.
Pic: On
mission - Faye Woollard is seen with her mentor, the rector of St
John's in Walmer, Robert Penrith, when she attended the turning of the
soil at the new Day Care Centre in Gqebera.
Firstfruits and Tithes
Lyn
Bosch reports that on 17 September the Parish of the Zwartkops River
Valley gathered at St Agnes Church in Swartkops to place their
‘firstfruits and tithes’ before God at a combined Dedicated
Sunday and Harvest Thanksgiving Festival.
 Contributions
of flowers, produce and groceries were asked for ahead of time and used
to beautifully decorate the altar, font, window sills and lobby.
More contributions brought during the service were placed at the foot
of the altar until there was barely enough space left in the sanctuary
for the priest and lay ministers to move.
The congregation also
expressed their thanksgiving for God’s many blessings by placing
their financial pledges for the coming year in front of the altar.
After
the service, twelve food parcels, each consisting of two packets of
groceries and fresh produce, were made up and distributed early the
following week to the needy in the area. Many of the people we have
helped were severely affected by the flood in August and are still in
need of assistance.
Pic: All things bright and beautiful - Some of the gifts brought in to the Harvest Thanksgiving Service at ZRVP.
A heavy load
With
only ten volunteers to counsel an average of 100 people every month, it
really is a challenge, reports Jacqui Brill, CEO of New
Life Family and Crisis Pregnancy Centre.
She
told iindaba that some of those volunteers or 'helpers' only come in
once a week. "All our volunteer [lay] pregnancy care consultants have
been trained - 'Equipped to Serve'. Africa Cares for Life, to whom we
are affiliated, is planning that this training will eventually become
HWSETA accredited," she said. "Six volunteers were able to attend the
conference in Amanzimtoti which was a great blessing."
The
Centre, which is situated in Uitenhage, is always grateful for gifts of
baby clothing and toiletries to help the young mothers who have no
support.
Beautiful leaflets have been printed and distributed to
the schools in Uitenhage to make staff and pupils aware of the
facilities available. It is hoped that this will lead to more
invitations to speak at the schools. Jacqui would also like invitations
to speak to Sunday School pupils and Youth Groups.
Contact details for Jacqui are:
Tel +27 41 966 2271
and cell 083 721 5606
Did you know that under Section 18A of the Income Tax Act of 1982 any donation to the Centre is tax-deductible?
NPO: #007-859 / PBO #930005198
The Bible on cell phone
Imagine
the following scenario in church: “Please take out your cell
phone for today’s Scripture reading.” Far-fetched? Not so.
The
Bible Society of South Africa and Christian Mobile announced on 20
September 2006 that South Africans are the first in the world to be
able to download a complete Bible on their cell phones directly via
SMS. This new innovative way to make the Bible available is the result
of a partnership between the Bible Society and a South African firm,
Christian Mobile. The Bible Society provided the Bible text and
Christian Mobile, who are managing the programme, the technological
expertise.
According to the Revd Gerrit Kritzinger, the CEO of
the Bible Society of South Africa, the potential for the Bible in this
unique format is boundless. “It is the task of the Bible Society
to make the Bible accessible to all, and the Virtual BibleT will enable
the Bible Society to supply the Bible to every modern cell phone user
in a fast and affordable format,” he commented.
The cell
phone Bible makes it possible to download the complete Bible text with
a search function to your cell phone and should prove especially
popular with the youth. According to statistics supplied by the
International Telecommunication Union there were 31 million cell phone
users in South Africa at the end of 2005.
Approximately
80% of all cell phones in South Africa have the capability needed to
receive the complete Bible - 1,2 megabytes of memory are needed and the
phone must be java enabled with WAP access.
People will have the
choice of downloading one of the following Bibles: Contemporary English
Version (CEV), Good News Translation (GNT), King James Version (KJV),
as well as two Afrikaans translations, the 1933/53 translation and the
1983 translation. The Bible in Zulu and Xhosa will soon be available in
this format, and attention will then be given to the other official
languages.
By sending a SMS to 31990 indicating a specific code
for a specific translation, the subscriber will receive the complete
text of the Old and New Testament, as well as a built-in search engine.
The key words are the following: ’53bybel’ or
’83bybel’ for the Afrikaans Bibles, ‘Bible’ for
the King James Version, ‘GNTbible’ for the Good News
Translation and ‘CEVbible’ for the Contemporary English
Version. The cost involved is the same as that of a standard
printed Bible, R40.
www.biblesociety.co.za
Smile!
Holding
a cell phone in the air, the preacher said, "In a world addicted to
speed and change, it is comforting to know that God is constant. He has
no need of gimmicks and new fangled ideas!" With that his cell phone
bleeped. His expression changed somewhat when he read the SMS message:
"Speak for yourself. God."
Muslims attack Christians in West Bank
Mike
Burnard, director of Open Doors has sent out an appeal for help for 14
Christian families that were attacked and their homes destroyed by
Muslims in Taybeh, the only Christian village on the West Bank.
He says, “If this was my home, what would my plea be to my brothers and sisters in the west ...”
When
the angry mob of Muslim youth attacked and burned the homes to the
ground they shouted, “Let’s burn the infidels, let’s
burn the Crusaders!” The believers lost everything except the
clothes they were wearing at the time of the attack. The displaced
families are living with relatives, and in one case seven children are
sleeping in one small room.
Taybeh has been a strong Christian
presence in a Muslim dominated area. It is the only 100% Christian
village in the West Bank. The purpose of the assault was to get rid of
the dominant position of the population in the village. However, the
people of Taybeh have chosen to stay in the country because the church
needs a Christian presence in this area, as generally the church in the
Palestinian areas is decreasing.
Ask yourself, “If my home
was destroyed and my family was homeless ... if this was me ...”
Open Doors needs R350 000 to help rebuild these homes. Will you, the
church, help?
Be Smart - Be Safe
Things women should know to stay safe:
Women
have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working,
etc., and just sit (checking the till slip, doing their cheque book, or
making a list). DON’T DO THIS! A predator could be watching you,
and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger
side and attack you. As soon as you get into your car, lock the doors
and leave.
When getting into your car in a car park:
Be
aware. Look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side
floor, and check the back seat. Better be safe than sorry - and better
paranoid than dead.
Are
you in touch with events in the Anglican Church?
Keep in contact with Contact OnLine
An Anglican website for Christians in Southern Africa
www.contact-online.org
News and comment from around the world
Free every month
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.
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