Amanzimtoti
We had a great time of Worship! And Tim finished off our “Christian Atheist” series and preached on trusting God completely.
We are looking forward to our Christmas Dinner this Friday Eve! Our theme is Christmas Around The World (You are what you eat), so each table picks a country and dresses up in that countries traditional dress and brings traditional food from that country too
It’s going to be a fun celebration!
Cato- Ridge
We are well into our “December to Remember” with two exciting events on the horizon. Wednesday 16th is our Potjie Competition being held at the church from 10am – 2pm. We have some excellent prizes and the competition is heating up, so if anyone see themselves as a “Potjie Master” with no outlet for their talent, come and join us, we would love for you to meet the special community of Cato Ridge. On Sunday 20th December we are not having morning service, but rather a Community Social/Family Day with Braai’s in the afternoon leading to a Carols by candlelight Service in the evening.
This Sunday was certainly a service to be remembered. We continue to enjoy God’s presence in our worship, which links well with our regular communion, allowing us time to share and reflect on God’s goodness and faithfulness. Toni shared about God’s miraculous multiplication of stock on the pig farm where he works. Bill shared that he felt that God was saying, “Obedience is better than sacrifice” which linked in with Gavin’s preach, “In the Silence”. He reminded us about the 400 year silence between the exciting prophecy at the end of Malachi and the birth of Christ, and how important it is to remain faithful to God in the times we might experience silence from Him. He has not left us, he is working out His plans for our good. What an encouraging fact to remember as we move into the time of celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all the He is to us.
City Centre
Jo Kinsey from City Hill Pinetown preached in City Centre.
From Mt 26: 36-44 “… could you not keep watch with me for one hour? …” Joe preached passionately, with her sermon titled: ‘Wake Up, Stand Up, Dress Up,’ ending with Eph 6:10 & ff, ‘putting on the armour of God.’
Karen, I am waiting for a pic of Jo taken by her daughter which she took during the preach. She promised to e-mail it to me; I will forward it to you on receipt if I receive it timeously (by Wednesday morning). Thank you for faithfully doing the newsletter blog every week! I always look forward to reading thru it from start to finish.
Downtown
We spent the evening praying for what God has in store for Downtown next year.
People shared prophetic words/pictures they received from God for the coming year.
It was a very encouraging time getting excited for what’s in store for Downtown for 2016.
Embo
We had a guest speaker – David Majekodumi ministering on ‘All-sufficient God’. 6 people were baptised at our last baptismal service of the year. One of them got saved at that morning service. He testified that he saw a picture as the message was going on of a man under torment being delivered by Jesus and he knew God wanted to deliver him. So he responded to the altar call. And When he heard there was going to be baptisms, he asked if he could be baptised.
We hold our thank-you dinner for the Embo team this coming Friday. There is a lot rejoicing for all the Lord has done for us this year.
…but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (Philippians 3:12 NIV)
Eston
On Sunday we had an amazing time. The service had a good attendance with Keith brining a word about what it means to be a Christian. There was such a sense of excitement about what God is doing and Keith even mentioned that he had never seen the church so full. Afterwards we had our end year lunch where we celebrated God’s goodness for blessing us over the year. Gail had done such an brilliant job with the catering and the decor and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. As a leadership we are so excited to see how God is going to lead us in the new season.
Hillcrest
This past week we celebrated a wonderful year of God’s faithfulness at our annual Christmas Dinner. We had an amazing turnout, and had Mary Stewart (speaker from Flourish) provide some light-hearted comedic entertainment for all of us to enjoy. After Steve shared a short message, Ty and the guys from Arise lead us in three christmas Carols – a definite highlight of the year evening!
Here’s some highlights of Hillcrest over the past year. Year in Review Video
Waterfall
It’s been a busy few weeks for us at Waterfall. On the 27th we had our Christmas party at the church, and we all had a really great time. The theme for the evening was “Come as you were” which led to some interesting costumes. Including a special visit from an eighties rock star (a.k.a. James Webster). Some of the guys in the church are professional musicians, and they rocked the house, with some familiar favorites.
Then on the 1st of December we had our annual Christmas party for the underprivileged children at Kwayanuswe Creche in the valley. Quite a few of the members from our congregation volunteered to help out on the day, and the children really enjoyed the various party treats and presents we had prepared for them. The children also did a little Christmas play for us which was very special, and I know I speak for all of the church, when I say that we all came away feeling really blessed to have been able to bring a little hope and cheer to so many little lives this Christmas.
On Sunday Richard preached the first message in our Christmas series, and did a really great job, and Brent and the team led us in an amazing time of worship. We also took some time to thank our volunteers who have done an amazing job of serving in the various ministries in the church this year. All in all it was a great Sunday and we feel very blessed to be part of everything that God has been doing with us in Waterfall this year.
