Entering into a life of full-time overseas mission has to be the toughest challenge in life. One can do all the training at specialised colleges, read all the books and listen to those who have served in overseas mission, but until you've done it, you simply cannot understand just how tough the life is! That's not to say normal life isn't tough, we know it can be.
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The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together
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The Gathering
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Baptisms at The Gathering
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Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen
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Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng
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Thankful Thursdays
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HOPE Home Based Care Team
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Gathering Ground
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Staying fit as a family
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The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mums out there.
What a joy it was to enter our Gathering building this morning and see this Mother's Day greeting put up by out Homework Club kids on Friday.
No Greater Joy

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4
As a Christian, husband, father, pastor & chaplain, I don't think there is a greater joy as a parent than standing in the same room as your child in the presence of God, worshipping Him in spirit & truth together.
The Grace Of Giving
Today was an exciting day in the life of The Gathering as we had our second ever gift day for our building fund.
Having spent the last few weeks teaching in to the Biblical principles of giving, this morning I shared a short encouragement from 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 on the Grace of Giving as demonstrated by the Macedonian church as they faithfully gave to help their brothers in Christ in Jerusalem.
Business Plan
A lot of work has gone in to this, not least by Paula who put in several long hours to get our accounts up to date and ready for The Gathering's accountants to once again sign off on the church's financial accounts for 2021 & 2022.
This also means that we've been able to submit the relevant documents to the Dept of Social Development to ensure The Gathering's ongoing compliance with the terms of our registration as an NPO.
Z Is For Omega
Well done to all the A2Zers who made it this far.
Ω (Omega) is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, so there's no cheating going on here.
E Is For Encouragement
E is for Encouragement
Life can be tough at times and quite often it's hard to see what impact we might be having on the world.
So today it was such an encouragement and a blessing to be approached by a well respected member of the community where our church meets and be thanked for all we do for the community. I particularly loved it when he said "I know you're not full on Sundays, but what you do during the week is really appreciated".
I've always believed that church is about what we do from Monday to Saturday so it was great to hear it's working in practice.
29th Wedding Anniversary
Personally, it's been an awesome adventure with some incredible experiences along the way and I wouldn't trade a moment of it for the world.
I love you more than ever Paula!
More Food Parcels
This time we've worked in partnership with St. Andrew's, Kinson in Bournemouth in the UK who have blessed The Gathering with a substantial gift allowing for these food parcels with quite a bit left over for our planned Soup Kitchen Christmas Lunch in December.
Paula did the shopping yesterday and managed to get 17 items for each parcel to which we've added two bags of soya mince and some soap, making them some very nice parcels.
We have earmarked ten of them for folks we know are in need and the other ten will be delivered by church members to people they know in the community who are in need.
It's great to be able to share the blessings of God in such a way!
Finally, A Weekend Away!
Eli was off with a friend for his birthday, celebrating in Montagu, and Joel had his long time buddy Sean over for a couple of nights so we were able to decamp to Kalk Bay to enjoy some down time.
We have to thank The Gathering for allowing us the time off and for stepping up and leading in our absence, you guys rock!
Women Of Worth
There is so much truth contained in there and when one considers how the Word teaches us that we should instruct a child in the ways of the Lord it makes infinite sense.
A Time Of Exile
Exile is classic biblical language and is appropriate for this time under the coronavirus pandemic in which our church buildings were forced to close. The Israelites experienced a number of periods of exile, the two best known being their time in Egypt and their time in Babylon, which most people will know from Boney M's 1978 song version of Psalm 137 "By the rivers of Babylon...".
The Times They Are A Changin'
It's sad that for now we can't allow our regulars to come inside, take a load off and enjoy a cup or three of warm delicious homemade soup, but we are trusting that this time of exile is limited and some day soon we'll be able to sit together again as friends and family, sharing stories, laughs and prayers.
For now, we are forever pursuing clean yogurt pots and the odd ice-cream tub to serve our soup in, as well as sanitising everything constantly. And it still feels wrong to be giving folks a pot of soup and asking them to go straight home with it. We miss the interaction with our regulars so much, but again, we hope and trust that this will draw to an end one day soon.
Lockdown Reflection
Elisha's Bones
After a couple of days of non-stop rain I had checked the local weather forecast and it said the rain had finished, so I hung the washing out, only for the heavens to open and leave the washing saturated.
I was not amused!
There was no way I was going out in that to get the washing in again, and so most of it ended up on the airer being dried by last night's fire, so I guess I shouldn't grumble.
Then this morning, the storm has cleared and we are blessed with wonderful clear blue skies, and we now have two loads of washing out on the line drying, which means we're fully caught up with the washing load (let's not mention the ironing pile).
Missionary Blogs
It's always a good feeling when one of your posts gets picked up in this way.
Concrete Ceiling
If you only listen to or watch one thing on Black Lives Matter, listen to our good friend Dave speaking about his own experiences in the UK.
As white people we will never need our lives to be verified in the way that Dave and so many other black people have experienced at some point. That is why we are privileged and black lives matter.
#BlackLivesMatter
Fathers Day

No matter what your earthly father was like, your Heavenly Father is awesome.
Soup Kitchen

There was a great vibe as kids ate hungrily and adults took their takeaways after lingering for a quick chat. We made lots of deliveries tonight too.
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