Delivery Of Blessings

That was a morning well spent as I picked up a trailer early before going to get Errol so we could go through to some friends in Gordon's Bay to collect some old furniture and household bits that they no longer need.

Amongst everything, there was a really nice DVD player which I just had to drop off at Michael's in Chris Nissen on the way back to Firgrove. Michael has been asking for a DVD player for ages so it was great to be able to bless him.

Video Update

We recently sent this video out to friends and supporters but reworked it to include subtitles so as not to exclude any one.

We hope it blesses you

K Is For Kilograms

K is for Kilograms

Actually, that would be 6000 of them as The Gathering took delivery of six pallets of the peanut pastes we've been busy giving out lately.

Once again it was a total blessing to be able to receive such a huge food delivery and it's an even greater blessing knowing that we have already allocated all 432 boxes and they will be gone by Friday afternoon. 

Sharing Is Caring

Alongside doing the bulk of the donkey work in terms of collecting donations, I also get to do the fun bit of passing them on to those that  are in need of them.

Over the last few weeks The Gathering has been blessed with just over 6 pallets of peanut sachets, with each pallet holding 72 boxes and each box containing 150 sachets. In total we've received about 450 boxes and as of today we have so far given 300 boxes away.

Disaster In The Making

Paula received this from one of our church members this morning, she is a teacher in a local primary school in a poorer community.  It is one of many similar WhatsApp messages from her over the last three weeks about the appalling circumstances at her school.

The government are supposed to have given each school the necessary resources and training to enable them to open safely in the midst of this pandemic, as well as putting clear protocols in place in the event of any Covid-19 infections

Sadly the truth is something else as teachers like this are actually providing their own PPE, cleaning their own classes in their own time, as well as helping the children cope with the frightening reality of it all.

Food Hampers

This morning we had the privilege of delivering seventeen food hampers (in the form of grocery gift cards) to some of the neediest families in Firgrove.

We got fed up with waiting for govt to come through with their food parcels and decided to get the ball rolling ourselves.

I Will Bless The Lord At All Times

We have been so incredibly blessed this morning!

Our Gathering was an awesome time together in God's presence and it was amazing to think that as a church we were scattered from Firgrove in to Macassar, Mitchell's Plain, Somerset West and the Eastern Cape, but we still Gathered in one accord and worshiped in spirit & truth.

The church cannot be stopped!

We were also blessed by one of our Gathering family members who sent us a photo of the food she had prepared for four of our Soup Kitchen regulars who live close to her.  You know that your church gets it when they are serving the neediest and most vulnerable out of their own limited resources.

Thank you LORD!

Easter Sunday

Just like every other church The Gathering had to be creative in how celebrated Easter together and how we celebrated communion on this most special of all days in the Christian calendar.

Once again we took to WhatsApp and once again it was such a joy to be able to Gather knowing we were united in God's presence, whether we were in Firgrove, Macassar, Somerset West or the Eastern Cape.

Heroes Of The Faith - Pt 4

I last blogged in this series about five years ago, but just had to revisit it in the light of yesterday's fantastic celebration of Linda's graduation.

Each of my previous posts were anonymised, but today I'm naming, proclaiming and celebrating Linda for her faith, her perseverance and her never giving up, even when it would have been easier and more comfortable to do so.

Christians Abroad Visit

We've just had a 48 hour flying visit from Colin & David from Christians Abroad and have to say it was a great visit! It was pure pleasure to entertain them, to show them what we're busy with in our ministry and to introduce them to The Gathering and some other dear friends, including one or two old friends in Chris Nissen Park.

Life Is Cheap

We have been shocked again this morning as a church community by how cheap life is in Macassar and Firgrove.

Many of you will remember Linda's story from previous Road Shows in the UK. Linda lost 3 family members in a shooting incident that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Of course, the family have been through agonies as they try to process this and continue with life as the days and months unfold.

The Passing Of A Legend

We heard on Sunday lunchtime that our 'dad' had died. Uncle Paul was a giant in the faith and a man we had grown to love very dearly.

I never had the privilege of meeting Nelson Mandela, but I did have the awesome privilege of knowing Uncle Paul and I now treasure the few occasions I got to sit with him and listen to his stories about his life and growing up in this amazing but divided country.

Macassar Protests

Recently I posted "Love Your Neighbour?" about some evictions in a local township and our attitudes surrounding the whole debacle.

Well for the folks in Macassar the issues just got very real and tensions will only rise in the coming months.

SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency Limited) had obtained a court order to remove squatters from some land in Lwandle but they had no plan in place as to what to do with those displaced by this action.

The Best Start Ever...

2014 has been the best start to a year that I can ever remember.

That's not to say it's been perfect or without it's issues and problems, there have been plenty of those. No, it's been the best start ever because when I step back and look at the bigger picture so many amazing and wonderful things have happened that I feel incredibly blessed.

Madiba's Legacy - What It Means To Us

Legacy seems to be a hot-ticket these days as politicians and celebrities get concerned about what their legacy might be. Sadly few of those that get wrapped up in this nonsense seem to understand that we don't get to choose or decide what our legacy will or won't be. Whilst it's true that our actions and words shape any legacy, it is ultimately history with the benefit of time that will have the final say.

Thankfully Madiba never showed the slightest interest in the celebrity-esque manipulation of legacy. Madiba transcended that kind of nonsense which is why his legacy will only grow from what it already is.

So what does his legacy as it exists so far, mean to us?

Women's Day Outreach 2013

We recently asked you to pray for our Women's Day outreach on 9 August and are so thrilled to feedback now to you on how God awesomely answered your prayers!

Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us"; we know this in our minds but do we really actually "know" this as our experience?

Square Pegs

Having written a reflection post about our recent trip to Blighty I felt challenged to write a more truthful one. Not that I was lying in the previous post, far from it, but there was more going on than I wrote about and it's pretty important stuff.

We were both asked quite early on about what was different with this trip than previous trips back to the UK. This seemed to be born out of the fact that many folk commented on how happy and relaxed we appeared.

From Britain With Love

Tonight at our home group meeting we'll be showing the short film we made of the various responses folk gave to camera about our Roadshow presentations.

All we can say to those of you that spoke to camera is "Thank You!".

O Is For Oom Paul

Oom Paul is a great man!

At 86 there's not much in life he hasn't seen and having been married to Molly for a little over 60 years with loads of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren there isn't much he hasn't done.

I've had the privilege of sitting with Oom Paul on a few occasions and consider him to be my very own Nelson Mandela.  I've never met Madiba and am highly unlikely to ever have the chance to, but sitting with someone like Oom Paul is just as great a privilege!

M Is For Macassar

M is for Macassar

I wrote a post on Macassar last year and rather than steal yet another post from last year's challenge I thought I'd have a go at writing something a bit different.

We still serve Tree of Life church in Macassar and spend a lot of our time in the community and we still love it! So in that regard nothing has changed and as a church we are still passionate about winning the community for Christ.

Tree of Life meets on Sundays at Macassar High school so it seems appropriate to focus on education in Macassar.

Education is generally a bit of a hot potato in South Africa and nowhere are the difficulties more pronounced than in Macassar.