Once again it's election day in the UK and once again we're both excluded from voting. I get that we've lived outside the UK for too long, but here's what I really don't get: South Africans living in the UK who meet the residency criteria (that's lived in Blighty for more than three months) are eligible as Commonwealth citizens to vote in the UK, but there is no reciprocal agreement, meaning that despite living out here for 14 years and being a Permanent Resident for 5+ years we cannot vote in any South African elections!-
The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Once again it's election day in the UK and once again we're both excluded from voting. I get that we've lived outside the UK for too long, but here's what I really don't get: South Africans living in the UK who meet the residency criteria (that's lived in Blighty for more than three months) are eligible as Commonwealth citizens to vote in the UK, but there is no reciprocal agreement, meaning that despite living out here for 14 years and being a Permanent Resident for 5+ years we cannot vote in any South African elections!
Here are a few random photos from the last week or two which I wanted to post but didn't get around to.
The first couple are of our Soup Kitchen which is growing massively now that winter is here. The fact that we were regularly feeding 40+ people through summer was quite something, but now we're feeding 70+ and still more new people are coming each week.
The South African Weather Service has put out a severe storm warning as they predict the worst storm for 30 years is about to slam in to the Western Cape.The municipality has ordered all schools to be closed for the day tomorrow and people are generally being advised to stay at home. So sadly we're cancelling our Homework Club tomorrow afternoon and our home group in the evening.
Having been at the Firgrove Shell for just over two years we've been given notice to quit the premises and so The Gathering is on the hunt for a new home.The Shell Garage is undergoing some massive renovations beginning in July and they need to move their admin back upstairs, and so for purely business reasons they have asked us to move.
When I saw this Facebook post earlier today I couldn't help but respond knowing that The Gathering serves soup and sandwiches every Thursday in the Firgrove community.Having invited the poster along I wasn't really expecting her to turn up, but it was a pleasure to meet her at tonight's Soup Kitchen and to be able to serve her and her grandchildren.
I love that we radically impacted her and her expectations of the community just by doing what we always do.
Planting a new church is never easy and doing it from scratch is tougher still, and at times it's easy to feel down and like nothing is going to plan. Those negative feelings can be especially tough to deal with when growth is slow and commitment of some is sporadic at best.However, as one persists and remains faithful in prayer, things begin to turn and whilst I don't think church planters ever have that feeling of "we've done it" things do seem a lot more positive through faith and prayer.
Finally after a few weeks I managed to get hold of a big enough piece of netting to finish off Eli's football goal and he's really pleased with it.The completion of the goal nicely coincided with him finally getting his new De Beers football shirt which has his name and favourite number on the back and if I'm honest, he's a little bit more excited by the kit than the goal.
Oh well, I tried!
Paula & I had the privilege of attending Green Shoots 5th Birthday Celebration last night.For those that haven't kept up, our Homework Club at The Gathering runs Green Shoots Maths@Home online programme.
Our Homework Club is a complete joy to run and as an extra privilege last night I was asked to share a little about the impact Green Shoots has had on our learners and the wider community.
This has really made my day!Jayden is the first Competition Challenge winner from The Gathering's Homework Club and we are thrilled for him.
Thank you Green Shoots for being such a brilliant partner to us.
The good news keeps on coming... as of next term we're moving from three to four sessions and this will allow us to serve 24 kids rather than just the 12 we can presently.
Thank you Lord for your favour!
This is a question that has been bugging me for a long time and hopefully my response to it might stir some discussion.I used to think that question bugged me because I lead a small church, but on reflection I've come to realise it's more about the kind of people that ask the question and the hidden motive behind it.
Not so long ago we were at a Hillsong Leaders Network meeting and the speaker posed a question to each pastor present: "If your church was to close down tomorrow, would anyone notice?".
I'm posting this a day late, but want to wish Joel a very happy 14th birthday.Paula said it best on Facebook: "Today this amazing human turns 14! Happy birthday Joel! The courage and integrity with which you face life constantly inspires and challenges me and those moments when you "hit gold" and you laugh and find such joy are priceless. Keep on being all the young man that God made you to be and I pray that you blossom, flourish and fly high this year!"
Happy birthday son!
"On Friday 3 March 2017, a local disaster was duly declared and promulgated in the Provincial Gazette".Finally the City of Cape Town is getting serious about our two year old drought!
It's good to know too that they are now targeting the highest water users and visiting their properties to issue fines. Sadly however, it's all too little too late, they should have been taking serious action six months ago.
So here are a few random pics of things that we have been blessed with at The Gathering and things that we have done in the last few days.Some of this is very random. You have been warned!
Having just passed our second year in our current premises we thought it was time to install a mirror in our bathroom, and having sought a quote from a local glass company (Lens Glass) they blessed us with the mirror for free.
A mirror might not seem like a particularly big deal, but having gone two years without one in the building, and with a few of us having been caught short with unfortunate marks or dirt that a quick glance in a mirror could have sorted out before any embarrassment occurred, we are very grateful for this blessing at The Gathering. Thank you Len & Jenny at Lens Glass!
When we started our soup kitchen almost two years ago we received a lot of unhelpful and downright negative advice which I'm happy to say we totally ignored.One of the more ridiculous bits of advice was that: 'you won't need to open in summer because no one wants soup when it's hot'. Well today was the hottest day of summer so far with the temperature indoors hitting 34°C and yet we served 50 people and our soup was all gone in fifteen minutes.
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.
The Gathering's soup kitchen was great last night and it got us thinking about what we might expect this coming winter in terms of numbers.Having been running the soup kitchen for almost two years we've established some patterns and the most noticeable one is how the numbers of folk wanting soup in summer is clearly down on the winter numbers.
We're almost at the end of our third week of The Gathering's Homework Club and it's been an incredible ride so far.From Precious being trained in the role of Facilitator just days before we started to our opening day with a ton of teething issues, to kids finding their feet and getting cheeky, it's all been good.
We had a very helpful visit on Monday from some of the Green Shoots team, they loved what they saw and gave some very positive feedback and suggestions which we're now working on.
We also decided to change the times of our Friday sessions because all the local schools finish at 1pm. So I had the joy of visiting each family and took the opportunity to find out how the parents and grandparents feel about the Homework Club. Well the response was overwhelming!
After many months of planning and preparing, we were able to unleash our excitement as we launched The Gathering's Homework Club yesterday.We are running two sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays from 3pm - 4pm and 4:30pm - 5:30pm serving 6 children per session (12 in total) and we already have a waiting list too!
The sessions began with a sandwich and drink before the kids were finally able to get to grips with the tablets. They've been longing for this moment for a while and the joy and excitement was palpable.
It was a hectic afternoon as we grappled with teething issues and just generally figured out how it is going to work in real time, but despite the stresses involved in all of it, it was a fantastic afternoon!
Finally the day has arrived in which our boys return to school for the new year.Unlike many who are breathing a sigh of relief at getting rid of the kids again we really miss not having them around, though it is also good to get back in to routine.
Eli begins Grade/Year 7 and is taking it all in his measured step, he's gone with a wry smile on his face which would suggest his teacher has no idea what she's in for. Ha ha!
It's sad to see that the fires are still burning on the Hotties and the fire crews still battling so hard to contain them. The wind is really not helping things!This was the backdrop to Eli's weekly football coaching in the local park. Thankfully Radloff Park is unscathed by the fires and the estates bordering it seem to have got off quite lightly too. As Joel and I were walking Rosie we saw no signs of the devastation we had been warned about.
We had our first soup kitchen of 2017 last night and it was a very special time with a great vibe.It all began very slowly and by ten past six we hadn't served a single person, but word got out very quickly and in a short space of time we had served 46 people.
Once our regulars began arriving we were given huge hugs from all the kids and enjoyed grateful smiles and banter with the adults in a very relaxed atmosphere. It's a pleasure to see folk so relaxed around church.
Hopefully we're starting 2017 as we mean to continue and we'll see tremendous growth of the soup kitchen and the church through it.
It was also a rare privilege to have Linda and Phillimon with us, normally they're busy with work commitments, and the vibe was assisted greatly by their presence and warmth towards those we serve.
Three wild fires are raging locally between Sir Lowry's Pass and the Schapenberg which is right on our doorstep.The emergency choppers have been out for most of the afternoon doing their best to douse the flames but the wind is really vicious and they have now been grounded.
The pic here is looking from outside our house up the Schapenberg and it really is looking bleak.
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.
Here's wishing our baby a very happy 11th birthday.When Paula first met him in Bloemfontein hospital at a mere 12 hours old he was simply labelled "Baby number 9".
This total world-changer, Eli (the Lord is my God) Thomas Finnie, is destined by the King of Kings to bring light and life to all he comes into contact with. This unique,
Last night we had our Christmas Soup Kitchen at The Gathering and it was an incredibly fun and blessed time. It was great too that a few more of our members were able to be there and join in the blessing of our regulars.Big THANKS go to the high school students & teachers at the International School of Helderberg for providing the shoe-boxes and to Pizza Cafe for the pizzas. The kids were thrilled with their presents and everyone enjoyed the pizzas.
We were thrilled to welcome Mark from Green Shoots to The Gathering on Wednesday night to give a presentation on their Maths@Home project which we will be running from January.This followed an excellent evening last Wednesday of visiting the homes of many kids who attend our weekly Soup Kitchen. The response from their families was brilliant and that was reflected in the turnout for last night.
We had the privilege of visiting our beloved HOPE Home Based Care ladies this morning and were able to bless them with small gifts thanks to the generosity of some special friends in Blighty.It blesses us so much to be able to love on the ladies in this way and to hear their grateful hearts as they pray and give thanks to God for you. This is true partnership.
Thank you to those that made this possible!
Today was a great day for The Gathering and our boys school; the International School of Helderberg, as the High School have been putting shoeboxes together for the children that attend our weekly soup kitchen.Here we're receiving the first few boxes, we'll get the rest of them tomorrow and we can't wait to give them away next week when we bless our soup kitchen regulars with pizza too.
Joel and Eli are also thrilled because school finished for the year today. Hooray!
We are super proud of Eli getting his Green Belt in Karate tonight. He's worked really hard over the last few months and it was great to see how much effort he put in to it..Kancho Terry Lynn said she was hugely proud of him, that there has been a vast and marked improvement in his technique and attitude and she had no hesitation in awarding him the belt.
During the grading Eli volunteered to do a solo Bo Kata and pulled it off with aplomb, we're proud of you sunshine!
We've taken a big step forward in recent days in terms of harvesting as much of our grey water as possible.The first picture shows the attachment for taking water from our bathroom to the garden, it's just waiting for the hose to be connected.
The pics below are of our slightly Heath-Robinson method of harvesting the water from our washing machine and dishwasher.
Our weekly soup kitchen was brightened up no end last week by these cheeky little chappies who brought their own table and chairs so they could enjoy their soup in a civilized and comfortable manner.Joel and I couldn't stop laughing at the way the older girl kept
It's great to know that they feel comfortable enough to do this.
This is the South African Post Office's latest offering of local stamps and I have to say they are very nice.They're also quite educational given that I only knew of and seen three of these species of kingfisher.
Hopefully they are also a nice distraction from all the name calling and labeling on social media in the wake of last week's election result in the US of A
We posted earlier on Facebook about Linden, one of our church members who was stabbed late last night. We now know that he was stabbed three times, twice in the shoulder and once in the neck which severed the femoral artery.Linden is currently in ICU and is being operated on at some point this afternoon.Sadly this incident has been brewing for a while because the family live next door to an illegal shebeen that started operating about a year ago. The family have tried many times to have the shebeen closed but without success, despite it being there illegally!
Last night at gone midnight Linden asked the few stragglers at the shebeen to leave because he had to be up for work at 4am this morning. All we know after this is that a few of the stragglers rounded on him and stabbed him.
This reminds me of some of our Roadshow visits down the years.One of the best was on the Wirral many moons ago. We had been clear with the church as to what we needed tech wise, back then it was as simple as an overhead projector, and the church had promised all would be fine. On the day there was no OHP so we had to pass our acetates around the congregation whilst we spoke. Priceless!
On another not so distant Roadshow, we were in a church where the vicar (an ardent Mac fan) decided to overrule the tech guy and interfere with the PC and our PowerPoint. Needless to say it didn't go well. 😂
I'll probably get told off for this but
We had a great evening on Tuesday night as The Gathering hosted a marriage enrichment evening using Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way To A Better Marriage.We served pizza and cool drinks with the video and settled back for a lot of laughs and some brilliant teaching.
We've been wanting to do this for a while but getting all of our couples together has been virtually impossible, so we went ahead with most of us there and we're so glad that we did.
South Africa's drought just got a whole lot more serious for those of us down in the Western Cape with Level 3 water restrictions coming into force as of today. This means we have to make a minimum of 30% savings on our water consumption and for those that fail the financial cost will be quite big because all tariffs are increasing from the 1st of December.Our consumption is so low already, thanks to the measures we've put in place, that making a 30% saving is just about impossible, but it does mean that other than using grey water we won't be watering the garden this year. It will be interesting to see how the garden looks next June!
For those of you of the praying persuasion, please stand with us in prayer for this drought to be broken.
Being part of the Hillsong Network is a great blessing to us and we love joining Hillsong for mornings like this one yesterday.It was such a blessing to hear Jentezen Franklin speaking a very simple but powerful message about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and the fact that he did it so as to avoid causing Judas any shame or embarrassment. That's grace in action and the total opposite of religion.
This morning we had the privilege of speaking at Joel's high school assembly about The Gathering's Soup Kitchen.Paula put a proposal to the school about them getting involved in our Christmas outreach by providing pizza for everyone at the kitchen and gift boxes for the children that attend.
The school have responded brilliantly and after Paula spoke so well (with the PowerPoint slides) at the assembly this morning, the Student Council are meeting later today to sort out exactly how the students will respond.
Hot on the heels of gaining our NPO registration we've had a great morning meeting with Green Shoots to talk about and plan for our Homework Club starting in the new school year in January. We'll be using their Maths@Home programme which is very exciting.We're clear on our hardware needs and hope to have this all sorted in the next couple of weeks, we've got our internet connection sorted, so now we need to identify our facilitator, get some training in place and sort a few policy and admin procedures.
In the next few weeks we'll also start identifying which of the kids that come to our weekly Soup Kitchen will be best served by joining the Homework Club and then we'll be ready to rock n' roll in January.
Please do join us in praying for God's provision in every way.
Thank you LORD!
This is a massive answer to prayer, thank you for standing with us in praying for this.
Thank you LORD!
When I arrived at The Gathering's premises on Thursday afternoon I was feeling fine, but when we left at 6:45 after our soup kitchen had finished I was limping quite badly on my right leg. I have no idea what happened to my leg or why it started hurting, but it was very painful.On Friday morning my leg was feeling OK again and I gave it no further thought until the afternoon when the pain was back with a vengeance. The pain was like an electric shock running down my leg but deep inside the leg. That night I couldn't sleep at all, so in the morning Paula took me to see a GP.
Finally, after months of waiting, frustration and endless emails I've managed to resubmit The Gathering's Not for Profit Organisation (NPO) application.Our previous application was knocked back but no one at the Department for Social Development thought to tell us why!So, this time we've used their template for our Constitution (so if they knock it back again I'll be
According to the website the application should take 28 days,
My Saturday began like any other regular Saturday, I'd taken Eli to football practice and after that I was expecting to have a nice quiet breakfast with Paula and my boys. However, Paula's scheming knows no bounds and I was blissfully unaware of just what she had planned!As Joel & I arrived at Fred & Max I noticed a lot of cars in the car park but just assumed it was a typically busy Saturday, and there's a gym above the coffee shop so that explained things. However as I approached the venue I saw a few balloons through the window and as I entered I was gobsmacked to see so many people. It took a few moments to realise that they were all there for my 50th!
I didn't think I was that gullible but I guess I'll have to work on paying more attention to what's going on around me!
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