We had so much fun at The Gathering's end of year party for our Maths@Home Homework club on Friday.22 kids were eager to get in with a few siblings and friends trying to slip in too, but we managed to contain the numbers.
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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
We had the privilege of calling Zimbabwe home for almost three years from 2000 to 2003 and still to this day carry a torch for the nation. Zimbabwe is quite simply the most beautiful country we’ve ever been to. Zimbos are the warmest and friendliest people you will ever meet and visitors are always bowled over by the reception they receive.Sadly though, all has not been well in the former ‘bread basket of Africa’ and since 1999 has been the basket case of Africa, and that can be attributed to one man and his colossal ego.
We are super proud of our four learners who all got 100% in the latest Maths@Home competition.When each of them saw their names on the login page they were thrilled and excited for what they had achieved, and rightly so.
A lot of credit goes to Precious, our facilitator, she's great with the kids and they love her.
Stay tuned too for a big announcement about our Homework Club for next year as it grows and changes. We're really excited about what's happening!
The Gathering's weekly Soup Kitchen is definitely the highlight of my week, from cooking the soup in the morning, to serving it in the evening and clearing up afterwards, it's pure joy to be able to serve our community.It's also a joy to see our venue take on a real world practical use as it's packed to the brim with locals wanting soup and sandwiches.
Last night The Gathering was invited to join with the United Reformed Church in Firgrove as they held a Prayer Walk around the community.The walk was brilliantly organised with one person being given a ribbon (for each stop sign) and the responsibility of praying for whichever topic they had been given. Then before moving on to the next street, they tied the ribbon to the stop sign.
It was pure joy to once again go to Greyton for our annual holiday. This is the seventh year we've managed it, and our souls feel refreshed for having soaked up so much fresh air, good food and great family time.Our holiday is precious time, not least because we get so little of it out here. Dean has posted on this before, but in Blighty we used to enjoy 5 weeks of annual leave, now we don't even manage a full fortnight.
For our Silver Wedding Anniversary last year I wanted to give Paula a gift that would last but also one that had a cost, not a financial cost, but a personal one. So, starting on our anniversary last year I gave Paula the gift of letters. No, I didn't give her the alphabet, though it would have been cheaper, easier and a whole lot quicker. No, what it actually meant was that I committed to writing to her every day for a year, sending her a letter or a card. Some letters would be posted, some I would hand to her and others were left somewhere for her to find. I know I missed a few days but looking at the little mountain of letters and cards I know did my best. But more importantly, it was a huge blessing to me and a great lesson, but more on that in a bit...I have to say it was a lot of fun. It was great to rekindle the letter writing skill (we used to write to each other constantly before we got married), especially in this age of connectivity and constant social media interactions when pens are rarely required. The whole experience was enjoyable and the highlight was intentionally setting aside a few minutes each day to write a letter or card. It meant that for a few precious minutes all I had to do was think about Paula and what I wanted to say to her.
Those were treasured moments!
We're thrilled to finally see The Gathering's new kitchen completed and ready for service.It's been quite a journey getting to this point but we're thankful for all the blessings that made this possible, and to our guys at The Gathering who worked so hard to prepare the space ready for the installation. I also enjoyed sorting the plumbing and electrics, it felt like old times doing that stuff again.
Since The Gathering moved in to the heart of Firgrove our Soup Kitchen has steadily grown each week to the point that it's a real squeeze inside as everyone tries to find a seat.This week the queue for soup went out the door and didn't seem to end for the first twenty minutes and by 25 past six the soup had all gone which was pretty gobsmacking.
I'm feeling quite overwhelmed at present.Since The Gathering moved into the heart of Firgrove our Soup Kitchen has been steadily growing, especially amongst the elderly who were too afraid to cross the busy R102, and who could blame them?! So, over the last few weeks many new faces have become familiar faces as people feel much safer coming for soup within their own community.
Until two days ago I had only ever seen one chameleon in the wild, or at least in my garden, then suddenly today I came across another little guy (maybe it's the same one) and decided to get some better shots of him.This is a Cape Dwarf Chameleon indigenous only to the Western Cape and close to Table Mountain, though they have been found as far out as Agulhas.
Personally I'm thrilled to have this lttle guy in my garden and would love to see him again sometime.
It's been a funny old week. It has been a week of small jobs and disjointed routine, but somehow in the midst of that it has also been quite satisfying. I'll explain the disjointed bit up top...Paula is now in Spain for some valuable time with her big Sis & family, she left on Wednesday and her penance for abandoning us was 34 hours of travelling 😂. So I'm attempting to impersonate Super Dad for a couple of weeks but I'm not very good at impersonations.
I was really struck by what one of The Gathering's members said recently about The Gathering's door always being open, because most people in this community are used to seeing churches being locked up and empty all week after Sunday apart from a brief spell on Wednesday evenings.
I'm still reeling from The Gathering's Soup Kitchen last night, it really was a joy to be there!I had a sense that with the hideous cold and wet weather of late it would be a good night, but I had no inkling of just how good it would be. We fed 77 people which is the most The Gathering has fed at any one time, but what really struck me as we were serving was the sense of peace and calm over the Soup Kitchen. That's not to say that it's usually crazy, it just isn't, but last night it was such a peaceful event and it felt good to be a part of it.
The Gathering's Soup Kitchen was another great evening! It's always good to see so many of our regulars and today we welcomed back two who have just been released from prison, they were missed whilst they were away.We also had a few of the locals who regularly hang around the laundrette and shop most days and it was good to serve them. There are some odd characters in there but having finally ventured in through our door they revealed themselves to be interesting and entertaining characters.
Paula wrote this on Facebook and I'm not sure I can add much to it..."What a spectacular morning at The Gathering's new home as we praise marched from the garage and entered our new building to celebrate Jesus as a family and with a few friends! The presence of God was so beautiful amongst us and God poured out His Holy Spirit as we worshiped. [We] loved Aunty Lenora's word for the church which was so confirming of all that God has been saying and doing amongst us already and so very encouraging as we look forward strategically!
Last night was our soft opening for The Gathering as we held our first Soup Kitchen in our new home. It really did feel like we had come home and the buzz outside as we built up to serving at 6pm was great.Once the Soup Kitchen began there was a lovely vibe and because most folk were able to sit in the same room as we were serving the soup it led to a few conversations that previously we would have missed out on. Hopefully that side of things will grow and opportunities to minister will increase.
As an end of term treat Eli's school had iced a load of cookies and they went down a storm with young and old alike!
Just before we began serving, some local decided to become the police and started shouting at the kids because they were being a bit lively, though he soon got the message that we're not a religious bunch who demand silence. LOL!
It's nothing on the scale of Trump's ambitions, but it's still exciting and encouraging to see the wall going in in The Gathering's new home. One gets a sense of how much better our meeting space will be and how much space we have for our office, kitchen and kids venue. It will be a little squashed at the back but worth it.
Following on from my "Busy Week" post, the jobs that needed doing eventually got done, but this being Africa they just took a little longer than planned, but I'm very happy with how they turned out.The glass tinting works a dream and offers us a degree of privacy which is essential for our Homework Club, but it doesn't completely shut the outside world out. It was also a fraction of the cost of blinds.
It's great to see Eli fully committed to his football. He's loving playing for De Beers AFC and has done incredibly well to become a mainstay of defence in the Under 12s team.Being Brits, we're used to football being in foul weather, but we find it highly amusing (and a little pathetic) how so many cry off at the first hint of rain. Eli wouldn't dream of missing his football practice, no matter what the weather was doing! Some of those kids, or rather their 'soccer moms' need to get a life.
It was with a little tinge of sadness that we served our last Soup Kitchen in The Gathering's current home. although we're not officially in our new home until the 1st of July we'll be serving next week's Soup Kitchen from there.The sadness however is far outweighed by the sense of excitement, not just amongst The Gathering's members but our Soup Kitchen regulars are seemingly just as excited. As we were telling the guys about next week they all told us that they already knew about our move, which means the local grapevine is working well.
We also hosted our last Homework Club for this term and the kids were a little gutted to realise that it won't be running during the school holiday. We're definitely sensing an opportunity for some kind of holiday club in the Summer holidays.
In the midst of all the busyness at The Gathering's new home, it was nice to finally take a few minutes to drink in the view we will get to enjoy in the coming months.All the jobs we were expecting to get done on Monday have now been finished, we have a shiny roller door, the front window has been replaced and the electrics have been sorted.
Today is the shortest day of the year (so you lovely northern hemisphere peeps get to say goodbye to the sun tomorrow 😉) which means the sunrise was unusually late and this gave me the opportunity to get two lovely snaps of it. This one was taken from our drive as I was about to take Joel to school. By the time I got the camera I had probably missed the best of it but the sunrise still looked pretty cool.
Today should be quite a big day in the life of The Gathering's new home. With just under two weeks until we start Gathering there, there is a lot to be sorted out.It all starts today as the landlord is having a roller-door fitted so that should be security sorted. This should also mean that the Coca Cola sign for next door's shop be removed as the landlord has told them to get a smaller one sorted. Once this is done we can put our own sign up.
Yesterday was a public holiday as we enjoyed Youth Day, so Errol, Phillimon, Eli & myself took the opportunity to spend a few hours in The Gathering's new home knocking things about, taking down a wall, removing the counter and then fixing holes, followed by lots of sweeping and mopping!
I've been wanting to take some photos of The Gathering's Soup Kitchen to show the children at Eli's school as a thank you for their hard work making sandwiches each week, and to try and challenge them as we show them that not everyone has a privileged background.Rather than patronise folk with the usual full on photos, I wanted to capture their hands receiving soup and sandwiches and I have to say I'm very pleased with these.
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!
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