Continue reading »]]> This is a free interactive course answering questions on how to read the Bible, how to be sure of your salvation, how to have a good devotional time and sessions on the spiritual disciplines.

24, 31 May & 1 June: How to read the Bible

14 June:                       How to be sure of my salvation

21 June:                       How to have a good devotional time

28 June & 5 July:       Christian disciplines

Where?  Church House: 16 Salisbury Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town.  7:30pm – 9:00pm

Contact: 021 761 6772 or office@vineyardchurch.co.za to confirm your place.

Continue reading »]]> Dear Kenilworth,

I write to bring you up to date on a number of scores.  We have had to change a few dates in order to facilitate a calendar that has filled up very quickly.

Please check out the revised Year Planner to take note of changes and events.  The YP is accurate through May and skeletal through June.

AGM

We have had to move the AGM forward till Sunday 29 April, due to unforeseen delays in receiving completed 2011 financials, Easter Weekend, and the need for sufficient time to circulate the financials, the 2012 budget for church approval, the suggested new constitution, the minutes from AGM 2011, the Pastoral report and an agenda.

We will be setting up a ‘pre-AGM’ meeting in which everyone (having had reasonable time read all the circulated documentation) will be free to ask the Leadership any questions they need to ask.  Leadership has felt the need to do this in order to facilitate complete transparency, and to bring about a more interactive approach to visional and financial matters.

We will from now on also be updating the congregation in terms of finances every month.  Our financial updates have been sporadic (apologies) and we want to give regular feedback on a monthly basis.

Tony van Niekerk will be updating us this Sunday (1^st April) and will also preach on finance on 22 May.

The date for the pre-AGM meeting will be finalised once all relevant documentation has been circulated and confirmed as read.

We hope that the process of meeting ahead of the AGM will also allow the AGM to move toward becoming a broader ‘visional’ type meeting rather than just a meeting about finances relating to the year in hindsight and the ‘New Year’ in foresight.

29 April, although a month later than usual, is well within the constitutional requirement in terms of the timing of the AGM.

Easter Sunday

Our Easter Sunday Service will look a bit different from an average Sunday worship service.  We’ll be worshipping, looking at the Jesus’ cries from the cross, breaking bread and then celebrating His resurrection.

If you are around over Easter Weekend please join us and bring family and friends who may be visiting.  All contemplatives are obliged to be there…

Weekend of Grace

I need to start punting the weekend of Grace which will run Friday 20-Sunday 22 April at Wortelgat.  We have booked for 25 people at a (catered) cost of R420 per head.  5 of 25 People will be the guys running the weekend, so we are looking for 20 guests.

The weekend is aimed at people who have done Alpha and are wondering ‘well what comes next?’  We hope to get about 10 guests from the current Alpha course and another 10 from the church.  It is on a first come first serve basis, so please let me know whether you would like to come along.

What now?

The weekend of Grace should then naturally feed into the Thursday evening ‘What now?’ which I mentioned in my previous musings.  This will be a 10 week evening teaching and workshop on:

1. How to read the Bible for all its worth (3 Thursdays)
2. How to be sure of my salvation (1 Thursday)
3. How to have a good devotional time (1 Thursday)
4. How to exercise the Christian disciplines (4 Thursdays)
5. How to get involved and stay involved in doing the stuff (1 Thursday)

The workshops will start after the June / July holidays.  It is the kind of ‘course’ / workshop open to everyone.  It would be really great if we could get a group of 40-50 to attend these.  The format will be far more along the lines of an interactive Seminary / Ministry school format.

For those of you who want to stop the preacher on Sundays and ask questions; this evening is designed with you in mind.  Sundays are for God, so we worship, bring the word and minister to one another, this is more of an interactive ‘Christian education’ type space.

Col. 3:15 ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.’

Please feel free to call or to come around to the office for coffee if you need to chat to Andy or me.

Agape

Melt

Continue reading »]]> Dear KVC,

Apologies that my musings have been fairly ‘few and far between’ recently.  The year got off to a ‘hectic’ start and our calendar for the first six months is very full.

General 2012

2012 started with quite a bang and the hall was pretty full on Sundays.  Worship too was increasingly a place of God’s presence.  This meant that we started the year with a ‘high level of expectancy.’

I then stepped out of the pulpit effectively for the whole of February, in order to take a small piece of leave and also to allow some others ‘pulpit time.’  That was not necessarily a wise move on my part.  Whilst I have wanted to know what is available to the church ‘preaching wise,’ we are not yet in the place where I can take long leave of absence from the pulpit without it affecting the momentum that God is building up.

February, as good as parts of it were, was a month that saw us lose some of the momentum we started the year with, and it has shown in our last few Sundays, both attendance wise and also in terms of the temperature of worship.

By and large I am now reasonably aware of the teaching / preaching resource we have and will be spending a lot more time (at least 4 in 5) in the pulpit myself.  We will also be asking some of the other Vineyard pastors for pulpit swaps.

Derek and I are trying to nail down some dates in the second half of this year in which he will run a workshop on ‘how to teach the Kingdom’ for us.

Changes in leadership for 2012

It is generally accepted in church circles that ‘stability has come’ when leadership does not change dramatically every year or two.  We have reached that place.  What do we intend to do with it?

The majority of changes to leadership in 2012 from 2011, are structural rather than ‘personnel related.’

Structurally the Finance team are going to move back (in order to bring us in line with general Vineyard Practice) to being separate from the Leadership team, but with one person serving on both teams in order to ensure continuity.

Tony van Niekerk (the church treasurer) will serve on LT and also chair the FT.  Tienie Steven, along with one other (still to be confirmed) will make up the FT.  All financial decisions at FT level are always (as per our constitution) ratified by LT.  I.e. the two groups will work closely together.

Another structural change is that we have established a ‘fund raising team’, completely separate from and different from the LT and FT.  Its goal is simply the funding the Kingdom, rather than being involved in KVC financial decisions.  It exists solely with the purpose of raising money to facilitate ministry.

Serving on the fund raising team to date are:

Ken Loots

Bev Andrews

Anida van der Spuy

And AN Other who is praying about heading up this ministry (watch the space!)

Sadly, we are (for a season) saying farewell to two people on Leadership.  One at Leadership Team level and one at Support Team level.

Lindi van Niekerk has begun her Masters studies which will effectively take up too much of her time for her to serve as church counsellor and to serve on church leadership.  She has stepped off leadership for the foreseeable future.  Lindi’s spot on leadership will remain vacant for now.

Yolanda Magida has decided to step down from the board of Ikhaya le Themba and also step off in heading up ‘Social Justice’ for KVC.  Sean Wilson, who has been the link to LT for ‘Social Justice’ will pick up the reigns in this area.

With Anton Cartwright, Katherine Wilson – Morse and yours truly serving on the Ikhaya board, there is no need to fill Yolanda’s spot at this time.

Congratulations to Nicky Lloyd, whose application to take over as Director at Ikhaya le Themba has been accepted.

Programme, prayer and Calendar

Alpha is being well attended by just over 20 guests, a number of whom are serious seekers.  Please keep the Alpha group in prayer.  Many thanks to all the volunteers helping in various capacities.

H.O.T.S continues to minister on the streets every other Saturday and has been joined this year by the guys from ‘conspiracy of kindness.’    Our gradual movement outward continues to gently grow…

We will be re-signing a ‘one year renewable’ lease with Voortrekker High School mid year.  Our future (or not) with Cornerstone Institute, will become clear in October this year.  In that light, as per previous musing, we are tying up a longer term lease that at least gives us security until mid year 2013.

Please do look at your church calendars to diarise events of importance to you.  Remember that Thursday evening Alpha will be replaced by ‘What now?’ which will be a 10 week evening teaching and workshop on:

1. How to read the Bible for all its worth (3 Thursdays)
2. How to be sure of my salvation (1 Thursday)
3. How to have a good devotional time (1 Thursday)
4. How to exercise the Christian disciplines (4 Thursdays)
5. How to get involved and stay involved in doing the stuff (1 Thursday)

Our corporate prayer times have seen a significant rise in temperature.  This being so on Saturday mornings and also Wednesday mornings after staff meetings.  Please do consider joining us on Wednesdays if you are able to.  Charles, Dion, Faye, Julian and Nikki Foord are regular prayers midweek, along with Sisa, Bex, Andy and I.

Stairwell prayer before church services seems to have gone a bit quiet… Do consider joining Urshi, Celina and others before the service starts.

AGM

The AGM this year will be a week or two later than last year.  The reason simply that we are still in the midst of coming to grips with a new administrative structure, along with the fact that we want to present a new church constitution at the AGM for consideration.

So, along with your usual package of last year’s minutes and budget, proposed budget for 2012 etc. there will be a ‘new’ constitution, way more in line with general Vineyard SA procedures and practices than the (now outdated) original constitution.

We will endeavour to get (either hard copies or electronic copies) of all relevant docs. To all church members by no later than month end March, thereby allowing two weeks for reading and assimilation before the AGM.

The constitution is based on the general Vineyard constitution, as provided to me by the National Vineyard Office, along with a few KVC specific clauses, mostly relating to our relationship with and to Ikahya le Themba.

Church plants

We are prayerfully exploring the possibility of Sisa planting in Imizamo Yethu in 2013.  Should this be the case we will likely be planting in cooperation with one other church affiliated to the Vineyard movement.  Please be in prayer for us all, and for Sisa as we walk this journey…

We are delighted to have Norman, Sandie & Alie Parker back in our community.  Norm and Sandie are planting a Vineyard church in Durbanville, and have asked to be able t relate to KVC as ‘mommy church’.  With the blessing of the National office, this relationship is well under way.  We will likely release them as a church plant toward mid year.  Ultimately it means we will be supportive in every way outside of financially (unless God rains it on us of course!)

 Leadership & stuff…

My own naturally / supernatural gifting (i.e. that part that comes to me fairly easily) is to take something from a place of pain and struggle, and with God’s help, bring it to a place of stability and functionality.  That part of the journey is largely completed and will continue to be walked on an on-going basis…pastorally and all…

The next step up (in terms of leadership intensity and direction) is newish territory for me.  I am going to need to call all my leaders up to the plate for the next step in this journey…I need your help to make KVC become what God has for us to become.

In terms of leadership in general, it needs to be said very clearly that the Vineyard, as a movement, are not into any form of ‘egalitarian’ everyone leads themselves type of structure.  Leadership is a biblical gift, concept and praxis.  I would be most disturbed if ministries and even small groups were ‘leaderless.’  Mutual accountability and good housekeeping demands that we are all ‘led as we lead.’

Trust that your day and week is a blessed one!

Agape

Melt

Continue reading »]]> New Year’s musing, Tuesday pm, 10 January 2012.
Dear KVC,
Happy New Year to you all. We pray that this year will be one of supreme blessing to us all. Come Lord Jesus, Come Holy Spirit! Give us a taste of heaven on this side of eternity.
Today sees us start the working year with two new staff members. Sisa (thanks to the generosity of Ikhaya and Oslo Vineyard) starts at Imizamo Yethu today. Sisa is currently staying in the flat attached to our home, but will probably (in time) need to find accommodation within the community at Imizamo. Welcome aboard Sisa, we wish you a long and blessed stay with KVC and Imizamo Yethu.
Rebecca has taken up her post as Church secretary / administrator and has, in a few short hours, already made inroads into making this inhospitable space more hospitable (: As with Sisa we wish her every success and blessing on staff, as well as fulfillment in her further studies.
2011 in hindsight
2011 Was, from a personal space, a very difficult one for me emotionally, with the death of two close friends in Simon van Niekerk and Malcolm Bates. I guess one of the realities of one’s mates going to be with Jesus is that it reminds you of your own mortality. At 49 I’m only now starting to realize that I won’t be running out on Newlands next Saturday, or indeed in this life time again! I’ve realized it, but now I have to make peace with it, which is a bit different. Please don’t expect me to be more serious though, because that will not be happening anytime soon! Please bear with me (:
On the family front things have stabilized for us substantially since March 2011. Anida is very happy in her career, and the kids are at various stages of their studies. Simone goes into her second year at Stellenbosch University, Marie’ has finished a certificate course at City Varsity and is now enrolling to do a B. Ed in foundational phase, and Emma goes into her final (Grade 7) year at Sweet Valley primary.
From a KVC perspective 2011, was a mixed bag with much more good than bad and no ugly.
Our church has grown steadily over the past 23 months, with a total of 46 regulars being added to our ranks and around 17 (as I count it) who have moved on from KVC. Some have moved due to transfer or relocation and some have moved because their season at KVC has come to a close.
The church is in steady growth phase. It is heart- warming to see some who had moved away for a time, back in the community. We have long felt that KVC will be a place where ‘exiles’ (not just from our movement, but from the church collectively) will find a home.
Points of significant growth during 2011
1. Worship under Rebecca’s leadership
2. The Men’s camp under Andy’s guidance
3. Ladies Camp, organized by Thy, Lecia and Marike
4. Ministry time in church
5. The continuation and stabilizing of ‘Healing on the Streets.’ We are chuffed that Rebecca and team have seen this ministry through and continue to push into it
6. Counselling, under Lindi’s guidance
7. The growth of relationship between Ikhaya and KVC, seen most visibly at the Ikhaya Sunday in Imizamo
8. Continued Vineyard visiting teams from abroad with SW London coming in 2011
9. Continued outward ministry trips – in 2011 the J. Bay trip was a highlight
10. Stabilizing of the small groups in the church under Barbara and Brian’s guidance
11. The great attendance of both Pat’s gifting workshop and the Healing Rooms seminar
12. The two ‘prayer and fasting’ weeks, although, to be honest, we lost momentum with the second one. It wasn’t as well advertised, or pushed as hard as the first one and it showed! We need to continue to encourage Urshi and the Gowie’s for the intercession that has gone on quietly (and not so quietly) over the past few years. It is your faithfulness that has seen the prayer temperature rise at KVC
13. The beginnings of a Conspiracy of kindness initiative
14. The ongoing benevolent ministry of ‘sharing love’ which Ken and Jan have so ably taken over from Kees and Henny
15. Two New Member’s Orientation courses
16. The new – and now with Rebecca on board – regularly to be updated Website!
17. The three great social / fundraising events in the two Barnyard evenings and the inaugural golf day. Thanks to Bev and Pat and Arlene for their involvement
Areas we need to look to in terms of improvement and focus
1. I would like to see some movement in the social justice initiative during 2012. Yolanda started this initiative in 2011, which turned out to be a year in which she was heavily snowed under workwise. It’s the kind of ministry that will involve a lot of talking and brainstorming before anything concrete necessarily takes shape. I urge those of you with a heart for transformation to come alongside Yolanda and Sean in 2012. This forum is the heartbeat of our outward mission.
2. Income, finances and fund raising. We will be setting up a fund raising team, separate from LT and ST.
3. The forming of a separate finance team (separate from leadership but with representation on it) in order to bring us in line with Vineyard praxis.
4. Our constitution needs to be revisited. It is old and dated. I am beginning to make work of this. Obviously the principles and praxis, and Vineyard values remain the same and all changes need to be brought to the church; but I will be making work of ‘reworking’ the constitution for open discussion. Fortunately quite a lot of this work has already been done in the merger between City Vineyard and CBUC
5. The office and administration – starting with a bang!
6. The fine tuning of Sundays, particularly in the absence of myself and Andy.
7. Inventory and upgrade of church house in the uncertainty surrounding any kind of move for us.
Things we need to diarize for the first quarter of 2012 – please check out the attached Year Planner for 2012
i. Alpha – starting in Feb!!!
ii. New Member’s Orientation
iii. Catalyst camp
iv. LT/ST Meeting
To end this opening salvo…some education for us all:
With Rebecca now being on staff, as well as continuing to hold her current portfolios on leadership, worship and HOTS, please don’t inundate her with requests for appointments, complaints, suggestions or anything else on Sundays. We would like her to be able to have a worship experience on a Sunday.
As a request, it would be well appreciated if Tuesdays and Wednesday afternoons could be specifically ‘office phoning slots’ to set up appointments and so on. Wednesday mornings will be taken up by staff meetings (now that we have a staff!) and prayer. The prayer slot will move from 10.00 till 11.00 so that anyone who wants to and is free to can join the staff after their weekly meeting for prayer.
This is all very exciting!
Agape
Melt

Continue reading »]]> Dear KVC,

This may well be my last musing before Christmas. I’ll make it a fairly substantial one, so that we have a good idea of where we are headed in the immediate short term and where we are going in 2012.

Good news, slightly less Good news, and even better news!

The good news for our church and our church office in 2012 is that Rebecca Carder will be joining us on staff as office administrator / secretary, on a 25 hour week. We have really struggled to be as organized and ‘slick’ as we ought to because Andy and my focus has been primarily pastoral.

Rebecca has been accepted to do a Master’s Degree in Education (M.Ed.) at UCT and will have 25 hours a week to give to the church. A more permanent organizational presence in the church office is long overdue. Rebecca’s appointment will not affect the church budget in any way.

On a slightly sadder note, Rebecca’s appointment means that Anri steps down from the administrative position she currently fulfills at KVC. Anri’s role and function will be shared amongst Tony van Niekerk (treasurer), Rebecca (church admin) and Sue Joubert (bookkeeper). Anri and I will be meeting shortly to discuss the handover process, as the church’s procedural governance is very important.

If money were not an issue, we would love to have Anri be able to handle the administrative side of church for us, as she is extremely gifted and competent in that area. Unfortunately the need for an organizational presence in the church office takes precedence for the time being. Thank you to Anri for all that she has done in her capacity as church administrator.

Anri remains on board at KVC, as an active member and consultant (along with Brian Hilliard) to the Leadership team.
Perhaps (certainly missionally) even better news is that we (KVC) are calling Sisa Danisa from 1 January 2012 as community development worker to Ikhaya and general pastoral worker at KVC. Sisa’s week will be split between Ikhaya (25 hours) and KVC (15 hours.)

We are very grateful to Oslo Vineyard for their provision of 63, 5% Sisa’s total stipend for 2012. Thank you too, to ikhaya le Themba for being willing to pass this funding onto KVC.
The above appointments were unanimously approved at a combined LT / ST extraordinary meeting in October.
In order for us to become a church that can sustainably work amongst the poor (beyond what is already being done in Ikhaya and elsewhere) and make a significant long term difference, it entails that we need take Missional ‘risks’ for the Kingdom now.

I.e. we may need to ‘risk more’, before we see the full benefit and Kingdom breakthrough. We have received some substantial pledges toward the end of first quarter next year and in light of these, along with present giving trends, and (more importantly) the sense gained from our 2 ‘weeks of prayer’ we are comfortable in moving forward missionally, rather than treading water.

There is more pastoral and organizational work surrounding a church the size of ours than most people realize, and I am delighted to finally have someone in the office on a more full time basis, as well as someone who can begin to assist with areas of pastoral weakness, such as Youth work.
Welcome aboard Rebecca and Sisa, we look forward to many years of fulfillment in the Kingdom and KVC together.

Men’s camp

A group of 32 men from all walks of life headed off to Montagu (De Bos) to hang out together. Some camped and some stayed in Bungalows.
We hiked, played golf, swam, sang, watched the Currie Cup final, worshipped, ministered to one another and…ate a lot of red meat. It was a really great weekend. Thanks to Andy and team (Murphy!) for making this a reality. We’d like to see 50 guys coming along next year.

Golf day and fund raisers in general

In explaining why we are doing fundraisers I would like to make it very clear that ‘fund raising per se’ is actually of secondary importance to the community aspect of these events. If, hypothetically, KVC were in a place in a year from today where our funds were pouring in and money was not tight, we would still do an annual golf day, a few Wijnhuis dinners and some Barnyard evenings just for the community / ‘kingdom party’ value.
Once KVC reaches a place of sustainable financial viability, whatever is raised in these events, will be donated to worthy causes.
In light of the above thanks to all who have helped in raising prizes and golfers for our inaugural KVC sponsored Golf Day at King David Golf Club on Friday 25th November. We will likely raise in the region of R20 000, as we have 80 players participating. Prizes are still welcome.
On the evening of 20 December we have our second Ikhaya / KVC Barnyard fund raiser. Last time out was a complete jol, so please join us if you are in and around Cape Town at that time. Bev Andrews is the contact. Many thanks to Bev for taking initiative in this regard.
We will be having another Newlands Wijnhuis fund raising evening on Thursday 1 December. For R250 a head, you will be served a three course meal, wine at the table and coffee. Please note that this function is restricted to 30 people maximum, so get your bookings in early with me. The full R250 per head comes to the church.

Sunday Services and spiritual temperature @ KVC

The commitment to our two separate ‘weeks of prayer and fasting’ along with the faithful intercession that happens every week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, along with Wednesday morning prayer and Sundays has seen a significant rise in the ‘prayer temperature’ of KVC.
One of the things that have stood out for me during 2011 was the desire to pray seen at the Conference in Magaliesberg. God responded to that increased desire and the Morning Prayer times were amazing. We need to keep pushing into prayer in every format we are able to.
Thanks to the loyal intercessors who have, in a very real sense, prepared the way for the community, by their faithful and continued seeking after God. Lord, let your kingdom come.
Sunday evening Catalyst gatherings are reaching the place where Andy and I will need to discuss what the plans for the future of this group are. Andy has faithfully stuck to meeting on Sunday evenings for a communal meal, worship and ministry and God is honouring that.
The overall 2011 Sunday morning experience has, for me, been one (generally) of increased expectation. There have been a handful of worship and ministry experiences which have felt like something of heaven coming to us, and generally the spiritual temperature and expectation from KVC collectively is higher.
There will still always be times when we feel ‘God didn’t pitch’ (He always does, but you know what I mean), or ‘we didn’t play our part in coming to the kingdom party’, but by and large, our worship experience has swung strongly toward Jesus.
We keep pushing in, keep praying and keep doing faithfully what we are able to do, always expecting breakthrough and always wanting more of His presence with us.
Blessings to you all

Melt

]]> http://www.vineyardchurch.co.za/index.php/2011/11/wednesday-16-thursday-17112011/feed/ 0 http://www.vineyardchurch.co.za/index.php/2011/10/worship/ http://www.vineyardchurch.co.za/index.php/2011/10/worship/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:11:17 +0000 roxzanne http://www.vineyardchurch.co.za/?p=177

Continue reading »]]> Why Do We Worship?

We worship because God has created us for the sole purpose to spend our lives worshipping Him. We worship God to bless Him; to express His might, power, holiness, awesomeness and our love for Him. As a kickback from worshipping God, we are blessed through touching Him, and connecting with Him. Our most meaningful encounters with God often occur while worshipping Him – very often these encounters deepen our relationship with God, thus becoming life changing.

What Does Worship Look Like?

Worship can take different forms. It can be private (in your home with a guitar or CD); or collective (in a small group or at church on a Sunday).
As a Vineyard church, we value worship greatly; and encourage worship to be authentic, intimate, accessible, and to be approached with integrity. No matter what type of worship you are involved in, these are the trademarks that we at Vineyard look for.

What Is Our Vision For Worship At KVC?

Our vision is two-fold: congregation based; and musically based.
In the congregation based vision, we want to see people connecting with God in a meaningful and deep way through worship. We want worship to go beyond ‘singing songs to God’, but to become an act of service to God that inspires life changing encounters. We want to see people expressing their love for God in whichever way they feel comfortable, be it falling on their knees, lifting their hands, singing, or dancing with abandon. We want to see people encountering God and the Holy Spirit through worship in deeper ways than they ever have.
In the music based vision, we want to develop and train musicians, song writers, worship leaders and sound engineers; who produce a high quality of music. God has called us to do all things to the best of our abilities, and this includes worship – we want our musicians to be Spirit filled, passionate and musically excellent. We want to become a church that produces worship songs that are authentic to who we are as a Cape Town church.

What Do We Want From You?

We want you to worship. Worship God with all your heart, soul, mind and body. We want you to look at the words of songs and find what they mean to you – then sing them to God, understanding what you are singing. We want you to connect with God through worship; we want you to be blessed. Practically, we also are looking for musicians and sound engineers who are passionate about worship and are willing to serve. If you are willing to serve and want to be involved, please contact:
beckycarder@gmail.com

Continue reading »]]> Dear KVC,

As year-end approaches (understandably) our energy levels tend to drop more than proportionately.  For most of us the working day becomes something we need to ‘get through’ rather than something we look forward to.

It is good to know that we serve a God whose energy levels never drop and who never stops to ‘re-charge.’  One day, on seeing Jesus we will be just like that too…aint that something to look forward to!

For now Lord we pray that you will allow each of us in our places of work to finish the year strong, and to be the continual presence of salt and light to the watching, waiting world.  Come Holy Spirit!

Recap of the weeks that were

In the past few weeks we have been busy with a number of activities out of the ordinary.

Our New Member’s Orientation (NMO) Programme sees four new people welcomed into membership at KVC.  Some are ‘old faces’ in that they have been around for a while and have now come into membership and others are fairly new to us and us to them.  This Sunday sees us welcome them officially.  Welcome to:

Jill Farrant

Gaylin Downie

Franlize Fourie

Arlene Pullin

Next (NMO) end of first quarter 2012 – please let me know if you’d like to attend.

The Ikhaya Sunday Service was…profound.  We are humbled by what God is doing in Imizamo Yetho through this ministry and pray for His continued blessing and protection over all the staff and kids at Ikhaya.

Thank you to everyone who made this day possible.  Thanks to Sisa for being our guest preacher on the day.

The Healing Rooms training day was attended by over 40 people, which was way in excess of our expectation.  Thanks to Thy and Claudia for organizing the seminar.

It was great to have Mark, Simone and Roxzanne Salida from J. Bay Vineyard with us (on and off!) for two weeks.  Thank you to Mark for preaching last Sunday and thank you to Roxzanne for the great new KVC Website.  We look forward to growing our relationship with you guys as a family and the family of J. Bay Vineyard Church.  Thanks to the Hilliards for hosting.

Conspiracy of Kindness was launched a few Saturdays back, with a few interested parties joining Marike.  Watch this space.

To look forward to

Starting next week (Monday 17 October) we are into our second prayer (and fasting) week for 2011.  Our focus will be:

• What is God saying to us as a community?
• Where is He leading us?
• How do we get there?  (I.e. what is our response to what He is saying and where he is leading?)

Please try to hear with us.  I feel that we need to come before Him with no agenda whatsoever.  I.e. ‘dropping everything’ and saying ‘OK Lord, here we are…willing to hear afresh. We come with no agenda, no preconceptions, no strategic plan, no impressive vision, but filled with expectation. Speak, for your servants are listening.’

Please fast as you feel guided to – i.e. parameters are yours to discern.

Prayer times and slots as follows:

Monday 17th – Each of us by ourselves, throughout the day.

Tuesday 18^th – Each of us by ourselves, throughout the day.  (Melt lecturing at Newlife ministry school in the evening)

Wednesday 19^th – Corporate prayer @ Church house from 18h00-19h30 Melt to lead

Thursday 20^th – Corporate prayer @ Church house from 18h00 – 19h30 Andy to lead

Friday 21^st – Corporate prayer at Church house from 18h00 – 19h30 Melt to lead

That’s all for now.

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Shalom

Melt

Continue reading »]]> Miracles Still Happen

Is God real? Do miracles still happen or were they only for biblical times? What’s the point of Christianity – isn’t it just a club for happy-clappy, hypocritical, strange people who are out of touch with reality? Why does God let bad things happen? Is God still relevant in our day and age? Is He?

As a Vineyard church, we believe that God is real and that He is relevant in our day and age, and yes: we believe that God still performs miracles. We believe that God wants to reach out and meet with people, He wants to be seen as a mighty God, He wants to be seen as real.
As Christians, we have been told to go out into the world and “Heal the sick, raise the dead… drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Mat 10v8) So, every second Saturday, that is what a group of us do: we go and pray for healing for people. Here’s how a typical Saturday looks:

9am we meet at the City Vineyard building for coffee, catch up and a prayer session.
9:50am we leave the building with a few chairs, our sign and butterflies in our tummies.
10:00am we get down on our knees on the Grand Parade and ask God to come.
10:05am we’re open for business – asking people if they want prayer and praying for them if they do. And it’s amazing – all fear disappears, all embarrassment dissolves, and faith is increased as one after the other people come and sit in the chairs, wanting to be prayed for, wanting to be healed. And often, healing comes – a miracle is seen… a growth disappears, a leg lengthens, a foot is healed, back pain disappears, lungs are opened up… people are touched by God, and healing takes place.
12:00 we pack up, debrief and close in prayer; thanking God week after week for showing us that He’s real; for healing people when we ask Him to.

It really is an amazing experience. God is real. Miracles still happen. Everyone gets to play.

We’d love you to come and join us – be part of our team in any way you feel led… whether it’s just to pray in the background as we pray for others, or to join us in praying for people, or praying for us during the week, please contact us – we’d love you to get involved~ the more the merrier!

Contact: beckycarder@gmail.com