Dear Friends,
A very special welcome to Rev. Debbie van der Laar who will be proclaiming the good news this morning. Debbie is the minister at Sea Point Methodist Church and she is doing exciting things there. I encourage you to visit Sea Point and see for yourself – or if you know of people in that area, to encourage them to pop in. I am preaching in Salt River and Observatory today. It is always important for us to remember that we are not an entity on our own here at CMM, but that we belong to a larger body of other Methodist Churches.
There are a couple of important events coming up in the near and distant future that I would like you to commit to prayer. Next week on the 4th September the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary is opening in Pietermaritzburg. This is a very significant step in the life of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa regarding clergy training. Thank you to all of you who have made financial donations towards this ministry.
On the 7th September at 19h00 we have our first planning meeting for Synod 2011. Our circuit (including Sea Point; Salt River; Observatory and Kensington Methodist Churches) will be hosting Synod on the 19th-21st May 2011. This means for three days we will be caring for 250 delegates. We are yet to secure a venue – so if any of you know of such a venue with parking etc. please speak to me. If you would like to be part of this event simply write your name down on the yellow pad and hand it in during the offertory.
On the 12th September we celebrate Gilmore Mantis’ confirmation. Confirmation is like a wedding ceremony where before a congregation of witnesses a person declares their life long loving commitment to Jesus. Please hold Gilmore in the LIGHT.
In the next month or two we hope to start maintenance on the leaking roofs of this sanctuary. And after the damp has been removed from the walls we hope to re-paint in the new year. This is going to be a huge, costly and delicate job. The LOAN for this restoration work is being provided to us by the Kinsman Trust.
Finally please pray for in-spirit-ation around starting the AS IT IS IN HEAVEN coffee lounge on the sanctuary balcony. You will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.
And even as I am asking you to commit to pray for these things I am so aware of the trauma that persists around wages for labour and closed hospitals and schools – please God may we carry these struggles in our hearts!
Grace,
Alan
Sunday, 29th August 2010
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