Newsletter #33

Dear friends

What an incredible privilege to be a part of a worshipping, witnessing community. As we survey Scripture and know our Father, we see two primary importances for the church. Firstly, we are to be a community who glorify God and give Him praise, and secondly, we are to be a witnessing community, attesting to the goodness and love of our creator God in order that those living in our region may come to have the same faith as us.

This past week has seen 'Southcity' involved in multiple expressions of both worship and witness. We had the privilege of hosting elders and pastors from the coast in a time together where we could partner with and encourage one another. We hosted a men's evening where just under 100 men came together from all walks of life and both the righteous and unrighteous heard of Jesus' fame and work. We hosted multiple churches praying together for our nation, and we were able to worship together in Ramsgate, Mzamba, and SCRC. What a rich inheritance we have together!

In all of these things, my prayer is that we would know the life and love of God, and not just be meeting attenders. That we would worship and witness because the love of Christ compels us to as it did Paul when he wrote:

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. ...We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-20

Church, friends, it is a great privilege and responsibility to teach and proclaim the word of God to you every week, and today I need to humbly apologise and correct an aspect of what a taught, and how I said it, on Sunday. I said that the 'Daniel fast' was attributed to Daniel chapter 1 where Daniel does not defile himself with the kings food, whereas it is attributed to Daniel chapter 10, where he cries out to God for his people and does not allow any delicacies, meat or wine to cross his lips. I spoke quite strongly, even critically, about our motives around this, and on this point, I was the one in error.

Please accept my apology and I thank God for placing a team around me that hold me to account for what I teach. The reason for writing this now is that I would choose to publicly apologise face to face with you on Sunday, as that is the context I spoke it in, but I will not be with you this Sunday, so will not be able to do it with the urgency I would like to without writing it here.

Be strong and courageous church. I end with Paul's encouragement to Timothy, which I encourage you to pick up and run with:

"... Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. ... be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." - 1 Timothy 4:12-16

Much love

Rich

Newsletter #32

Dear Southcity

I have wrestled with whether or not to send this letter to you friends, as I am aware that we all face challenges and that our experience of Christian community is not always the same, but I believe in the end it is better for me to write this than not to. One thing I ask is that should your experience of God's love be different to the testimony below, may I ask you to celebrate God's kindness to another rather than to be discontent with your own experience. What follows below is Jaci's brief writing on what we as a family have experienced these past few months.

"In the past 10 weeks, since I injured myself and was confined to bed, we have had meals from 50 different families, ladies come and play with our children, countless school and ballet lifts done by up to 10 different friends, treatments by a physio, a chiropractor and a massage therapist in my own room, thousands of rands of medical treatments wavered, and further thousands covered by friends, an endless supply of flowers, gifts for our baby and for me, an extra full-time helper at home paid for by a friend, and communities and churches all over praying for us, sometimes with busy men and women gathered for an entire hour of prayer for our family.  

If I thought this in any way was because of who I was, or even who my husband was, I would keep quietly proud about it.  But I know it is not because of who we are, but because of what we are a part of.  

God does not intend for you to be lonely.  He does not intend for you to have just a small group of friends that you can depend on.  He came so that we could be reconciled to him, yes, but also so that we would be reconciled to each other.  Like any dad, he wants his kids to get along and to benefit from being a part of the family.  My husband and I chose to have a big family for the sake of our kids.  God's heart is the same - he wants us to have a big family that can stand with us like an army when we need them to.

I am very privileged to have both a natural family and a spiritual family to depend on.  But if that is not the case with you, do yourself the justice of making the most of the very large and very loving family that God has provided for all his children who believe in him."

Southcity, we thank you for being a great witness to my family of the love of God for his people. Thank you for your generosity, your time and your prayer. We truly treasure these things in our hearts and are grateful for the lessons you have taught our children because of your love for us. We stand in awe of our Father in heaven and in love with you, our family in Christ.

Thank you for a being a great blessing to this coast!

Much love

Rich

PS - I have tried my best to keep up to speed with all the meals and plates, and those who have come to help Jacs and our kids etc, but in being totally overwhelmed by the constant wave of help, may we be forgiven for saying a big thank you like this to everyone who has helped us in any way. THANK YOU! And for all of you that have dropped things off in our home, from meals to medical helps for Jacs, DVD's for the kids to books etc for us, may I ask that you find what is yours in the church office and if anything is missing, please let us know.

23 May: 7pm
Men on Fire

27 May:  2pm
Global Day of Prayer

16 & 17 June
Craig and Collete Meyer

Newsletter #31

Dear friends

What a great joy it is to witness new life as a community; over the past two weeks we have seen the birth of Callum Bilton and Tyden Mun-Gavin, the dedication of Nathan Snyders, Matthew, Jenna and Guy coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and Guy and Thandi being baptised amongst the Ramsgate church. Surely our God is a God who is at work amongst the people's of the earth!

As a believing community, two aspects to our faith are that we are to be disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20), as well as to imitate our leaders (Hebrews 13:7, 17).

Since part of our worship is to gather as a community and to have Scripture taught to us, the preaching team will be discipling the church as we unpack one of a previous generations leaders life that was recorded for all generations to learn from.

Daniel's life serves as an example on many fronts, and we will be looking at some of these over the coming weeks. The way he prayed, the way he remained steadfast in the face of opposition, the way he fasted, the way he served the unrighteous, and the manner in which he was obedient to God are a few lessons we can be discipled in and follow a leader in.

This is the journey we will be going on over the coming months in our continued attempt to receive God's Word not only as a record to learn from, but also as the living, imparted Word of God for us today.

May I encourage you to read the book of Daniel in order to prepare your hearts and minds as we walk and mature together.

I love you deeply friends

Rich

PS - please prayerfully consider supporting Clif and Sarah in their move to Doha, Qatar. We will give the opportunity again on Sunday to support them financially, alternatively, you can deposit into the bank details reflected below. Looking forward to celebrating Clif and Sarah with you all on Sunday as we picnic together after the service and send them on their way.         

6 May:

Clif and Sarah

Support Offering:

Banking details:

Southcity Church FNB

Acc: 52960343210

Branch: 220128

Ref: Longhursts

6 May: After Service

Family Picnic

17May: 6:45pm

Leaders’ Meeting

23 May: 7pm

Men on Fire

27 May: 9am

Craig Meyer