Richards Bay Congregational Report 2013

Transcription

1 Richards Bay Congregational Report Greeting I greet the Parish Pastor, Congregation Council and all members of our congregation in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen 2. Congregations Richards Bay congregation is part of Enkanyisweni Parish and consists of one congregation and a new preaching place. These two branches are serving all 7 suburbs of the city of Richards Bay. (Meerensee, Arboretum, Birdswood, Veldenvlei, Wildenweide, Brackenham and Aquadene). The new preaching place in Aquadene focuses on the two suburbs Brackenham and Aquadene whilst the congregation in Birdswood serves the other 5 suburbs. Richards Bay is situated 150km north of Durban in KZN. Richards Bay is a young industrial city which has expanded through its industrial development and the presence of the harbour and still continues to grow fast. The so called Big Five companies are BH Billiton, Foskor, Mondi, RBM and RBCT, in which many of our church members are employed. Our congregational leaders are: a. Richards Bay Chairperson of Council : B.B. Biyela Deputy Chairperson: M.M.Msane b. Aquadene Preaching Place Representative: A. Mkhize 3. Council members a. Rev. T.G. Nxumalo Parish Pastor b. Rev. S. Gensicke Congregational Pastor c. B.B.Biyela Parish Chairperson/ Synod Delegate d. M.M.Msane Deputy Chairperson / FPC Chairperson e. T.T.Xulu Secretary f. L.Dlamini Deputy Secretary g. M.M.Xulu Treasurer h. T. Ntuli Events Coordinator i. S. Ngidi Additional Member j. C.E.Maphanga Men s League Representative k. N.Khathi Women s League Representative l. N.Dlamini Young Adults League Representative m. J.Ntanzi Youth League Representative n. R.Msomi Christian Education Representative o. D.Nxumalo Building Committee Chairperson 4. Membership Our membership according to our register is around 350 baptized members, during the 2012 elections 180+ members were eligible to vote. On any given Sunday the attendance is between members. 5. Working Plan The Working/Preaching Plan of the Parish is always drawn up by all pastors of the Parish. Thanks to our Parish Pastor T.G. Nxumalo he considers the input of all pastors of the Parish and we therefore are able to work well hand in hand. In the preaching plan for the Parish, our congregation has got 5 lay preachers, who faithfully preach in the Richards Bay congregation and other congregations in Sunday Services. 1

2 6. Work Progress Report I continue to preach primarily in Richards Bay, but I do help lead the services in one of the other 8 branches of Enkanyisweni Parish. As a great joy I can report that Ndumiso Mpanza whom I supported to study Theology has been ordained and he started his ministry in Vryheid Parish / Vryheid Circuit we were able to fulfil most of the goals set in last year s report of 2012, which follow: a. Tickets / Pledge form The introduction of the Ticket / Pledge Form has proved to be a success to our congregation. We haven t only grown the use of membership tickets, but we have seen considerable growth in pledges and actual income. We will continue to pursue this road and encourage the congregational members to take responsibility for their congregation and be accountable for growing our church. b. Workshops During 2013 we had a wide variety of workshops. The different workshops included the following: Youth Meetings, Christian Education, Confirmation Camp, Preaching Workshop. c. Baptismal visits The baptismal visits have become a welcomed addition to my work and they have become part of our Christian Education. In addition to teaching about baptism, it is very important for me to meet the families and to familiarise them with the order of baptism in our church service. This is to make them comfortable and look forward to introducing their child as a new member to the congregation. d. 2 nd Service The 2 nd service is a sore spot for the year of 2013 in the life of our congregation. We haven t managed to introduce the English ministry into our congregation. e. Bible studies Bible studies have been conducted on regularly basis. Members of the congregation have taken part in changing numbers. f. Preaching Place We have successfully started a preaching-place in Aquadene, and it has grown to unexpected numbers. New believers of that surrounding area have joined and old believers have re-joined our church services. Even though not all questions have been sorted out concerning the preaching place, this part of the ministry is important and will hopefully become a blessing to many in the suburbs of Brackenham and Aquadene. g. Roof construction We haven t been able to finish the roof of our new church building, but in the end of 2013 we ve managed to secure the funds to finish our roof. We ve received more than R ,00 to construct the roof in a loan from VELKD (United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Germany). In addition to that, we found a builder (Unicorn/Sholoza) who will help us to erect the steel structure and the sheeting and rectify mistakes that have been made in the construction of the walls and columns. h. Youth Meeting We have successfully introduced a youth meeting into our congregation. It takes place on Fridays after confirmation class. i. Media presence We ve successfully used the media (Internet, Newspaper) to promote faith and to testify to the community of Richards Bay and surrounding areas. Our Website has accumulated more than hits which were more than expected. We also had two reports of our church life in the printed media. 7. Spiritual well-being of Richards Bay congregation The spiritual life of Richards Bay is very healthy and can be seen in the care and love for one another. The congregation is very much aware of its calling to take care of grieving and the sick 2

3 people in our midst. The life of the congregation is manifold and has activities throughout the week. Nearly every day in the week has a meeting from either the leagues, Bible studies, committees or other workshops. 8. Old and sick in our congregations In our congregations we have two elderly ladies who aren t able to attend the Sunday service due to their progressed age and fragile health. They therefore receive the Holy Communion on monthly basis at their homes. Sadly one of the two Mrs Dube passed away on New Year s Eve. 9. Home and hospital visits On regular basis I visit the families of Richards Bay. Hereby I focus especially on families in distress; families that have lost a member or have been impacted by sickness or other crises. A much appreciated part of my ministry is the visit of sick people in our Bay hospital. Sadly it is only utilised by the congregation to this point, the Parish often fails to inform me of other Lutheran members who are admitted into the hospital. 10. Leagues a. Men s-league The Men s-league of Richards Bay continues to be a vibrant part of our church life. Next to the Monday meetings, our members continue to support families who have lost a family member b. Abasizikazis The work of our PWL is solid and continues to carry the congregation of Richards Bay. They have weekly meetings on Thursdays and bi-weekly meetings of the suburb groupings. The PWL supports our congregation in preaching and leading the services and in helping organise events. c. Youth The Youth of the congregation has grown and I am pleasantly surprised by the activities that have taken place in The youth has been active on Parish level which they weren t in previous years. We have established a weekly youth meeting with changing numbers. We ve have had events like pool-parties, movie nights and the youth was even successful in planning a church service. It is encouraging to see our youth get active, but there is still much more that can and should be done. d. Young Adults The Young Adults League members are a small group in our congregation. They have hosted events and they regularly help preach and lead church services. There is big potential in this league which needs to be unearthed. They have regular weekly meetings with varying attendance. e. Confirmation Class We were proud to confirm 14 youth into our congregation in The confirmation class met on weekly basis and ended the class with a confirmation camp which took place in endlovini. 9 Confirmants are from Richards Bay, 2 from Aquadene, 3 from Mandlanzini and one from Capetown. f. Sunday School Our Sunday school is well attended and the lack of space is a huge concern. The children either have to meet in the kitchen or in the outside on the grass due to space constraints. The Christian Education Committee is well established. There was a Sunday school workshop in 2013 which helped organize and structure the Sunday school. The Sunday School of Richards Bay represented the Parish on St. Michaels Day and did us proud, like they did in

4 11. Church-building The new church building has only progressed slowly. All we were able to achieve was the construction of the concrete slab on the two storey office/ vestry part in the back of the building. The slow progress in building is due to money constraints in our church life. Thankfully we were able to secure the funds to construct and finish the roof for our new church building. The construction will commence in January 2014 and is supposed to be finished end of April During and until the end of the year, we constantly renovated and improved our Old Church/ Christian School. We managed to renovate and tile the bathrooms, paint the roof and repair all broken parts of the building and special thanks goes to the Mens League, in particular D. Nxumalo and Z. Dlamini for their effort and constant support. Fundraising for the church building has been slow in 2013 and will have to pick up in There have been no major fundraising events this year, except for JJ & JD s, T-Shirt sales, Calendar sales and the Sports day in August. Here the building and fundraising committee will have to work more extensively to generate the funds needed. 12. Projects (continuing from 2012) a. Selling of Bricks has generated more than R ,00 to date. b. Website The Website/Blog is up and running and has since introduction had more than hits! c. Calendar. The Sale of calendars generated more than R profit. d. Sale of T-Shirts and Aprons, has continued to generate money! e. Cake Sales will continue to generate money for the crèche and Sunday School We are thankful for all the above mentioned projects. 13. Wednesday Bible-Study The Wednesday Bible-studies have enjoyed mixed popularity. Between 2 and 10 people have attended these bible-studies, it needs to be seen if we can extend the bible-studies into different groups of the congregation. 14. Events One Highlight of the year was our Sports day in August. It was very well attended with close to 150 members. It started at 09h00 and ended with a prayer in the late afternoon. During the day we started with Track and Field Events as our Olympic Games, thereafter the suburbs competed in groups sport against each other. We had soccer, netball, volleyball and tug-of-war games and winners were represented with awards and trophies. All was rounded off with a jumping castle for the kids, good food and good company and all agreed to make this event, a yearly event. The day ended with the trophies and a prayer. Thank you goes out to all who made this day a success. Especially the Men s League who organized the event, the women who helped with the catering and Mr. D. Nxumalo who put a lot of time and effort into the organizing of the event. 15. Website The Website has accumulated hits. It has given exposure to our congregation. All preaching plans are available as are reports about past and coming events. The website is utilized by many people and has shown its first fruits. One family which moved to Richards Bay and found our congregation through the website has now joined our church. The Diocese has requested me to help with a website for the South Eastern Diocese. This site is up and running and has accumulated hits to date. Sadly a lot of information is still missing, but all constitutions and the bishop s plan can be accessed by the public. 4

5 16. Happy Little Stars Christian School 2013 has been an unexpected good year for our Christian School. Numbers have nearly tripled during the year of In the beginning we started with 11 children and we ended with 32. The Christian School has gone from being a liability to becoming a financial pillar to the congregation. During the year our School staff increased from 2 to 5 (four teachers and one cleaner) and the spirit of our Christian school is good. I visit the Christian School on weekly basis to have story time with the children. I sing, tell a story and pray with children and teachers and I plan one continuing this ministry. The Christian School was able to start paying rent to the church which is a welcomed success in itself. We are grateful for our Principle Martha Singh and all Board members who have made this Christian School a success story. Enrolment for 2014 is picking up where it left off in 2013, which is good for the School and our congregation. Happy Little Stars Christian School has got a website which promotes the School in the Community. Furthermore our School was represented twice in the printed media which gives the school exposure and expands our reach into the community. 17. Finances The FPC (Finance and Planning Committee) has been a strong pillar in our congregation. Their diligent work in counting and monitoring all income and expenditure is excellent. The professional accounting skills of our treasurer M. Xulu have given us vision and achievable goals and have secured us the building bond from overseas. The congregation and I are very grateful for his commitment and the work of the entire FP Committee. The reports will be available after this report. 18. Congregational and Parish Council Working with the two Councils is very effective and productive. It is good to see that everybody in the council pulls his or her weight and want to see our church progress. Special thanks goes to our Council leader B.B. Biyela, who is leading both councils and ensuring that the council meetings are effective and concentrating on matters pertaining our ministries. 19. Circuit Council My election into the Circuit Council has been a new challenge for me. The work is interesting and challenging; and I look forward to continue helping shape the work and future of the Circuit. 20. Vision for 2014 Conclusion: 2014 will be a year where we will a. Tickets / Pledge form Monitor and extend the Ticket and Pledge system. b. Christian Education i. To host at least one Preaching, Liturgy and Acolyte Workshop. c. To finish the roof of our New Church by April 2014 d. To host a fundraising event (Thwalisanani) with our Bishop P.P. Buthelezi. e. To extend the youth ministry and to incorporate them more into the life of our church. f. To fundraise extensively to repay the bond and to continue with the construction of our New Church building. g. To organise social events that will strengthen our congregation was a year that impacted greatly on my personal life. In the beginning of 2013 my father passed away and this caused me to take special leave to help my mother arrange the funeral. Shortly after that, my family and I had to leave for a three month stay in Germany. These two 5

6 events have caused great interruption to the ministry and plans in Richards Bay, so that some of the goals set in 2012 have not been accomplished. However, my family and I have been overwhelmed by the support of our congregation and Parish thorough these difficult times. We re very grateful for the support we have received congregations (Richards Bay, Mandlanzini and Ndlovini), from councils (congregation and Parish) and colleagues (Parish and Self-supporting pastors, my Dean and my Bishop). I want to thank my wife and family for supporting the ministry. A special thanks and farewell goes out to Parish Pastor T.G. Nxumalo who supported me in all decisions and who created a good working environment in the Parish. I also want to thank all leaders of Leagues and committees especially my congregational council which works hard to make this congregation grow and succeed with its visions and goals. I want to thank the congregational leaders B.B.Biyela and M.M.Msane for their commitment, time and guidance; they are pillars of strength in our congregation and to me personally. Humbly submitted Congregational Pastor Rev. S. Gensicke. 6