CAPE TOWN

By Hilary and Eben Jacobs

It began on a bright and sunny Saturday morning (June 14^th, 2003), in the affluent suburb of Pinelands, near Cape Town (South Africa).

The face-brick Anglican church of St. Stephens was the venue, and the buzz of conversation which is always part and parcel of WCG fellowship, set the atmosphere for the service which followed. The Durban band – ever willing to give of their talent and experience, provided inspiring worship music - which was enhanced by the high ceilings and general acoustic excellence of the building.

God is thinking of you

After sharing some family news and a few memorable jokes, Mr Joseph Tkach gave an uplifting message on the unlimited love of God for humanity. The Bible shows that God is like father, mother, fire, rock, lion, lamb and shepherd. How we see God has a strong bearing on our behaviour. If we see Him just as a strict authoritarian father, we will constantly be striving to appease and stay within the boundaries of rules and regulations. But once we see Him in all aspects of His perfect and complete personality, we begin to understand that the only way to please God is to love Him back.

After lunch the group of around 250 met at the Oude Molen Technical High School hall – a comfortably appointed auditorium, where the conference took place.

Church planting

During James Henderson’s presentation on church planting, we heard two exciting accounts of the establishment of new churches in Southern Africa. In both cases there were specific needs, and the pastors established a relationship with the people concerned, meeting their needs, and bringing them to Christ in the process. Church planting, Mr Henderson explained, is participation in holiness - salvation and sanctification. Both planters and builders of new churches must have a vital relationship with God. Planting involves boldness, courage, vision, and responding to a need. The newly planted church is “God’s baby,” not ours, and He gives the growth.

Kalengule Kaoma, Regional Pastor for Zambia,

Zimbabwe and Malawi speaks about church planting.

Church governance

We have changed much over the past 15 years, and our present slogan is: “Working together to help each congregation attain its God-given potential.” Members and ministers are being empowered to become good stewards of church governance.

“With power comes responsibility,” said Randal Dick as he introduced his lecture on church governance. Governance is how a group act on what they believe, and stewards are empowered to use discretion in management. The tools of stewardship are power and accountability. Power is delegated by ordination, and allocated by congregational acceptance. Accountability is the assurance that power is used for the right purpose, and that inappropriate means are not used. Jesus said that all power was given to Him in heaven and earth (Matt 28:18). God empowers us to 100% of what we can handle for the job. Full empowerment demands full accountability.

We are to respond to the will of our owner – Jesus Christ – and to produce the results He wants in such a way as reflects His values and character. As it was at the creation of the Garden of Eden, so today God makes everything available to stewards except that which would hurt.

Presentation to Suzie and Randal Dick

by James Henderson

Becoming the responsive church

Sunday morning saw us all back in the auditorium at 09h30, ready and eager to learn more from Randal Dick on how we should respond to God. As a church, what is our job description? In many places in Scripture, God tells us to “be my people.” In other words, be responsive to His will. In order to do this we need to keep a balanced tension between knowing, being and doing. If we are trapped in either one of these to the exclusion or diminishment of the others, we become unbalanced in our approach to God. This served as a fresh and vital understanding of the triune nature of God.

Leadership

Joseph Tkach explained that leadership is about how and where we are taking other people. We know good leadership when we see it, and there is no single set of traits. Jesus gives a model of servant leadership, demonstrating that leadership begins with “followership.”

The spiritual leader as visionary

Physical limitations should not stop spiritual outreach, said James Henderson as he explained how our ministries should be Christ-like and sacrificial. Chris Khoury from the Durban (South Africa) church told the story of how the deaf ministry began there with three deaf people who, after attending for a while, began teaching sign language to some of the hearing members.

Then there was a lady who began a prayer ministry simply by placing an advertisement in a local paper.

Sacraments

Mr Tkach wound up the conference with a fascinating comparison of Old Covenant sacrifices with New Covenant sacraments. Sacrifices were offered on a constant basis by the Levitical priesthood, just as we today are to be living sacrifices. We are not limited to taking the Lord’s Supper once a year, but may do so whenever there is a need. This was followed by a communion service for all those attending.

Then came the hugs and kisses, the tears and laughter of fond farewells. We will all remember this conference for the assurance, edification and the exciting road ahead for the Worldwide Church of God.

We are family!

The combined efforts of the Cape Town churches resulted

 in an excellent braai (barbeque) which was the social highlight of the conference

[photos: Arlene Tyler and Gerry Wainwright]

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