Musical Celebration

Holiday Club

2010 - 60th Anniversary Celebrations

2010 is a momentous year in South African history, with fans from around the world descending as 32 teams play 64 soccer matches in 10 local venues. For members of the Methodist church in Bellville, 2010 also commemorates 60 years as a church community. Rev Arthur Colledge, minister at Parow and Pinelands Methodist churches, proposed creating a church for the Bellville community in late 1949. The first Methodist service was held in the former Bellville Library hall on 5 February 1950with 62 people attending. After a church hall was initially built, Bellville Methodist officially opened on 20 December 1952 to the pealing bells of the nearby Dutch Reformed Church. Twenty years later, the Methodist church building was constructed opposite the hall. In celebration of Bellville Methodist's 60th anniversary, activities thoroughout 2010 will take place. A social car rally took place in April. The spiritual element was a mission run early in June by Rev. Andrew Sieborger and team, with the theme "Grace.... is is still amazing?" We will be hosting a church concert on 30 October, where the congregation have been asked to contribute their performing talents, however limited! The highlight of our celebrations will be Bellville Methodist's historical dinner on Saturday 28 August. The guest speaker, Rev Prof Peter Storey, was a probation minister at Bellville Methodist in 1960. With former ministers and youth pastors as invited guests, tickets will be on sale to any members and interested parties with links to the church. We encourage the sharing of old photos and cameos that evening. Due to space constraints, the dinner will be held at the Dutch Reformed church hall in 8th Avenue, Bellville. Those interested in attending should contact the Bellville Methodist church office on 021 948 6677/8 or email bellmeth@xsinet.co.za. A remembrance service will be held on Sunday 29 August.

Mission field

We are very excited that two folk, who have been associated with us for a number of years, have heard and responded to a call from God into the mission field.

Melikhaya Mqulwana is a Local Preacher in our church and has served in various capacities. He has responded to a call from The Order of Christian Service (OCS) to go and pastor a church in a very poor rural community in Limpopo. He lives off a very basic stipend (living allowance) and continues to visit, pray for the sick, preach, and care for all in need in that community.

He has commited himself to serving there for this year as he has heard a call to the ordained ministry within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and will be candidating soon.

If you wish to communicate with Melikhaya you may contact him on:mqulwanaministries@yahoo.com

Estelle Pretorius served God and this church for a number of years, particularly in our youth and young adults ministries. Estelle taught Teen Church, was involved in the Youth Group and Young Adults Bible Study and was very actively involved in our 40 Days of Purpose Campaign.

Estelle is a teacher by occupation, and has recently studied further in the field of remedial teaching. She has felt a call to put this training and her gifts together by serving God aboard the Mercy Ships. The ships travel to places of great need and have volunteer doctors and medical staff onboard who provide ongoing care for various communities.

For more information on the Mercy Ships Ministry go to www.mercyships.org

Estelle's email: estelle.pretorius@mercyships.org

Read the blog for updates on their mission experiences!

Family Visits

A number of years ago we established our mission statement at Bellville Methodist Church. If you recall it is:

Bellville Methodist Church is a church family called to reach, equip and serve.

The first part of our mission statement expresses our belief that an important part of our life is living as a community of believers – the Family of God. We believe that all people, of any age, should have a sense of belonging to this family and that everyone in this “family” is of value and importance. At a recent meeting the leadership was challenged in this regard. Are we the caring family that we state? How can we be family together? We then embarked on a course of action that will help us to live more fully as a family at Bellville Methodist Church. The leaders have committed themselves to visiting every member on our records. This will happen over the next while running into next year. You will thus receive a telephone call to arrange a visit. The purpose for the visit is two-fold. Firstly, it is to check whether all our details regarding you are correct, for example, telephone numbers, email addresses and other contact information. Secondly, and more importantly, it will be to see how you are doing and ask if there is any way in which we can care for you and your family. Please receive the visitors into your home so that we can ensure that no one person in this wonderful family is not visited and cared for. Nothing is required of you, except to allow us to visit you! If you wish to be a visitor, please contact the secretaries in the church office (Vanessa or Myrna), preferably by email at bellmeth@xsinet.co.za, or speak to one of the Society Stewards or Ministers. May we keep on discovering the joy of being God’s Family at Bellville Methodist Church. André Buttner and David Newton

Heritage Day Celebrations

CELEBRATING OUR COMMON HERITAGE AT BELLVILLE-BOSTON METHODIST CHURCH

HERITAGE DAY 2008 by Rev David Newton

When I first received the invitation from certain members of our congregation to a Heritage Day celebration/fundraiser I have to confess my immediate reaction was not one of great anticipation or excitement. In fact it came at a time when I was quite tired from a very busy program and I would have preferred to just take it easy with my family and “braai” some meat at home, and so fulfill, at least, what my culture would regard as the purpose of Heritage Day. However, I was on the program as the minister, so I reluctantly accepted and tried to arrange it so that I could be there to do my part and leave as soon as possible.

However upon arrival I discovered that I was the last item on the program, and I could hardly leave then and come back later as some people had already begun to arrive. So like it or not I was there for the whole event – AN EVENT THAT I BELIEVE IMPACTED MY LIFE SIGNIFICANTLY!

The Master of Ceremonies, an exciting young man with an obvious passion for God and the way that He has been at work in our cultures throughout the ages, focused on the theme of the celebration for this year i.e. “Celebrating our common African heritage through dance.” With the help of humour and story, he helped us to see that the various cultures in our land have used dance as an expressive response in all the different experiences of their lives. He told us how they used dance to celebrate all the special moments, i.e. birthdays and weddings and special days, and then with the help of the dance group (See photos) he led us in the dance. He told us how they danced in their moments of sadness and loss, and led us in the dance; and how they danced in their moments of anger and objection to injustice and oppression, and led us in the dance; and how they danced in moments of confusion and doubt and fear, to find reassurance, and they led us in the dance. Amazing stuff!!

And then there was the poetry, all expressive of God’s presence with his people in true African tradition with a very real element of being gripped by the Spirit speaking the truths of God and His presence in our current situation under the anointing of the Spirit.

I was sitting next to one of these, a young man, who told me a little about himself and his life. What I found to be most remarkable was how this quiet young man, who really would not have stood out in crowd, when he began to recite his poetry, was overtaken with passion and charged with the words of the poem by the Spirit, and was totally caught up into the realm of the Spirit, and the words just kept coming out.

I asked him afterwards for the words of the poem and his response was that he did not have them available as a script, but that he would get them to me. Then I realized that while he had a few lines prepared, the whole poem burst forth in a form of ecstatic utterance. He has let me have the words and they are included in the gallery. Amazing stuff!!!!

He has also written a book entitled, “The day I died” sharing his testimony, which I purchased, and have read, and do heartily recommend.

There was a motivational speaker, who preached, and I was reminded that preaching lies at the heart of what being African is all about, and there was much laughter and joy at the funny moments (though some were tragic as well) which make up our history.

The closing included an affirmation that our African Heritage involves the great truth that we are who we are as individuals because of others, and an expression of gratitude to God and those who had arranged the event because we had all begun a journey of discovery together that day. We discovered the beginnings of a common African Heritage that we are all privileged to share in our country. This day had helped us to see and experience more clearly what this looked like.

Of course the food, including some dishes that some of the cultures represented definitely avoided, and others delighted in, was a real highlight, and I personally came away from the celebration feeling that it was good to be an African.

I was sorry when it ended. This was a real conversion for me!!!

Annual Society Elections

It is that time of year again when we elect our new leadership body. In accordance with the Laws and Discipline of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa we will elect the leaders for 2009. The Society Stewards will be elected for a period of three (3) years. On Sunday 19 October we will vote at all the services. If you are unable to be there please arrange to complete your voting form in the office by Monday 20 October at the latest. Please give your prayerful consideration to this important process. There will always be discussion about the characteristics of leadership but, critical in the life of the church, is that of being a servant. The following folk have been nominated. These are the names to be voted on at the 8, 9.30 am services as well as the 6.30 pm service. The 11 am service will elect a further 4 Society Stewards. SOCIETY STEWARDS (vote for no more than 6) Chris Jayes David Ronquest Dawie van Tonder Esme McLean Joan Bosman Marlene Damster Mike Maxwell Peter Guy William Montagu Commissions: Fellowship - Wendy Blignaut Finance and Administration - Des Damster Beth Greaves Mission and Evangelism - George Kopper Pastoral Care - Elsa Montagu Property and Maintenance - Pat Barrington Social Concerns - Cheryl Greaves Sean Tarr Spirituality and Prayer - Delene Tarr Worship - Achmed Giesler Youth and Childrens' Church - Vernon Potgieter

District Synod

The Bellville Circuit is hosting the District Synod of the Cape of Good Hope District of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa from Thursday 22 May to Saturday 24 May.

Please come along to the Synod service on Thursday night at 7.30 pm.

Also pray for the Synod as well as for the election of a Presiding Bishop for our church.

Any further information is available from Myrna or Vanessa in the church office.

A service of celebration for the life of Robin Schell

It is with great sadness that we record the death of Robin Schell. Robin has served God and God's people in a number of ways and we celebrate his gift of servanthood.

A memorial service of celebration for Robin's life and witness was held at the Bellville Methodist Church at 3.00 pm on Wednesday 30 April 2008.

You may view a tribute to Robin that was played at his memorial service by clicking here.

"I am the resurrection and the Life, says the Lord; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall not die eternally". John 11 vs 25.

Weddings !

Over the past while a number of our folk have been married. Here are some photos to remind you of these wonderful members of our church community!

On the left you can see Adam and Laura Barker (nee Diedericks). They both grew up in this community and served in various leadership roles here and in other churches. Adam continues to serve his call as a Youth Pastor and Laura will make sure he does it properly ! Laura was very involved with our youth and led the teenagers in our Children's Church. She was also voted in as a Society Steward and served in this capacity for two years.

May God bless and guide you both as you continue to serve God's call in your lives together.

And then there were more . . . .

Not done yet . . . .

And then there was Claire. She wanted someone she could look up too (well if he can do puns so can I) and found Riley!

Claire and her family have long been members of our church and Claire was a member of the Sunday School and Youth, eventually serving for a number of years as a Sunday School Teacher.

She served in this capacity until work commitments took her to other areas and she could no longer fulfill this task.

May you continue to live in God's love and joy.

Jason and Eileen were married with Jason so in love that he even wore a skirt! Oh, sorry, the Scots call it a kilt. They were both involved in our community with the youth ministry - Jason being employed as our Youth Pastor for a number of years. He also inspired many of our young folk musically and has left a rich tradition of worshipping young people here at Bellville Methodist. Jason has a wonderful worship leading gift which he shared with us.

Talking of Youth Pastors getting married ! Chantelle (our Youth Pastor) and Clint Burrows (our part-time Children's Pastor) were married recently. They continue to serve here and we wish them all that they desire for themselves as they serve God and God's people.

May you all be blessed with God's love for you and each other.