Lockdown has affected every one of us, including churches and the way we pastor them. All religious gatherings, including churches, have been prohibited under the present lockdown regulations at the time of writing. We can either fight this regulation or ask God what he wants us to do within the parameters of it. Many churches…
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This week on Monday night (28 December 2020) the State President, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, declared new “adjusted alert level 3” restrictions which included, amongst many other restrictions that, “All indoor and outdoor gatherings will be prohibited for 14 days from the date hereof, except for funerals and other limited exceptions as detailed in the regulations,…
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It has always been a concern to have the 2017 Statement of Belief translated into as many languages as we have languages represented in our churches. One of the original mandates of the Theological Forum back in 2016 was that the final statement should have no ‘heavy’ theological terms in order that it should be…
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Firstly, we tried a few things we’d never done before. It’s always risky trying something new, but to make things COVID-19 compliant we thunk up the following “what about…” ideas; “What about in the room and on Zoom?” Incarnational is awesome, right? There’s just something special about face to face. And travelling is shleppy, so we decided to do…
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It seems that the practice of a church Executive model as the leadership structure of a Baptist church has been ‘The Baptist Way” since Baptists arrived in South Africa in 1820. But is this what the Bible teaches as to how Jesus governs his church? Is an Executive (which typically includes all elders and deacons)…
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There are two Government Acts governing a marriage union in South Africa, the Marriage Act of 1961 and the Civil Union Act of 2006 which was specifically introduced to make provision for same-sex couples to form a legally recognised union. On 20 October 2020, the Civil Union Act of 2006 was amended under the hand…
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At long last we are going to meet as churches in two ways, both virtually through Zoom and physically at Eastside Community Church. The day is set for Monday night 16 November 2020 at 5:30pm for dinner at 6:00pm and our meeting at 7:00pm. Register here…
I’m personally not one for fanfare. But there are moments when we need to stop and say, “Thank you!” Ken Kessler writes, “In 2019, the Barna Research organization along with Pepperdine University introduced a new study called “The State of Pastors.” In this resource, they provide us a research consistency across denominations about how pastors…
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There is no doubt that South Africa has been hit hard, compared to other countries in terms of the closure of churches and the legislated restrictions of gathering, movement of people and trade as a result of the COVID-19 virus. But, it was a with a great sigh of relief, that churches and Christians around…
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There’s been a lot of talk about Dr. John MacArthur and the Grace Community Church’s rejection of their governmental restrictions which begs a number of questions: “Where’s the line between the church and state?” “When is the government over-reaching into the sphere of the church and her responsibilities in closing meeting places including churches?” I…
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