We're a year old!
It’s been a while since my last newsletter, so I’m going to try to sum up everything that’s happened as best as I can. This weekend we are having our church's one year anniversary! I can't believe how far God has brought us in just a year. In October, Northplace Church moved from the Sharksboard, where we had been meeting since February, to our very own building.
As you all know, we had been praying and searching for a building for a long time. So many places fell through just when we thought it would be the right one. It was hard at times to remember that God already had a place for us, but in the end, the building he gave us was so much better than any of the other places we looked at! We are right across the street from Gateway Mall, one of the biggest malls in South Africa and Andile, Sbu, Sandiso, Paul and Me :) have more than enough space for everything on a Sunday. God blessed us with such an amazing space!
THE GREATEST STORY
So since we have had a place to call our own, we’ve been able to do so many awesome things. In December, we had a series called The Greatest Story. Each week looked at the story of Christ’s birth through the eyes of the people who experienced it. We looked at Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds & Wisemen and the Prophets. Each week, we had a special musical production at the beginning of the message, then the characters had monologues throughout the message. I actually wrote two of the musical numbers and arranged another. It was so fun to get to use the talents God has given me to help tell the stories of the people God chose to experience Christ’s birth. So many people said that for the first time, they saw Christ’s birth as something they could relate to and not just a story! We also had a Christmas Eve service in December that was such a special time for our church family to be together. One of our staff even had their Buddhist neighbours come. It was the first time they had ever heard the Gospel.
YOUNG ADULTS & YOUTH
Since October, we’ve had two rounds of our young adults group and it has been such a beautiful ministry to get to be a part of. The way the groups work at Northplace is that we meet once a quarter whenever we are going through a book study series on Sundays. We have our own curriculum that takes us through the message from that week. It’s been so cool to watch each member of our young adults group grow in their faith and their ability to deeply understand the word of God. Not only that, but they have formed such a tight knit community. If someone is going through something and sends out a message, within minutes, our group chat is flooded with responses of prayer, scripture and encouragement. We have one member of our group who still does not consider themselves a Christian, but we can see God working in their life every week.
In January, we moved the youth from meeting in a home to meeting at the church and having full services. Since then, we’ve seen multiple salvations and some incredible times of ministry. The youth worship team has done an amazing job of stepping up and welcoming in the presence of God each week. The youth are really taking ownership of this ministry by volunteering to serve and inviting friends each week. I love seeing where each them is now compared to a year ago.
WORSHIP
As you all know, my biggest role here is as the worship leader. Our church has grown in their passion for worship exponentially since I first came here. God has blessed us with musicians the whole time we've been here, but as we grow, our desire is to have more church members on the team and less staff. It's been difficult to find new musicians to join the church and worship ministry. A few months ago, I joined the Durban City Orchestra, so I am praying that God would use that opportunity to open doors for me to reach the musicians in the city of Durban. In November we had our first worship & prayer night and it has been one of my favourite experiences at the church so far. We 76 people show up, which was far above what we were expecting! It was a really special time together in worship. We have our next worship night in two weeks and I can’t wait!
PRAYER REQUESTS
For our special consent paperwork with the city to go through quickly and get approved so that we can put a sign on our building and renovate for a larger sanctuary space
For our church members as they are growing deeper in their faith to be strengthened and continue to grow
For more musicians to come to Northplace so that we can grow the worship ministry
That God would open doors for me to speak with my friends in orchestra that aren't saved or attending church
For our church members to understand the importance of tithing
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers the past year! We've seen some amazing things at Northplace Church including over 100 salvation and over 50 baptisms. There are dozens of stories of church members who have given up alcoholism, ancestral worship, Islam, and the list goes on. None of that would have been possible without your support! God is so so good! I am so grateful that he allows each of us to be a part of what he is doing in Durban each day.