The Great Influence of BIBLECOR INDIA “Our Lord enabled us to produce more leaders, evangelists, missionaries and pastors through Biblecor (Bible Correspondence Course) India ministries,” says Rev. Sam Selva Raj of ECHO OF HIS CALL Ministries in Chepauk, Chennai, India. “We have Biblecor ..

Accredited training for religious leaders is in place After many years of endless efforts to get Bible School training formalised, it had now become a reality. A professional organization called the Association of Christian Religious Practitioners (ACRP) has recently been accredited by the South African ..

A reviving weekend for our proponents

Fltr: (Back) Rev. Stephen Pedro and Prop. Msawenkosi Ntshongwana. (Front) Rev. Danny Bock, Mrs Bock, Prop. Rachel Linderoth, Prop. Bulelwa Potwana, Prop. Zolani None and Prop. Pieter André Windvogel   “This weekend gave us (me) hope that the Church has not forgotten about us. It equipped us with a reset, re-imagined, refreshed button, especially through […]

Bridge Ministers’ Workshop on Congregational Support

From 28 to 30 July Rev. Stephen Pedro (MSS) with the assistance of the two CBR implementers, Revs Babalwa Sifuba and Moses Baartman, and Revs André Agenbag (MSS) and Bossie Muller (Communitas Trainer) facilitated a workshop at the AMCS in Wellington with a group of URCSA Cape bridge ministers. At the recent SC meeting, Rev. […]

Bibles for Msinga Youth

URCSA Msinga’s School Christian Group committee URCSA Msinga has a very lively youth ministry with vibrant and enthusiastic leaders. There are five full-time life coaches who are employed by eThembeni of whom Nkazimulo Ngcobo is part of. Nkazimulo Ngcobo shares with us the following good news: “We would like to express our deepest gratitude for […]

URCSA Makhathini – a beacon of hope in Northern KZN

Revs. Louwrens van der Westhuizen and Dalisu Kunene, Elder Lucky Kunene and Kobus Odendaal Last week, Kobus Odendaal, manager of Witness Ministry, visited URCSA Makhathini. Rev. Louwrens van der Westhuizen (who ministers here since June 2007) introduced Kobus to a couple of their church leaders and projects, and they had very informative and insightful discussions. […]

The way forward for Msinga

Fltr: Revs Lourens Schoeman, Bonginkosi Sithole, Samuel Zuma, Kobus Odendaal, and Nkazi Ngcobo   On 19 May Kobus Odendaal, manager of Witness Ministry, met with the church leadership of URCSA Msinga in Ladysmith KZN to discuss the way forward. They were Revs Lourens Schoeman, Bonginkosi Sithole, Samuel Zuma  and Nkazi Ngcobo. How to be a […]

Our Young Ministers in the former Transkei

For the past week Kobus Odendaal, manager of Witness Ministry, visited three of our four young URCSA ministers who have been ordained in congregations (in the former Transkei) since 2018. And what a privilege it was to visit Wiseman Calvary at Mthatha, Zukile Bloro at Lusiksiki and Thembinkosi Mene at Rietvlei. They were also part […]

CBR – a fresh breeze in communities

Last week Revs. Babalwa Sifuba, Moses Baartman and Stephen Pedro (MSS) facilitated a follow-up workshop for 11 pastors at the Andrew Murray Centre for Spirituality in Wellington. The first workshop (in November 2020) empowered these pastors to start facilitating a Contextual Bible Reading (CBR) on the congregational level and also helped with the development of […]

Week of Prayer

This series of meditations for the Week of Prayer 2021 has been prepared by Dr Eddie Orsmond of Wellington. (Click HERE to download.) In these meditations Dr Orsmond reflects on what Scripture tells us about prayer in our innermost room (closet); he touches on the essential elements of a blessed prayer life. It will be good […]

Let us all act as if we are COVID positive

Rev. Stephen Pedro, manager of Witness Ministry’s Task Team Congregational Witness, said, “Last week, on Tuesday, December 1, some of our pastors in synodal service (PSS) reached out via a ZOOM meeting to our church leaders in two of our URC presbyteries in the Eastern Cape, namely those of Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage. They are […]

We celebrate Earth Day – 22 April

Earth Day is a movement that is more than 50 years old and first started in 1970. The mission of Earth Day is to champion diversity, educate people and activate a worldwide environmental movement. At the moment it is the world’s biggest environmental movement working together with more than 75 000 partners in more than […]

We, human beings, are responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

CLF (https://clf.co.za/) included this important opinion piece on ecology, written by Elise Tempelhoff, in their series on “Pastoral Tools for the Covid-19 time” (see https://clf.co.za/christian-resources/) – a must-read. Elise is a renowned environmental specialist journalist. The CLF-Elise Tempelhoff Prize for Ecology, as part of the prestigious Andrew Murray Prize Fund, carries her name. The 2020 […]

Let us talk about poverty

Maybe the COVID-19 challenge is giving us opportune time to talk about poverty. COVID-19 is leveling the playing fields – confronting all of humanity with the reality of our communal and individual poverty. “While the word ‘poverty’ is a negative term that immediately connotes deprivation and dependency … it is probably the most appropriate word […]

Fast for the Earth

Please follow this very inspiring FAST FOR EARTH in lent, and make your life a joyful experience:   Fast for the Earth  

Now is the time for us as humans to eat mindfully

I was completely unaware of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report that was to be released on 8th of August 2019 when I wrote my two previous contributions for VrydagNuus on the need for changing our human diet. The English language calls such synchronized events (without human involvement) serendipity and normally they happen […]