Dear friends,

If anyone thinks that ministry is a Sunday thing then think again as we find ourselves in a very vibrant busy and active community church which I am forever grateful for. We have had weddings, lots of funerals as well as the daily activities which keep us doing the work of Jesus who we are privileged to serve.

I have been so blessed by our staff and I want to thank them all for the extra mile they go every single day. Deb and I partner in the ministry as you know and are always talking about the church and how we can constantly improve. We have a long way to go but feel at this point that the church is on track.

Financially we have seen a slight dip and I am not sure whether it is a sign of the recession or if this is the normal pattern for this season of the year but we need to pray and pull together to ensure that our budget of just over R220000 is covered every month. This includes tithing, mission and outreach, administration, staff and assessments which ena-bles other ministers to serve in the Outeniqua circuit.

As we move into this quarter I will continue calling on folk to share their stories and linked to that will be Bible characters which we will be sharing that they relate to. We have finally got approval for the

A DISCIPLING, LOVING COMMUNITY, SERVING JESUS CHRIST. SEPTEMBER 2017

DATES TO DIARISE SEPTEMBER

Tues 5th 09:30 W.A. Tues 5th 18:30 Divorce Care (Starts, continues until December) 18:30 DC4Kids (Starts, continues until December) Thurs 7th 18:30 Single & Parenting (Starts, continues until December) Sun 10th 10:00 Confirmation Service Fri 15th- Sat 16th Adult Alpha Camp Tues 19th - 21st Minister’s Retreat Tues 19th 09:30 W.A. Sat 23rd Children’s Church Worship Camp Sun 24th HERITAGE DAY Mon 25th PUBLIC HOLIDAY - Office Closed Tues 26th Open Night - Visitors Welcome Thurs 28th Office Staff on prayer retreat– Office open from 08h00 - 13h00 Fri 29th SCHOOLS CLOSE

REPEATED PROGRAMMES IN THE WEEK

Every Tues: 18:30 Divorce Care/ DC4Kids Every Wed: 17:30 Gr 4-6 Bible Study

18:30 Gr 7 Cell Group 18:30 Youth Night Every Thurs: 18h30 Adult Worship 18:30 Single & Parenting Every Fri: 05:00 Men for God Prayers

Lawaai project to begin building which is very exciting!! I am also thrilled about the Alpha course which has drawn almost 100 people together on a Wednesday night. Together with this the Youth are also doing Youth Alpha and have over 50 in attendance. The Lord really uses this tool to bring people closer to Him and to each other.

We are beginning to plan for 2018 this month and I am excited about what the Lord is laying on my heart and I will share this when the time is ready. We continue to give thanks for all of you and appreciate so much your partnership in the gospel. Blessings, Peter.

DATES TO DIARISE OCTOBER

Mon 2nd - 5th YOUTH HEROLD OUTREACH Tues 3rd 09:30 W.A. Fri 6th 18:00 Men4God Braai Mon 9th SCHOOLS OPEN Thurs 12th Staff Planning Meeting Sun 15th Launch Love-in-a-box Christmas outreach Tues 17th 09:30 W.A. Fri 20th - Sat 21st Leadership Summit in Knysna

Youth Baptised on Alpha weekend. Joseph Barret, Jordan Ward, Keanu van de Venter, Robin Marner, Garry

van Wyk, Skylar Crator, Joshua Scholtz, Matthew Vanhelsdingen, Adrienne Vercueil and Jordan Heaney.

G eorge Methodist Church has a long standing relationship with LIFE Community Services a

local ministry that is doing outstanding work in communities around George.

LIFE Community Services was started in 1999 by Patria Church. Philip and Maryna De Vries came from the USA in 2001 to expand the work, and Sally Versfeld joined the following year. Their Vision and Mission is “to see the heart of the com-munity changed through the gospel of Jesus”, and they aim to meet the needs of every child in the community through education, evangelism, nutrition and other programmes. LIFE has over 80 staff members working in different areas of ministry to meet the holistic needs of every child. They have teams in areas such as Community Centres, Food Gardens and foster homes as well as a fulltime preschool. LIFE also opened a private independent school called LIFE Christian Academy in Parkdene this year with 2 grade 1 classes, and is expanding next year to add 2 grade 2 classes.

Sally Versfeld, one of the directors of LIFE, has this advice for anyone wanting to work with children in the community: “Just DO IT! Find out where you can serve, and use your gifts. Your one hour a week could change the destiny of a young person forever!” She encourages others to get involved in LIFE Community Services, “because no amount of funding or donations could take the

place of a compassionate heart and serving hands”. She also adds “that God changes us when we start to serve Him”. Sally believes that all are called to ministry where they are at, and that it is not necessary to be in a church full time to be in full time ministry. Being sold out for Jesus in your area of influence is full time ministry.

For the future their hearts are to mentor their staff and bring hope to families at the same time. They believe that when Jesus said “I have come to bring life, and life in abundance”, He meant it for all. The completion of the school till Gr 7 should take place by the end of next year. LIFE would love to be able to impact families and parents through parenting classes, discipleship and life skills etc. but the only thing holding LIFE back is the need for people with willing hands to serve.

To GMC, Sally had this to say: “Thank you to those who support us through the Methodist Church, with your talents, your offerings and your prayer sup-port. Ours is a journey of faith and God provides all we need to do what he has called us to do.”

For more information about LIFE and how to contact them please check out their website: www.lifecommunity.co.za/ & facebook page for regular updates.

T his month in Children’s church we are doing a huge drive to try and get Big Bean Bags in for the kids to sit on. Even though they love to sit on the floor

it’s so cold in the winter and uncomfortable to sit on for long. So we came up with an idea (Big Bean Bags:) to solve the problem. We do not have a budget for the bean bags this year and this is the reason why we need your help:)

We need the following items for this project:

1. Foam LAGE chips for inside: R 50 a bag, available at Foam Factory (74 Albert St, George)

2. Thick plain primary coloured material: 2 – 3 meters 3. NB: Somebody to help us sew these bean bags together

If you are able to help with any of these above items – please let me know and I will organise a meeting with you to chat. I’ll bring the coffee:) We are so grateful for the help already given – Thank you!! We are so thankful to be part of a congregation that is willing to help make the Children’s church the best place to be. Love Gayle

Ministry Highlight: Life Community Services

FEEDBACK FROM Children’s Church

Come check out our new Children’s church Stage - Thanks to Prinsloo Botes!

Fun at the GMC festival…Thank you for everyone's support!!

WHO’S WHO?

M argo Johnson and her husband Clifford, found themselves join-ing the George Methodist church in 1982 after they retired from

the Congregational church in Cape Town. Soon the whole family be-came involved with church and children’s church ministry. After many years of service and celebrating her 90th birthday Margo has decided it is time to retire. “I fought against retiring...but there comes a time when you need to step back from doing and take it easy. Sometimes you can carry on so long while there are young people who have many good ideas they need to implement”

For years she lived out her spiritual gifting in training children’s church leaders, writing teaching materials, teaching music and orchestrating choirs. She still loves her music and if she would ever find herself stranded on an island she would love to have her Joko tea, Bible and worship music with her. Margo has a big family and they live all around the world. On rare occasions they are able to meet up and enjoy just sitting around the dining room table and chatting.

Margo has been such a blessing to our church and in closing she said “Most of my life I have tried to follow what the Lord says and have been very conscious that our lives are in His hands and we need to follow his call. Both I and my husband gave our heart to the Lord in our teens. And my conclusion on life is if you decide to do something and, if you are sure this is what the Lord wants you to do …then you need to put your whole heart into it…then you will find the greatest joy.”

FEEDBACK FROM Youth Ministry

T his month in the youth ministry has been such a beautiful time of God going deeper

with the youth. We have been going through the Youth Alpha series on Wednesday evenings, the groups have grown closer together and have a real sense of fellowship. We also have really nice snacks! Best of all there is no cost. So if you are in High School please feel wel-come to join us on Wednesday Nights at 6:30.

Last weekend we also went on our Alpha and Confirmation camp. We had an awesome time together, going on hikes; playing lots of fun games and making food together. We went a little deeper in our Alpha sessions and dis-cussed who the Holy Spirit is and how He impacts our lives. During this camp we also had sessions on confirmation and baptism. After the camp we went down to Herold’s Bay and witnessed 9 youth being Baptised! Also coming up this Sunday 9 youth will be confirmed into the GMC Family!

The youth ran an awesome thrift shop and a cool drink stand at the Church festival, and we are very thankful for all the support we received. The money raised will be going towards a new church minibus. Again, a huge thank you to Cecilia Baker and the WA for the amazing support from their book sale.

One last thing for us at the youth. We have our annual big outreach to Herold coming up at the beginning of October. We would love to see the whole church involved in this outreach. We are looking for anyone who would be able to help make sandwiches for the kids in Herold and lunches or dinners for the leaders going on the outreach. We are also looking for donations for Jam, Peanut Butter and Butter. We are grateful for all of your support, Love from the youth team.

MEET THE TEAM

SOCIETY STEWARDS

PHIL BIRCH / 079 383 0774 Admin and Staff matters

PRINSLOO BOTES /083 257 3836

Children’s Church Major Property Matters

GIDEON LOOTS / 083 309 7171

20's - 30's Ministry Minor Property Matters

LLWELLYN THOMAS

083 269 0916 Finance / Courses

MARCHELLE V WYK

076 937 8355 Outreach / Sunday Volunteers

PHILIP VERCUEIL / 083 353 4288

Youth / Home Groups

ANDREW WEST / 082 333 6880 Prayer and Care / Worship

CHURCH INFO

OFFICE HOURS

Monday – Friday 08:00 - 15:00

George Methodist Church

8 Plantation Road, Glen Barrie, George, 6529

PO Box 1268, George, 6530

(Tel) 044 873 3606

(Fax) 044 873 6370

info@georgemethodist.co.za www.georgemethodist.co.za

BANK INFO

Methodist Church of SA Trust A/c

Standard Bank George

050 214

Current A/c 08 290 316 6

PREACHING PLAN

FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY

Pastor on Duty After Hours: 076 946 2857

Please note our Pastoral Team is Not Available on their ‘day off’. To make an appointment with Pastoral staff please contact Diana at the Church office.

Resident Minister: Peter Veysie – day off Friday

Creative Director: Debbie Veysie

Children’s Pastor: Gayle Botes

Youth Pastors: Reuben & Rachel Alexander - day off Friday

Connect Pastor: Lydia Loots– day off Friday

Worship Co-ordinator: Yvette Rautenbach

Administrator: Phil Birch admin@georgemethodist.co.za

Secretary: Diana Rohrer info@georgemethodist.co.za - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------

Private Counsellor/ Lifestyle coach: Tersia Smit 083 524 6008 / 044 873 3606

MEET THE TEAM

SUNDAY 3 September 08H00 Rev. Peter Veysie (Holy Communion) Vestry duty: Llewellyn Home Group: Ken 10H00 Rev. Peter Veysie Vestry duty: Gideon Home Group: Gideon & Lydia 18H00 Worship Vestry duty: Prinsloo SUNDAY 10 September 08H00 Rev. Peter Veysie Vestry duty: Phil Home Group: Rob 10H00 Rev. Peter Veysie (Holy Communion) Vestry duty: Marchelle Home Group: Michelle 18H00 Reuben Alexander Leprosy Sunday Vestry duty: Philip

SUNDAY 17 September 08H00 Rev. Peter Veysie Vestry duty: Prinsloo Home Group: Joan 10H00 Rev. Peter Veysie Vestry duty: ?Llewellyn Home Group: Leon & Christa 18H00 Rev. Peter Veysie (Holy Communion) Vestry duty: Gideon SUNDAY 24 September 08H00 Phil Birch Vestry duty Andrew Home Group: David & Jeanette 10H00 Reuben Alexander Vestry duty: Philip Home Group: Philip & Carol 18H00 Wikus Smit Vestry duty: Llewellyn