We value our fellowship within the Sola 5 family of churches, and would appreciate your prayers with us and for us on the following fronts.
We are very excited and thankful to God for supplying the funds to purchase the property next door to our main church property and adjacent to our church offices. This double stand has been used by a group of doctors for many years, and although the buildings on it are not immediately of great strategic value to us, the sixty parking spots on it, which we have sorely depended upon in the past three years, certainly are. 
In the picture the largest building, at the bottom, is the church building proper. Diagonally behind the church building (top right) is the existing church offices; above the church building, and to the left of the offices in the picture, is the new property. Once we take occupation in March we will be happy to have extra Sunday school classrooms, and possibly some accommodation for other ministries. We are challenged by the privilege and responsibility to use our expanding campus to its full potential. God has certainly given us a prime spot on a busy main road!
Some years ago God convicted the leadership and many individuals in the congregation regarding the subject of abortion. We committed ourselves to observing an annual Sanctity of Life Sunday. Out of this development has come a prolife ministry, comprising a pregnancy crisis counselling and support ministry, known as Eva’s Hope. This is run in the centre of Alberton town, and is staffed by volunteers from the congregation. Alongside this has also developed an activism arm known as Abort 97, which seeks to raise the level of awareness in the community regarding the abortion holocaust.
We were shocked (and excited!) recently to realize that God has blessed our congregation members with no fewer than 97 children under the age of twelve years. This is in addition to other children belonging to visitors and friends who are exposed to the church’s various ministries. We realized that we had to be far more focused and deliberate in our planning as we undertook a revamp of our Sunday school ministry. We have been thrilled to be exposed to curricula such as is put out by Children Desiring God and Praise Factory from Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC. Many members have risen to the challenge to be trained and involved as Sunday school teachers.
We have valued our partnership alongside Constantia Park Baptist Church in Pretoria and Antioch Bible Church in Randburg in the planting of Heritage Baptist Church in Parkhurst by Tyrell Haag and Michael Rogers. We were asked to be the overseeing eldership in nurturing this fledgling work. On 5 February Doug Van Meter preached their constituting service with twelve founding members. They are excited at recently having been given very suitable premises in Bompas Road in Illovo.
God has recently opened a door for us, in partnership with Dennis Hustedt from the USA, to be involved in training men who minister in the Indian communities of Natal and Lenasia. Many promising contacts have been made, and there seems to be an opportunity for regular pastoral workshops to be attended by men already engaged in ministry but without the requisite training.
For some 25 years we have hosted a missions conference through which we have sought to keep our Great Commission zeal current and authentic within the congregation. This is known as our World Outreach Celebration. In March this year, from 7-11, each evening Wednesday through Saturday, culminating on the Lord’s Day morning, we are praying that God would use Phil Hunt, who for many years has planted a church and trained men for ministry in northern Zambia, to challenge us in our willingness to attempt great things for the kingdom.
We would value your prayers for these endeavours, in addition to our desire to be faithful witnesses and servants in our homes and in the wider community, for the sake of Jesus Christ.