Ministry News: Sovereign Grace Bible Church (Olievenhoutbosch, South Africa) (November 2021)

Greetings, brethren, in the wonderful name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Again, it is with great joy and thankfulness to our God that I write this report. We really thank God for this great opportunity to share with you and HeartCry our joy and the prospect of the future, which we are praying for, and believe that the Lord we see to it for the sake of his church.

Family

It has been a wonderful time to serve the Lord together with my family. Or health is good, and we are thankful of the prayers and support towards my wife’s health, which usually deteriorates without warning. Now she is stable and strong, and this has been so for the past two months or more. We thank God.

Thanksgiving from the Church

As we have met for our first meeting (business meeting) under “the tree,” the church is very grateful for the support which we receive from HeartCry, even the physical visit from brother Sean. The church is thankful for the prayers, love, and support. It is our constant prayer that the Lord will expand HeartCry’s ministry reach for his glory.

This month, the church was blessed and encouraged by brother Sean, Chris, and Dirk’s visit on Sunday morning as we worshipped the Lord together. The sermon reminded us to trust in the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding. A fitting reminder to trust in the Lord to draw people to himself as we continue to reach out with the gospel to the people in Olievenhoutbosch. One of the most important elements of the Christian faith is to be a witness for the gospel to those who do not yet know Jesus.

Please pray that the Lord will give the church wisdom and patience when reaching out to the community with the gospel and for the church to trust in the Lord to work in the hearts of people.

Ministry

We are also happy to see some of our old members in Olievenhoutbosch coming back to church. It is our desire that more will return. Some in the community have shown interest in the church, though they have not yet visited. We pray in time they will come and join us.

There is a lot of improvement in the way we do our Sunday service than we did before, and we do so simply because we are in this new area, and we want to reach as many people as possible regardless of the challenges. It is encouraging that some people we meet have shown interest in visiting the church, even though for some unknown reason they have not yet done so. But it is encouraging because it gives us a picture that as soon as we have our structure up we shall welcome some visitors.

We continue with our tract outreach and will soon begin with street evangelism as we settle into the land. We are thankful that the country is now in Lockdown Level 1. This has helped with better movement and uninterrupted gathering.

Land

We have received quotes for building a toilet. However, we have decided that we shall have a local builder at better or low cost to do the job. Such a move will help us have a better understanding with the community because they will see that we are helping in whatever way possible.

We are awaiting water connection and electricity by the municipal office. It is after the connection that we will be able to have our toilets and from there on, the next this is the church structure and lastly will be fencing.

We really believe that our plans to put up a structure are slowly moving along, which is a good thing as it gives us time to introduce the church to the community and Lord willing, for people in the community to also join us.

Please pray that, once the toilets are built, the Lord will help us against vandalism (we don’t know if it is a problem in this area or not) and for the community not to resist our efforts to build.

Brethren, we have much to be thankful for. Again, we thank you for your sacrificial and prayerful support. We are grateful to God for his provisions and for faithfully carrying us forward.

Yours in Christ,

Bheki Bembe