Heritage Baptist has had an exciting few months seeing the Lord work in our midst. In September 2014 God answered our prayers for a building that we could call home and we were able to set 
down roots in the community. Apart from our worship services, we were able to have a Reformation Day celebration on 31 October to really mark our move to the new building. The Lord also graciously provided us with free signage, which has helped us make our foot print in Melville.
Many doors have opened for us in ministry; most notably St John’s College has allowed us to do a Bible study at their high school. There is good fruit from this but it is early days and we long to see more scholars saved by our sovereign Lord.
The first half of the year saw Heritage Baptist joining forces with Melville Union Church (part of REACH SA) in campus ministry and Bible studies. Due to the workload at the church our ability to be as involved in campus ministry as we would like is not possible. We are currently praying and looking for a fulltime student worker who can take on the larger load of this aspect of the ministry.
We have had the wonderful opportunity of working with FOCUS, a fund specifically set up to help local churches pay for student workers. This is really going to benefit us when the Lord provides us with a student worker, as well as other churches in Sola 5 who have students at WITS and UJ (and Lord willing anywhere across our country).
Since we have moved into the new building we have seen God provide people to fill the empty seats. There is hardly a Sunday that goes by that we aren’t pinching ourselves at how the Lord has given growth. Our prayer is that this might continue to the point that we can be financially independent as a church plant and can start giving ourselves to other church plants and missionaries.
We are very excited to be electing two deacons this coming Lord’s Day, this is a first for our church and a great teaching moment for many. Pray for these young men that the Lord might use them mightily for his kingdom.
In the beginning of May this year we began evening services and they have been such a wonderful time of worship for Heritage. We have about 50% of the morning crowd attending and we are currently working on creating an ethos at the church of having two services as part of a normal Christian life and practise. Our prayer meeting meets half an hour before and we provide a light meal after our evening service to encourage fellowship. It has been a really special way to close the Lord’s Day together as a church and encouraging to see the good attendance at this important meeting.
Currently we have about 15 people who desire to be members of the church, a mixture of new converts, previously unchurched young Christians and other believers who have moved into the area. We also have around five baptisms coming up, which is always an exciting and heartening time for us as a church.
Please continue to pray for the spiritual and numerical growth of Heritage, as well as the financial stability of the church. Pray for our elders and deacons as well as the finance committee and all those in service, that God might give grace and wisdom to all as we seek to serve him.