Ministry Update: Reformed Community Church (Belville South, South Africa) (October 2023)

Jesus says in John 12:23, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” The glorification of the Son of Man signifies Jesus’ ultimate triumph over the world, Satan, sin, and death. The sacrificial death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection would lead to the redemption of humanity and the restoration of a broken creation from its “bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). In this sense, his glorification is the ultimate victory.

Jesus is victorious over Satan. “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2: 15). Jesus is victorious over sin. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus is victorious over death. “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). And Paul exclaims in 1 Corinthians 15, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Jesus is victorious over the world. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords! He is currently seated on the throne of David and reigns over all the kingdoms of the world! His rule is not just a heavenly and spiritual rule, but he rules over every realm of his creation.

He says to his apostles, whose teachings the church is built on, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18) Now go and disciple the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And, listen, you are not alone in this, but I will be with you every step of the way until it’s all completed. It’s going to be tough. It will require much sacrifice. “But take heart; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33).

We can literally see the triumph of Jesus over the world. We can see the glorification of Jesus Christ—how, for more than two thousand years, the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ has swept over the face of the earth just as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).

Since Pentecost, the church has been hated and persecuted and killed by the millions, and still the church grows stronger! Jesus said that he will build his church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Can you imagine: Two thousand years of persecutions, tortures, and killings of those who surrendered to King Jesus and, instead of the church diminishing and getting smaller, we see the church growing and multiplying wherever the seed of the gospel is planted.

Our hope for Bellville South is rooted and grounded on what Christ has achieved. To this end we labour: that all of Bellville South will bow the knee to King Jesus!

I praise God for undeserved mercies. For the past couple of months, my wife and I have been blessed with good health and, amidst the challenges that home and ministry presents at times, we have been endowed with strength and joy as the Holy Spirit makes use of it all to sanctify us.

At times we felt we were getting it on all fronts and that we were all alone in this, but we could say like Paul, “the Lord stood by me and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:17).

Not only do we realise that the Lord is with us and that he is strengthening us, but that we are in a spiritual battle and we are not alone. We have each other and we have the local church and brothers and sisters all over who are praying for us. One of those brothers and sisters popped in to spoil us and encourage us for a day. I’m so grateful to the Lord for the friendship we have with Tommie and Allison.

On a different note, Noah has decided that he wants to become a singer and a rapper and a drummer and a guitarist. One of his latest compositions which also includes beatboxing has these lyrics in them: “Boef, kick, boef kick, boef boef, kick. Jesus died for us on the cross. God, he loves us. We are going to swim in the beach.” What happened to my hymn-loving five-year-old!

We continue to see God’s gracious hand on our church and our Sunday morning worship service. Anyone who visits our church for the first time will notice the unusual amount of time we spend in prayer. For like-minded believers, this is a blessing; but, for others, this seems to be unnecessary and even a hindrance.

You can imagine how this must be for visitors coming from a Pentecostal or Charismatic background, for whom hymns are only sung at funerals and prayers are generally loud, demanding and boastful.

It boggles my mind when I see visitors coming regularly and assimilate to the culture of our church. There is really nothing entertaining the flesh that would draw them in. I am convinced that the Spirit of God is using the love and faithfulness of this congregation as proof that the gospel is real and that it really saves, as a means to compel them to come in.

About two months ago, a guy who is a highly ranked in the numbers gang started visiting our church services. This guy is known as an unpredictable and dangerous man. As I was talking with him before the service, one of our members stood a little closer. He asked me afterwards whether I knew who that man was. I did not know the guy and was just welcoming him and trying to find out where he comes from. This member told me who this guy was and that he was a bit concerned when he saw me speak so long with this guy and was wondering if this was coming here to take me out. We laughed about it, but this was a serious matter.

Theo then told me that he has been sharing the gospel with this guy for more than four years and he also was surprised to see this guy in church. He never invited this guy to church because of how violent he is. Not so long ago, he was cussing Theo for always talking to him about Jesus. I was really interested in wanting to know more about this guy and arranged a meeting with him at his house for the next day.

A lot happened, but here’s what I want to highlight. What compelled this man to seek out and visit our church was Theo’s relentless testimony of Jesus over the years to this man. He told me that he knows a lot of gang members who also “gave their lives to Jesus” but he really sees no change in them and has no respect for them. He told me how he has threatened Theo and cussed him out many times, but he just continued serving Jesus and telling him about the Lord.

He told me that nobody has ever spoken to him the way Theo has—without fear—and yet he knew that this man cares about him. He made up his mind to find out where this man goes to church because he has never met a Christian like him and he wanted to see whether there are more such people. So that’s why he came to church. Also, his wife told him that if they are going to visit a church it must be the church where Theo goes, since he has been the only real Christian in their lives.

It’s almost three months now that he is in church every Sunday morning and evening. Please pray for his salvation. Recently, his wife sent a message to Theo saying that she has been under conviction since that Sunday morning’s message and she has repented and made a commitment to fully surrender to Christ. Theo’s wife and my wife will be discipling her. Praise the Lord!

It is the love and faithful gospel witness of Christians like Theo that the Lord uses to compel lost sinners to come in! I exhort you to be such a witness.

After sharing this with our prayer partners, I received this prayer from a dear sister:

The Scots Are Back in Town

Women’s Conference

Zimbini Meiring spoke on the topic “Quieting Your Spirit through Trials.” After her talk, there were group discussions on the topic. One of the questions that I thought was particularly helpful was this: “What are practical ways in which your life can display the outcome of your faith?”

Vasti Pienaar spoke on the topic “Quieting Your Spirit through the Busyness of Life.” A few things that she highlighted were some of the decisions women are making every day. Of course, these are things we as men do as well. We choose self over neighbour. We choose works over worship. We forget to remember. We choose to overdo it.

The last topic was done by my beautiful wife. She spoke on the topic “Resting in Christ” where she explained the biblical meaning of rest and highlighted three hindrances to resting in Christ from Psalm 131, and concluded with the blessedness of resting in Christ. A helpful question for the discussion group was: “How can I rest in Christ when things are not going my way? My unsaved husband doesn’t love me the way he should and my kids are totally out of control.”

Please pray that the Lord would use these sessions to equip believing women in how to adorn themselves with “the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”

I am always encouraged by how the men of our church come together to serve the ladies. From getting the venue ready to serving meals and cleaning dishes and getting the church cleaned up and ready for Sunday morning. Well done, brothers!

Saints of God, please cry out with me against the senseless killings in our community.

The cousin of the husband of one of our members were brutally kicked and stabbed to death over two metal poles that he wanted to sell as scrap metal. He probably would have received less than R20 for it. The killers were apprehended, but the loss of life and brutality of it all just seems to be a settled condition here. As a church we refuse to accept this as the status quo!

May the Lord use his church here. We need prayer-fuelled gospel ministry. Won’t you commit to pray once a week with us and help fuel our gospel witness with your prayers? Pray for wisdom and courage for us to know how to respond to such wickedness with gospel love. Pray for sinners to come to repentance. Bellville South needs gospel light fuelled by prayer!

Not a week goes by when there isn’t a fight or some sort of gang violence on our schools. Nathan, who is now in Grade 9, reports how learners assault each other and even teachers. Students who are also gang members bring their drugs and violence on the school property. Our kids are exposed to all sorts of evils every day. This is where the Lord has called us to serve. It’s here where the gospel is needed and we are not ignorant of the risks and costs involved. Sometimes, that cost is felt in very deeply personal ways. Our comfort rests in his sovereignty!

Praise God with us for keeping Theo’s youngest daughter (13) from harm. About a month ago, she was threatened and held at knife point by a drug-induced 27-year-old woman who tried to rob her of her cell phone. She was able to get out of the grip of this woman and got away. Later, Theo found the woman and took her to the police station.

We are thankful that Theo’s daughter was not harmed. This is how many kids get assaulted and killed on our streets. We praise God for his hand over our children. Please continue to pray for the safety of our families.

Martin Luther King is known for his famous public speech, “I have a dream!” But for simple Christians like us, we’d better have more than just a dream. We need to have a prayer! This communicates both our dependence on God for everything we have need of and our confidence that only he can provide us with what we ask and need.

I have a prayer that God would provide us with the capacity and resources to start a classic Christian school here at our church. Christian education accessible to the kids in Bellville South who have nothing but gangsterism, drug addiction, prostitution, and teenage pregnancies to look forward to.

I praise God for the kids’ outreach program that we are running. We are praying for greater gospel investment in the lives of our kids. I am convinced that a classic Christian school will be the right vehicle to lay those Christian foundations that have been the cornerstone for much of the spread and longevity of the reformation. Please pray with us for this and come help us make this a reality.

I have a prayer that, in 2025, we will plant an Afrikaans church in Bellville South. We are trusting God that the men in our pastoral internship will be ready to take up this call with the blessing and support of our congregation.

I have a prayer that the Lord will raise up more elders in our church, or send elders in from other Reformed churches, so that God’s flock can be cared for by a plurality of elders. But while I am the only elder, I pray for wisdom, humility, strength, and a very close walk with Jesus. I am thankful for our local fraternal and for Brackenhurst Baptist Church elders to whom I can go to for accountability.

I have a prayer that God will grant me the grace to see many gang leaders and drug dealers get saved as the kingdom of God advances and crushes the kingdoms of these gangs with the Gospel through his local church. I long to see the day when every street around our church building will have a family sold out for Jesus and being a gospel light right where they are. I have a prayer!

Our annual Missions Tea fundraiser was, as usual, completely sold out. What was very encouraging this year was to see so many new people from various non-Reformed churches, many of whom never gave any consideration for global missions or the persecuted church.

Our program for the evening has not changed much. We had pastor Bongani from Northside Baptist Church talk about our duty to engage those whom God providentially sent to our doorstep from countries where Christians are being persecuted with the gospel. He focused, in particular, on the unreached Somali population who have made Bellville their home. We have more than forty thousand Somali refugees in Bellville. After a twenty-minute exhortation, which included a gospel presentation, those sitting around the tables start to pray for the prayer requests provided.

We also had Matthew Damonze (sent out by Strand Baptist Church) talk about the church plant in Gordon’s Bay and Colin Wyatt-Goodall (Goodwood Baptist Church) about the challenges of getting into Japan. Please pray for these brothers as they seek God for wisdom and grace while pursuing his will in what they are doing.

We were privileged to donate all the money that was raised to Joseph Otieno, a faithful missionary in Kenya who is doing church planting amongst the Somali people in a very densely populated area called Eastleigh.

According to Joseph, “This is the city with the largest Somali population outside of the Somali region. The most densely Somali populated area is Eastleigh (32,0000), known as the little Mogadishu. This has offered us a very strategic point where the Somalis can be engaged with the gospel and, due to business pursuits, they have avoided the path of violence.”

I had the joyful privilege of attending a church camp with Kraaifontein Baptist Church (KBC). The speaker for the camp was one of my heroes of the faith, Pastor Ronald Kalifungwa from Lusaka Baptist Church. The first time I heard pastor Kalifungwa preached was when he was still pastoring Lynwood Baptist Church and has ever since tried to follow his ministry. At the camp I got to meet his wife for the first time and was silently praying that my wife would get an opportunity to spend some time with her. I’m grateful that God has blessed our continent with such godly examples.

Pastor Kalifungwa preached four profound and very relevant messages through Ephesians 4 on the theme, “Growing into Godly Maturity in Christ: Church, Home, and Life to God’s Glory.” I had the privilege to have some good conversations with Pastor Ronald and his wife and was very encouraged to hear that they also pray for our church.

It was an absolute blessing to spend time with the believers from KBC. It was just another reminder that the gospel truly unites people from different walks of life on a deeply profound level.

The camp started Friday and was supposed to end Monday morning, but, providentially, we were kept from leaving due to a storm that swept through Betty’s Bay that Sunday and completely destroyed the road and damaged the bridge. These were the only two ways out of Betty’s Bay. We ended up spending a further two nights on camp. These were not wasted as Pastor Ronald agreed to continue his ministry with us. This was a helpful time of Questions and Answers and allowed me to get to know my KBC family better.

• My biggest prayer request is for God to give me more elders.
• Pray for the planting of an Afrikaans Reformed church in our community.
• Pray that God would grant us the resources and finances to start a classic Christian school.
• Pray for financial support for our kids’ outreach program and our elderly care program.
• Pray that the hearts of our church members will remain humble and committed to holiness and being a gospel witness in word and deed.
• Pray for God to raise up a gospel witness in every street in Bellville South.
• Pray for my own walk with the Lord: that I will be godly husband, father, and shepherd.
• I have much to be grateful for, but there are times when I get very despondent. Pray that the Lord will help me to fix my gaze on him and find my joy in him.

• Praise God with us for souls being saved and believers growing and maturing.
• Praise God for blessing our pulpit ministry.
• Praise God for the growth and diligence we see in our pastoral interns.
• Praise God for the impact that our kids’ program and elderly care program have on our community.
• We are thankful to the Lord for drawing visitors into our Sunday services.
• We praise God for the positive testimony and reputation our church has in our community.
• We praise the Lord for people applying for membership.
• We are thankful for God’s grace upon our church that is so evident and tangible.

“Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God!”

(William Carey)

Regards,

Mario F. Maneville

Pastor-teacher

Reformed Community Church