Be encouraged as I share some of the things that have been happening at Grace Church. God-wink moments that I want to mention here.

You would have noticed in our Sunday services the new 'welcome bags' we are giving to first-time guests at church. This was initiated by the Seymore Small Group after one of their members shared their experience of being new to church (many moons ago) - and wanting to make it easier for new folk to make connections when coming to church.

Shortly after another ministry arm was initiated by one of our members, Marlene Booysen, to form a 'welcome group' who'll be on the lookout for new people, to walk over and have a friendly chat with them on Sundays and help them feel welcome.

Here's the God wink moment. Shortly after these two initiatives were started, we got our NCD survey results back (Natural Church Development) - and it showed amongst others, two specific two areas we need to give attention to. Being more welcoming and raising the Evangelism temperature. I now look back and thank God for his providence in lining up the two 'welcoming initiatives' as forward steps for Grace Church to be a more welcoming church. Of course, we all should play our part being on the lookout for people that are standing alone on Sundays, introducing ourselves to people we don't know yet and even being open to sharing coffee or a meal with them. 
In many ways, we are a welcoming church, but we want to get even better at it. 

The NCD survey results (pictured above) show a yellow bar listing 8 areas of 'health' within a church. This picture compares the 8 areas relative to each other. It highlights our stronger and our weaker areas. But what is encouraging is the grey 'dash' on the yellow bars. Those were our previous results (2018) and show that we have grown in every area, some more than others.

Another area of focus is 'evangelism.' Over the past few years our elder for evangelism, Nico Botha, has helped to initiate 'The Way of the Master' evangelism training courses, the distribution of pamphlets, printed invites, and the Challenger Newsletter, as well as the upcoming Broome Mission Trip. We are seeing more and more people take on the personal challenge of being 'evangelistic' in their personal life. As a church, we want to continue raising the bar in this area. I have been personally challenged of late, and I pray that more and more of us will sense in our hearts a growing burden for the lost. I pray that we'll see with our own eyes more and more people coming to faith because we pray, reach out and share the gospel of Jesus. 
'We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.'  2 Corinthians 5:20

Pictured above: we were delighted to have our largest group to date join us for a new members luncheon last Sunday (40 folk attending). Our hospitality team blessed us with great food and we were able to share details about our church, its ministries and structure, our reformed denomination and what membership involves. Church Council will be doing a follow-up with those who indicated they would like to become official members of the church. We thank God for every family He's adding to Grace Church. 

Our 'Hebrew Music Festival' is drawing closer and is only 6 weeks away. It's going to be a special event filled with heart-moving moments sure to leave a lasting impression on those attending. I sent out a separate email earlier today containing more details and the ticket link. Mark the date in your calendar so you don't miss out on it.

Lizelle Kruger is helping to organise food for this festival which will be mainly delicious soup and tasty bread along with warm malva desert and custard. There be other refreshments to  make some soup, bread and/or malva desert. Please pass your name onto Lizelle Kruger at 0420 239 748 if you can help in this regard.

We'll be inviting folks to make a donation towards the upcoming Broome Missions trip taking place in August. Please pray for this 'team of 8 people' that God's favour would rest on them and that they would be filled with strength and enthusiasm for this outreach. Also pray that God would bless their efforts and that heart will be touched and souls saved through what they do during that time. We'll share a group photo with name of the team going in a future newsletter so that it'll remind us to pray for them and their work.

The annual Women's Retreat is happening again on the weekend of 12-14 August at the picturest Orchard Glory Farm Resort. The cost covers your stay and meals as well as the special program looking at the theme of 'Undaunted - daring to do what God calls you to do.' There is a slide with a booking link further on in the newsletter. If you need more info get in touch with Cecile at cilav@bigpond.com or 0437493943.
 

We are excited to announce that we have a new 'Welcome Group'. This group will be on the lookout for any visitors to make them feel loved and welcomed. If you want to be part of this group (they would love to add a few more men) please contact Marlene Booysen on 0457 032 153

Link to buy your ticket - http://trybooking.com/CAMYY

Duty/Tea 
26 June
Vaucher Family
(Stephen & Elma)
Venter Family
(Hannes & Yolande)
Venter Family
(Jan & Sandra)
Tea Leader: Maria Richter
3 July
Venter Family
(Loekie & Hester)
Venter Family
(Renier & Lisa)
Viljoen Family
(Lourens & Liezl)
Tea Leader: Stephne Grey

Music Team
26 June
Christo Scheffer
Hildeleen Jordaan
Alicia Fella
Amber Croucher
Petro Bekker
Ilse Lorenzen
Joe Vermeulen
Matthew Bosch
Marina Rautenbach
Charnè Vermeulen
Rudie Crous
Ané Jansen
3 July

Sound
26 June
Setup: Lee-Roy Lamont
Mixing: Byron Keno
3 July
Setup: George Wilsenach
Mixing: Stephen Whitmore