Local churches have been actively serving during the June/July school holidays. In this month's feature we share some inspiring local church reports with you from various parts of the Western Region.
Rosemoor SDA Church VBS Report by Natalie Roberts
Rosemoor SDA Church, George, held a Vacation Bible School (VBS) Program during 3-7 July 2023. Our theme for the week was “Heroes making a big difference in small ways.” We had speakers coming to address the children about different topics including road safety, water safety, child abuse and drug abuse. We also had devotion with the children every morning telling them about Heroes in the Bible. Daily lunch was also provided. The children who attended the VBS were between the ages of 4 to 14 years old. On average we had about 40+ children attending daily, of which the children from the community were usually half of the total amount that attended the VBS program.
Silverleaf SDA Church VBS Report by Gizelle Swanepoel and Donovan Grigg
VBS Director Gizelle Swanepoel and Children Ministries Leader Entachio Kleynhans from the Silverleaf Church Children Ministries Department, along with volunteers from Silverleaf Church and Helderberg High School, hosted a Vacation Bible School (VBS) on 3–8 July 2023 on Helderberg College Campus in Somerset West for about 80 children.
The theme for the VBS program was NASA and Space, focusing on the 6 days of creation as recorded in Genesis chapter 1. One of the special features during the week was a movie from the GeoScience Research Institute entitled “Creation – Earth is a witness,” which is a day-to-day account of the Creation week.
To complement the week’s focus on Creation was the emphasis on caring for our world through recycling and reusing materials. Recyclable materials used in the VBS were collected over a period of 6 months and used in the crafts and decorations.
Mfuleni SDA Church VBS by Siphosethu Tutu-Sogiba
We held our VBS from 2-8 July 2023 at our church in Mfuleni. We did a drill down two weeks before the VBS into the community with hand written verses for the children in the neighbourhood, we shared the verses with them and a day before our VBS we went again with invitations to the families. Day 1 - we had over 60 community children and the numbers grew daily. Praise be to God!
We themed it “In the beginning God,” taking our redemption story from creation, through God’s commandments, the parables and Jesus’ soon coming. Each day we served food and fruit after our study session and team building games.
Parow Church/Tygerberg MOWCS VBS
Parow SDA Church, in collaboration with Tygerberg Meals on Wheels Community Services (MOWCS), hosted a VBS from 3-8 July 2023. 45 children from the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town attended. The VBS programme included breakfast, a Bible lesson, games and crafts. On Friday, 8 July 2023, the organizers provided a special sit-down meal for the children, which included a starter, a main course and a pudding! Bigger than the VBS itself, the desire is to serve and bless the needy children and their families with clothes, blankets, food and other items that could benefit them.
Mowbray Church VBS in collaboration with Salt River SDA Church by Norest Chipato
Mowbray SDA Church held a successful VBS Program for a week held at Mowbray SDA Church in collaboration with Salt River SDA Church. The program ran under the theme The Miracles of Jesus and our theme song was God is Able. Indeed it was a great success as we managed to teach the children valuable object lessons from some of Jesus' miracles.
Many lives were impacted and changed as confirmed by one non-Adventist parent who sent in daily messages of appreciation to the teachers for teaching their two sons more about Jesus.
To top it all off, we had a wonderful graduation ceremony outside in the gardens at the church. It was a beautiful ceremony attended by all parents of the graduating children where each child received a Certificate of Attendance and the Teachers all received an appreciation gift. In attendance was brother Prince Muchengi, our YCOM Chair who then gave a powerful charge,
‘Our Children were given to us by God for a season, to teach them, train them and prepare them for heaven. The church will not miraculously produce angels when parents do not work hand in hand with the church. It is our duty as parents to invest financially in the upkeep and spiritual development of our children. Also make a timely follow-up with your child’s teacher to find out how your child is doing.”
The program ended off by a dedicatory prayer from the head elder of Mowbray Church, Elder Edmore Munyoro
Paarl East Church VBS
Paarl East hosted a VBS from 1-8 July 2023 with theme “Heroes from the Bible.” We had a wonderful, fun week with 83 children from the community attending. Our VBS team consisted of 11 staff members, including educators from our local church, members of our congregation, an elder, our pastoral couple as well as our Welfare Leader and her team.
On the Monday morning our church’s children and the VBS educators walked through the flats across the street from the church, singing and inviting the boys and girls to come and learn from God’s Word.
The daily VBS programme included singing the chorus “The B-I-B-L-E,” the local pastor (Pr Martin Cupido) telling them a story, the VBS Director (Br C Koopman) revising the previous day’s story, learning to memorise Psalm 27:1, an art activity, a prayer session, games and some wholesome food!
42 children from the VBS conducted the Sabbath School programme that week. The church was blessed to have parents of the children attending too. The church also invited the children to be part of the Adventurer and Pathfinder Clubs and to attend Sabbath School.
