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At Riverside SDA Church we almost always have a campaign in the fourth quarter to close off the work of the year. When the Cape Conference Personal Ministries Leader announced collective campaigns for the end of the year, we said, “We will go!”
For our pre-campaign, we had various programs planned and passionately executed. We had targeted areas where we had four soup kitchens and one of them was accompanied with street evangelism. We had the Pathfinders, Youth and Personal Ministries combining book drives, soup kitchens, street drills and marching, and street evangelism. Towards the campaign we canvassed the targeted areas, distributing invitation flyers to the Health Expo first and then the campaign. The flyers were accompanied by free literature and we had some prayers with some willing families. Where there was an opportunity, we also held a discussion. We had a wonderful experience and also went into Vygieskraal, a settlement area close to us. When I tried to hand an invitation flyer to one of the gentlemen, he stood up and said, “I am a gangster, I don’t do that worship stuff” and he walked away to my relief. They invited us to pray at another home and said they were pleased to see a church enter their area. They felt churches had abandoned them.
Our Health Expo was well attended with 87 people assessed and counselled. We collected the people’s contact details and still keep in touch with them via our SMS facility.
Finally, the campaign started on Sunday the 15th of October 2023. Doctor Harrington Akombwa, the Division President, was our speaker. We had an average attendance of 50 non-Adventists from the community. Our prayers were being answered and the Holy Spirit was leading the hearts of many to the campaign. We had unprecedented numbers from the settlement area. We had an average of 80 children attending daily. We had a children’s chapel running in parallel with the main service. We realised that we would have to provide something for our guests to eat every day. We had an opportunity to meet the needs of the people daily, through prayer, the Word, counselling, meals, and mingling. The presentations were uplifting and informative as the servant of the Lord did what he was called to do. He faithfully delivered the messages, unlocking truth after truth every night, to some unto salvation and some unto a witness.
During the campaign we had eleven people decide to give their lives to God. We already had 8 people in the baptismal class and these were baptised on the final Sabbath on the 28th of October. We then are left with follow-up work for the eleven who are now in our baptismal class and for the many in whose hearts the seed of truth has been planted. We have a database of the attendees and our SMS facility is still in use. We also have visitation teams ready to go for the Master.
A combined effort with the conference ensured the availability of funds, speakers, and supporting resources. It was and still is a God-inspired plan that should continue as we improve and optimise our planning and organisation for the next round of campaigns. As Riverside SDA Church we will no doubt participate in the next collective endeavour.
