Christmas Services

We had lovely Christmas morning services at Emmanuel and Grace, celebrating the awesome love of our God who became a baby for us, and the overflowing mega-joy that that brings into our lives - the same mega-joy experienced by the wise men in Bethlehem, and the women at the empty tomb. What do a crowd of excited kids, a 'telequack' and a story about geese have in common? - they're all part of the Christmas Children's Address!!

Christmas Eve Service

We had a lovely Christmas Eve picnic and Carol Service. Although there were fewer people this year, the sunset was beautiful and we had a lovely time together. People brought a variety of munchies and some of the boys got a game of cricket going in the garden.

Once the picnic baskets had been emptied we got everyone together under the office and we sang some of the old favourite carols and Theo showed the children Brenda's clay nativity set and a carved wooden camel. We wondered whether Joseph would have carved a wooden replica of the nativity scene to show Jesus as He was growing up.

After a time of thought and quiet prayer we joined together in singing "Silent Night" and folk headed off to their homes.

Refilwe Party

The 5th of December saw the Emmanuel buildings all-a-buzz with smiling children and willing helpers, all participating in our Annual 'Refilwe' Christmas party!

Two busses delivered 120 Orphans and Vulnerable children from the Cullinan area. These children are supported by the 'Kids Care and Support Trust', a fantastic organisation, with whom we have enjoyed a growing relationship over the past few years. It was a real privilege to give these children a happy day, and a box of lovely goodies to take home with them, and in some small way, to share the love of God with them.

We were also able to send 80 extra gift boxes to children who were not at the party, and to provide gifts to express thanks to 20 care workers who look after the kids on a daily basis.

The children were divided into 16 groups, under the loving care of a whole bunch of group leaders, each with their own coloured team head-band. The groups rotated through 4 games stations - soccer, jumping castles, relay races, and the water pipe challenge.

There were over 100 Emmanuel and Grace helpers there on the day, and many folk who helped with all the preparation - wrapping and packing and decorating of gift boxes, tea packets and lunch packets. What an awesome team we are!! A BIG thank you to all who participated - I'm sure you felt as blessed as I did.

Subzero Decade

SubZero is our youth club for gr.4-7 and has been running for 10 years. To celebrate this we had an evening of boerie-rolls, pancakes, waffles and lots of games to celebrate. Although the weather was really wet, we did not let it dampen our spirits and a load of fun was had by adults and children.

A big "THANK YOU" to all who helped and especially the ones who've been helping for the last ten years. May there be many more years of life change in our pre-teens!

Cross Installation

A year or two ago Gavin Tucker was able to organise a metal cross for the church through a work contact he had. We already had the wooden cross being made for the office side and so we agreed to mount this one on the Western Side of the church.

Peter Fourie made some size and proportion adjustments and painted the cross. He also organised the rope-light to provide lighting from behind and voila! We were ready to mount it.

Peter provided the equipment and expertise and Theo was the "handlanger" and the cross was mounted. We'll still post a night-time photo...

Wedding Dress Show and Tea Party

The Ladies of Grace (in particular Joy Smith and Tracey Campbell) organised a Saturday afternoon fund-raiser that was well attended and very successful.

The concept behind the function was that ladies who still had their wedding dresses, made them available to be modelled by a willing group of volunteers. There were a number of ladies who hosted tables and each of them had to lay their table and decorate it.

There were some song and dance items and in between delicious eats were enjoyed by all the ladies.

The show of all the dresses was what it was all about and those present found the display of dresses interesting and nostalgic. There were many happy memories and the odd tear or two. The oldest dress was nearly 49 years old and one dress was modelled by the owner's grand-daughter.

All in all, it was a great success and a big thank you must go to all who helped make it happen!