New additions to God’s Kingdom

Andre Solomon

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priest and a holy nation…”  (Exodus 19:5-6).   Thank you Father that you selected me, Andre Solomon (19), as one of your chosen people.  Amen!  What a privilege!

De Wet, my brother, invited me to church from the early age of 13. I saw the difference God made in his life and decided that I wanted to be part of this group of people. I saw that the people were sincere and that they practiced what they preached. In my matric year, God blessed me with a car which I used to attend services - what a blessing. Not long after (November 2006), Warren asked me to study the Bible. I thought I knew the truth because of my religious background but through the Word, Charl and Warren soon showed me the real deal. I soon realized that this is the way to God’s kingdom and that I am not part of it yet. Things intensified and soon afterwards - on 1 April 2007 - I was baptized. It is the best thing that can happen to anyone and God wants all of us to be saved. It is an awesome privilege to be saved and I think we must show our thankfulness to God by being fruitful through sharing our faith with all the lost souls out there. 

I want to thank my brother for introducing me to the fellowship, Warren and Charl who started the studies and Chris and Munnik who later joined us.  I want to thank all the brothers and sisters for their friendship, prayer and encouragement. To God be the glory!

Erik Janse van Rensburg and Monique van der Berg

Erik and Monique had been dating for a few years and began attending the North region services, preferring it to the mainline church that they had previously been attending. Both are studying architecture at UCT.  They started studying the Bible and were both baptized on the same day at Camps Bay beach. They have been a real joy and encouragement to the campus ministry.

In Erik and Monique’s own words:

It was late 2006 when our wonderful story of finding Christ began. We were involved with the youth at the mainline church in Bellville, but found that we were not growing spiritually.  Thus we decided to check out the church in Parow. Visiting ‘The North’, we both discovered a place where we definitely felt that we could grow in our spiritual walk.

About two months later Monique was approached by Justin’s wife, Irene, who suggested that we contact her sister Maura who is part of the church in ‘The South’. After several phone calls, Maura contacted Monique and invited us to dinner with her and her husband, James. Although both Monique and I had some pre-conceived ideas, we had an excellent time with me devouring most of their, might I say expired, sweets. Subsequently we started studying the Bible and found a new meaning in the Bible and most importantly, a new life with God. Approximately five months later we were baptised together at Camps Bay on a beautiful autumn evening in the presence of many of the new brothers and sisters we had made since joining the church. The future looks both bright and challenging for us as we grow in our faith.

Ricardo Joseph

Ricardo was a tenant in a flat that a disciple was viewing. After chatting to him, the disciple invited him to church. Not long after that he began to study the Bible and was baptized. He has already made his impact felt in the sound ministry.

In Ricardo’s own words:

I was living a life of sin, not knowing what I was doing to God or that I needed to repent, until the day I met a disciple who invited me to church.

I was more taken aback by the idea of being invited rather than the concept of church, so I decided to take the disciple up on the offer. As a result, I got to meet the Church of Christ.

During this time I started studying the Bible, began attending church and was involved in fellowship and building friendships with various disciples. I learned that in order to receive salvation, I needed to be baptized.  But before I could get baptized, I needed to understand what I meant to carry my cross daily.  I also needed to repent of my sins and apologise to those who I had sinned against. This was surely a challenging task, but once accomplished lifted so much weight off my shoulders. Soon thereafter I was baptised on 12 April 2007.  Praise be to God!

Leandi

Hi, my name is Leandi and I am newly baptized into the Kingdom of God. What an awesome journey I have been on these past eight months! I’ll tell you a bit about it.

I met Lauren and Rozanne on what we call the Rooiplein in Stellenbosch. They invited me to their Bible discussion group and through God’s grace I decided to go.  Rozanne and Lauren started Bible studies with me and my whole world was turned around. Coming from a very religious background, I struggled to accept that the way my life was wasn’t the way God intended it to be. I left most of the Bible studies, being angry with them and wishing I’d never met them, but yet again God was amazing and I returned every time. Then the December holidays came and I left for two months. I really had to go through a few struggles before I realized how much I needed God. If I look back now I can just say “amen” and know that Romans 8:28 is a great scripture, because that in short is how I was saved.

I came back after the holidays knowing I had to make huge changes in my life and my heart just became softer to the Word.  I will never be able to stop being amazed at how perfect God had planned everything, how the Bible is so very clear about everything and that I never have to wonder about things being vague, because they aren’t!  I am so grateful that I could find the Kingdom and feel so lucky to be a part of it. I love it that absolutely everything that is done is because it says so in the Bible.  I want to thank everyone who played a part in my journey towards finding God and His Kingdom; I’ll be grateful forever. I love you all very much.  I can’t wait to get to know everyone better and build relationships in God!