What We Do
Missions
We are “blessed to be a blessing”! We are convinced that at the centre of all Christian commitment is a calling to give out, to be involved, to help in God’s mission to bring His Kingdom to the world around us, both near and far, on both a micro and a macro scale. Every partner at El Shaddai is called and discipled to take up this mission in their families, communities, work and other places of individual influence.
We also encourage everyone in the El Shaddai family to be involved in some way with “corporate” initiatives – missions that we can do better together than we can do individually. We are continually seeking God’s direction for new and wider spheres of Kingdom influence and giving as a church body - here are some of the areas where we’re currently involved and have opened up opportunities for all of our members to join in:
Tackling local poverty
It’s no secret that we’re living in a very unequal society. We in Durbanville are undeniably at the rich end of the spectrum in South Africa, and indeed the whole of Africa, whilst the poorest and most vulnerable and most overlooked of the world’s people live side-by-side right here with us. You can get on a plane in Cape Town and travel within a few hours to some of the poorest nations on earth. But you can also get in your car and travel a few kilometers down the road, and find enormous need. So we as a church in Africa, in South Africa, in Durbanville are incredibly and uniquely positioned to share our resources of influence, of money, of connections, of time, of skills, with those who are on the other end of the spectrum, yet so close by.
Klipheuwel
The semi-rural community of Klipheuwel is on the outermost fringes of our city borders and is home to many underprivileged and neglected citizens in both formal and informal dwellings. Many of us from El Shaddai have played a part on an ongoing basis, in partnership with other umbrella organisations (see here) to help uplift the lives and potential of the people of Klipheuwel. For example, there’s our involvement in the Klipheuwel Primary School – with a school feeding scheme, Farming God’s Way, teaching English and helping pupils with their reading. We lend a hand with many community projects like the Klippies Kids Pre-Primary School, a second-hand shop, vegetable gardens, emergency relief and house repairs, youth projects, animal care projects and the House of Grace for deserted children. This is a geographic area where God has been able to utilise many of our different giftings, and we are really excited as El Shaddai about the material differences and Godly impact that this specific focus has made so far.
“Bless a Baby”
Watch the promotional video here!
In 2002, we heard about babies leaving a local hospital without necessities like nappies, clothing or basic toiletries – even to the point of a baby going home in a plastic shopping bag! So a group of ladies in our congregation rose to the challenge and began sewing beautiful nappy bags and quilts, filling them with the essentials. By June 2010 they had distributed over 4,700 bags in all shapes, sizes and colours, both locally (Karl Bremer, Kraaifontein and Tygerberg hospitals and Durbanville clinic) as well as further afield to communities in need in places like Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and even Russia. One baby and one mother at a time – providing some form of rescue from an unfair and unjust start to life. For more information or to get involved in any way, please contact Glynne at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or through the church office.
“Fill a Tum”
We’re always looking for donations of food, basic necessities and clothing (or monetary donations) to distribute emergency help to impoverished and desperate families around our city. We work through established and credible distribution channels set up by our ministries and partner churches in areas such as Eerste River, Philippi and Klipheuwel. It is our desire also to always be in a position to respond quickly with practical help when community crises arise like flooding, fires or xenophobia.
Long-term community upliftment
But it’s not enough just to rescue people in emergencies. Something else that rests heavily on our heart as El Shaddai is economic upliftment and being able to use our giftings to catalyse longer-term economic change and poverty alleviation. We are also called as El Shaddai to help develop a long-term Kingdom culture and economy in specific communities. Our desire is to establish a long-term presence in an impoverished community, and to be able to disciple and equip for generational economic and societal transformation in that community. A start in this direction has been our involvement over the years in the annual Habitat for Humanity Building on Faith housebuild in communities like Masiphumelele and Mufeleni. And it has been very heartening to see one more family each year being housed in dignity – we cannot underestimate the long-term benefit and development that will bring to each family and their future offspring. Many of us have been involved in this – and just being part of that build has really given us a more of an exposure and heart for these communities and the challenges they face. We pray that God is going to expand our strategy and focus even more into this area of lasting community upliftment over the years to come.
If you’d like to get involved, know more or assist with finances for any of these projects, simply contact the church office and we’ll connect you!
International Missions
Ghanzi, Botswana
Further afield, El Shaddai has developed a firm calling to the San/Bushmen/Besarwa people of the Ghanzi district in Botswana - who are probably amongst the most neglected, downtrodden and vulnerable people groups in the world! For many years, we’ve taken teams of school children and their families, and in more recent times, the Kingdom Pioneers ministry, to support work amongst the San. We’ve developed a really close connection with Lee and Rose Ncube, Kingdom Pioneer students at El Shaddai in 2008 and now resident in Ghanzi working fulltime with the San people. Twice a year teams sent from here are able to add “hands” to Lee & Rose’s efforts to encourage the San through community development and minister to them and equip them in many practical ways. This has also given Lee & Rose more credibility to establish a continued Kingdom presence in the San community, by way of a church plant, and we are able to be a resource to the church leadership. There are many aspects to what we’re helping to support on the ground in Ghanzi, but one clear driver is our desire as a church to contribute meaningfully wherever we can to the process of pulling the San out of their entrenched and vicious cycle of poverty, powerlessness and vulnerability.
Check out Lee & Rose’s ministry blog at www.firstnationcommunity.blogspot.com.
We also have video reportbacks on our recent missions to Botswana on our gallery page. For more information on the next trip to Ghanzi and an opportunity for you to get involved, contact André Webster at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or through the church office.
Garissa, Kenya
We partner with Dove Africa, and their missionaries Amos & Grace Mulwa, in Kenya to support their project amongst the Ilwana tribe in the Garissa district. See the Dove Africa website for details: http://www.doveafrica.com/pr_missions.html
For more information on the next trip to Garissa and an opportunity for you to get involved, contact Christo & Nelda Diedericks at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or through the church office.
COTN Resource
El Shaddai is also called to be a resource where we’re needed to the wider Church of the Nations (COTN) family of churches that we’re a part of.
Our most visible outworking of this calling right now has been the resource El Shaddai has been able to provide in assisting Ken and Ann Turner in developing and discipling a Kingdom mindset amongst local Malawian churches that are part of the COTN-affiliated New Life Christian Churches (led by Lloyd and Jackie Chizenga).
Currently, we have had a local church in rural Tsapa as a main emphasis. Young leaders – Philimon Pantunda and Innocent Joaquim– have been trained up by El Shaddai on the Kingdom Pioneers program. We’ve visited Tsapa numerous times over the past couple of years, helping the local church to start-up a Pre-Primary school, to start-up and run a maize milling business to fund the Kingdom work they are doing in their community, to assist Innocent as his vision for an Orphanage in the community starts to take shape, to start supporting a local church vision for a long-term healthcare initiative in Tsapa. We’ve been involved in much of the detailed work of helping the local church to get these projects off the ground. But our main focus is not to be an aid organization, running our own projects, but to be a support and to EQUIP the LOCAL church with a Kingdom mindset. They need to understand that they themselves, as the local church, are the hope for their villages. The reason for their existence as a church in Tsapa is to invade their community with the power and change of Jesus. They are to be His hands and feet to the community. The purpose of our involvement is to try to help layer this into their value system as a church.
Watch the reportback presentation from our visit to Malawi in October 2010 here.
For more information on El Shaddai’s involvement in Malawi, contact James Turner at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or through the church office.