On November 20–22, 2015, Brother Peter Lausevic visited the Port Elizabeth Church in the Eastern Cape Province. This meeting was attended by church members from the Eastern and Western Cape provinces. Church members in this area invited friends, family members, former church members, and neighbors to this special event. The result was a total attendance of 39 individuals on Friday evening, and 104 during the Sabbath, including visitors from the community.
The theme of the spiritual meeting was “Revival and Reformation.” On Sabbath, the Divine Service and the afternoon service messages were delivered by Brother Lausevic. Special focus was given to the youth, to encourage them to enlist in the service of the Lord. In addition to this, the upcoming 2016/17 Bible Worker and Canvassing Seminar in Johannesburg was introduced.
After Sabbath, another session was held with the youth, to give them advice on methods of succeeding in both the spiritual and material realms of life. This provided them with an opportunity to ask questions concerning issues that challenge their spiritual lives. This meeting was attended with great interest by 31 young people and lasted into the late hours of the night. Many young people departed with new motivation to dedicate their lives to the Lord and some committed themselves to attend the 2016/17 seminar.
Meanwhile, on November 21, 2015 another youth meeting was held at Bezvalley in Johannesburg. This meeting was well attended by over 130 individuals, among which were several youth, elderly church members, and visitors from the community. The chapel was full to capacity.
The Spirit of the Lord prevailed throughout the Sabbath as God’s servants were moved to deliver the message prepared for the church. During the Divine Service, Brother D. Balbach delivered a message titled “Coming Home” and related his personal experience, drawing a parallel to the prodigal son’s parable. The sermon inspired young and old concerning how God’s grace is ever extended to sinners to find the way, and to find shelter and solace in Him. The altar call at the end of the sermon was responded to by the entire congregation, and a prayer was offered on their behalf that they may rededicate their lives to the Lord.
In the afternoon, Bro. Balbach further encouraged the church through his presentation titled “Christ’s Method of Evangelism.” This message created much interest on how to witness for the Lord, and resulted in audience engagement through questions at the end of the presentation. This service was later followed by church members visiting the Maziba family, where one of the young brethren had lost his mother. The presence of Bro. Balbach at the Maziba funeral provided him with an opportunity to become acquainted with the church members, particularly young people, and was appreciated as an expression of compassion to the bereaved.
The following month, from December 4–6, Bro. Henda visited Mgcobaneni, located in the Mpumalanga Province, east of South Africa, 50km north of Nelspruit and closer to the Kruger National Park. This area of South Africa borders with Mozambique and Swaziland. The church in this area is made up of the Mgcobaneni Group plus the Ngodini and Kruger National Park branch Sabbath schools.
Brother Henda visited the area for a spiritual meeting also attended by church members from other provinces, including Gauteng. The Field Conference music department was also present at this meeting. The attendance of this meeting was about 100, with 30 of the attendees being visitors. The Divine Service was presented by Bro. Henda on the subject of “Faithfulness”. During the afternoon service, local church members shared their experiences regarding the advancement of the Gospel work in the area. This was followed by Bro. Henda sharing experiences on spreading the gospel and establishing Sabbath school branches in various African countries. The last part of his presentation was about the health message, which was greatly appreciated by our SDA visitors.
After Sabbath, the Music Department introduced the youth to various musical instruments such as the piano, guitar, flute, saxophone, violin, and trumpet. Visitors from the community also joined the music session that followed afterwards. Most of the visitors enrolled with the Music Department to receive future lessons on how to play musical instruments.
Young people were mostly impressed about the experience of being a missionary worker as presented by Bro. Henda. This has encouraged them to consider becoming Bible workers in the Lord's vineyard. Visitors were impressed with the health message. This has raised interest in them to attend future health seminars to be held in South Africa. They were also impressed with the playing of instruments to praise the Lord.
On December 5, 2015, a spiritual meeting was held in Orlando West, Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg. The attendance of this meeting was 256, consisting of church members, former church members, friends, relatives, neighbors, SDA and IMS members from Gauteng and other provinces. The Divine Service presented by brother Peter Lausevic was entitled “Burden Bearers in God’s Work.” The message was primarily directed to the young people, but was also applicable to all church members who were encouraged to decide to dedicate their lives to the service of God. The message was followed by an appeal to young people, many of whom came to the front to dedicate their lives anew to the Lord.
The afternoon service was led by Bro. D. Balbach with a presentation that shared canvassing methods and experiences. The presentation outlined different methods of canvassing and encouraged every member of the church to do their part in saving souls for Christ. After the presentation Brother Lausevic introduced the 2016/17 Bible Worker and Canvassing project, which was followed by sharing experiences from the London canvassing project. This served to encourage everyone present to be part of the upcoming project and start working for the Lord earnestly and diligently.
