Lord's Days March 3 and 10 2019

Before I write up on last Lord's Day I want to try and catch up with March 3 and 10 when I was away in South Africa (report to follow). Steve Mitchell (as mentioned) was here the first Sunday and two students from the seminary the second. As for me, the first Lord's Day I was in Grahamstown (sometimes known as Settler Town and soon to become Makhanda) Eastern Cape, and the second in Cape Town, Western Cape.

On March 3 in the morning we attended a gathering in a township somewhere near Grahamstown where the ordaining of a Zionist Archbishop was taking place. A marquee had been raised to accommodate the folk from several different congregations had gathered for this occasion. Zion involves a strange mix of high church dress and a formal liturgy combined with the singing of spiritual songs to the beat of a big African drum. Everything was in Xhosa but we had some idea of what was going on and I was invited to preach a short sermon (from Romans 6:23) towards the end. We were then invited for food, which was very tasty as the cow had been killed the previous day.

In the evening we attended what was for me a more regular church (and made up mainly of white people), Grahamstown Baptist, the oldest Baptist church in the country (older than Childs Hill). There three ladies (two with guitars) led us singing songs I mostly did not recognise and then as the pastors had taken the young people away there was a video instead of the live sermon - Steve Lawson on the wisdom of God. We enjoyed chatting after with the pastors Dirk Coetzee and Brian Marx from Zimbabwe.

On March 11 I had a similar day only in Cape Town, Western Cape.  We began at another Zionist church in a township. This was a more regular service but included communion where 24 took part. I don't think I have had wafers before, though I have had port or whatever it was. Typically, the pastor kindly asked us back to his home to eat. Very kind. Again, in the evening we attended the BU church - Goodwood Baptist Church. The pastor there is Martin Drysdale and the preacher that night was Jaco de Beer. A little band led the worship using Getty type numbers. He introduced Amos and it was a little Bible study like but he realised that and that counts for a lot. It was good to have fellowship after with the members and young people, including a Welshman and a man who lived in Cardiff for a year. Numbers in Cape Town were greater than in Grahamstown.