• Monthly Reflection
• Worship Service Attendance, Collection, Pledges
• Vision 2007
• Revising Intimacy
• Church Calendar
• Prayer Requests

Monthly Reflection

By Vickie Miller
John 3:17

For a moment, imagine our world viewed from a distance. In your mind, view this scene: the globe of the earth suspended out there in the clear blue of the universe, like those images you've seen taken from space missions. Imagine the beauty of our world, with the blue hues of our waters and the greens of our forests. Imagine the unique shapes of each continent and the elevations, from the tallest mountain ranges to the lowest valleys, and the contrast between the warm tropics and the frigid tundra.

Picture Jesus mesmerized by the globe: He is standing tall, looking down on our planet. Feel the breath of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, like a calm breeze blowing through our world. As Jesus presses his face closer to our globe, He sees a lot of movement with the hustle, bustle, and hurriedness of our comings and goings. He is tempted to pick up our globe like a ball, and does, taking it in his hands, pulling it up to his face, and gently turning it up, over, and side to side, intensely watching all of the movement.

In doing so, maybe Jesus stops for a moment to watch a birthday party or children in the playground laughing and running, and Jesus begins to play, too, taking the globe and throwing it up and down as he laughs and plays with the children. Then, as the globe lands back in His hands, Jesus is startled as he looks directly into the eyes of an angry person, and then the noise from our world begins to ring in Jesus' ears: the noise of gunshots and bombs; and on the other side of the globe, the sounds of someone yelling and hitting. And then Jesus hears the noise of a church with its flying words of hurt and criticism. As a result of all of this noise, Jesus suddenly drops the globe to cover his ears, and the earth slowly bounces away from Jesus - but not for long, because Jesus' love overtakes the pain. Jesus quietly walks over, gets down on his hands and knees, and in His grief, His tears begin to run down His face and drop, first trickle by trickle, and then all over the globe until the tears of Jesus cover it with love and healing.

The whole world then comes to a rest, and Jesus wipes his tears and again gently picks up the globe. This time, imagine that Jesus focuses on you. Jesus sees you in your home, at work, or immersed your daily activities. Jesus sees you at your church, and Jesus focuses on you at this very moment. Seeing you makes Jesus smile again. Jesus remembers to himself, "This is why I went to that globe. This is my healing in action." And Jesus ponders about you and about your future on this earth, and Jesus thinks about all that is planned for you as a part of your church. And Jesus whispers in your ear, "Thank you. Thank you for believing and following my vision. Thank you for spreading my love and carrying on after me. Feel me with you always. I love you."

After whispering in your ear, Jesus gently places the globe back on its axis. He turns and walks back through the bright light of heaven and takes a seat next to God. Then Jesus leans over and says to God, "It was worth it, wasn't it?"

Vikkie Miller from UFMCC “Archive of Weekly Devotions”

Worship Service Attendance, Collection, Pledges

Vision 2007

Thoughts and Ideas discussed at GHMCC Congregational Workshop

• What are our values?
• What does our structure support?
• What is our history/heritage?
• What are our strengths and shortcomings?
• What are our vision and mission?
• How should GHMCC ideally operate?
• How should we interact with the community?
• What should we offer?
• Split the future of GHMCC from people and names
• Forget about finances for right now - don’t let money distort our vision
• Forget about other congregations
• Is there a need for a pastor or a permanent person in order to get to our ideal congregation?
• If Yes, we can now start looking into finances, if our ideal congregation shouldn’t stay a dream
• What would be the tasks the person would need to do in order for GHMCC to become the “ideal congregation”?
• What kind of person would that be in terms of education, background, gender, spirituality, skills, etc?
• What do we have to offer? (office, established structure)
• How will we go about the search?

We received three applications for the position of Regional Elder. After a thorough review of the applications, we chose to interview one of the applicants by telephone.

Based on both the paperwork submitted and the committee interview, we are pleased to announce that the nominee for Regional Elder in Region 4 is Rev. Glenna Shepherd.

Although Rev. Shepherd has a compelling vision for Region 4, what we were initially impressed with was her strong experience in the areas of church planting, church growth, clergy development, organizational leadership, building church infrastructures and building coalitions and relationships.

Revising Intimacy

There will be a one-day conference at the University of the Western Cape organized by the Department of Theology. The topic of discussion is:

Revisiting Intimacy
The Challenge Of Homosexual Relationships To Church And Society

Date and Time: Friday, 4 August 2006, 8:30 – 17:15
Venue: Library Auditorium, UWC
Speakers and Panellists: UWT Rector and various professors, Desmond Tutu, Pieter Oberholzer, Mary Hames, David Russell, Allan Boesak, Liena Hoffman, Laurie Gaum, Marlow Valentine, Tammy Shefer, Miranda Pillay, Pierre de Vos and others.

For further information please contact: Christo Lombard on ph: 959 2629

Church Calendar

• Vision 2007 Process
• Region 4 conference in Hanover/Germany