Pastoral Letter # 2
Fish Hoek Methodist Church
27th June 2025
Fish Hoek Methodist Church
Dear friends, it is hard to believe that we are already half-way through this year. It seems just like yesterday that we were getting used to writing 2025, and very soon we will be starting to make plans for Christmas. We are certainly living in busy and crazy times.
Since our last Pastoral Letter we have hosted an incredible Pentecost Service, with voices and people from all over our diverse Circuit. We truly pray for renewal and revival in our church, both locally and on a broader level. The call for us to be a part of this Pilgrimage of Renewal is indeed a challenging one. We are called to do some honest introspection and to ask God to guide us into the future He has in store for us. We realise that no Church is perfect, but we can always draw closer to Jesus and remind ourselves of Christ’s mission and our calling. Please continue to do this as we seek to live as the early church lived – as a different community in a world that had lost its way. Becoming an Alternative Community is more than a catch-phrase, it is a life-time commitment to walk in the ways of Jesus Christ.
We are also in the throes of hosting two Alpha courses, one for adults and another for the teenagers. Both of these groups have been going well, with the participants growing in their faith and enjoying the space to ask deeper questions about faith. Many thanks to the dedicated teams of leaders who facilitate these events on Wednesday and Sunday evenings.
The colder winter months often bring more illness, and sadly an increase in the number of folk passing away. We have had several memorial services lately and we continue to uplift the grieving families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones. We are deeply grateful to the Pastoral Care team, who do an incredible job in visiting as many people as possible. We could always have more people on this team, so if you feel a calling to visit and care for other people, please contact Louise Elliott, who co-ordinates this ministry.
You may have noticed lately a few upgrades around the Church sanctuary and other venues. We have recently been blessed with a bequest from a stalwart of our church community, and in consultation with the leaders, we decided to make these changes as a legacy to his life. We had realised that our Projectors were slowly coming to the end of their cycles, so we used this gift to revamp the Audio-Visual aspects of the church. Hopefully these will hold us in good stead for the next decade.
We are planning on heading up to Namaqualand on the 7th of August, for a working week at Huis Harmonie. We pray that our skills and resources will go a long way to ministering to the residents at the old age home and giving them dignity and hope for years to come. We ask for prayers for this special mission and that God would bless all concerned.
August is known as Women’s Month, and we are hoping to host a time of input and worship for the Women in our church community. We have invited Jenny and Linda from Ruth-2 to lead us in this celebration.
A lot of my broader work in the Circuit and District continues, although the responsibilities ease off slightly as we have completed Synod for this year. I have had the privilege of guiding the Probationer ministers through their IST (In-Service-Training) requirements, as well as examining Rev. Effah Atuahene as he prepares to be Ordained this year. Another nice surprise was examining Local Preachers from our District, who struggle with formal education and with communicating in English. We were able to assess their calling to preach and share God’s word, with the help of translators and spiritual mentors.
Our family has thankfully survived the exam season, and our sons will be enjoying a well-deserved break, before continuing in their studies in the 3rd term. Kim’s role as an Occupational Therapist takes her to many places and she offers much compassion and care to people in need.
Finally, I would like to remind us that we depend on the mercy and grace of Jesus for everything in our lives. It is the Lord who grows his work – we are merely the servants of God. Thank you for being a fellow Pilgrim on this Journey of Faith.
“May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us.” – Psalm 90:17
Living in Grace
Delme