It's twenty years ago this month that we made our first move in to overseas mission as we went to Tanzania for an initial two year stint. Just under a year later we resigned out in the field, were treated appallingly by the organisation we were serving with and ended up staying with some Catholic Fathers at a nearby Seminary. The last group of people I expected to be genuinely Christian turned out to have a greater concept and handle on Christian basics than the organisation we had served with. Still, that's a long time ago and much water has passed under the bridge since then.-
The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
It's twenty years ago this month that we made our first move in to overseas mission as we went to Tanzania for an initial two year stint. Just under a year later we resigned out in the field, were treated appallingly by the organisation we were serving with and ended up staying with some Catholic Fathers at a nearby Seminary. The last group of people I expected to be genuinely Christian turned out to have a greater concept and handle on Christian basics than the organisation we had served with. Still, that's a long time ago and much water has passed under the bridge since then.
After a day of Homework Club admin, it's great to have 32 letters about to be delivered to various families in Firgrove telling them that their kid has secured a place for 2018.It's been a great journey since we set out in January last year with 12 kids and not really knowing what the Homework Club would look like. Here we are a whole twelve months later and we're setting off with 32 kids and looking to expand it to 48 sooner rather than later.
Please stand with us in prayer as we believe that The Gathering will grow through this outreach into the community.
The title says it all, The Gathering's Soup Kitchen is a dirty, scruffy ministry which demands one gets one's hands dirty, and after running for nearly three years, and getting to know so many regulars, it's impossible not to get one's hands dirty, and do you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way!Thursdays are brilliant (and even better in term time when our Homework Club is running). I spend most of the morning making the soup and then in the afternoon I get to prepare the venue and then serve the soup (normally with help from Joel and one or two church members), whilst Errol provides a semblance of order outside and encourages passers-by to partake. He's a natural evangelist.
It's very easy to look at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen and think what a nice piece of work it is without fully appreciating just how serious a need it fulfils. It's also easy to look at the pics of the many kids that regularly come and think how cute they look, but again it's all too easy to miss just how serious the need in the community is for The Gathering's Soup Kitchen.
Thursday saw our last two Homework Club sessions of 2017 and each of our kids have done themselves proud.We've had some great feedback from some of their families and hearing how certain kids have increased their maths grades from 1s to 5s and above is fantastic.
Also learning that none of our kids are repeating the year is also great news, especially for one young lad who has been stuck in Gr4 for three years!
We had the privilege of calling Zimbabwe home for almost three years from 2000 to 2003 and still to this day carry a torch for the nation. Zimbabwe is quite simply the most beautiful country we’ve ever been to. Zimbos are the warmest and friendliest people you will ever meet and visitors are always bowled over by the reception they receive.Sadly though, all has not been well in the former ‘bread basket of Africa’ and since 1999 has been the basket case of Africa, and that can be attributed to one man and his colossal ego.
We are super proud of our four learners who all got 100% in the latest Maths@Home competition.When each of them saw their names on the login page they were thrilled and excited for what they had achieved, and rightly so.
A lot of credit goes to Precious, our facilitator, she's great with the kids and they love her.
Stay tuned too for a big announcement about our Homework Club for next year as it grows and changes. We're really excited about what's happening!
The Gathering's weekly Soup Kitchen is definitely the highlight of my week, from cooking the soup in the morning, to serving it in the evening and clearing up afterwards, it's pure joy to be able to serve our community.It's also a joy to see our venue take on a real world practical use as it's packed to the brim with locals wanting soup and sandwiches.
Last night The Gathering was invited to join with the United Reformed Church in Firgrove as they held a Prayer Walk around the community.The walk was brilliantly organised with one person being given a ribbon (for each stop sign) and the responsibility of praying for whichever topic they had been given. Then before moving on to the next street, they tied the ribbon to the stop sign.
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