My dear brothers and sisters in Christ
Words of encouragement: Lent
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in this time of Lent. We are encouraged by the words of the first Collect of Ash Wednesday which says “give us Grace to discipline ourselves that we may press on towards Easter with eager faith and love through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” May God bless you as you do introspection and self-examination of your spiritual lives as you pray, reading scriptures and other Christian books, listening to God. May all this lead you to receive a fruitful and joyful Easter. Could you kindly pray for me and my family, and all your clergy and their families, and all who are leading us in our various parishes and in the Diocese.
Bishopsbourne
We, the Ntlali Family give thanks to God for the warm welcome that we have received in Grahamstown on the 13th of February 2009. We were graced by the presence of members of Chapter, Diocesan Council, staff members, our family members and the steering committee.
The programme was conducted very well. We were touched in our soul by the blessing of the house conducted by the Very Reverend Andrew Hunter and the Reverend Noluthando Gixana. Many thanks for the love gifts that were given to us by certain parishes and individual members. May God bless you richly.
Honorary Canon Nelson Yapi came all the way from Lady Frere District where my indigenous home is and presented a sheep to us, and so we give glory to God for him and family and for reminding us of our roots as Africans. We as a family felt blessed by this act of love and generosity. “Nangamso, makwande.”
We as a family are always overwhelmed by the act of love that is shown to us by the people of our Diocese. Be assured of our love and gratitude. May God bless the leadership of this Diocese and all its families. Do pray for us as we minister together by serving God in serving one another.
St Andrew's College, GrahamstownOn the 1st February 2009 we were privileged to be at St Andrews College and to welcome Mr. Paul Edey and his Wife. We enjoyed the service in which we admitted Paul as a lay minister under the Reverend Gary Griffith-Smith (School Chaplain) and to institute him as the Headmaster of the St Andrew’s College Grahamstown. We thank God for the outstanding work which was done by his predecessor, Mr. Wylde. We as a Diocese join students, staff and the community of Grahamstown to welcome and give glory to God for Paul and Judy his wife and children. May God bless their ministry and stay in Grahamstown.
News for the Proposed Diocese of Ukhahlamba
On the 7th February 2009 we had a meeting with all the priests and the churchwardens of Ukhahlamba at St Michael and All Angels Queenstown. The main purpose of the meeting was to introduce the Venerable Lawrence Nzwana as the Bishop’s Vicar and the type of ministry he is going to do amongst them on our behalf. It was also to inspire the leadership of the new proposed Diocese of Ukhahlamba to think Diocesan, and to remind them of the huge responsibility of being a Diocese.
On the 8th February 2009 we presented the Bishop’s Vicar to the people of the new proposed Diocese of Ukhahlamba. It was a wonderful service at St Michael & All Angels in which we formally installed Venereble Lawrence Nzwana as Bishop’s Vicar. This service was crowned by the blessing of the new vehicle, which was nicknamed “Noqalinkundla” This vehicle will be used by the Bishop’s Vicar and the future Bishop of the proposed Diocese of Ukhahlamba. We are grateful to our Diocesan Trustboard to buy this vehicle to facilitate the ministry in the Northern part of the Diocese.
We are in a process of setting up a shadow structures such as Chapter, Executive, Diocesan Council, Trust Board and all guilds as well. These structures on the 3rd of October will become diocesan as the new Bishop may wish to do so.
We are grateful to the Very Reverend Andrew Hunter to accept responsibility of forming up a Joint Team from the Southern and Northern part of our Diocese to prepare for the inauguration of the new proposed Diocese of Ukhahlamba on the 3rd October 2009. This will be very helpful because there is a lot of work that needs to be done and that is to setup the liturgy of the day, accommodation, communication and budget, invitations, catering and to create court of arms for the new Diocese. May God pour His Grace upon the Dean and the entire steering committee; and we are calling all members of the Diocese to pray for them and also pray for Archbishop Thabo as he prepares himself together with the bishops to inaugurate the proposed Diocese of Ukhahlamba. We humbly ask donations from the Southern and the Northern part of the Diocese. This will be communicated in the near future.
24 Chapelries in East London and King William's Town
We met as a small committee to look at these chapelries and the purpose of the meeting was to focus on the ministry towards these chapelries. The committee members were: Archdeacon elect M. Doda, Archdeacon Ntlola, Reverend Mpulwana, Revd Dlanjwa and Revd T. Makalima and the Diocesan Bishop + Ebenezer. In our discussion we felt that we need to include Archdeacon Mark Spyker whose program is “Growing” the church, the Reverend Simphiwe Magxwalisa convener of Sterwardship and Giving, the committee of the department of spirituality,the Reverend Canon Melanie Adonis our Canon Theologian and the Reverend Canon Louis Flint for Congregational Development. We pray and hope that by focusing on these chapelries we will broaden the base of our assessment income by doing effective ministry.
Honoring our clergy
On the 12th of February 2009 we had a wonderful Chapter meeting and we are pleased to inform you that Chapter has honored the Reverend Canon Suzanne Peterson, the Archdeacon Chris Kokoali and The Reverend Canon Johannes Hardnick as our Honorary canons for the outstanding work which they have done for God in Christ and for us as the Diocese.
The Challenge we have is that, we are in need of two lay canons and some other vacancies within our Chapter. Could you kindly continue to pray for us as we do God’s work together.
Tale of Two Cathedrals
On the 15th February 2009, we launched the Tale of Two Cathedrals that is our Cathedral of St Michael and St George and the Cathedral of St James Toronto – our partner in God’s mission. We thank God for the hardwork of Mrs Jeanette Eve and her team, the Reverend Canon Suzanne Peterson’s input and the leadership of the very Reverend Andrew Hunter. This launch was very fruitful. We call upon all members of the Diocese to visit the History Museum next to Rhodes University to see the life of these two Cathedrals displayed and accommodated in one of the spaces of the History Museum. We are grateful to the Museum people to accommodate
Synod of Bishops
The Synod of Bishops held on the 16th – 20th February 2009 at Lady Brandt in the Diocese of Free State went very well. The synod was good under the able leadership of Archbishop Thabo of Cape Town and the Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It was wonderful for me to be part of a collegiate of bishops which is an environment of love, friendship, fellowship, open sharing and support. The reception by Bishop + Paddy Glover was warm and excellent. The accommodation was that of a three star hotel at Modderport. It is amazing to see how a monastery can be transformed by a diocese into a three star hotel which is of use to the church and the community.
The other highlight in the Synod of Bishops, the Dioceses were encouraged to apply for a PBO status or Section 18A that would assist each Diocese in fundraising for God’s mission.
College of Transfiguration- Synod of Bishops
We are grateful of the presentation which was made by Dr Bill Domeris, the Rector of the College of Transfiguration and our Diocesan Chancellor of our Cathedral, and Dr Jonathan May. This is making us proud as the Diocese of Grahamstown to see that Bill and Jonathan are having passion in the building up of students at the COTT to be future able leaders of God’s Kingdom. The presentations were emphasizing the spiritual formation and the academia as important in the life of a person who wishes to be ordained. Well done.
House of studies- Pietermaritzburg
The input of Dr Peter Wyngaard was very good of promoting post graduate qualifications for clergy. Further Theological education for clergy will enrich our church with sound Anglican spirituality and beyond. We pray that clergy will make use of this programme. May God bless all who teaches, all who do admin work, chaplaincy, upkeep and those who learn at the College of Transfiguration and Anglican House of Studies in Pietermaritzburg.
Congratulations
We want to congratulate Bishop Paddy Glover who has been appointed the Dean of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. May God bless him and his family for this ministry and their future.
We have received correspondence from the Dean of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa that in the Synod of Bishops, Bishop Ebenezer has been appointed the Liaison Bishop for Christianity and African Culture and Inculturation. With every good wishes for his future ministry.
Diocesan Company
On the 26th February 2009 we met with the strategic people of our Diocese in looking of how to formulate a Diocesan Company that would be a Section 21 or (PTY) limited. It was a fruitful meeting. Our Registrar, Mrs Brenda Amsterdam is looking on the legalities of this company whilst we are looking at the programmes that will be done by this company such as land and property, heritage and tourism, education, health and the family life that will undergird all these programmes and we are grateful for John Allwood of Holy Trinity King William’s Town, Mr Godukile Mbolekwa who works for Department of Tourism, Honorary Canon the Revd Lulama Ntshingwa, Tony Schnell, Director of DSR, Mrs Leticia Ndema who runs her own business, Ms
Chwayita Mboni, Anthony – lay minister at St Martin by the Sea Gonubie, Zoleka Maqwili Diocesan Administrator and the Revd Canon Melany Adonis for participating and their input. We ask for your prayers, for God’s direction at this preparatory stage as we are looking at the opportunities around us that can be used for God’s glory, for the betterment of the life of our Diocese and the community.
Achievements
On the 28th of February we had a service of Thanksgiving to God for the achievements of Revd Canon Prof Mtuze and Mrs Khuthala Mtuze for obtaining Doctoral Degrees. We have enjoyed worshiping together, sharing of the love, friendship and fellowship. May God bless the Mtuze family which is such an example to all of us. May God bless the new parish of Ginsburg and its people.
Vacant Parishes in our Diocese.
1. St John’s parish East London;
2. St Martin-by-the- Sea East London
3. St Clement’s Grahamstown
4. St Alban’s Parish east London
5. St Michael’s Parish Herschel
6. St Philip’s East London
Any Clergy within the Diocese and outside are allowed to apply for these parishes through our Dean, the Very Reverend Andrew Hunter and through the Bishop’s Secretary, Nobuntu.
May God bless all the families that worship in these vacant parishes and let us continue to pray for them as they look for incumbents.
We want to remind you as the people of this Diocese not to forget to pray the prayer St Teresa de Avila which reminds us of our responsibility to God and to one another in our journey together especially during lent as we examine ourselves.
“Christ has no body on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which we look out Christ Compassion on the world. Ours are the feet with which we are to go about doing good, ours are the hands with which God blesses now.”
Grace and Peace
Yours in service of Shepherds of Shepherds
Bishop Ebenezer St Mark Ntlali
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