News

The Diocese of Capetown launched their stewardship campaign at St Georges Cathedral on St Francis Day. Often we think in terms of stewardship campaigns as focussing only on money, but the stewardship team has brought in the broad sense of the word, from stewardship of our gifts, resources and caring for God’s Creation. A full Cathedral enjoyed the vibrant worship led by St Aidan’s Music Ministry , a  jazz band and Fezeka  High School Choir. The materials consist of an eight week series of sermon materials and Bible studies on the various themes. Check out “stewardship of our Waste” The resource booklet can be downloaded at : https://carbonfast2014.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/stewardship-season.pdf

A group of intrepid youth (with some “recycled youth”) braved a chilly wet St Francis Day to climb Echo Valley above False Bay coast, to celebrate St Francis Day – the patron saint of environmentalists. A beautiful hike took place up the valley to the stunning ‘ampitheatre’ of rocks and we held our St Francis service in a wooded glade. reflecting on the life of St Francis was meaningful as we learned that he had come from a life of great wealth and was spoilt as a youth. Then he was attracted to a life of violence and became a knight. In his early twenties, he felt the call to radical service of Jesus, and went up into the mountains. He combined a care for the poor, love of the Earth and a desire to transform the Church of God. What  a challenge to our young people – like Francis, we face the pull of consumerism, others face the pull of gangsterism and violence.  If we can commit to a simpler lifestyle, a life of peace, compassion for the poor and love of God’s Creation, then we, like Francis can have a part in reviving God’s church  

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL HERITAGE – IN ST BERNARD MIZEKI (PAARL) On the 24th of September the Youth from St Bernard Mizeki changed what is usually a  heritage day/braai day to a clean-up and environmental day. The weather was wonderful as everybody was in their different traditional attires. The day start with a morning prayer led by the rector of the perish (Rev. Klass). The group of young people from Sunday school, GBFS, AYF, Sunday school teachers as well as AWF made a difference in the community of Paarl. An environmental competition that was done really showed how environmentally educated the young people of paarl are as they promised to take the resolutions that were made in the recent synod of the diocese.   Some of the promises they made that day including having a vegetable garden, which they believe will help the perish when its hosting church functions to reduce the costs of buying food/veges and they want to utilise the space that is not used in the church buy doing something that is good and will save money. They said the Sunday school class will be responsible for the Garden and they will make that the Garden is always proper. They also mentioned having Clean-ups at church as well as in the community, Awareness that will teach people about recycling, reducing and reusing. They also mentioned having different bins in their parish for their recycling project which they also believe the money they make from recycling will be used to buy a JOJO tank that will help the parish save on water and also buy energy light bulbs. The Diocese of Saldanha Bay have just passed a resolution to “Hear the Cry of the Earth” We applaud the perish of St Bernard Mizeki Paarl for being the first parish that is working towards environmental issues after the resolution was passed.!      

The Anglican Youth Fellowship of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth held their annual diocesan conference on the 18th – 19th of September 2015. Structured to suit the very young group of people, it commenced with a fun quiz about the history of the diocese and of the organisation. Each parish had to choose a person whom they have confidence to know more, ending with an evening prayer, the young people were ready for day two. A beautiful morning bible study set a theme for the environmental presentation as everything was based on what young could do in their own parishes. Environmental issues seemed to be known by the young people which made the discussions for  Green Anglicans plan of action very easy. A video demonstration was shown to the young people on how media has changed our perception towards creation and how we need to pray and pay attention to nature as well. The presentation brought a lot of insight and sparked ideas, and the diocesan youth vowed to take the following actions Environmental Awareness and education in parishes Social gatherings outdoors Creation services Recycling and vegetable gardens Each parish had to participate in a game, which taught them about recycling with the aim of creating better understanding of how to recycle and reuse products. The winning parish received a voucher towards their next Green Anglicans/ Environmental event.

ST CYPRIANS SCHOOL – WE WANT TO BE THE GENERATION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE   “We want to be the generation to make a difference”. That’s what 10 year Tia Cartoulis said in regard to rhino poaching. Her generation is watching the state of our wildlife – particularly rhinos which have been hit hard over the last few years by poaching. Last year saw 1 004 rhinos lost and this year’s figures have far exceeded that.   Tia has been raising money for Rhinos Without Borders whose goal it is to move 100 rhinos from poaching hotspots in South Africa to safe havens in Botswana. She’s spent all her time making loom bands and selling them on weekends, raising an impressive R3 000. She wanted to do more so asked her school, St Cyprian’s Preparatory if there was a project that they could do together to create awareness and raise funds. Even though the end of the school year is a busy time, Justin Skea, Principal of the Prep School couldn’t refuse a passionate pupil. They decided to make an origami rhino for each rhino poached last year to show the true impact that a number simply can’t quite convey. The challenge was on. Each pupil was to attempt to make 3 origami rhinos, which would bring their total to the required number. For a few days before the challenge they raised funds, and on the day started folding origami rhinos. By the end of the day the school chapel had an astonishing 1 200 origami rhinos laid out down the centre aisle. They’d exceeded their target and had made what is likely to be this year’s final poaching total.   Their efforts realised a total of R16 611.75 to be donated to Rhinos Without Borders – enough to pay for two VHF horn transmitters, which will track the rhinos in their new environment as well as satellite tracking time for two rhinos for an entire year. The St Cyprians students are the first Rhinos Without Borders ‘Rhino Innovators’; school students who are using innovation to come up with creative ways to raise awareness of the plight of rhinos and of the initiative. The school has now challenged other schools to take up the challenge and make more money and more origami rhinos than they did. They put particular emphasis on Bishops and Herschel schools in Cape Town. We are now looking for other schools to take on the challenge across the world. 1 200 origami rhinos, each one representing a poached rhino makes for a somber image. However the passion that these girls displayed brings hope as well – that this may indeed be the generation to make a difference.   – See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/st-cyprians-makes-an-origami-rhino-for-each-one-poached-last-year/#sthash.rtwtYHvX.dpuf

Church Under The Tree (CUT)  St James Church in Ladybrand has started an outreach ministry for car guards in the town. This grew out of a weekly fellowship group in which members of that group were challenged to initiate a community project. CUT started slowly at the end of 2014 with a Christmas lunch launch. A retired local  pastor gladly agreed to bring a message in Sesotho  to those present. ‘Those present’ had been rounded up from the town by the rector of St James Anglican Church which is also the venue for CUT and another colleague  . The message was preached by Pastor Sipho and a good meal shared. After this, CUT followed a monthly  pattern of ‘roundingup’ a congregation, presenting a message by Pastor Tshepo and sharing bread(lots of it) and soup (lots of it). In the winter this congregation was so eager to hear more that we have held CUT every week since June. We were also able to hand out warm clothes in the worst weeks of winter. A remarkable facet of this ministry has been that there were enough clothes when it was cold and there always seems to be enough to eat! On average we cater for 30-40 people, but this last Friday there were close to 60 present. It has been exciting to try and keep up with what God is doing in this one.