Mission Committee Reports

Mission Report: May 2007-April 2008

By : Deacon Stephen Hayes & Katherine Hayes

Mamelodi

We have continued to go to Mamelodi every second week for the Hours and Readers Service.

In June two young people, Mary (Valencia) Semenya and her cousin Martha (Melita) Mphela were baptised at St Thomas’s Church in Sunninghill Park.

In July 2007 with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim we had a visit by the teaching team from the Orthodox Christian Mission Centre in the USA, consisting of John Diamantis, Alex Godwin and Seraphima Carl. We had a meeting in the home of the Malahlela family, who provided excellent hospitality, and there were several visitors.

In March 2008 Fr Frumentius came and baptised Nicholas (Blackie) Sibiya at his home. Mr Sibiya is old and frail, and is unable to get to church any more, so we had the baptism at his home and three people from Atteridgeville were also baptised. Fr Frumentius and Presvitera Evgenia also visited a Sunday service and were introduced to the congregation. It is a blessing to have Fr Frumentius, as now people will be able to make confession in their own language.

Klipfontein View and Tembisa

In the first part of the 2007 we took the people from Klipfontein View and Tembisa to the Divine Liturgy at St Thomas’s Church, Sunninghill Park, on alternate Sundays, where I served with Fr Naum and Fr Pantelejmon.

In June 2007 the following people from Klipfontein View were baptised at St Thomas’s, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim: Margaret Mphela and her daughters Irene (Johanna), Maria (Neriah) and Tabitha (Thabitha); and Nina (Joyce) Aphane and her daughter Sophia.

In July Fr Pantelejmon and Fr Naum went back to Serbia, and whole Fr Pantelejmon was away we led the Hours and Readers Service in English for the people from Klipfontein View and Tembisa, and any one from St Thomas’s who wanted to come.

In August 2007 Ms Bertha Motshwane, who had been in jail, made contact with us again, and once again made the school in Phomolong, Tembisa, available for services, so after Fr Pantelejmon had returned we once again began holding our services in the school, and the congregation has been growing again, so that there are now about 20-25 people on a Sunday, too many to take to St Thomas’s, though we did, on one Sunday recently, take some of the baptised members to the Divine Liturgy at Pantanassa, where I served because Deacon George was ill. But it is not possible to do that every Sunday, because the new people in the Tembisa congregation need teaching and encouragement.

Catechetical School

I have continued to teach at the Catechetical School one day a week.

Johannesburg church leaders

During 2007 I continued to represent His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim at the monthly breakfasts of the Johannesburg church leaders, but at the end of 2007 the meetings were abandoned, though there is some talk of reviving it as a quarterly meeting.

TV broadcasts

I also took part in two TV broadcasts on the SABC Africa channel. I was invited to take part in my academic capacity as a missiologist, rather than as a representative of the Archdiocese, but I mention them because I was able to mention the Orthodox faith in these programmes. The first, in July 2007,  was the African Perspectives programme, presented by Mpho Tsedu, and was on the relative popularity of African Independence Churches and Neopentecostal Churches. The second, in March 2008, was Dennis Tshetlhane's “180 Degrees” programme, which was on the church and money.