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March 2010

Sawubona! Hello from South Africa 

Contact Details53 Bertha St, Sophia Town, South

Africa, 2092

Email; mcgrieve@cms.org.au or 

mark_grieve@hotmail.com

Believing isBelonging

The importance of Community 

The recent Big Brother epi-sode in Britain had the title

“Hell, lies in Others” It mademe think of Elaine in an Epi-

sode of Sinfeld where shesaid, “People! There the

worst.” A recent article inour local Paper had the head-

lines, “Hell is people fromother places.” lamenting the

crowds at Durban’s beaches.Well going through the book 

of Acts at the moment itseems that the bible has a

very different picture on peo- ple. Last month I preached

on Acts 2 where we are toldthat everyone was together 

and shared all things in com-mon. That no one went with-

out. That everyday they mettogether in the temple to pray

and worship God. And weare told these people came

from 15 different regionsthroughout the Roman Em-

 pire.

One of our great frustrationsis trying to build a genuine

community amongst our peo- ple. We are fighting not only

years of Apartheid, and there-

fore suspicion and fear of 

other races but a great diver-sity in socio economic

classes. Its easy to fill your  bible studies and social times

with people who are like youand are comfortable and en-

 joyable to be with. But suchexclusivity is not in line with

God’s mandate.

I fully believe God is glori-fied in diversity. Where we

can show that having differ-ent colour skin, different cul-

tural customs and different pay checks does not mean we

need to worship in different places.

As much as I long for the

country and quiet, I am re-minded that God is a citydweller. His Kingdom will

 be a city full of people. Andso I too must work on my

love for others. ( Heb 12:22,Rev 21:2) Hell is not other 

 people it’s the absence of them.

Praise Points

Please thank God for a wonder-

ful holiday and the time it gaveus with family and friends.

Please thank God for the many

new people and families that

have come to church. Pray that

they will stay and grow with the

church.

Prayer Points

Please pray for South African

leaders that they may show in-tegrity and service to the peo-

 ple. There has been a real lack 

of respect for the president andother ANC leaders due to sex-

ual misconduct and financial

swindling.

For our church to continue to

 build a community where race

and economic barriers are done

away with.

For new musicians and chil-

dren’s workers at church.

For our annual family camp onthe 9th-11th of April

For Carol and I as we seek to

head the church in the right

direction. Please also pray that

we can find an assistant Pastor 

to come on staff and get thegiving to a level of being ableto appoint Him.

A newsletter from Mark and Carol Grieve, missionarieswith CMS in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Carol and Mark at one of many weddings

A baby shower held at our house.

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This term we have startedwith several events to build

our community. We stillfirmly believe that our best

strategy for church growth ishospitality in the home. We

had our first community dayat the end of February. We

 played games and had a BBQat the church. The attendance

was pretty disappointing,though those who came really

enjoyed themselves.We also had a picnic last

week in the park.

Church overall has been en-

couraging with many new people coming in. We havestarted a marriage seminar for 

all our young workers whoare getting ready for mar-

riage. 5 couples are attendingthat course.

There has been lots to bethankful for with several of 

our more needy folk getting

real answers to prayer. Johnhas found a place to stay, andJacky looks like getting her 

 job back with the Police de- partment. Elizabeth also has

gotten a job at KFC, (thoughshe may be retrenched at the

end of this month).

At the end of this term itlooks like we may be getting

an influx of students fromCampus Outreach. We are

expecting 25 but since our adult church is about 80 it

could upset the dynamics.

We are praying that it will not

upset the tight community wehave formed nor turn our few

families away but rather be awonderful blessing to our 

community.

On the HomeFront

Over January we spent 3 1/2weeks back in Australia. It

was a wonderful time to catchup with family and friends.

We had a great two weeks inForster with the extended

family as well.

This year Carol has resumedher correspondence studies

with the Australian Counsel-ing institute. She hopes to

finish it in early 2012.

The boys have settled well

into school and are busy withtheir little lives. They go to

soccer training twice a week and kids club one day a week.

They still love their DS andTV but are starting to enjoy

cricket out the back and soc-cer as well.

Carol and I have started the process to adopt. We have

 been to the first main inter-view and started filling out

the forms and getting our po-lice clearance records. We

are hoping by mid year to beready. We even bought a cot

the other day and are bothvery excited. The boys are

also looking forward to get-ting a little sister.

If you would like to sup- port us through prayer, finance or pastoral care

“..Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine,

you did for me.”Matthew 25:40

Our family holiday at Forster. Relaxing and beautiful