Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The First Three Months

THE FIRST THREE MONTHS
Blog 6 Entry
9 May 2011
I’ve been asked how has it been at the C.A.C.V. for the first three months?
Well for starters, it has been better than I expected.  I was first advised to take it easy until end June, focus on relationships and to ‘ease into ministry’, which I was quite happy to comply. It was good advice I guess, to just get a feel of things and to meet as many folks as possible. With that I started on a ‘getting to know you’ visitation program, determined to visit every member of the English congregation plus their families till end June. So far it’s been relatively slow off the mark having called at only three homes but I understand that it is the ‘culture’ of the church not to be too forward too soon.  I guess it takes time and would simply mean that I will have to extend my ‘every house’ visits till end December.
What did get off the mark quite quickly though, were 3 seminars that I conducted in quick succession. The first was on ‘Leadership”, the second on ‘Worship’ and the third was on ‘Boy-Girl relationships’. The latter was completed at a church camp, held end April. I had my share of once a month pulpit preaching which I intend to increase to at least twice a month eventually. Regular monthly speakers have been around for some time and I have been advised not to ‘rock the boat’ too early too soon. The same holds for those who chair services, worship teams and leaders and other helpers.
It has also been satisfying to be involved in the re-starting of a Tertiary Sunday School Group. We’re now half-way through a course entitled “Understanding the Bible in 30 Days”. I have also been over-seeing the Reverb (High School) Fellowship which meets thrice a month in the evenings.  It keeps me young and alert, I guess. Come July, I’ll also be taking the Young Adults Uni Fellowship (called EM2) which meets fortnightly on Sunday evenings.
All told it has been a satisfying and fulfilling first three months, with more to follow. At least two people have asked me if I have been worked too much. My reply has been “I’m more concerned with not having enough work rather than having too much”. Let’s hope it remains that way for a very long time to come!.