Apr
20
2010
Preaching in Cape Town
Without doubt, Cape Town is one of the most beautiful locations on earth. Two oceans meet at its southern-most point and look up to Table Mountain. Breathtaking. Complete with Great White sharks.
But along with the rushing currents, the cloud laced mountains, and ferocious sea life, there are warm-hearted, joyful, hospitable, Jesus loving saints in Cape Town. During our recent trip, we had the privilege of receiving incredibly gracious hospitality from the Sutherland and Eloff families, and to share in the warm fellowship of saints from around Cape Town.
I also had the privilege of preaching several times. My main engagement was the Cape Easter Convention 2010, where St. James Church extended the opportunity to address “the gospel and race”. Words fail to express what an immense privilege it was to address this topic in post-Apartheid South Africa. The three talks are here:
“One in Adam” (Genesis; Acts 17:26)
“One in Christ” (Eph. 2:11-22)
“One in the Church” (1 Cor. 12:12-27)
I also had the privilege of preaching at the morning services of St. James on March 28th. Given that we were approaching Easter, we considered Matthew 27:45-46, “God Forsaken?!”
Later that evening, Kristie and I journeyed to downtown Cape Town to Holy Trinity Church. I was asked to preach Ephesians 2:1-10 and share something of my testimony. While I enjoyed preaching at Holy Trinity, Kristie and I really enjoyed the heart-felt, lively, and Christ-focused singing in both English and Xhosa! Yeah… we were lip-sinking on the Xhosa–but we loved it!
To cap all this off, we also were able to see Claire and Michele O’Donovan, dear sisters from South Africa who were members of FBC for a season. We enjoyed seeing Cape Town through their eyes and were wonderfully encouraged as they came out each night to the talks. We gave them warm Caribbean greetings, and they sent their love back to the saints here. To be a Christian is to have brothers and sisters 100-fold all around the globe! How sweet it is!