1 September 2009
Dear Claypot Family,
As spring arrives, we are also entering a change of season at Claypot.
In 2003 God called us together and challenged us to rediscover Jesus
in our South African context. We embarked on a journey to recover ‘church’
as a verb and not just a place where we gather on Sundays.
During the first two years we developed a rule of life (the
invitations) to help us in making God the priority in our lives. Furthermore,
in 2006, we felt God’s calling to become a multicultural community. In
response to this call we changed our language to English.
These callings: to follow Jesus in a South African context through the
invitations, rediscovering church as a verb and becoming a multicultural church
are as strong as ever. Despite good
intent, effort and many good things that have happened and are happening among us, an honest glance in the mirror reveals that
we are still a white Afrikaner community who meets on Sundays.
In order for us to be faithful to what we feel God calling us toward, the Elders propose that we go through a process
of discernment during which we change our tactics of how we live out these
callings.
Most of our church life revolves around a Sunday service and it is the
predominant meeting point for most of the community. Yet, on an average
Sunday, only a third of the congregation gathers at Berario.
The results of this are:
- That we don’t have consistent communication with the Claypot family (if people come irregularly it is hard to engage in a process.)
- That the administration for doing a Sunday service is becoming cumbersome (Kleiters, worship, sound, preparation).
- That we’re still not managing to discover church as a verb.
- That we have not become multicultural in our current space – which is directly linked to our geographical location (Berario).
Therefore on the 6th of September we will
have a discussion about the ways in which we engage with our calling as
individuals and as a community. It will be an important meeting during
which we will discuss the future direction of Claypot. If you cannot make the
service please let us know.
We will also host dinners at Tom and Lollie’s house from the 7th to the 10th of September in order
to listen to responses and ideas and inform those who can’t be there on the 6th.
This will be an exciting discernment time for us as a community and as
individuals. We ask that the whole community pray for God’s wisdom for this
next season.
Shalom,
The Elders.
