The Somerset West house church officially only started this year, when the Wright family joined us. Our family, the Burgers, have however been part of the Skype fellowship for more than a year now – and what a wonderful year it’s been! When I say ‘wonderful’, I don’t mean that it has been without its fair share of challenges, but wonderful in the sense that God has truly made us all (the Wrights included) part of a church family.
Although we can only wave to everybody via the screen on Sundays or have the occasional chat on Facebook (Hello Niki!), we feel connected in a way that reaches far beyond what we can see. In addition to that, the Lord has also firmly established us all in a relationship with each other and with a spiritual father, something which none of us has ever had before, even though we’ve all been in various churches over the years.
Both our families consist of a husband and wife team and some teenagers or young adults. Pieter and I have three children (All of us pictured above) – Jessica (15), Dieter (16) and Gerrit (18) and Elaine and Haydn have two (As pictured below) – Ashley (19) and Jonathan (23). I’ll refrain from giving the adult’s ages – for obvious reasons (wink-wink).
Although our children are still young, they have all grown up in Christian homes and have known the Lord for years, but the type of teaching that they’re receiving in this fellowship far outweighs what went before. As I watched both families, including our children, at a recent conference on spiritual alignment that was held by Pastor Andreas at the Pinelands training centre, I was once again struck by what God is doing for us in this season of our lives.
Many years ago, as a single, divorced mom, the Lord gave me this promise in Isaiah 54 and how true it rang on that morning. “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” (vs 13). Thank you, Lord and thank you, Pastor Andreas, for making this a reality in our lives and the lives of our children. We are all truly blessed through your obedience and walk with the Lord.
I think I speak for the whole group when I say that we can also see the healing and restoration that is coming to our lives through the teaching we’re receiving. As we’re applying these biblical principles to our lives and becoming doers of the Word in every sense and not only hearers, we can physically see and experience the difference.
The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. (Prov. 10:22) Indeed! We are seeing the fruit of it in our lives. It is a process and a marathon – definitely not a sprint, but the blessing reaches across every area of our lives. Slowly, but very surely relationships, businesses, finances and so much more are being restored, so be encouraged. This is the inheritance of the children of God.
Apart from our two families, we’ve had some visitors once before, but we don’t feel any pressure to get more people to come. The Lord will build His church, so we share with others about what the Lord is doing in our lives and invite people to church as the Spirit leads, but for the rest, we leave it up to God. As people that have been in church for more than 20+ years, we’ve come to realise that there are some things that we have to unlearn or institute in order to properly align our lives with the Word of God, but it is so worth it and we’re ready for it.
By the time our paths crossed with Alpha and Omega Ministries, we have all been to disillusionment and back as far as church life was concerned. We were hungry for God and for the truth, but struggled to find it amongst the churches we belonged to or visited. There was something missing and we couldn’t really put our finger on it, but now we know – it is God’s pure, unadulterated Word, mixed in with revelation knowledge, wisdom, and power.
All those things that come when you have the leading of a truly godly person – that special someone that will always point you to the Father and His holy presence. No amount of flashing lights or fun and entertainment can make up for that. We are truly blessed to be part of the Alpha and Omega family.
Blessings to you all!
Marlize Burger