JUNE 2021 | TIM’S UPDATE

I hope and I pray that this update will find you and your loved ones safe during these difficult times? Please let me know how you are doing and if you need the assistance of STMC in any way then please don’t hesitate to contact our team on 0445333430 (Monday to Friday 8am – 1pm) or admin@plettmethodist.co.za.

The recent reintroduction of Level 4 lockdown regulations (25 June – 11 July) will certainly impact our church and its commitments to ministry over the next two weeks. Sadly, all our in-church services, and in-church children’s, youth and young adults’ ministries have been closed until further notice. None of our service Organisations (WA), nor home groups, nor care groups may meet and we have also been informed by the retirement villages that they are now closed as well. Please read the letter from our Presiding Bishop, and our Head Office for your information as it addresses the requirements for our whole Methodist Conference (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique).

All our online services and online ministries will continue and can be accessed via www.pletmethodist.co.za. All links for our services will continue to be sent to you via email and SMS.

The STMC church office remains open (Monday to Friday 8am – 1pm).

The STMC Ministerial, Pastoral, Admin and Operational Staff will continue to work.

Please note that we have had a few break-ins at our church complex in the past few weeks. The Youth Storage Room was broken into twice, and the Youth Chapel over the weekend of the 24 June. A substantial amount of equipment was stolen from the Youth Chapel, some of it has been recovered, and the police are investigating. Security issues have been addressed with our security company and plans are in place to make changes and/or upgrades to the system that might be necessary.

We are in a new phase of lockdown, but this does not mean that we are going to retreat into our church shell. We are going to continue to grow and develop our ministries in creative and meaningful ways. For instance, a new and very important development will begin, which is the “Study Hub” for the use of children of STMC families for online studies. We have identified this as vital need for many children in our church especially those who are unable to leave Plett to pursue their studies elsewhere. Fibre-optic cable is in the process of installation – at the time of writing – and in a few days it will go online and “live” giving our church property very good internet access. Besides the obvious benefits of this for the “Study Hub” the Fibre-optic speed will allow us to develop more on-line Evangelism, Bible Study and Teaching programmes. We will develop our preaching, teaching and equipping programmes in parallel formats; by this I mean that whatever programme is offered in church will also be offered online – at the same time! You will be able to attend any programme or course at STMC either online, or in-church (after lockdown)! No need to miss out!

The realities of Covid and the subsequent challenges to churches and organizations such as STMC means we need to continue to reimagine our work and ministry and put in place new ways of living out faith and calling, outreach and mission, as God’s children in Plett.

Thank you for your faithfulness in your tithes and gifts to the church as they have enabled us to continue our work as a church, and to pay salaries during the stress of the past year and a bit of lockdown. The finances of the church remain stable but remain an ongoing challenge as they are for many businesses during this time. If you have not already done so, please consider making use of EFT/Internet payments as this will help us to more accurately budget to meet our monthly commitments to our staff and to our mission and outreach projects. The account details are: FNB; Code 210514; MCSA St Thomas Plettenberg Bay, Acc No.  62020675833.

I am not sure when we will see each other in-person, in-church again, but rest assured you are very much in our thoughts and prayers, and if you need our assistance or even just need to chat – please don’t hesitate to call (0445333430).

I look forward to meeting with you online in the weeks ahead.

God bless,