Good Friends in Christ
On Wednesday 13th October, I travelled down to Durban to meet with the Moderator and Clerk of the Presbytery of eThekwini. This was the first visit in the series I will be undertaking to begin the programme of strengthening the UPCSA’s Presbyteries.
The Presbytery of eThekwini is a long narrow Presbytery, stretching from Richard’s Bay to Port Edward on the Kwazulu Natal coast. It only goes westward as far as Hammarsdale and borders the Drakensberg Presbytery there. Of its 33 congregations, four are in the south, three in the north and all the others in and around the city of Durban. Thabani Masikane, minister of KwaMashu, is serving in his second term as Presbytery Moderator and Mark Boshoff, minister of St George’s, Bluff, is the Clerk. Both of them struck me as committed to the growth of the Presbytery and appropriately proud of eThekwini’s achievements.
eThekwini boasts a good attendance at Presbytery meetings, a fair level of racial harmony and a boldness in governing within their bounds. They seem to have unity in the life of Church Associations and although they have challenges in various areas, there seems to be the will to work at these until resolution is achieved. Some of the denomination’s strongest congregations, namely Frere Road, Kwa Mashu and North Durban are in this Presbytery. Almost a third of eThekwini’s congregations are vacant. eThekwini also has a large group of retired ministers – there are nine.
Berea Presbyterian Church will celebrate its 125th Anniversary in February and I have been invited to participate in this.
I wanted to share all this with you so we may celebrate what God is doing in eThekwini and pray for them in their challenges as well.
Warm regards
(Just) George
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