over 50 years ago, faithful individuals and families gathered approximately 11 kms from where we currently gather every Sunday. They went from meeting in a home in Rosebank, to a barn in Parkmore, and later, a large attic in Craighall Park. Finally, in the mid-1970s, the growing congregation found a permanent home at our current location: 9 St James Crescent. Although the location may have changed, the love for God and His Word never did, and has been the foundation that this church is built on. Week in and week out, people attended services; gathering to worship, hear the Word preached and enjoy the fellowship of community.
To this day, Sunday in and Sunday out, this continues and in 2018 we saw an average of 950 adults do just that, across 4 different services:
Govender were two of these attendees. From the moment they arrived, they were struck by the warm and friendly welcome they received. This hospitality, along with the preaching, is what gave them the certainty that BBC was their new home. Their first impression was: “Wow! These people really do care and want to get to know us. They do mean what their tagline says – they want to make disciples!”
Soon after this interaction, they were the ones welcoming and hosting guests and members, and now are 2 of our 203 Hands-On Volunteers that serve with us on Sundays. And it all started by a simple “Hello” from a Hands-On fellow.
These sermons that resonated with the Govender’s are not only heard on Sundays, but also extend beyond these walls. Last year, we saw 66,241 video plays on our Vodcast channel and 14,533 audio hits on our Podcast channel. 10,849 unique users engaged with our website, accessing resources and finding out more about us and what we believe. Our app downloads, another resource that is designed to make our sermons, blogs, etc. more accessible, also grew by 892 downloads, with our BBC App now being at the tip of over 4,000 people’s fingers.
story continued in their home as they lead a Gospel Community (GC) every Tuesday. They were 1 of 5 new GC’s formed in 2018. Throughout the year, over 100 people found community as they joined GC’s. Taking into account the groups that closed in 2018, we ended with 46 groups.
Serve not be served, was a call to action that more than 150 BBC’ers took up as they said “Count me in!” by serving over 24 hours at 7 different locations, following Jesus’ call in Matthew 20. That’s 3,600 hours of loving our city.
And the community didn’t stop there. On the 23rd of September, the day before Heritage Day, we as a church family celebrated the diversity of God’s people here as believers from different cultural and ethnic groups, with a common identity in Christ. The church is God’s beautiful picture of unity in diversity and we enjoyed that as a community through 2 services, reflecting on Revelation 7:9 and a banquet lunch afterwards. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…”
Prayer is central to what we do as a community and underpins every ministry here at BBC. In addition to this, we took time out twice last year, with over 80 people gathering on each occasion, to fast, thank God and pray together.
Midrand Bible Church now True North Church, left home here at BBC and is now officially shifting to an independent, autonomous church! Four years ago, with much excitement and anticipation, we hired an experienced, passionate and God-loving pastor to help us plant a BBC DNA church. One year later, Midrand Bible Church was born in Crowthorne, Midrand. As time has flown, we can see that they have grown in maturity, community, diversity, and truly are a family that can attest to God’s faithfulness through both tough and great seasons.
So, where to from here? The family DNA is strong and we continue to partner together for the advancement of the Gospel, working with their team, led by Tumi Moraba (who serves as an elder at BBC).
The story of church planting partnerships continued through our support and relationships with these faithful churches and organisations:
Africa for Christ
City Church Lagos
Hope For Africa Mission
Laezonia Lighthouse Church
Valley Community Church
City Church Lagos
Acts 29
Rooted Fellowship
is the next person we want to introduce you to. She lives in Kya Sands. We have known her for a long time, and our relationship grew as she joined the weekly Bible studies and got involved in other Kya Kids initiatives. In 2018, over 50 women on average participated in those weekly Bible studies. The other initiatives included sponsoring 25 children through full-time preschool and journeying with 15 teenagers through bi-weekly Bible studies. Each of these encounters was an opportunity to walk with ladies and teenagers in the community.
Over the years, we helped Ma Patricia register her grandchildren at school. As their home situation didn’t always accommodate school participation, and despite social worker involvement arranged by BBC, her granddaughter, Gloria, pulled out of school. Fast forward to 2018, through continued involvement in their immediate community and family, persistently sharing the Gospel with them, Gloria approached us and asked if we could help her go back to school. Catching up on missed years of school will be a tough journey, but we are encouraged by how she continues to try her best.
Let’s introduce you to Ntsikilelo. We met him through Under the Bridge, where we had 45 opportunities to serve our immediate community, reaching 756 people throughout the year. We were able to share the Gospel and distributed 4,415 food packs. Since meeting Ntsikilelo, we have been able to journey closely with him and 3 others, with the goal of helping them get back on their feet. Through sponsorship, counselling and other support, Ntsikilelo is now able to provide for himself. He also joined 38 other BBC-ers on our Finance Course, which helps provide a Gospel-Centered approach to financial management.
began their journey with us in October 2015, when a friend told Liz about our Next Gen Daddy Daughter Dinner. Kevin and their daughter, Hannah, attended and loved it! They had previously wondered what it would be like to be part of an incredible family of God and that Sunday, following the dinner, Kevin and Liz and their girls came to our 4pm service.
After attending two services, the girls were hooked and could start to hear, see and feel God’s deep love for them. They were also 2 of the 157 children on Kids Church Camp in 2018. In July 2016, Liz decided to join the Next Gen volunteer team. She was one of the 217 volunteers that served at Next Gen last year. These volunteers serve an average of 337 children each week.
Our Next Gen volunteer team also invested in Laezonia Lighthouse School. Through a number of collections and contributions, we were able to equip the school with a number of resources. A weekly programme was introduced by the volunteers visiting the school. The teachers also received basic training on the importance of children’s language development, fine motor and gross motor activities, and other age-appropriate milestones.
also attended the membership course and were accepted as part of the 69 new members and 802 total members at BBC in 2018.
Kevin also started volunteering on our Hands-On team as a welcomer and soon became one of our Hands-On Team Co-ordinators.
Liz speaks fondly of her experience journeying through Exodus Groups twice, sharing that it is an experience she will treasure forever. She is one of the 14 people, who participated in these gender specific groups, working through sin and suffering, and finding healing and restoration.
Kevin and Liz have also shared with us that it was a privilege to receive marriage counselling with one of our 14 Renew Counselling facilitators. They truly experienced the grace of God, and now enjoy a healthier relationship with God at the centre. As people in need of change, we testify to God’s faithfulness, love and mercy as we journey with others in need of change. This is the desire of our Renew ministry, and we were able to share this with 162 people through this ministry in 2018.
Liz also attended our By Grace Winter Retreat, one of the four gatherings that our Ladies ministry hosts to connect women at BBC to one another and to the Lord, through the Word, worship and service.
Their beautiful journey with BBC has not been purely internally focussed, but has extended beyond our walls as Kevin and the girls traveled with other volunteers to our initiative in Oviston three times in the last few years. Last year, they joined other BBC-ers on both trips, where they experienced God and His unfathomable work in that precious community.
It was incredible to witness the growth, not only in Kevin and Liz, but also in their daughters as they both chose to give their hearts to the Lord in 2017/ 2018. They made the decision to be baptised in November 2018. We got to celebrate this with them, and 62 other people who were baptised in 2018! 22 of these individuals were teens and 10 were other children, all publicly declaring their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Throughout the year, we witnessed the dedication of 32 children, each one an opportunity for us to celebrate children as gifts from God and for the parents, family and community to commit to raising the child in the ways of God in the hope that when they are older they will choose to walk with God themselves (Proverbs 22:6).
Daniel is a teenager who joined our Youth ministry for the first time mid-2018. Week by week, he got more involved and connected. Through discipleship groups, Daniel was discipled and later started to assist with one of these groups. He is a very good drummer and has also joined the Reach Youth band. He says: “Going to Youth has helped my walk with the Lord, by learning how I can have a relationship with him. Reach has made me feel that I’m part of a family”.
He was one of the 45 (on average) teens that gathered for Reach Youth on Friday nights and one of the 50 (on average) teens that met on Sundays.
Our Reach Youth team is passionate about seeing teens come to know Jesus and this journey started for 22 teens last year, as they accepted Jesus as their Saviour.
that loves God and lives according to His Word. And we saw more people dig deeper last year as they seized the opportunities on offer to grow in their knowledge of God’s Word.
This doesn’t begin to describe all the ways in which we had the opportunity to testify to the Gospel of God’s Grace in 2018. God’s works are mighty and faithful, and we rejoice in Him as we give thanks for His grace.
If you would like a copy of our Audited Financial Statement, please email merryl@bbc.org.za
Or feel free to speak to one of our Elders
Kevin Aldridge
Badi Badibanga
Trevor Brown
Bob Judelsohn
Tumi Moraba
Gareth Paul