Dear Partner,
Warm greetings from ttt4c!
turn the tide 4 children (ttt4c) is humbled to be able serve the Lord alongside you over this past year. Please celebrate God’s goodness with us in this brief overview of the year 2009 and a glimpse of 2010. Thank you for your faithful partnership.
Please find below the December 2009 ttt4c partner update.
We are so thankful to the Lord for His grace and mercy on this ministry and we proclaim our dependency on Him as our sole Provider! Once again we want to express our gratitude to you as our ministry partners – through your prayers and financial support the lives of vulnerable children are improved, one life at a time!
Together in His service,
ttt4c
www.ttt4c.org
info@ttt4c.org
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turn the tide 4 children partner update – a 2009 overview and a 2010 preview
In this update:
1. A deep gratitude to you
2. Reflection – grateful for God’s Hand of grace in 2009
3. Anticipation – pursuing God’s glory in 2010
4. Deepen your impact
5. Team update
6. Church project feedback
1. A DEEP GRATITUDE TO YOU
On behalf of turn the tide 4 children and the many we were privileged to minister to, please know of our deep gratitude for partnering with us. Your faithful support and staying true to your commitment during very turbulent times has been a source of great encouragement and motivation. May you know the Lord’s pleasure and approval.
May you and your family have a fresh encounter with the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, as we enter the time of celebrating His coming to earth. May you know His joy and provision during 2010.
2. REFLECTION – GRATEFUL FOR GOD’S HAND OF GRACE IN 2009
2009 saw a continued focus on serving local churches to impact vulnerable children their communities. To God alone ALL the glory for what He has done.
Through its SEED strategy, turn the tide 4 children aims to Strengthen, Encourage, Equip and Deploy local Churches to impact the vulnerable children in their community. This strategy went from strength to strength during the year. You can read reports from some of these projects under section 6 ‘Project Feedback’, or view the reports with photos online under ‘Recent Posts’ on www.ttt4c.org .
The SEED strategy also entailed numerous on-site visits to the projects.
Two Sondelani training events took place this past year. The Sondelani March 2009 event covered the topic of community development. The Sondelani June 2009 event dealt with project management, fundraising and sustainability. For the full Sondelani 2009 report, along with photos, please CLICK HERE.
Two ‘Values in Action’ workshops were facilitated in co-operation with Heartlines.
A number of ttt4c donor update events were facilitated during the year.
3. ANTICIPATION – PURSUING GOD’S GLORY IN 2010
By God’s grace we look forward to broadening the impact of these ministry strategies in 2010. Join the movement in 2010!
Current SEEDS strategy – The current strategy of an intensive one-on-one mentoring relationship with qualifying churches will continue in 2010. These churches will continue to receive funding from ttt4c to pursue their vulnerable children’s projects, as per the pre-determined time-line. Because of their expertise and experience Janine Ward and Marianne Knoetze will be focussed on this area.
Expanded SEEDS strategy – Building on the success of the SEEDS model, this strategy will be expanded to allow for many more churches to be equipped to impact children in their community. In order to reach more churches a combination of ttt4c ToolBox training events and coaching will be applied.
High Impact Network – ttt4c will dovetail closely with this challenging Walk Thru the Bible strategy – a local church making an impact in every community in southern Africa. The High Impact Network (a strategy to equip local churches to impact their communities) went through further refinement in 2009 and is now ready to be made available on a wider scale. In essence this strategy has the goal of equipping on an ongoing basis at least one local church for every 5,000 people. As it relates to children it is a local church making an impact on children in every southern African community. By impact we mean the ‘lost’ children are reached, the ‘found’ children matured and significant children’s needs in the community are being met.
ttt4c ToolBox events – Repeated teaching excellence at ttt4c equipping events across southern Africa.
LifeChange Instructor’s Forum – A place for those with a passion for teaching children to develop their gift.
LifeChanging resources – An exciting line-up of resources focussed of children is set for release in 2010.
Denomination strategy – The success of the past year’s pilot now allows for opening up the denominational strategy to more denominations. Each of these denominations will be challenged to impact children within their local church communities.
The Deacon Family – We welcome back the founder of ttt4c, Martin Deacon and his family, in South Africa as from January 2010, for two years.
And much, much more…
Be sure you receive our monthly e-mail update, called PostCards, for all the latest developments. To subscribe, please e-mail the words ‘PostCards’ to info@ttt4c.org
4. DEEPEN YOUR IMPACT
Your invitation… Just by reading the church reports below it is clear that God’s Hand is moving through the partnership between turn the tide 4 children and yourself. Your ongoing faithful commitment is indeed vital. Please though prayerfully consider deepening your impact by raising your financial support in 2010. To do so simply send an e-mail to support@ttt4c.org, along with the words ‘more impact’ and we will contact you. May the Lord guide you as you consider His will.
5. TEAM UPDATE 2009
Christelle Malan left the full-time service of ttt4c primarily to dedicate more time to her own children. She also decided to follow her passion to work more closely in communities. We have greatly benefited from her infectious passion and enthusiasm, and will miss her creative eye in designing ttt4c brochures and donor reports! Christelle, you have been a huge part of making ttt4c what it has become today, and we will miss you greatly. May God bless you as you take the next step. [Manuel Gonsalves-Borreijeirro (support@ttt4c.org or 011-782-4222) takes over Christelle’s donor administrative support role – please feel free to contact Manuel if he can serve you in any way.]
Wendy Theron resigned in order to more ably pursue her passion in life, that of an event co-ordinator. She has advised that it is the Lord’s desire that she now move on to the next phase that He has prepared for her. The loss of Wendy’s organising abilities and dedication will certainly be felt. We are grateful for the huge role she has played in the ministry and for so much value she has added. May the Lord truly bless you in your next steps. Said Wendy: “This was a very tough decision, but I have the assurance from the Lord that this is what He wants me to do. I have enjoyed my time here at Walk Thru the Bible and turn the tide 4 children. Having learnt a lot I am better positioned for the next step the Lord has for me. Thank you all for building into my life.”
Janine Ward and Marianne Knoetze remain part of the wider ttt4c team, but focussing on the success of the Current SEEDS strategy on a part-time basis.
6. CHURCH PROJECT FEEDBACK
We are grateful to God to share some of the very positive feedback received. To Him alone be all glory.
For the full November 2009 reports from each these projects, along with photos, please click on the header of each project.
Prestbury Methodist Church (Pietermaritzburg)
Project leader’s feedback
“At the SU July Camp, approx. 100 children attended each day, and 42 gave their lives to the Lord at the end of it. A few teenagers from Phayiphini were part of the team running the programme.”
“We are also holding on to the vision we had at ttt4c training last year, of a children’s centre in Phayiphini. This would be a place for the Jewels of Hope groups to meet, as well as where teenagers could do homework etc. Also space for a feeding scheme for children in the area, etc etc. Beauty has mentioned this to Cllr Dolo Zondi who is now wondering how we could fund such a place. It is great that he is seeing the need for such a centre.”
ttt4c’s feedback on this project
There is also a lot of movement in terms of community mobilization within Phayiphini – the induna of the area and the Ward Councillor have recently become very supportive of the Prestbury Methodist Church’s team’s efforts to secure a community property for a children’s centre. Rev Stone and Wendy have also connected with the Methodist pastor at Ndumo Methodist church in Phayiphini – he is keen to partner with Prestbury Methodist Church as the community church.
Prestbury Methodist Church is a prime example of the success of the SEED Strategy using community development principles and pursuing sustainability into the future. The children involved in the Jewels of Hope programme earn R250 each per month, as well as benefiting from the Jewels of Hope Discipleship programme recently developed by the Director. This is a three-year programme followed by the children in their weekly Jewels of Hope meetings, and it focuses on the children developing life skills and their spirituality in a fun but relevant way.
Westville Baptist Church (Durban)
Project leader’s feedback
“Westville Baptist Church has a vision to reach a lost and hurting world. Through the Addington Homework Centre we aim to break the chain of poorly educated or non English-speaking parents raising poorly educated children through their own lack of education and skills… creating opportunity for growth and a “hand up”.”
“Our annual Holiday Club went SUPER well, there were 400 children at the school daily!! Games, teachings, discipleship and loads of fun created the highlight of their holiday, for some, their year… a huge success and SO many seeds planted, please pray that God protects and nurtures them.”
ttt4c’s feedback on this project
Addington Aftercare Programme (Westville Baptist) – A lively aftercare programme takes place twice a week run by volunteers from Westville Baptist church, in the library at Addington Primary School. A total of 80 children attend enthusiastically – for many this is the only time an adult will pay them any attention and help them with their homework. The Addington school population is a mix of different language, race and ethnic groups, including many French-speaking children from western Africa.
While we were there, one little boy came in with a big smile on his face, to tell Shannon (the coordinator from Westville Baptist) that he had been selected as a class monitor. Shannon later told us that this boy was sent to the Aftercare Programme as punishment by his teacher – he has a problem with concentration and was failing in most subjects. With individual attention and a little love, he is now getting 23 out of 30 for spelling tests and has been chosen as a class monitor – giving him enormous encouragement and belief in himself.
The love and dedication of the volunteers was clearly evident during our visit, and the excitement in the children to attend the Programme was visible – many of them ran in to hug the volunteers upon arrival.
Project leader’s feedback
“Thank you for the love and generosity from ttt4c and your passion for empowering the churches to make a difference in our local community. Part of our vision to reach out to vulnerable children is to address their need for safety. To achieve this we have made it our goal to upgrade the security of the church building. We have used part of the funding to purchase and erect a fence and gate on the property. This has put an end to people entering and loitering on the property unlawfully. We have also managed to secure an office space for administration. We are currently in the process of renovating the office.”
“The improvement of the property’s security has resulted in the fact that the children have more freedom in playing outside and making use of the play equipment. In the past the children had to stay inside most of the time as it was too dangerous without the gate and fence.”
“There is currently a Bible School being run at WCC premises of which Anschke from GSG is involved with in teaching”
Bramfischerville Community Church (Soweto) partnering with Northcliff Union Church (Gauteng)
Project leader’s feedback
“As you may know the community is poor and in spite of challenges and jealousy from the rest of the community for having started another crèche, it has been a blessing to see how the children are attending the Sunday school as well and encouraging family members to attend church services.”
“Nomvuyo has a passion to train others and she has been using the training material to empower the care givers.” (in response to the question “how have you benefited from the ttt4c training events?”)
ttt4c’s feedback on this project
At a meeting held recently with Northcliff Union Church and Pastor Tom Bambisa from Bramfischerville Community Church, we were very encouraged to hear how the Bramfischerville Community Church has grown in confidence and is involving the community in providing a much-needed service in the area. Activities include a very active youth group for forty youth, weekly home cell group meetings, home visits, a ladies’ group meeting and visits to the sick.
There are currently eighty three children attending the crèche run at Bramfischerville Community Church on a daily basis. Many of these activities have been supported through local community-based fundraising initiatives by members of Bramfischerville Community Church.
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Together in Christ,
turn the tide 4 children
www.ttt4c.org