ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
STILBAAI UNITED CHURCH
JUNE 2024 – MAY 2025
I greet you in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To God be the glory great things He has done amongst us. For without God nothing would have been possible. God has blessed us abundantly.
Once again I stand in awe of what God has done in and through us again. How God has grown us as His people. God has so much more to grow us therefore let us always be alert and ready to move on with God.
With regards to our church’s finances, we have been blessed and how we share our blessings with others. This past year again we ended in a good financial state.
Current account R13 186,66
Savings Property Trust R1 024 958,05
Property Account R152 666,30
Tithing that we paid out is Ouma Lena’s Huis R4 000 per quarter
Badisa School Fees R5 000 per quarter
Gideons R5 000
School supplies R4 000
Little Angels Feeding scheme R2 500
WAS R2 500
Once again I would like to thank everyone for the generous way in which you help our church to reach out to those who are in need. We also have an emergency fund to help those individuals that go through trying financial times. The emergency fund is funded out of our tithing fund.
With regards to our property, we were able to paint the outside wall and they are looking well. Also we did major damp sealing on our outside walls but we still need to do more at our ground level. Our door frames have been re-varnished. We need to thank Gavin Joyce for it. Our curtains and blinds are also been fixed and here again we need to thank Gavin and Marilyn Joyce. We had speakers fitted into the children’s room. We had to fit locks on our outside taps as people took our water and raised our water bill quite seriously. Lastly we had to reseal our side roofs after the wind and rain caused inside leaks. I would like to thank Philip van den Berg, our Property Steward for the fine work he has done and also for spraying the weeds on our path ways. Philip has been a great help and is drawing up a 5 year maintenance plan for our church. Also our gardening team under Diane Terblanche and Mattewis who helps in the garden, has done a great job in our garden and wall of remembrance. Many people come to the garden to find peace. We just want to thank them and also for JD Crawford who donated, made and planted the cross in our garden.
We completed two courses during the year “The life you always wanted” by Ortberg and “Prayer” by Phillip Yancey on Sunday evenings.
Congregational events we had during the year: men’s breakfast, congregational lunch. We plan to do some more men’s breakfasts on the 12th July and 25th October 2025 and another congregational brunch 14th September 2025. We also enjoy the coffee and tea after Sunday services. We just wish more will enjoy this opportunity to meet other members. We also had a movie night as well as a Bible quiz. There is hope that we will have some more of these social evenings. Also a special time is the tea for new members and the leaders to meet each other.
Another great blessing in our church is the Bible studies where we can deepen our relationship with Jesus. We wish more and more people will get involved in the Bible studies. Our church has also created a space where people can come and pray and spend some quiet time with Jesus.
Our Carol service, Christmas service and New Years’ Eve services were a meaningful experience. Our Lenten journey again began on Ash Wednesday. Also I want to thank our ladies for all the Palm crosses they made to make our Palm Sunday special. Our Holy Week services this year was a special time as we journeyed with Jesus to the cross. Our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services were a great blessing.
We are greatly blessed by our women’s group and the wonderful outreach in the baby bags they make for underprivileged mothers for when they come out of the hospital with their babies. Also the blankets they make for the underprivileged and also the way they helped the ladies at Melkhoutfontein to make the blankets. They knit jerseys for children and babies. The ladies of the Women’s group also help with serving tea and coffee at funeral services and what a blessing that is. Another blessing are the crosses they make for visitors to welcome them. These crosses are such a blessing to the visitors – they can’t stop talking about them. The Women’s group, under Melinda’s leadership, have done wonderful things in reaching out to make God’s love real in our society. Then we have had a sad moment this year when Benjy Kuun passed on to the Lord. Benjy did our YouTube and it was such an enormous blessing to so many people and it will be missed greatly. I want to express my deepfelt gratitude to Benjy and his dear wife Hannetjie who helped Benjy to do the YouTube.
Then I also want to thank all the people who helped us in our church – the Door Stewards, the kitchen staff who help with serving tea and coffee on Sundays and those who put flowers in the church on Sundays. Then also a big thank you to those wonderful people who do the data projector duties on a Sunday and at other times – Norma, Jill, Jacqui and Gavin. And also our musicians that enable us to worship in a meaningful way – Riaan, Jean, Linda and Jacqui.
I would also like to thank our Church Council members and the finance committee members for their faithful, loyal and outstanding contribution to the running and management of our church,
Above all a big thank you to our dear Lord and God who has blessed us over and over again this past year. Without the Lord nothing would have been possible. As we look to the future I would like to call us all to step out in faith as there is so much more that God is calling to that we will follow Him in all things that He calls us to. There is so much more that God is calling us to so we must not become comfortable and complacent.
May God bless you all and thank you for the privilege you allow me and my wife to minister among you. You have filled our lives and made our journey with Jesus so much richer.
Yours in Christ
Ronnie Cawood
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
STILBAAI UNITED CHURCH
JUNE 2023 – MAY 2024
I greet you in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our God has brought us safely through another year and has richly blessed us. How this past year we have again found how true the hymn writer’s words are, “Great is Thy faithfulness, morning, noon and night.” How faithful God has been to us in all things. We have been so blessed by God that we could bless others with the blessing God has so generously poured out on us.
With regards to the finances, we could help the school needs with stationary and other needs, Jagersbosch and Soeterus (Retirement complex in Melkhoutfontein), Ouma Lena se Huis and Badisa with school fees, and also Sozo (Medical Ambulance). We also have an Emergency fund that we assist people with. Once again we would like to thank Craig Whitecross and the Whitecross family for their generous donation to the church with the Meat hampers that raised a total of R9 660 for the church funds. Due to your faithful support out church is in a good financial state. Our current account R17656,15 , Savings account R707 887 and the Property trust savings account R150 00. I would like to commend you all on your financial generosity during the year that enabled us to keep the doors of the church open and also we have helped many people financially this year. In our giving, we are always acknowledging our Lord’s goodness and faithfulness towards us.
Our women’s group once again has been a blessing to our church in the way they have reached out to people. Their baby bags for young mothers have been so appreciated. They have also helped the people at Kwiktertjies and Soeterus. The cross in the pocket they made for new visitors has been such a blessing. Many people have asked for one. The Ladies group also had a very special car boot sale. They also made blankets for people in need during the winter months.
We also have enjoyed two congregational breakfasts. Especially the last one was well attended and enjoyed by all.
The two courses that were done in the past year was the Alpha course we shared with the Dutch Reformed Church. And then just recently we did “The Power of Whisper” by Bill Hybels. We also shared in Wees Lig, Be Light outreach. We are planning another two courses next year.
We also had a movie evening that was well attended, especially by visiting young people who also enjoyed the popcorn. We will be looking at having another one in the new year. Another special moment was when the Stilbaai Singers came to share in our worship service. It was a wonderful moment. Our church has also welcomed quite a number of new members that have been such a blessing to our church.
Our property team has done well with the repairs that were needed to be done. They have seen to the cracks that appeared in the church and also the window in the steeple. We want to thank the garden team for the way they have cared for our church garden. A number of people have visited and commended our beautiful, cared for garden.
We are still doing the YouTube recordings of the sermons as there are a number of people (30 – 40) who still benefit from it. Here we need to express our gratitude to Benjy and Hannetjie Kuun for doing it for us.
Our four Bible Study groups are still meeting faithfully and growing our people in their walk with Jesus. We all need to grow in our journey with Jesus for none of us have yet arrived. There is so much more we need to grow in our relationship with Jesus.
I also want to thank our data projector operators for the special work they do to help us in our worship services. I would also like to thank Riaan Terblanche, who very faithfully serves as our church’s secretary/treasurer and plays each Sunday the keyboard that we can sing. We thank God for his unselfish service. I would also like to thank Jean Moffitt for helping our worship in playing the piano for us with Riaan. We need to acknowledge Marion Potgieter, our auditor as well who faithfully audits our books. Our worship services have also grow from the average of 60 people to now 70 on average. We are so grateful to God for the growth.
We also had to say goodbye to two very helpful and committed people who have helped us greatly. They are Johan and Charmaine Raaths who have moved to St. Helena Bay on the West Coast. Johan was our property steward and Charmaine a local preacher and they both served on our church council. We wish them well in the new place.
As we look towards the future we do so with keen anticipation as God calls us forward. As the hymn writer says, “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.” God has so much more that He is calling us to. So let us in faith step out, trusting God.
Lastly Christina and I once again want to thank you for the privilege and honor that is ours to serve God amongst you special people of God.
God bless
Yours in Christ
Ronnie Cawood
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
STILBAAI UNITED CHURCH
MAY 2022/2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
The Lord has been good and faithful to us once again this past year. We stand in awe of all that God has done in and through our church. Therefore, with the hymn writer we can say “When we consider all the works of Thy hands then sings my soul how great Thou art.”
Just when we feel we have seen it all, God opens us to experience more and more of Him in our lives, personally and also as a congregation. As we reflect back over the past year we see what a privilege it is that God has brought us safely through the Covid period and that we could get to doing things again. When I look at our services, what a joy it was to have numbers increase again at our weekly services and the chairs could be moved closer to each other and we could see each other’s faces again. We could have tea and coffee after the services too. Also how good it was to have a full house at our Christmas Day service and to see families worshipping together. We had the privilege to have done the Ortberg course “Who is this man Jesus” and “Anxiety ” by John Piper on Sunday evenings. Our Holy Week and Easter services were well attended. We also have continued with our U-Tube services. It is a real blessing for those who cannot come to church due to health reasons and even touched people who have never come to church. Here we need to thank Benjy and Hannatjie Kuun once again for their time and effort.
We had wonderful outreach opportunities. We helped Badisa (School fees), Ouma Lena Huis, school needs financially, stationery for Melkhoutfontein and Bertie Barnard Schools. We also helped people from the emergency fund. Our Women’s Group did a wonderful outreach in knitting knee blankets for the needy and elderly and filling maternity bags with special items for new born babies whose parents cannot afford to care for their new born babies. We are also involved with Badisa’s “Sakkie vir ‘n Pakkie ” donating dry food for the needy in Stilbaai and Melkhoutfontein.
We also again did the Sandcastle competition for the holiday makers on the beach in December and here we need to thank Zelda and her team. We did the Surfers’ burgers again at the surfing competition in September and here Bill and his team did great work. We also donated money to the Gideons for Bible distribution.
With regards to our church building, we fitted an inverter to help us with the data projector, lights and microphones with the power outages. Then I would like to thank Johan and Gavin and the team of men who organized and did the recoating of our church chairs. What an awesome task but now our chairs are in a good condition. Our garden team has done a good job with maintaining our garden.
Fundraising: We want to thank the Whitecrosss family for donating us a meat hamper that raised R6411 and the Surfers’ braai that raised R3885,00. Our Women’s Group organized a car boot sale that also raised R5388,05.
It also has been a wonderful year as we have received a number of new members. We would like to welcome all new members and we are glad to have you as part of our church family. Our deep felt sympathies to those families who lost loved ones during the year.
Then the highlight of our year ending in May 2023 was Trevor Hudson’s weekend mission, 5-7 May 2023. What an inspirational weekend and so many people of the other churches in Stilbaai joined us and we had outstanding attendances and so blessed by his messages.
I would also like to thank all the people who so freely gave of themselves in serving God in our church – the Data Projector operators, Riaan for the music each Sunday, the Door Stewards welcoming the people on Sundays, the ladies who help with serving tea and coffee on Sundays and also all those who bring refreshments each fourth Sunday and also Melinda for organizing the Communion Table on Communion Sundays.
Our Bible Studies continue to meet faithful and care for each other.
Lastly, I would say what a joy and privilege it is to serve God amongst you. May God continue to bless us and use us to serve Him.
Yours in Christ
Ronnie Cawood