In Deuteronomy 15:7-8 God says,“If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard heartened or tightfisted towards them. Rather be open handed and freely lend them whatever they need.” We see that this scripture is pregnant with God’s heart for the poor, the widow, orphan, needy, homeless and destitute. The heart of the Father is doing to the least of these: Jesus said in Matt 25: 42, “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not cloth me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.” vs44 They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you.’ vs45 He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ O yes! The Lord has a plan of a hope and future for the needy and he has chosen the church to be instrumental in executing that plan. In Psalm 9:18 the psalmist echoes these words, “But God will never forget the needy: the hope of the afflicted will never perish.” God bless you! Editorial: The heart of the Father. Tsholofelo: Cultivating Hope for a brighter future September/October 2016 Newsletter His People Church exist to honor God by establishing Christ- centered, spirit-empowered, social responsible Churches and campus ministries in every nation. In our quest to be social responsible, the church has joined hands with four (4) local schools to help in mentor and disciple students to be good future leaders. This past month His People church donated a copier to Bokamoso Community Junior Secondary School. This the school that offered us a venue to hold the tuition program. This has strengthened and reinforced our relationship with the school authorities. Contents • Editorial .................................................. 1 • Testimonial .......................................... 1 • Feature Story: Hope built on nothing but Jesus Christ .................. 2 • Pantry Project: Feeding the hungry in our community................................2 • Kgatelopele: Moving forward to a brighter future ..................................... 3 • Come serve with us ........................... 4 Testimonial: Supporting local schools But God will never forget the needy nor the Hope of the afflicted will never perish 1
Transcript
In Deuteronomy 15:7-8 God says,“If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard heartened or tightfisted towards them. Rather be open handed and freely lend them whatever they need.” We see that this scripture is pregnant with God’s heart for the poor, the widow, orphan, needy, homeless and destitute. The heart of the Father is doing to the least of these: Jesus said in Matt 25: 42, “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes
and you did not cloth me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.” vs44 They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you.’ vs45 He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ O yes! The Lord has a plan of a hope and future for the needy and he has chosen the church to be instrumental in executing that plan. In Psalm 9:18 the psalmist echoes these words, “But God will never forget the needy: the hope of the afflicted will never perish.”God bless you!
Editorial: The heart of the Father.
Tsholofelo: Cultivating Hope for a brighter future
September/October 2016
Newsletter
His People Church exist to honor God by establishing Christ-centered, spirit-empowered, social responsible Churches and campus ministries in every nation. In our quest to be social responsible, the church has joined hands with four (4) local schools to help in mentor and disciple students to be good future leaders. This past month His People church donated a copier to Bokamoso Community Junior Secondary School. This the school that offered us a venue to hold the tuition program. This has strengthened and reinforced our relationship with the school authorities.
Contents• Editorial ..................................................1• Testimonial ..........................................1• Feature Story: Hope built on
nothing but Jesus Christ ..................2• Pantry Project: Feeding the hungry
in our community................................2• Kgatelopele: Moving forward to a
brighter future .....................................3• Come serve with us ...........................4
Testimonial: Supporting local schools
But God will never forget the needy nor the Hope of the afflicted will never perish
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But God will never forget the needy...
James 1:27 says, “What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.” This past month we witnessed our church members donating clothes, cutlery, bedding, two beds to a widow and her children whose house was burnt down by fire a few months back. She had really lost all hope thank God for the church being the hands and the feet of Christ.Read Selena Shoniwa’s story:
We are a religious family so that evening we had gone to one of our services. We received an alarming call that our home was on fire and the fire brigade was on its way. I almost collapsed because my little daughter was the one who was at home. She is six years old. “Don’t worry about Lilly, she is ok.” said the voice on the other end of the line. “She is the one who started the fire, she says she was trying to cook something to eat on the parafin stove when the paraffin spilled over resulting in the fire,” continued the caller. She went on to tell me that our neighbor broke into the house and saved her but everything else in your room is burnt to ashes. I later went to the house and came face to face with the reality of our plight. The fire brigade was still there, they managed to stop the fire spreading into other rooms which largely belonged to my husband’s first wife. My late husband Mr Shoniwa died in October 2010. He
had four wives I being the fourth and last wife. More so first and second wives passed way a few years back. So me and maiguru (my late husband’ third wife) are staying in this three bedroomed house. My bedroom and kitchen were the ones which were gutted by fire.Honestly, this was a devastating and desperate time for me and my children. Everything was gut down by the fire: bedding, clothes, cutlery, IDs, birth certificates. I come from a very poor family they couldn’t help us replace the things we lost in the fire. My late husband’s family as well was not in a position to help. I was married in a polygamous marriage and being the fourth and last wife has never been an easy thing. Ever since my husband’s deathi have faced rejection, neglection and condemnation. Life has been tough for me and my children.
Today I want to say thank you to His People Church for helping us with groceries for the past three months. The church also donated to us two beds, bedding, curtains, cutlery etc. May God really bless His People. Not also forgetting to appreciate the church for enrolling Elisha, my 17-year-old son into the after school program. I know that it was because of his participation in that program that God through the church located us.
TSHOLOFELO aims at providing physical, social, and spiritual help to those in need in our church and community. In our thrust to feed the hungry in our local church and community, we have a pantry project put in place. With this project, members of the church contribute some groceries monthly, which will be donated to those in need. The past three months we have provided number of families with groceries. These families will be going through a hard time and we provide food, prayer as well as guidance on how they can alleviate themselves from such tough times. So much appreciation goes to our church members for their contributions and continuous support.
Pantry Project: Feeding the hungry in our Local church and community
Hope built on nothing but Jesus Christ
Old Naledi neighbourhood
I joined volunteers during a service at His People Church. As a qualified TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) therefore my main focus has been tutoring English. We identified the need for our students was to work on their English skills, not just due to it being a main subject at school, but also KGATELOPELE PROJECT as a volunteer tutor in February 2016 after hearing the need for English is the language that most core subjects are taught in. This being so, the level of English of some of the students in our program has been of quiet a concern to me. Although its challenging to work on improving the general level of English among the students in the short time that I have with them each week, I am thoroughly enjoying the tutoring and I am trusting God to guide me in making the best use of the time that I personally have with the students and it has been a very encouraging and heart-warming. To see the positive change in some of the students with respect to English.
Apart from the actual tutoring part of the program, I believe that the students are also enjoying having people around who care about them- I think this greatly encourages them and helps with their, often very low, feelings of self-worth. As an example of this. I’d like to quickly relate a personal experience I have had since the start of the program. It was a couple of months ago that I received a phone call from a friend saying he didn’t know I was a tutor in English. I was so surprised that she knew about this as she was not linked to the program in any way that I knew of, so I asked how she had found out. Supposedly some of her daughter and her classmates were talking about it at school and as she heard my name being mentioned, she made the connection. This encouraged me so much as it meant to me that KGATELOPELE students must be excited about the program that they are even telling others
about it! I believe it means a lot to them and they are proud to be part of it. And wow, how God works to make one of the receivers of the stories they were telling to be my friend’s daughter who was then able to give me direct feedback and encouragement.
I believe KGATELOPELE project is a great initiative with lots of potential to change the lives of children from such difficult backgrounds filled with grief, pain and poverty. We see the lives of these disadvantaged and orphaned children transformed not only academically but socially, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We are only quite a small team of volunteers in the program at the moment, but what a team we are-go team! Somehow we have all been able to play our own part in it from tutoring, to catering, to organizing of the social events and I think it has worked well. It has been, and continues to be a privilege
for me working together on this program with everyone involved. My prayer is that God continues to bless the program, the students, the volunteers, the partners, and all those who have been praying for it….and that more volunteers could be found!A special thanks to Owen and Charity for making this happen!
Jennifer Weir
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But God will never forget the needy...
Kgatelopele: Moving Forward to a Brighter Future
After school tution going on at
Bokamoso Junior School.
VOLUNTEERSpare an hour from your busy schedule every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (1630Hrs) and join hands with us as we allow God to use us bring hope to our future leaders.
PRAYOur students’ wellbeing, academics, physical, spiritual, social,etcWe are trusting God for a new vehicle to transport studentsWe are also trusting God for more volunteersFamily of 12 to get IDs and birth certificates
GIVETsholofelo operates entirely on partnerships. Our commitment to you is integrity and trustworthiness and an “open book” policy in all financial matters.
ACCOUNT:His people ChurchAcc NO: 62322322166First National Bank BotswanaReference: Tsholofelo
We are happy to use your gift where it is most needed. However, if you want it to be used for a specific purpose, please fell free to reference it specifically for the intended purpose.
OFFICEPlot 62417, unit 34ASebele Center MallBlock 10, Gaborone, BotswanaEmail: [email protected]: +267 3909815PO BOX AD873ADD POSTNETKGALE VIEWGABORONE, BOTSWANA
