"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - Common Ground Church

----------------------- SEPTEMBER 2019 ----------------------

                       “The light shines in the darkness,
                     and the darkness has not overcome it.”
                                            John 1:5

   Amidst the pain and darkness that we’ve been facing as a nation, it’s good to
  remember that there’s a light more powerful than the darkness. A light that is
            spreading - filling our city with renewed hope, joy and life.

Slowly, yet surely, our city is being filled with the light John first spoke of in John 1.
It’s a light that the darkness cannot comprehend nor overcome. It’s Christ himself,
     powerfully on display through the five gifts you’re helping us give to our city.

                                  Just take a closer look…

GIFT 1 : MORE CHRIST-FOLLOWERS
                        “Filling Cape Town with more and more people who love and follow Christ.”

Over the past month, across the city in three different locations, we’ve hosted hundreds of people looking into the claims of
Christ through the Alpha course. Here’s what some of our leaders have to say:

“The citizens of our city are asking the big questions of life and they’re wanting answers. We’ve been astounded by the
number of people coming to our Alpha introduction nights – 150 in January and another 100 in August. About half have then
chosen to explore their questions further. It’s been a real delight to eat together, discuss life and build friendships.” Paul -
Inner City

“Our Alpha Saturday was a real highlight. It was a time to strengthen new-found friendships and explore together what it
means to be filled with the Spirit. God moved powerfully and it really felt like lives were changed. I look forward to the life
groups that are going to form and continue after the course. Praise the Lord!” Garth - Rondebosch

“Gary Kirsten was fantastic at helping us launch our Alpha course. Hosted at Ocean Basket at the new Table Bay Mall
(owned by one of our members), there was a fantastic vibe, full of energy and life. Just over 30 precious people have stuck
around for the rest of the journey. Genuine seekers asking all the right questions, it’s been a privilege for us in Common
Ground Tableview to team together in bringing these people a little closer to Jesus.” Roger – Tableview

For more inspiration on living a light-filled, missional lifestyle, why not check out Tina’s story on www.commonstories.co.za…
A member of Common Ground Sun Valley, read how God used a hospital isolation ward to reignite a passion for the lost in
Tina’s heart.

GIFT 2 : MORE CONGREGATIONS
                        “Planting more churches deeper into our culture, wider into our city.”

Since first announcing our exciting new Kenilworth church plant (set to take place in early 2020), Steve Bonaconza,
together with his family and an emerging core team, have made some great progress. Having already had two well-
attended looking-in evenings for Common Grounders considering partnering with them, Steve says:

“It’s been so thrilling to see the early stages of our congregation beginning to take shape. In our last time together, we
shared the vision, got re-inspired by Terran on why and how to live more missional lives, and then broke up into different
groups to pray. If you’d like to jon us in praying, we are still looking for the right venue and continue to pray that God
would add just the right people to our core team to ensure we can hit the ground running.”

Always wanting to pass on what we’re learning along the way, we asked Roger Haynes (who planted our Tableview
congregation almost 5 years ago), to share his lessons and reflections on planting with other would-be church planters, via
a podcast on www.commonresources.co.za. Listen in if you’d like.

Our newer Sea Point and Langa congregations are flourishing too. Both now have elders and deacons in place, a steadily
growing number of life groups and a handful of new volunteers to be grateful for.

Thank you for your continued prayers for each of these gospel outposts.

                  From left to right: Steve and Candice, Tableview’s venue, the M5 corridor in which we hope to plant in soon

GIFT 3 : MORE COMPASSION & JUSTICE
           “Creating opportunities for people marginalised by injustice to reach their God-given potential.”

We sought to capture the faces of some of the inspiring men and women whose commitment to compassion and
justice is steadily bringing more light to our city. With each person we photographed, the bigger picture began to
come into focus. From Observatory to Bonteheuwel, Hout Bay to Mowbray, we encountered stories of hope, joy and
remarkable transformation. All because of ordinary people choosing to show up and make God’s love visible to the
people around them.

If you’ve invested in the Fill the City vision, then you’ve invested into every one of these people and the initiatives
they’re connected to (or have been impacted by). Thank you! May their faces and stories inspire us all to continue to
make a difference, wherever we are.

GIFT 3 : MORE COMPASSION & JUSTICE
“Creating opportunities for people marginalised by injustice to reach their God-given potential.”

GIFT 3 : MORE COMPASSION & JUSTICE
“Creating opportunities for people marginalised by injustice to reach their God-given potential.”

GIFT 4 : MORE CULTURAL RENEWAL
                           “Renewing culture by helping Christ-followers to see their work as worship.”

For most of us, the largest portion of our day is spent at work. That’s why we’re committed to ensuring more and more Christ-followers
live out their work as a practical expression of their worship to God. Uncovering the ‘why’ behind your work is the first step. That’s why
we’re dedicating a full day to the subject. Our One Life team has been hard at work ensuring that the Know Your Why Conference will be
a truly life-changing one.

Happening on the 4th of October, it’s not too late to book your ticket via Quicket. You’ll hear from keynote speaker Ken Costa (renowned
UK author and businessman), as well as Professor Kelly Chibale, Majozi, Dr Nthabiseng Legoete, Susannah Farr and Western Cape’s
premier, Alan Winde.

In addition to this event, watch this space for a brand new One Life website and an 8-week One Life Course launching soon.

                        From left to right: Majozi, Dr Nthabiseng Legoete, Ken Costa, Prof Kelly Chibale, Premier Alan Winde and Susannah Farr

Of course, it’s not just boardrooms that need to be renewed, but every space in our city, including our homes. That’s why Bosch AM
recently ran a “Circle of Security” course as part of their MomsCom (mom’s community group). Equipping moms and caregivers to
better look after themselves and their charges, this is what one of the unchurched participants had to say:
“This course has been life-changing. It has given me so much insight into secure attachment on a practical level… I have attended
other parenting workshops, but this course has by far been the most beneficial and thorough. If all parents attended this course I
think the future of our world would look a lot brighter, with people being more emotionally attuned to one another and carrying less
hatred and heartache.”

GIFT 5 : CHURCH STRENGTHENING
             “Doing what we can to strengthen the wider church – in Cape Town and beyond.”

If the church is the hope of the world, we must do all we can to see all churches equipped and empowered to do what
they’ve been called to do. To this end, we’re so proud of Andre and Ziba and the work they’ve been doing to gather and
encourage a wide range of under-resourced churches in our city.

Apart from ongoing Leader’s Breakfasts in Phillipi, Langa, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Strandfontein, we have gotten
alongside a few of these pastoral couples to see them through a 2-year church planting course (ACPC).

Thanks to these growing citywide relationships, 3 of these churches chose to preach through the book of Daniel at the
same time as us in Common Ground (enabling them to share in our content, collaborate with our preaching teams and
share our design work too).

What a privilege to serve and strengthen Christ’s bride in this way. Please keep these three leaders, their families and
their churches in your prayers. All three face numerous challenges and yet continue to do so with incredible courage
and inspiring faith.

                               From left to right: Katiso and family, Siya and his wife Cikizwa, Pastor Robert Fati.

Since March this year, we have received just
over R3,7 million toward Fill the City. With
R4,9 million having been pledged, that’s
almost 80% of the total pledged amount.

Thank you to everyone who has sown into
making the FTC vision an increasing reality.

                                                    R3.7 million

                                                                    R4.9 million
Please continue to partner with us, not only

                                                                                     R6 million
financially, but also by praying for each of the
five gifts and the initiatives and people behind
them.
                                                   Received        Total           Faith goal
For His name and fame alone.                       so far          pledged