What a year – whoever thought in January that this year will include things like,

Social distancing
Quarantine-ing
Lockdown and Lockdown levels
Wearing masks in public
Hand sanitizers
Global pandemic statistics that give us nightmares Curfews
Banning alcohol and cigarette sales

But like the great people we are – we adapted to all this.
The Church Committee consisted of the following members during 2020:

Pastor Schalk Treurnicht
Pastor Michael Denner (Locum Tenens)
Ulf Demasius (maintenance)
Danie Steytler (treasurer)
Detlev Ahlert (resigned from Church Committee in July 2020)
Gisela Prüter (chair)
Hannelore Sachse
Ernst-Günther Brunke (co-opted member)

The Committee met for the first time on 14 January 2020 and subsequently 10 more meetings were held. Due to the pandemic, most of these were held over Zoom.
Many of the usual activities/ministries in and around the church could not happen due to the unforeseen circumstances that hit the world.
On the 29th of February a few ladies and Schalk were invited to enjoy a morning with Erna Buhr and Liezel Engelke on the farm. We spent the morning chatting away, drinking tea/coffee and enjoying the lavish spread
of cakes, tarts and pastries prepared by the 2 host ladies. We all enjoyed it tremendously and hope to have a repeat invitation once everything is safe again.
Due to the State of Disaster announced by our President all activities were stopped in the church building sometime in March. Schalk took on the challenge of bringing the Message to us – safe and secure in the comfort of our own homes. For this I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.

In lockdown level 4 Yngvild Steytler and other congregation members and some Kindergarten personnel started a soup kitchen at the church. This was welcomed by many street people. They were treated to a hot cup of soup and a sandwich on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I want to thank Yngvild and all the helpers for this selfless act of kindness. I would also like to extend my thanks to everyone that donated towards this worthy cause. The soup kitchen remained active until about September when it was stopped.
In June the congregation got the opportunity to vote if we could call Schalk as our pastor after completing his colloquium successfully. For the first time this was done electronically. A total of 170 SMS messages were sent to the Congregation. We received 84 responses back (71 = Yes, 1 = No & 7 = Abstain). Schalk was appointed as fulltime pastor to the Kreuzkirche with effect from 1 July 2020. His induction into our church was held on 16 August and was live streamed via YouTube and Facebook.
Every year a big amount of the finances for the church is generated through the Easter Bazaar (originally scheduled for March) and the Annual bazaar in September. These could not happen this year. This left a big hole in the finances. The church received many donations during the lockdown period and I want to thank each and every one for these. Without them we would not have been in such a good financial situation now. In addition to this, sausages from Raith were sold in August which generated +/- R16 000 for the congregation. Yesterday we had our first bazaar for 2020. Although it was very different from previous years, we still made about R80 000. A very big thanks go to Else Röhrs and Hildegard Vogel for all the preparations that went into this from their side. Also, to all the other helpers not specifically mentioned here – thank you! An even bigger thank you goes to Christiane – she works tirelessly on receiving and preparing all the orders and keeping track of all the various payments. Not to mention all the baking and crafting that went through her hands (and the hands of her sisters and daughter). You are truly the back bone of this congregation. Thank you!
So, let’s see what the year 2021 holds for us. Other than a possible Easter Bazaar on the 27th of March I have no dates to share of upcoming events.

I leave you with a quote from Charles Dickens:
“Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man (and woman) has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men (and women) have some.” Thank you.

G. Prüter