God’s Mission through Rays of Hope
And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.” (Matthew 25:40)
What a privilege it is to share in this mandate to love and serve our brothers as our King has told us to! And what a privilege it is to share in this mandate with YOU – the local body of Christ at Rosebank Union. Thank you for putting your resources, whether your time, talents, connections, finances and prayers, into action in helping us serve our brothers and sisters less fortunate than us.
May you and yours be blessed exceedingly and abundantly, as our Lord promises! When we sow generously, He promises that we will reap generously! Our God is not a man that He should lie, particularly in this area.
This month, we’re looking at missional living and I’d like to highlight a few people that you may or may not know of that serve in different ways, whatever they’re able to with the capacity they have, but together we serve a greater purpose – to spread the love of our Christ in a very tangible way, by (adapted from Matt. 25:35-36) “giving me food when I was hungry, giving me something to drink when I was thirsty, welcoming me when I was a stranger to you, clothing me when I was naked, visiting me when I was sick, coming to me when I was in prison”.
Some of the beautiful people I’d like to honour who have served with Rays of Hope over the years, include:
Our oldest volunteer, Dorothy, who collects food from Fournos Benmore weekly, and brings it to our Sandton office, which we then distribute to the Alex Old Age home, iThemba Labantwana (looking after orphaned and vulnerable children) and to the 23 creche’s, in Alex, which we support through our Early Childhood Development programme.
Our longest serving couple Richard & Denise O’Callaghan (both in their 70’s), who’ve served at Rose-ACT for over 10 years and who have been on the committee for longer, are absolute gems in serving the kids who come hungry to learn!
Our longest continually-involved-in-giving-back ex-Rose-ACT student, Banele Mtebele, who has been part of Rays of Hope, since starting at Rose-ACT Saturday school as a student in 2002, then became a part of our IGNITION Tertiary education support programme (whilst tutoring at Rose-ACT). Banele, now 30 years old, is an accomplished TV editor at Rhythm City, while still tutoring at Rose-ACT and has started his own Grade 9 life skills club (“Club 9-9”), to continue the work that was begun through Rays of Hope.
The amazing women, who serve in Home Based Care, who weekly go into situations, which would be difficult to face in a normal home situation, but are often next level challenging in a shack or single room – to serve those that are unable to look after themselves. Ladies, your tireless commitment is hugely admirable – thank you!
And last but not at all least, I’d like to acknowledge our longest standing staff member, Louise Cameron, a Dutch Ozzie, who has chosen to serve for the past 15 years running Rose-Act. Louise steadfastness in serving for so many years is a great example to me of commitment – thank you Louise for everything you’ve given, and continue to give, in serving in Rose-Act.
And in closing, in reference to Jesus’ words recorded at the end of Matthew chapter 25:
“Then the King will say to those on his right (the sheep he has separated), “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.
So thank you to ALL who are already a part of this work in Alex – please keep sowing with and sharing about Rays of Hope! To those who aren’t yet a part of our work at Rays of Hope – we’d love to have you join us in this integral work in the kingdom and being a part of creating lasting change in Alex for good!
