Church celebrates 25 years of creating silver linings
The church has themed their celebrations, 'Remember the past, celebrate the future.'
YEARS of sacrifice and a deep passion to fulfill his life’s calling contributed to the strong foundation on which Grace Family Church was established 25 years ago.
Founded by Mark van Straaten and his wife Christine, the church was started with just 25 congregants, after the van Straaten couple sold their home in Empangeni and used the profits to make their vision a reality.
In the build up to their 25th anniversary celebrations, Mark, a Durban North father of three, spoke to the Northglen News about their early days, their community upliftment projects and their plans for the future.
Speaking from the uMhlanga campus of Grace Family Church which currently has a congregation of around 2500 people over their five services, Mark said, “The initial years were difficult. I subsidised my own income by selling life insurance, taught at a computer college in town and sold video cassette players at a flea market. We started the church at Northlands Primary School and were there for about three months. We then spent a few years at two different schools before moving into this building 12 years ago. Five years ago, we became a multi-campus church, which means we are one church that meets at three locations in uMhlanga, Ballito and Riverside”.
The church’s mission is to reach the lost, grow the found and to engage in missions and justice.
“We come from a privileged community and we have always wrestled with that privilege in trying to leverage it to address the inequalities of our society. One of our projects is the Container Ministry. Overseas donors donate food in the form of soup mix that comes from California and a variety of goods from Europe. We clear and forward these containers and distribute them to around 150 mission partners around KZN and southern Mozambique. On an irregular basis, we feed around 120 000 to 130 000 people.
The church featured in the Guinness World Book of Records two years ago for the Barefoot World Record Challenge, where they had the most number of people running a 100 meter race barefoot. Each participant had to donate a pair of shoes and these were donated to the underprivileged. This initiative was used to launch the Grace Aid brand and to collect shoes.
“Through Grace Aid we focus on the development of people. In 2016, Grace Aid developed more micro entrepreneurs through the Paradigm Shift programme than any other NGO in SA. By training these budding entrepreneurs, they can provide themselves with a little more than a subsistence form of living. We want to continue helping people become vibrant contributors to our communities and give them a sense of value, dignity and hope.”
To celebrate their anniversary, the church is running with the theme, ‘Remember the past, Celebrate the future” and will be hosting four events, one of which is their celebration service on Sunday, 29 January, at all 3 campuses. The three other events will focus on community upliftment projects. For more information, call 031 575 9300.
