Reformed church south africa; reformed church potchefstroom

“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” (Rev 2:4-5).

The Lord used this verse above to call me back to Himself. It is so easy as a pastor to fall into a professional routine to prepare sermons and do admin while missing the Lord Himself. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, one’s heart can grow cold due to a deprivation of prayer and slow Bible reading and meditation. When you see your brothers and sisters grow in the faith, you feel like a stranger. The Bible was not driving me to the pulpit, but the pulpit was driving me to the Bible. This is a scary place to be indeed!

Through my study of Proverbs (the current book we are working through as a church) and the Revelation text, my Gracious Shepherd called me back to Himself. What was clear through this text was that repentance meant to do the works I did at first: Like waking up to read my Bible, memorize Scripture, pray for the saints, and to faithfully shepherd my family through family worship. It is practical. It means leaving old, sinful habits and replacing them with good, godly ones. It means to plead with God to incline my heart again to His Word and not to selfish gain. It means to obey while trusting God to give His Holy Spirit for true joy in Him.

It feels odd, but in this season of spiritual coldness, I was asking myself, “Is it allowed for pastors not to be ok spiritually?” When a member or another believer struggles spiritually, they can go to their pastor for counsel, prayer, and help. But to whom does the pastor turn to? Every pastor needs a pastor; every pastor is first a member and a Christian before he is a shepherd. And in that, I too need to walk in the light with the brothers and be mentored by another pastor further down the road.

The Lord has granted me brothers here in Potch and the other elders of Heritage JHB to whom I can speak. The key for me was to be honest and not try to protect my reputation by saying all is well. This all highlights again the urgent need for us to have a plurality of elders with whom I can do the work of the ministry together.

I’m thankful for the grace of God which He lavished upon me in all wisdom and insight. Though our sins are many, His mercies are more.

In a few weeks (9 July), we will be expecting our third son, Zian. We are looking forward to a bit of a break from pastoral duties. My wife Deborah is really uncomfortable, and I have had to carry some extra burdens around the house in this time. It was a test of my own heart and self-pity was always crouching at the door, seeking to master me. But thanking God was a discipline that helped to fight the despondency of self-pity.

We are in the final stages of installing deacons. We are also receiving 4 new members on the 7^th of July. Slowly, but surely, the church is growing, and I give all the honour to the Lord of the Church.

With our church being small, it has been a challenge to disciple the new members adequately. Currently, I am discipling them while updating our Discipleship book at the same time. I know the work is a lot now, but it will be worth it when some of the newer members can also disciple others.

With all the irons in the fire, we have not been going out to do evangelism. My prayer is that the Lord will give us someone with the gift of evangelism to equip the saints in this area.

Riaan