Durban

Durban is a sub-tropical sunny port on the eastern coast of South Africa. Durban Harbour (the entrance pictured below) is the largest container handling port in the Southern Hemisphere handling more than 5000 vessels each year. We enjoy approximately 320 days of sun a year, mild winters and a very humid summer in February/March.

The waves are great, the beaches world-renowned, and the lifestyle relaxed and friendly. Durban is home to the International Convention Centre (ICC) which hosts many conferences from around the world. Durban also hosts a world class surfing competition during July, the famous 90km Comrades Marathon and the Duzi Canoe Marathon.

500 years ago Vasco de Gama first sighted Durban on Christmas Day in 1497 and named it Port Natal. Later the town was named after the local Governor Sir Benjamin D'Urban. Durban, whose Zulu name is eThekweni, lies in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal (the home of the Zulus), and with a population of 3.2 million people is the 3rd largest city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town. Durban boasts some fine colonial architecture dating from the middle to late 1800s, like the City Hall pictured right.

The Power of Prayer

Prayer reaches beyond time. It touches continents. It rewrites history and changes a nation's destiny.

We witnessed this in 1994 with the peaceful democratic elections held in South Africa ushering in the post-Apartheid era. Without prayer we would perhaps still be in civil war right now.

Multi-Cultural Worship

We love to Worship our God - with songs in English, Zulu, Hindi, Swahili, Spanish, French and German. We write a lot of our own songs too.

We encourage people to participate in the Worship Services in bringing a psalm, hymn, spiritual song, scripture reading, revelation, tongue, interpretation, or prophecy (1 Cor 14:26) even if it is in their own language.

We also encourage the use of traditional instruments in our times of worship to provide a full rich sound reflective of the many nations represented in our church People of every tribe and eery tongue and every nation gathered together before the throne of God in worship...

Preaching the Word

This picture shows Peter van Niekerk preaching in Kenya. He is thanking the people there for praying for us during our election of 1994. The churches of Harry Das and Michael Eaton prayed 24 hours a day during this time. Their prayers were surely answered.

Our Vision

Our Vision Statement is contained in the following W.I.S.E. acrostic:

W - Worshippers and Lovers of God

To be a multicultural community of believers who worship and love God as their first priority. (Song of Songs; Daniel 7:13-14, John 4:23-24, Revelation 5:9-14)

I - Instructing and Equipping

Through the continual empowering of the Holy Spirit to instruct and equip leaders and members, enabling each individual person to play a vital role in church body life and in the world. (Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:1-12, Ephesians 4:7-16, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27)

S - Sending Out SWAT Teams

To send out SWAT teams to encourage existing churches and to plant cell churches where none exist. (SWAT = "Spirit-filled Workers with a sense of Adventure and Tenacity") (Isaiah 18:1-4, 7, Matthew 28:18, Romans 15:20-21)

E - Each One Win One

Each individual member to win one person to Christ each year. (Genesis 17:1-8, Proverbs 11:30, Daniel 12:3, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27)