Weekly Update – 1st Sunday of Advent

by Takalani Musekwa | Nov 28, 2025 | News

1^st Sunday of Advent – 30 November 2025

Psalm 122:1–9 • Isaiah 2:1–5 • Romans 13:11–14 • Matthew 24:36–44

Coming Events to Diarise:

Regional Leadership Conference – 5 – 7 December 2025

SEP 2025 – 13 – 20 December 2025

Monthly Day of Prayer & Fasting – 13 December 2025

Denominational Conference 2026 – 23-26 July 2026, Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, Dallas, Texas, USA.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This week marks the first Sunday of Advent, which is a season in which we look back with joy to Christ’s first coming, and look forward with hope to His second. Yet looking forward is not always easy. Celebrating a future event feels unusual, and many of us naturally gravitate toward the familiar story of Jesus’ birth. In fact, many believers do not realise that Advent is as much about the future as it is about the past. I would even suggest that it is more about the future.

This raises an important question: if we “remember” Christ’s first coming, how do we approach His second coming—an event still in the future? When I searched for the opposite of “remember,” I found words like forget, ignore, overlook, and neglect. Is it any wonder that many Christians unintentionally forget, ignore, or overlook the promise of Christ’s return?

This is precisely why the season of Advent invites us to reflect on the most anticipated event in all of history: the return of our Lord. The challenge, of course, is that we don’t know the date. Yet Jesus tells us plainly: “Be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” (Matthew 24:44)

Instead of forgetting, ignoring, or neglecting His return, Advent calls us to readiness and to live with anticipation, faithfulness, and hope.

My prayer for this week is that this Advent season will teach us how to prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of our King. Amen!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Special Service at Aruka: For those who are able to attend the special church service at Aruka on 7 December, please give your names to your pastors, who will submit your names to Nowakhe at the national office at nowakhe@gci.org.za or 066 250 8265 for catering purposes. Food will be for sale, and we need to make sure there will be enough for everyone. Please let us have the numbers by 30 November.

Sick Brethren: Please continue to pray for the brethren who are suffering from various sicknesses.

Offerings: Please continue to pray for the offerings and needs of the church as we count down to the end of 2025. Income is still below budget.

Have a blessed weekend!
Shalom!

Takalani

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National Office Closure

The National office will close on the 15th of Dec 2025 and reopen on Jan 05, 2026.

Please make sure that any disbursements required for Dec 2025 and early Jan 2026 are submitted by no later than the 12th of December for final processing.

Regional Leadership Conference: 5 – 7 December 2025

We are pleased to announce a Special Regional Leadership Conference taking place from 5 to 7 December 2025 at Aruka.

GCI President, Dr. Greg Williams, and his wife Susan will be joining us as the special guests, along with the Superintendent for Africa, Pastor Kalengule Kaoma and all Africa Regional Directors.

A special worship service is scheduled for Sunday, 7 December, and all members are warmly invited to attend. Please watch out for more details soon.

SPIRITUAL EQUIPPING PROGRAM (SEP) 2025

Applications for SEP 2025 are closed. The fees are now due, as the deadline of 31 October has passed.

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REPEAT ANNOUNCEMNTS NOT TO BE READ IN CHURCH SERVICES

NATIONAL BUILDING FUND NOW OVER R1.4 MILLION

The National Building Fund has now passed R1.4 million.

Please support your congregation’s Building Fund by contributing additional offerings monthly or once off to the dedicated bank account as follows:

· Bank: First National Bank (FNB)

· Name: GCI Building Fund

· Account No: 6304 180 7835

· Deposit Reference: Name and Surname

You can also fundraise as a group or alone. You may have items that you no longer need or use which you can pawn and donate the funds, or approach friends and family who may be able to donate to the fund. If you need a letter to request donations please feel free to contact me.

Monthly Day of Prayer and Fasting –Saturday 13 December 2025 (2nd Saturday of the Month)

Our next Day of Prayer and Fasting is on Saturday 13 December 2025. Please see the dates for the rest of the year below, and diarise accordingly.

Please find some video links on Prayer and Fasting if you want to know more. Here are the links:

1. Fasting- The Forgotten Spiritual Discipline – https://youtu.be/7MgrVj_w9sY

2. Fasting Questions and Answers 1 – https://youtu.be/Mkk3U2KvPHg

3. Fasting Questions and Answers 2 – https://youtu.be/CghD-uxBbFk

4. Fasting Question and Answer #3 – https://youtu.be/ajKaWRgreLw (Question #3: How should I fast? Are there different types of fasts?)

Future Days of Prayer and Fasting:

· December 13

SEPTEMBER 2025 ISSUE OF FACE TO FACE PUBLISHED

Our November 2025 issue of the online Face To Face magazine has been published. Please find it here: Face To Face

The Best Known Psalm of All

This is my Gospel

Playing Hide and Seek

Online Bi-Weekly Bible Study

Please diarise and join the biweekly Online Bible study every second Wednesday at 19:00. The current series is: The Book of Proverbs.

To connect to the biweekly Bible Study, here are the details: Click

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89054374373?pwd=NFZVaFJjVGxqQjc5K0YyeWEzVVZMUT09

OR enter the details below to join the meeting:

Meeting ID: 890 5437 4373

Passcode: GCI2021

Time: 19:00

OFFERINGS: (should Christians pay a tithe?)

Even though some churches are not able to meet, we urge you to continue to give your weekly Thanksgiving offering that you would normally give during church services. The bank details for EFT and Cash deposits are below:

The Banking details for both the weekly Thanksgiving Offerings and the monthly Freewill Offerings are as follows:

EFT PAYMENTS

GRACE COMMUNION INTERNATIONAL-S.A –

Account No: 593 800 27523 – FNB Current Account Number

Ref. NameSurname Church

Please reference your offering so that we can send a receipt.

CASH PAYMENTS