CHURCH PROPERTY

update 14 May 2009

A church building close to our mission headquarters in Cape Town has come onto the market. Lenora and I have had a couple of opportunities to view the property. It is very close to our mission headquarters and also overlooks Rondebosch Common.

From our perspective there is tremendous potential to this property.

With all the various ministries based at Livingstone House growing beyond our facilities, the property looks most attractive to us. The church property can easily accommodate over 100 people for Sunday services, Thursday Reformation Society meetings and day seminars, with adequate parking facilities.

Although it has been over 3 years since the church building was last used, and it is badly run down and needing much renovation, it is a well-built structure and very well placed with excellent exposure on a busy road. It is opposite the large Rondebosch Common, a National Heritage site, literally within the shadow of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak.

There are many advantages to acquiring this property including sufficient facilities to accommodate our Christian Liberty Books ministry which has long since grown beyond the area allocated to it at Livingstone House. Security concerns at our mission HQ preclude us making open invitations or having a listed address. However, this facility could be openly advertised and could accommodate home school events, mission rallies and leadership training courses.

Moving Livingstone Fellowship, the Reformation Society and Christian Liberty Books out of the present mission headquarters would free up much of the present space for Frontline Fellowship, Africa Christian Action and William Carey Bible Institute priorities. The other facility, within walking distance, would be the advertised public venue for seminars and services, home schooling events and the book ministry.

We have been informed that numerous other religions are interested in taking over this facility, including Hindus, Bahais and Muslims. It would be a tragedy to allow those false religions to get such a prominent church facility in the heart of Rondebosch.

With the death threats that I have incurred for writing the Slavery, Terrorism and Islam book, and with numerous other threats of the years that our mission has received from homosexual groups, (for the publishing of The Pink Agenda), from the Sudan government (for our work in exposing the atrocities of the government of Sudan in, amongst other things the Faith Under Fire In Sudan book and Sudan the Hidden Holocaust film), and the many threats from Muslims (for our Muslim Evangelism Workshops), we have never been able to advertise our present mission house.

Our telephone numbers and physical address are unlisted for obvious reasons. This does undermine some of the more public aspects of our ministry where we would like to encourage people to come, such as for church services and for the bookshop.

Separating out the book ministry, and the Sunday services and seminars in a separate facility from the mission headquarters would solve numerous problems. It would free up more space at the mission and enable us to get out of gridlock in some areas where we are simply just bursting at the seams. It would also greatly increase the exposure of Christian Liberty Books and Livingstone Fellowship, enabling us to openly invite the public, particularly home schoolers, to the bookshop and to special events at this church building.

The cost of this facility is beyond anything that our mission can afford, nor would we divert mission resources to acquiring this property. If this is the Lord's will, then we are trusting Him for designated giving, specifically to acquire the church property and to renovate it.

Time is of the essence, as there is a Malaysian Muslim group seeking to acquire the property at this moment. There are actually 16 different prospective buyers making enquiries at this time. Although, we have been informed that we are the only Christian group seeking to do so.

We would greatly appreciate your insights and advice.

Lenora and I are envisaging the property being acquired in the name of Livingstone Fellowship, a separate trust from the trust which controls the mission property. We are also considering renovating the property such that it can also accommodate a pastor and guests. We would then be able to host missionary interns and pastors in training who may want to work under my mentorship in order to assist in the daily running of this church outreach.

Livingstone Fellowship is an Evangelical and Reformed Christian fellowship. It is educational and evangelistic, supporting Christian schools and home schooling. Livingstone Fellowship holds to the doctrines of historic Christian Orthodoxy and to the great Reformed confessions, including the Westminster Confession of Faith, The 39 Articles and The London Confession of Faith.

Livingstone Fellowship holds to the inerrancy of Scripture and the Sovereignty of God, adheres to Psalm reading, Hymn singing and Biblical exposition, is pro-life, pro-family and concerned for the persecuted church. We pray imprecatory prayers and encourage all our members to be involved in evangelism, supporting missions and the persecuted church.

In this age of compromise and cowardice we believe that there is a tremendous need for a church planting such as Livingstone Fellowship on Rondebosch Common.

If you are interested in being a part of this, please contact us.

Yours for Reformation and Revival

Dr. Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
P O Box 74
Newlands 7725
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel.: 021-689-4480
Fax: 021-685-5884
info@ReformationSA.org
www.LivingstoneFellowship.co.za

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