Posted on October 4, 2008 - by Stephen Murray
Where we’re Planting
Some of you from the other side of the Atlantic have asked me where exactly we’re doing our church plant next year. Well here are some pics of the areas of Green Point and Sea Point which are the two suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa in which we’ll be starting the work. They’re both on the Atlantic seaboard of Cape Town, right next to the central business district – in fact Green Point kind of just fades into the CBD.
Here’s a shot of both suburbs – Sea Point is the larger suburb on the right and Green Point is central – the CBD is in the background around the corner of Signal Hill which is the middle of pic. Table Mountain is in the background and the new soccer staduim and the fields around it (which are presently being transformed into sports complexes and other things) is in the foreground, the Waterfront is bottom left:
Here’s a close up of Green Point where you can see the construction underway (they’re quite a bit further ahead now) and Signal Hill in the background – Lion’s Head is the little peak behind Signal Hill which is above Sea Point (far right). The CBD is just out of picture to the left:
Here’s a shot of Sea Point from somewhere up on Lion’s Head. Sea Point is the most densely populated suburb in Cape Town along with the Townships:
And of course there’s also the world famous V & A Waterfront, one of our top tourist destinations, that lies at the base of Green Point – you can see the edge of the CBD on the left:
So that’s where we’re planting – possibly the most cosmopolitan and diverse area in Cape Town and maybe even South Africa. We will have our work cut out for us. Pray for us, or maybe if you’re able to, join us.
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Stephen Murray
Christian, husband to my beautiful Robin, missional dreamer, pastor, church planter, Arsenal, Sharks and Springbok supporter, surfer (in the real sea), patriotic South African, Capetonian. Find out more about the church planting work I'm involved in at my support blog.
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October 4, 2008
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chrismarlow said:
Praying for you guys. Love what you’re doing.
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October 4, 2008
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Sam Groves said:
Very, very nice, majestic. But…do you have the biggest carved horse in the Southern Hemisphere in your city?
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October 5, 2008
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Tom Dennen said:
Hi,
Sounds like a great project.
May I use a couple of your pictures – with acknowledgment to you and the org – on the website I poke around it? It’s a travel portal to South Africa supported by (getting greener!) Shell.
Tom
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October 5, 2008
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Stephen said:
Sure Tom no worries.
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October 7, 2008
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Robert said:
Those are some really great pictures.
I love the scenery here in Cape Town, And I hope for all the best in with the planting.
—-
If the power of love was greater than the love of power, the world would know peace.
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November 3, 2008
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Thomas said:
Nice pictures of my parish. My Church and house are in there.
Let us know more about the Church plant sometime.
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November 3, 2008
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Thomas said:
Following from my previous comment, in Sea Point/Green Point/Three Anchor Bay we have Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical Congregational, Presbyterian, Methodist, Beth Ariel, Christ Embassy, Winning Souls, Destiny, Old Apostolic, New Apostolic, Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk, Assemblies of God, French Church, Xhosa Church, also Jehovah’s Witnesses (the last I heard), and meetings of His People, the Baptists, and so on. A quarter, say, are recent Church plants (one of these has been “taken on board” by ourselves). And then there are, say, four synagogues. How would you see your Church plant fitting into this mix, and how you would see its relationship with the other Churches?
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November 3, 2008
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Stephen said:
I’ve actually been meaning to get in touch with you to talk about the current church climate in the area. My immediate impression after talking to friends of our who live in the area and have visited some of those churches you mentioned is that there’s not a large amount of evangelicalism in the area outside of yourselves, the AOG church and one or two others. And since Sea Point has some of the highest population density in all of Cape Town and a fairly large total population when added to Green Point, Three Anchor Bay, Moullie Point Fresnaye and Bantry Bay there is surely still a fairly large unchurched group. Is that a fair assesment? Our aim is the unchurched – we’re not interested in any sort of transfer growth unless people come to us from places where the historic evangelical gospel is not taught and accepted.
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November 3, 2008
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Thomas said:
If you’ll be coming through here, please let me know. We might be able to get together for coffee. I’ve heard an estimate (several times) of “Churched” people numbering about 2 000. I just did a quick estimate for this comment, and would put it at 2 500 for the area you mention. As to how large the population is, even the official statistics vary very greatly — 13 000, 22 000, etc. There is a large Jewish population — I’ve seen statistics of 60-70%. Also, the migrant population is large. Personally, I wouldn’t underestimate the presence of evangelicalism. You probably know a lot of this already.
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November 11, 2008
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Justin Buzzard said:
exciting. I love Cape Town. Was there in 2005. My wife’s stepfather is from Jberg. Wish I could come out and help.
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November 11, 2008
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Stephen said:
Hey justin – how about sending a task team to SA to scope out a plant for a Sovereign Grace church in this country – I don’t think there are any here at the moment and they would be a welcome addition to the current church climate in SA. Blessings.