AME Church gathers its congregants

Once a year, members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) gather for a three-day spiritual introspection at the JD Dumane Centre in Vosloorus. This year it took place on Sunday, May 22.

The occasion was blessed by the presence of the church’s presiding bishop of the 19th Episcopal, Bishop PJ Mulenga Kawimbe who was the preacher of the day on the final day of the gathering on Sunday. The objective was for the leadership to take congregants through a spiritual review of their commitment to the gospel and their faith.

According to the hosting pastor, the Rev. Teboho Klass, this year’s three-day gathering also had a special and significant dimension to it. “It was also to pay homage and to bid our presiding elder of the District of DS Modisapodi, 75-year-old Rev. Tsele Setai, farewell,” explained Rev. Klass.

The three-day event which started on Thursday, May 19 and ended on Sunday afternoon, was hosted at the JD Dumane Centre in Vosloorus. Scores of congregation members arrived from around Kathorus, Thembisa and Alexander, for what Rev Klass described as a “wholesome outlook” at just about every congregant’s life and his family.

“As a church we try and assist worshipers by guiding them in every aspect of their life, from the spiritual and religious side, their personal and domestic welfare of the life at home with their families and above their financial well-being,” explained Rev. Klass, who described the church’s close working relationship with Old Mutual as a beneficial exercise for both the bank and the congregants.

Paying tribute to the church’s elder, the Rev. Setai, the host, Rev Klaas described the ageing church leader as a “leading light in the community of Kathorus”. He told Kathorus MAIL that Rev. Setai led the AME church through a hard and unpredictable history during the violent transition to democracy prior to 1994.

Rev Klaas, described how Rev. Setai, together with other respected members of the clergy such as the Rev, Frank Chikane played a decisive role in defusing the raging killings that claimed thousands of innocent lives in the Kathorus, especially Thokoza, at the time.

Rev Klass said he believes all the congregants who sat through the three-day event came out of it spiritually fulfilled and revived to start again with their religious vows to the faith and commitment to the church and its spiritual services.