A Godwin jubilee celebration
When two senior pastors of a Krugersdorp Church decided to fulfill their desire to go into the Christian Ministry, they never thought that they will still be going so strong – 50 years later.
With 50 unbroken years in the Christian ministry it is surely an achievement – and one that needs to be celebrated.
When Dr Pat Godwin and his wife Yvonne, senior Pastors of Christian Heritage Church in Krugersdorp decided to fulfill their desire to go into the ministry full-time more than five decades ago, they probably never thought they will still be going strong.
“We decided on entering the ministry during the first year of our marriage in 1962. A year after our marriage we started studying for the ministry through a three year correspondence course with the Bristol Bible Institute in England, while we attended the Krugersdorp Pentecostal Holiness Church,” Pat said.
To tell everything that has taken place during the ministry could fill a book volume, he said, “but I can assure you that God has kept us going.”
During their time with the ministry of the Church, they have been working with the youth, was at the helm of the Sunday school, sang in the Church choir and saw Pat serving as a deacon.
After the couple’s ordination in April 1975, they were posted to the Durban Church, which was a small church in Stamford Hill. There they stayed for nine and a half years.
“We were greatly blessed there and we saw God do many miracles and touch many lives.”
Thereafter they took up the opportunity to serve the Pretoria Pentecostal Holiness Church in Valhalla for 11 years.
During this time they got invited to minister in the United States of America and Pat was also invited to head up a leadership conference in Ghana.
“We also had an invitation to lecture in the Centre for International Christian Missions in London over a four year period, with two week slots each year and it is there where we got to meet students from all over the world.”
In 1985 they accepted the call to the Krugersdorp Church and have been here ever since.
“Through many trials and challenges, God has brought us through and we again have seen many lives untouched and changed by God.”
Pat said they started a Bible School in the 90s where a number of people were trained to preach the Word of God.
After obtaining his Ph.D in Counselling, a School of Counselling was started to run concurrently with the Bible School.
“Today we can say thank you to the Lord who has brought us through these last fifty years. He has taught us many wonderful lessons.”
