Rev Mokoena has a passion for people

POLOKWANE – Reverend John Mokoena, a reverend at Mount Horeb Presbyterian Church in the city says God is the centre of his world.

Originally from Kroonstad in the Free State, John has been living in the city for seven years.

He has for years been a trusted contributor to Review’s religious columns. (See page 5.)

He calls his wife a “paragon of human perfection” and loves his son to bits. He has a passion for people, especially children, and says his favourite meal is pap and boerewors.

Visiting him on Valentine’s Day recently, the discussion soon turns to love.

“Love is not truly love if a person keeps on doing things for you or expects you to do things for them. Love is unselfish and means sometimes correcting people when it’s necessary. It means we must be responsible fathers and husbands,” he says.

He laments not being able to treat his wife on Valentine’s Day due to other responsibilities, but says he declined a request for the following day in order to spend time with his family.

Growing up in a family where he was the seventh of eight children, family is important to John. He describes his mother as the person who introduced him to Christ and will always cherish her love and guidance. Both his parents are still alive and live in Kroonstad.

“I grew up in a house where God was served, but I never truly committed my life to God. I loved the church and doing the work of the Lord as a young person, loved to encourage my peers and stayed away from doing the wrong things. I had a bright future, studying as a mechanical engineer to work at Sasol in Secunda. Yet I had this void inside me: I always had dreams of standing before a multitude of people, telling them about the Lord.

“I told my brother God was calling me. He told me about a bright future as an engineer, the money I would make and the good job I would have. But I decided to follow my calling,” says John.

“When I told my mother, she just told me that she knew I would go far, for God had called me. She said she had waited for God to speak to me.”

In 2002, John started his studies at the University of Pretoria and four years later started his ministry in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal in 2006, and in 2008, he moved to Polokwane.

Here he could live out his passion for young people in the youth ministry. He is currently busy with his masters degree, with the theme of his thesis as: “Are we as a church ministering to young people, viewing them as an integral part of the church?”

John visits a lot of schools and other churches in the city and is part of the Polokwane Inter-denominational Organising Committee (PIOC).

He says he wants to make a difference in people’s lives and this includes government, who must take care of the communities who elected them.

“Sometimes politicians do not see people the way God sees them, as God’s people. The church must assist government to do what they are supposed to do. We cannot just sit back and do nothing. Limpopo is poor, children are still going to schools under trees and money is taken by the elite to enrich themselves. The church cannot stay quiet while God’s people are treated unjustly, we need to advise government on the right path. The church must be the voice of the voiceless.”

He loves music and sees it as a powerful tool. His favourite group, Glory of the Last Days inspires him.

Some of his highlights since moving to Polokwane include putting a stop to the conflict between Julius Malema and a rival group led by Boy Mamabolo two years ago, the establishment of an annual Global Day of Prayer through the PIOC, as well as the opportunity to participate in an initiative by the MEC for safety, security and liaison, Joyce Mashamba to address alcohol and drug abuse as well as violence in schools, a pilot project which was launched at Capricorn High School recenlty.

John sees himself as privileged to be an instrument, a channel through which God’s message can be spread.