All Saints Church
Newport North west Ministry Area
All Saints South Africa
Here are some details about our link parish of All Saints, Primrose,
Germiston, in our link diocese of the Highveld.
The incumbent is Fr. Des Smit and he tells us that the parish is a
mature one in age. Established in 1904 the church is now experiencing
steady growth, with more young families joining them and young people.
Primrose is a well established area of Germiston, with some of the
parishioners having lived in there for 62 years. They hold regular
services with two on a Sunday, a said Eucharist at 7.30 a.m. and a
family service with Sunday School at 9.30 a.m. Eighty people attend with
60 communicants. There is also a Wednesday Eucharist with 11
communicants.
All Saints Primrose say they are constantly learning more about God and
how God is calling them to minister in South Africa. Their worship time
is a time of joy and they are experimenting with a variety of services.
Fr. Des tells us how they held a special service on St. Francis’ day,
when people brought their animals to be blessed. They included dogs,
birds, frogs and even a bat!
They hold regular bible studies and participation in the Anglican
Womens’ Federation. There is a care group who visit the sick and shares
food parcels with both church members and the community. They have Lay
Ministers, servers, a choir, a fund raising committee and many other
ministries.
All Saints is very active in their community, working in two informal
settlements and assisting residents in the squatter camps. They help the
local police department with their crisis management and offer help to
rape victims. FR. Des says that sadly they are now beginning to be
involved with assisting in cases of child rape.
Some of their expectations from a link parish include being part of a
greater church and wanting to share their joy in the Lord and their
experiences with us, their link whilst learning from us and us from
them. They have not thrown out tradition, but are willing to start new
traditions with the help of their link parish and through the Holy
Spirit. They want to be there for their link—that’s us!
It’s a great privilege to be linked with All Saints Primrose and we
thank Irene Doull for all the time and effort she put in to set up this
link for us. As we remember each other in prayer and regularly
correspond, we pray that the link between us will strengthen and enrich
all of our Christian lives.
webmaster@allsaintschurchnewport.co.uk
Meeting Room
