Whenever I have the opportunity, I ask folk the question, why are you at Rosebank Union Church? The responses to this question are many and varied, from “we like the Biblical preaching” to “my friends come here so I decided to join them”. Now these answers may give a reason as to what attracted folk to RUC, or what keeps them coming to this church, but they do not really answer my question.

It is with great excitement that the Tamlins joined the RUC family in January 2011. On 23 January Justin was officially inducted into ministry as our Pastor of Worship and Arts.

One of the ways we're trying to support God's work in our city (especially in places where our church is not directly involved), is through helping to train and develop leaders from other churches, specifically churches in less privileged  communities. On 20th November 2010, Pastor Ndaba (our Pastor of Outreach) organized a Dynamic Leadership Seminar. Almost 100 church leaders and elders attended from churches all over our great city. 

Once a quarter, the staff at Rosebank Union Church have a social event to help boost morale and to foster our team spirit. This last week (Tuesday 17th August), instead of a purely social outing, we had the fantastic opportunity of working alongside Rays of Hope (our church outreach ministry) in some of their projects in Alex.

From Louise Cameron (who heads up Rose-Act Saturday School)

I want to share the most incredible (me of little faith) story with you.

2 weeks ago I went through all the computer recorded attendances and to my dismay found that only 5 Rose-act students had had 100% attendance in BOTH term and term 2. I was so cross (only 5) that to really build those 5 students up, I announced at Assembly that, as I regarded attendance so highly, I personally would pay the entire R300 for those kids. I raved about how disappointing the whole thing was.

From the 21 - 25 June,  about 300 kids a day descended on the church for 5 days of energy sapping Bootcamp! Our Next Generation ministry (together with almost 60 passionate teenagers) put on a fantastic holiday club for kids from grade 1 - 7. Here are some images of the activities to-date!

Thirty-three of us left on 8 May for our 10-day trip to Israel and Egypt (one day stop-over). Eighteen were from RUC, while the others came from Pretoria, West Rand, Cape Town, Eastern Cape and Durban – quite a mix. The group quickly gelled and we all had a very good time.

We are back .... From the sapping heat of Malawi to a cold and rainy Jhb! But we have come back with amazing knowledge and great team spirit.

We worked with Peace Ministries in Malawi. Peace Ministries was started by Alick Banda - who has planted 58 churches in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. Rosebank Union started supporting Alick when he came to SA to study theology. Up to this time he was training pastors with no formal theological background.

Armed with a roller, a couple of litres of paint and a zeal for God and our suburban youth, Rosebank member Penny Horwitz has been tackling the proliferation of graffiti in the neighborhoods around Fourways. For the last number of months, Penny has frequently spent hours a day removing illegal advertising and painting over unsightly graffiti.

On Friday 5 March, RUC members and friends pulled out all the stops and rocked the night away to the Red Shoes Band (led by Peter Schoon). Thanks to Vyv Sayers-Boyd and her team who transformed the Jerusalem Hall into a 1960s Diner - complete with hotdog stand and jukebox! The proceeds of the evening went towards the new children’s and youth centre, the XChange.