On the first of October, we welcomed Marcia Moodie onto our staff team, as our Children's Pastor, and to lead our growing Khanyisa teacher training programme. Marcia is married to Wesley (who leads our 08h30 worship team) and they have two children – Danica and Jason. We are so excited to have Marcia on board. Our children's ministry has been growing in the most exciting ways, and we are really looking forward to the way God will be at work in this area in the life of our church. Marcia's focus will include our Sunday children's ministry, (and possibly growing this into mid week activities), contact with young families and young family home groups, and training and equipping Sunday School teachers. 

The other area of focus for Marcia will be the Khanyisa Teacher Training Programme where, together with Nonny Mdletshe (our Upper Room Barista), she will set up the teacher training programme that will help provide under-resourced preschool teachers with access to good training. From these relationships, opportunities for broader community work emerge, and so Nonny's role at UMC is also growing to include community social work. It is an exciting season at UMC, and I really encourage you to open your hearts, minds, eyes and ears to ways in which you can get involved. You can join our Sunday School teacher team, volunteer on one of our Khanyisa community work groups, contribute financially to Khanyisa projects, or even help fund staff posts. (Marcia's position on our staff is the result of a generous donation from a UMC family.) You are welcome to pop into the office during the week to chat with Marcia a bit more about what she does. You will most likely find her in the Upper Room, enjoying the perks of having great, fresh coffee on tap at work :)