Portfolio Details

Life and Journey Into Ministry

At the age of 17 Charlie started his confirmation programme at St Johns Methodist Church where the minister at the time led him to Christ. It was in this church where he started getting involved in the Sunday school leadership as well as the youth ministry. After he matriculated in 1995, Charlie became St Johns very first youth pastor. During this time, he was also a community life skills worker for Scripture Union (SU) which enabled him to run various SU groups in the English medium primary schools and high schools in the greater Gauteng North area. His training at SU opened doors to endless possibilities to bring the gospel message to Youth through Christian run camps and holiday club ministries. In early October 2000, he started a new adventure at Lyttelton Methodist Church as their youth pastor. Together with his youth leadership team, they grew the children’s ministry enthusiastically which included, Friday night groups; JAM (Jesus and Me) for the age group of Gr 1, 2 and 3 as well as MAD (Making a Difference) for the ages group of Gr. 4, 5 6 & 7. The Sunday school was actively run for both the 7:45 and 09:30 church services which were attended by 180 Jesus loving children. Charlie was also part of the Holiday clubs that were run for LMC in the Lyttelton community. These were attended by children from the Irene, Lyttelton and Doringkloof areas. Friday senior youth was known as “e” for (Eternity) and was attended by high school students from Lyttelton Manor High, Hoërskool Centurion, Sutherland, Boys’ High, Girls’ High and other high schools. Exciting events in “e” included Jump for Jesus which raised funds for the youth to attend the annual youth camp, C3, at the coast in December. Quarterly visits were made to the Louis Botha children’s home in Queenswood. The youth also went on Food Trips around the CBD to give food to the homeless. Charlie served Lyttelton full heartedly for five years during which time he built lifetime relationships and friendships that he maintains and values to this day. Charlie married Louise and in 2007 they moved to Geduld in Springs, Johannesburg, where Charlie started a new journey to make a difference at the Geduld Methodist Church. Here, he contributed to growing the church by more than double through various outreaches into the community and ministry opportunities. At the end of 2009, Charlie was called by the Methodist Church to move to Selcourt Methodist in Springs. During his time at Selcourt Methodist, they went on numerous outreach trips into Malawi and Swaziland where they built schools, jungle gyms and play areas for the children. They also assisted with the local maintenance of the boys’ and girls’ orphanages as well as installing solar geysers. Again, Charlie served that community faithfully for nine years. It is now 2019 and Charlie has started another new journey - back at Lyttelton Methodist Church. “I am very excited about seeing the church filling up with young families again so that it becomes a vibrant place of worship that impacts the community around us,” says Charlie.