It’s with sad hearts, yet full of faith, that we said farewell to the Scott family at the beginning of this year. Robin and Kirsten have been part of Joshua Generation Church for the past ten and fourteen years, respectively, adding Jude, Elise and Joelle to our midst after getting married. Robin and Kirsten were deacons at City Bowl for several years before being sent to plant our Wynberg congregation, where Robin was brought onto eldership. In January they left Cape Town to move to East London at the Lord’s direction, where they have begun plugging into a local Four12 affiliated church. We connected with them in December to process their departure from JoshGen.
ROBIN
“When I first visited JoshGen it freaked me out completely – it was full of really scary things, but God had spoken quite clearly to me. One of the reasons I stayed was that I was friends with Kirst and if she could cope, I thought I could cope as well!
What drew me to JoshGen was the church’s openness to the Holy Spirit, but at the same time a lot of that stuff really scared me because I’d seen it go badly before. Becoming part of JoshGen was a journey of trusting God that he had led me to this place and that he knew everything that was happening and that it was okay. It was also good to have a friend who was as level-headed as I was and who was okay in the church and could see the life of God in it, and that was reassuring.”
KIRSTEN
“I joined JoshGen when we were still a little community with Julian and Chantelle in Sea Point and have been part of seeing City Bowl grow and then being planted out to Wynberg about five years ago. JoshGen has always felt like family and like home and it’s been difficult to think about going to a church that’s not JoshGen; having to say goodbye to what has really been a family for almost half my life.”
ROBIN
“One of the things that settled me was that this was a group of people who take being family really seriously. That was important to me in a church and I’ve developed the best of relationships here. It’s going to be sad to be leaving these precious people who we’ve developed such a closeness to over the years.
Once we’d been in City Bowl for a number of years, we got a call from Ryan Kingsley saying he felt we should move to Wynberg, which was quite a mind-blowing thing back then. We really went in faith – leaving a congregation, which a few weeks earlier I’d said I’d never leave in my life – and it was a beautiful thing to do, to follow God in that way. He was so faithful in leading us to a congregation that became such a part of our hearts!
It was about two years ago that we started feeling for the first time that we believed God might be saying something about leaving this family too. For us to move in that way, we knew we’d really need to hear God, which is why we’ve been praying for a long time, allowing God to speak to us in various ways.”
KIRSTEN
“I think it came to the point where we needed God to show us if it was just us wanting to move to East London, or Him speaking to us, and if it was Him then we needed to know about the timing of the move. And then about two days later we had someone who didn’t know us give us a prophetic word. They told us what we thought God was saying to us was Him, but that it wasn’t for now. It came just before Ross and Margot took over Wynberg. Come July 2019, we asked God again to speak to us about the timing, then He spoke to Rob really clearly.”
ROBIN
“I remember this moment where I was sitting praying asking God to speak clearly out of the scripture about this issue, which is impossible, but then having this moment with me where it became so clear that this is what he wanted us to do. I felt so torn in that moment between feeling a release and excitement in God, but then at the same time experiencing mourning – realising what we were going to be leaving and the reality of what that meant for our lives.”
One of the first things we started processing after really hearing God quite clearly, was wondering what to do with this news? We’re a family but we’re part of a bigger team, and we also fit into a building which is the church, knowing that if we’re removed out of that it’s a significant thing for a church and a congregation.”
KIRSTEN
“Our whole eldership team was up to date with what God had been saying, but we came to the place of needing to submit this to the directing elders, too.
ROBIN
“What was quite a frightening journey for me was needing to submit this to Andrew, ultimately, who is the leader of our eldership team. To finally get that release from Andrew was a wonderful momenta, but also a sobering moment, because once you press that button on that process it just starts rolling – it’s been a rollercoaster ever since with saying goodbye to people and a lot of crying, but also a lot of anticipation for what God is doing to build his Kingdom in both East London and Wynberg.
The church we’re joining is New Life Church in East London. We’re looking forward to joining a church that we’ve already seen what God is doing already.”
“When we moved from City Bowl to Wynberg, Ross Gillespie was the only elder in the congregation and doing everything. Coming alongside him and coming onto eldership under him and being able to support him and Leigh is what we’re excited to do at this new church we’re moving to.”
ROBIN
“It was such a beautiful thing to visit New Life in December 2018 as a Four12 church, in a completely different setting, but to immediately feel like these people are family. I think that’s one of the reasons that God could start speaking into that area, because he settled me that I was going somewhere with the same values and the same heart.”
We just want to say to you, JoshGen, that we love you and that you mean the world to us, and you’ve changed our lives forever – you’ve ruined us for church going forward. We leave with nothing but love in our hearts for you and we hope to see loads of you coming through to East London and staying in our home.”
KIRSTEN
“JoshGen has been home for many years for me and there have been many friendships across all the congregations as God has shifted us around. You all know who you are and that you’re special to us. The Eastern Cape is beautiful, you must come and stay. We look forward to partnering with Four12 in the future and all of you guys and seeing what God does in all of our lives.”
“Love you lots, JoshGen!”