Pastoral Care Leadership Team:
One of the areas that have been identified as an opportunity to grow is in the specialised pastoral care space. Working alongside the Elders, this team will take the lead in considering opportunities to grow her pastoral care structure, train up the community and be available when specialised care is needed. The team is planning around increasing the accessibility and visibility of pastoral care through presence within the church community..
Southern Africa Care Team
We are Cobus and Jossette Kilian, Cambridge locals since 2007 and members of Raleigh Street Christian Centre (RSCC) since 2015. We emigrated from South Africa to New Zealand in 2000 and have two girls aged 16 and 19 years.
RSCC has a heart for newcomers (be it to the country, the town, or the congregation), and we are fortunate to be part of such a caring group of God’s children who want to be His hands and feet here where we live. As immigrants, we know how tough it is for new settlers to make a new home without family support, in a country where things might work differently than what we are used to, and just generally feeling alone, far away from everyone we love.
There is always coffee (or rooibos tea) available and time for a chat at the Kilian home.
Christine Suisted
As Christians I believe we’ve each been uniquely gifted and called by God to serve the greater whole. (Rom 12:6-8.). We are told to “look out for the needs of others” (Phil 2:4) and to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2)” Titus 2:3-4. Specifically older women are encouraged to be involved in the lives of younger women “to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children” (Titus 2:3-4). As an older women who has spent a large part of her life involved with people from various countries and cultures, and who has raised a family while supporting her husband in mission work, it is a privilege to continue to be involved in pastoral care as needed.
Debbie Barham
Debbie lives in Tamahere, along with husband Michael and teenagers Gemma and Danny, having grown up in Matamata. As a doctor she has worked as a GP and more recently as a Palliative Care Specialist, and has also trained in counselling, logotherapy, and coaching. She has a passion for nurturing wholeness in healthcare - supporting healthcare professionals to maintain their own wellbeing and understand the importance of the spiritual dimension of care, and helping whanau and communities impacted by serious illness to connect to what matters most in times of vulnerability. She has experienced the love of God in her own life and the lives of her family in times of loss and challenge and looks forward to serving alongside you all in bringing a compassionate response to the needs around us.
Heather Joubert
Cape Town was Heather’s childhood stamping ground. She enjoyed playing cricket or tennis in the road outside her home with her two older brothers and younger sister. Her mother’s family all came from various farms around South Africa and so holidays were spent in the country.
Her family attended church regularly and Heather was active in school and church Christian groups. This involvement included many camps and challenging hikes in the mountain ranges. She slept under the Milky Way, cooling off in the rivers, confronting snakes, cooking over the fire, tramping in blazing heat, or sometimes even soaked to the skin, and enjoyed any challenge the bushveld exposed us to.
During her university years, she frequented many different churches and read a wide range of Christian literature. Her mind ran wild with various ideologies and consequently much confusion.
Heather's university studies prepared her to be a teacher of Mathematics. Her career was exciting, challenging, and developed her leadership skills rather quickly. The unplanned surprises came in the form of coaching hockey, hurdles, squash, basketball, and the huge task of exam organisation. This was all in the boys’ schools she somehow ended up teaching in! Those were all just “little extras” to fill her teaching days. The big surprise was meeting the sprint coach, Brenton Joubert, who resided as a house assistant in a boarding house of boys at one of these schools.
After marrying Brenton, she settled and worshipped in a church that held God’s Word in high esteem. A solid foundation of clear reformed thinking was established, confusion evaporated, and she was carried on the wings of God’s Word propelling her forward.
Her three children arrived while still in South Africa. This was a major turning point as we were deliberate in committing to family and putting career on the back burner. We moved to New Zealand with three children under the age of 3 and a half. Her eldest, Bradley, and the twins, Mathew and Sarah were still toddlers. It has been her aim to pursue Jesus Christ and introduce Him to her family.
Heather got involved in Bible Study Fellowship becoming a group leader and serving on the leadership team. Once she had completed all the BSF studies, she moved on to lead the ‘Know Your Bible’ study here in Cambridge. That brought in a time of getting to know quite a few of the ladies in our church. She has found that God has used the ladies from all her Bible studies to unwittingly accompany and support her through the different seasons of life, especially as an immigrant mother in New Zealand.
Her children are now independent, and after having a break from leading Bible studies is now looking forward to new ventures.
