A one-stop spiritual refreshment centre

For Adri Munger it was a dream come true when the Kairos Resource & Media Centre at the Aldersgate Society Methodist Church in Mokopane came off the ground. She lives to serve and firmly believes working in this centre is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do God’s work by serving the community.
The centre comprises a Christian Connexion outlet, a library, a point of call for people in need and a retail facility selling handcraft and artwork on behalf of local people who need to earn an income.
While the Kairos Centre is a project of the local Methodist congregation it is by no means limited to Methodists. Christian Connexion supplies Bibles, books, registers, hymnbooks and other church material to all denominations in a variety of languages including Afrikaans and English. Clothing, sacramental equipment, offering bags and even communion wine and incense can now be bought right here in Mokopane.
“What we do not have in stock, we can order,” says Adri.
The resource centre was borne out of a need within the congregation. Through a clothes bank it supplies people in need with clothes donated by congregation members and also members of the community. While Adri says she cannot necessarily provide food on the scale other welfare organisations in town may be able to, she often has enough to help a hungry person who knocks at the centre’s door and can then point people in the right direction for more assistance, should they need it.
Adri makes it clear that the resource centre is not for congregation members only, “I will try to help anyone who comes to us for assistance.”
At the centre one can buy arts and craft by local people. Some people even make sweets that Adri sells at the store.
It works like a home industry, she explains. Every supplier has a number and the proceeds of what gets sold under that number is given to the supplier. Suppliers indicate beforehand what portion of the selling price they want to give to the church.
The library is still a work in progress. Adri explains that there are a lot of books donated already, but she needs a pair of extra hands to help her categorise it and pack it on the shelves.
Meanwhile the congregation hopes to establish a small tea garden at the centre where visitors can sit down and enjoy a cup of tea. “But we need furniture for that and are currently looking for sponsors of steel or concrete garden furniture and maybe two or three garden umbrellas,” she says.
With the bookshop, the arts and craft retails, the library and the resource centre at hand, such a tea garden may become the perfect little sanctuary for pastors, ministers and counsellors of all churches to touch base with Christians and members of society who are in need of guidance, care and love.