Leadership & Staff
Pastors
Elder
Elder
Treasurer
Administrator
AOG Group National Leader
AOG Eastern Cape Regional Leader
Destiny Church is part of the Assemblies of God Group Churches. This is a group of around 133 churches in the country with approximately 2000 in total including our extended family in the Assemblies of God Movement (Back to God) and the Assemblies of God Association. The AOG in South Africa has been a non-racial denomination since its inception and is administered by a multiracial executive comprising 22 members.
The AOG "Group Churches" consists of life-giving churches that are self-governing by nature while being accountable to (and in relationship with) its National Leadership Team. This team provides thought leadership, ministry oversight, apostolic leadership and spiritual covering. As Group churches, we are committed to unity in diversity, and we are committed to supporting one another in our efforts to spread the gospel in South Africa and Africa. For more info you can visit our Assemblies of God Group website.
Destiny Church East London has gone by many names since it was established in the early 1950s and has benefited from the work of various leaders. Glenn and Vicky Cooke have been sent by the AOG Group to lead Destiny and be part of the broader mission including the other eleven churches in the Eastern Cape Region. They have been here since 2017.
To learn more about who we are and how you can join us making a difference, please register for our growth track.
Have you grown up with church but you still feel empty and powerless? Strangely we can do so many religious things, attend services, pray, give time and finances and still feel far from God, ourselves and other people, far from our purpose. If that has been your experience, Jesus wants so much more for you! The life God offers is full and satisfying. It’s a life that brings freedom and joy to us and other people. If you’ve given up on church, don’t give up on Jesus.
At Destiny Church, we’re all about Jesus, so let’s take a minute to talk about Him and His vision. We hope that you’ll give Jesus and His imperfect Church another chance! If you’re interested in what we mean by following Jesus, here’s a short introduction.
Surprisingly, Jesus' main message was not the forgiveness of sins, although this is crucial, it was only part of his bigger message.
Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
This message is an announcement of Good News that changes everything! That’s what the word "gospel" means. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Kingdom of God has come near to us. To put it another way, because of who Jesus is, and what He’s done and is still doing, a whole new way of life is available to us. This means that, through Jesus, God wants to continue to live His life through a community of people. This way of life has the power to change everything, in every way, forever, and all people are invited into it.
Jesus is the source of our life, the model of how to live life, the journey and the destination. The life He offers us begins as a gift of His forgiveness that grows like a seed inside us to change everything in us and also begins to influence things around us, transforming our world from the inside out. To be a disciple means to put the life that Jesus offers at the centre of who we are. It’s locating ourselves within His story for our world so that we can place what God wants at the centre of our identity and purpose. We can't do this for ourselves but we are invited into it by a miracle of God's grace. We are moving towards Jesus because he has moved towards us, and as we move, we become the answer to Jesus’ prayer:
‘May Your Kingdom come. May what you want to happen be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ (Matt 6:10)
Heaven, then, is not a place we hope that we’ll escape to after we die, but a Kingdom, the life of Jesus being lived out through His people, bringing healing, justice and hope to the earth in ways that will last for eternity. This is a big vision and can be difficult to know what we can do practically. How do we follow Jesus into this life? At Destiny, we believe this means three big things.
Being with Jesus is relationship. Becoming Like Jesus is transformation. Doing what Jesus did is mission. They naturally flow in that order. Friendship with God helps us become more like Jesus and naturally we want to do what Jesus did. This is the life of discipleship - moving from being “me-centred” to being “Christ-centred.”
Being a Christian is kind of vague. It can mean anything from "we say a prayer before we eat supper’," to “I’m a Christian because I wasn’t born in a Muslim country." It might also mean, "I have some morals and principles that I live by, and the Bible helps with that" or "I’m having a spiritual awakening and discovering my authentic self." The problem with “being a Christian” is that there isn’t a definition of what a “Christian" is in the Bible. To be a Christian can rightly mean whatever we want it to mean. It’s often a cultural decision. Being a Christian helps us find meaning in the parts of society where people still use the word “God". This means that, for a lot of people, participating in church, saying that you believe a list of things from the Bible, or even praying in the name of Jesus, doesn't necessarily mean a life-changing relationship with God, it just means that we are finding our place in a Christian tradition. However, when we open the pages of the New Testament of the Bible, what jumps out at us is what it means to be a "disciple", that is, a follower or apprentice of Jesus. The life of discipleship is what we are invited into, not believing a list of things or participating in Christian events.
At Destiny Church, we believe that this invitation is open to everyone and it challenges all of us to repent, that is to reject all the other pictures of "the good life" that our culture offers us and turn and follow Jesus into this vision of new life. Sometimes this means that what Jesus wants for us and our world is different to what the Church offers us. History certainly shows how the Church has been at the centre of movements for justice and healing and yet, at the same time, responsible for terrible abuses and even atrocities. To become a disciple of Jesus, you don't have to first make up your mind about the institution of the church, commit to a particular "Christian" lifestyle or decide whether or not the Bible can be trusted. Jesus invites us to start following Him wherever we are and calls us to obey Him one step at a time. That's why both discipleship and church are very messy, life-long, relational journeys.
We long to be healed from the ways we've learned to hide behind religion so that the life of Jesus can sink deep beneath the surface of our lives bringing freedom within us and power through us to bring that life to others. We’re committed to doing this hard work because we believe there’s no more joyful way to live. His love is so great! We long to allow Him to love us more and teach us to love others better. This is a huge process and takes time! If we stick together, we trust that He will lovingly, progressively, and fundamentally transform every area of our lives if we open ourselves to Him. This is the idea of spiritual formation, the first step in this journey is answering the question "Who is Jesus?".
You might have known Jesus for years and want to grow in your faith or you may never have met Jesus. Whatever the case, we would love to help you move forward in your journey towards Jesus. We hope this website will help you with some information, resources and practical steps that will help you on your journey. We’d love to meet you soon at one of our Sunday gatherings!
We love meeting new people and so we've setup a special event just for that!