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Next steps

Baptism

If you've made a decision to follow Jesus, water Baptism is an important next step for you.

Water Baptism is a public declaration that you identify with Jesus in His life, death, burial and resurrection; that you personally follow Him and commit to living out the implications of that new relationship.

Water Baptism is a command of Jesus and has been practised as a crucial rite of passage by the Church since antiquity. At Destiny Church, we practice the Baptism of adult believers by full immersion and we believe it's a powerful next step for our spiritual growth.

Baptism celebrations happen every six to eight weeks on a Sunday. These are some of our best services because of the incredible stories of life change that we get to hear. If you have questions about baptism download our Baptism booklet below. It will help you understand what Destiny Church believes baptism is, what it isn't, and the next steps to take on your way to getting baptized.

If you're ready to be baptized, you can also register for our next baptism below.

Baptism booklet Baptism registration

Growth track

If you've been around Destiny Church for a little while and you're wondering what to do next, Growth Track is your next step. This gathering is designed to help you to find practical steps to follow Jesus, grow in your faith and find your place in the local church community.

Growth Track includes everything you need to know about starting a relationship with God and how to grow in that relationship every day. It also covers the basic beliefs, lifestyle and habits of a follower of Jesus and an invitation to water baptism. Everything you need to know about membership and belonging is also covered here.

Growth Track is repeated every five weeks on a Saturday from 09:00 - 13:30. A mid-morning tea and a healthy lunch are provided. Kids Care is available by pre-booking.

Growth track registration

Connect groups

Connect Groups are the heart of Destiny Church. We believe that if we make disciples, Jesus will build His church and the primary way we do this is through connect groups and leadership huddles.

A connect group is a group of 5-20 people who meet regularly to learn how to be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do what Jesus did. Connect groups usually meet in someone's home, around a meal, or in a social space in the community. At a connect group you can expect great conversation, vibrant prayer as well as lots of fun and laughter. Our connect groups feel like small family units within the church, families that are on Jesus' mission. Some of our groups gather around a particular age or stage of life, and others around a particular skill that people want to learn, like parenting or marriage. Our connect groups build bridges into the community and so they are open to everyone. If you would like to visit a group, check out some of our groups below or register for growth track.

Professional Women
with Children
Pelisa Kunju, Sandi Mabovula
and Vuyelwa Ndzabela
Enquiries
Couples
Connect Group
Wilson & Ini Akpan,
Petros & Benhilda Mbira
Enquiries
Single Moms
Brenda Mngaza, Nonceba Ntsonta and Bulelwa Mpeta
Enquiries
Young Adult Men
Glenn Cooke
Enquiries
Young Adult Women
Lusanda Xozwa and Nezisa Mpukula
Enquiries
Young Couples with Children
Glenn and Vicky Cooke
Enquiries
Retired
Women
Xolisa Jongolo and Kholeka Siyo
Enquiries

How connect groups run

Our connect groups follow a predictable pattern every six weeks.

  1. Prayer Connect. Where we gather to pray with the whole church for God's heart for the city. This happens on Sunday nights every six weeks from 17:00 - 19:00.
  2. Four Group meetings. Where we gather in someone's home, restaurant or student res-hall.
  3. Mission Week. Where we gather in a third space to do acts of service or relational evangelism.
  4. College Night. Where we gather in a learning environment to be formed in our leadership thinking through deeper biblical teaching, discussion and debate on relevant missional topics. This happens on Sunday nights every six weeks from 17:00- 19:00.

If you want to be a connect group leader in Destiny Church or if you're simply interested in our ministry philosophy, you can download our level 1 discipleship training manual below.

Discipleship training manual Jan - June Calendar

Join a serve team

Jesus taught servant leadership. We truly believe the best way to respond to our current cultural crisis is by developing a culture of servant leadership in every area of society. Serving others is the best way of life! Spiritual growth happens best when we are using our gifts to serve other people. If you're new at Destiny, we would love for you to help us make a difference by serving others. We have teams that serve in the context of our church gatherings as well as beyond the walls of the church in the community.

Serve team enquiries

Baby Dedication

Jesus loved children and took special note of the need for adults to pray for, protect, nurture and bless them as they grow in their faith.

He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children...” 16 Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
Mark 10:14-16 (New Living Translation - Anglicised Edition (NLT))

At Destiny, we don't baptize babies, rather we practice child dedication.

Baby dedication enquiries

Membership

If you've attended next steps and you're ready to become a member, you're invited to attend the new member's dinner. These dinners happen four times a year. You can register for the next new member's dinner below.

If you'd like to know more, everything about membership is covered in Growth track.

Growth track New members dinner

Weddings and Marriage Enrichment

At Destiny Church, we believe in people forming committed relationships and we welcome and respect couples regardless of how they have chosen to define and formalize their marriage relationship. However, we honour the scriptural tradition of marriage, which establishes a spiritual covenant commitment between one man and one woman for life. We hold this kind of marriage in high regard. We believe it is a precious gift from God and should not be entered into casually but responsibly and with serious thought and preparation.

Read more Marriage course

Leadership College

Our church family is on a mission to make disciples who are courageous influencers of society. The goal of our leadership college is to develop high-impact leaders for the marketplace and the church that have a broad and disruptive vision for the Kingdom of God advancing and building our nation and continent of Africa. We hope to stimulate serious study and rigorous debate around topics that are critical in the African context. At this early stage, our first small step is hosting a thinking centre once every six weeks. This is a free event and always includes time for Q&A.

Our College Nights for 2023 are scheduled for Sunday nights from 18:00 - 20:00 on the following dates.

  • Sunday 12 March
  • Sunday 23 April
  • Sunday 4 June
  • Sunday 16 July
  • Sunday 27 August

Question submission for the next College Night can be submitted below.

Question submissions

Do you feel called to Leadership or Vocational ministry?

Whether you feel called to church planting, social Justice work or the private sector, we love to help you on your journey of growing into a leader of courageous influence. We believe in life-long learning and developing leaders through academic study within the context of holistic spiritual formation. If you are considering theological study for the local church or as a leader in the marketplace, we currently work with two distance learning programmes:

We would love to hear from you.

Email Pst. Glenn Cooke

Through the Assemblies of God, we have a partnership with the highly esteemed South African Theological College. If you're interested in full or part-time theological study, you can view the SATS prospectus below.

SATS prospectus

If you are seeking to augment an existing degree with post-graduate study, we recommend the Masters in Missional Leadership programme at Trinity Bible College. This course is mostly distance learning with two to three lecture intensives hosted in Gauteng that last five days.

MA Missional Leadership
  Service Times

Sunday Mornings
9:00am - 11:00am

Children (Grade R-7) Sundays
9:00am - 11:00am
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72 Belgravia Crescent
East London

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