When Avuyile arrived in Umhlanga, South Africa, she had no family, no friends, and no idea where she belonged. She had just started her first job, far from home, and the loneliness was overwhelming. She was searching—not just for a church, but also for a place where she truly felt seen. Then, she visited Lighthouse Adventist Church—and everything changed.

“When I came here, it just felt like home,” Avuyile says. “There was a warmth in this place that I had never experienced before, and I just kept on coming back.”

Avuyile first heard about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in university, through someone close to her. Curious, she began attending, but when she moved to Umhlanga, she had to find a new church family on her own.

“Normally, I’m someone that just comes to church and disappears soon after,” Avuyile shares. “But they won’t let you go. They’re really interested in who you are as a person, and that really touched me.”

In Lighthouse, Avuyile found what she was looking for—a place to belong. Over time, her faith deepened.

“I really grew in my knowledge of the Word of God, and I felt like this is the right place for me to grow personally,” she adds.

One of the first people who welcomed Avuyile was a church member named Thabo. He feels a burden to start an urban center of influence in Umhlanga and is part of a team researching the community’s needs and planning the facility.

The team has learned that Umhlanga is a city of contrasts. It’s home to wealthy individuals and young professionals, but also to families struggling behind closed doors. Broken relationships, addiction, and loneliness are hidden beneath the surface.

 “Some of the social problems we found are family-related,” Thabo explains. “Broken marriages, domestic-related violence, an upsurge of drug use. But because it’s an affluent society, people can hide those things. Yet, they all have an impact on family life.”

The urban center of influence will be a safe place where people can find counseling, family support, and a true sense of belonging, just like Avuyile did at the church.

“For us to be able to do what we need to do, we need to understand the needs of the society,” says Thabo. “They need counseling. That, I think, is where the opportunity is for us, and that’s what we’d like to do.”

This center will be a place of hope, healing, and transformation—where anyone, from any background, can find answers to life’s challenges.

“The truth is, everybody needs Jesus,” Thabo says. “With all these problems in society, there’s only one permanent solution.”

The Thirteenth 13th Sabbath Offering for third quarter 2025 will help make this vision a reality.

 “We believe that Christ’s method is one that works,” Thabo says. “That’s what’s going to work for us here. We’ve got to mingle. We’ve got to make sure we can relate to them as friends first.”

Please pray as church members such as Thabo establish a center of influence in Umhlanga. Thank you for supporting the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.