AFM Victory Celebration 3.26

AFM Victory Celebration was born out of the AFM Eldorado Park Assembly on the 15th January 2001 under the leadership of Dr. Clarence “Jiffy” Pereira. This assembly was born out of the vision of Pastor Alvin Dewrance and brought to fruition in 2001. the AFM Eldorado Park Assembly blessed us with a parting gift of R10 000 in March 2001.

AFM Victory Celebration had its early beginnings as a single small group, under the leadership of Dr. Clarence Pereira. It started off in 1999 with the Pereira, Sampson, Groenewald and le Battie families. Later, the Crawage family became a part of the small group. The small group soon multiplied to four groups and later to thirteen (13). Two small groups were also started in Naturena in year 2000. Its first members were Sister Asnath and Brother Nelson Chissano. Through Sister Asnath’s enthusiasm, many people in Naturena joined the small groups, among them Brothers Maanda Phalaandwa and Martin Nkomo, and his wife Hilda. It became very burdensome to travel to and from Eldorado Park for every service. Pastor Dewrance then decided, together with the Eldorado Park Governing Body, to allow us to have our own Wednesday Evening prayer meetings and Sunday Evening services in January 2000. Youth small groups also started developing. This area quickly developed into a zone.

The first Zone Pastor was Dr. Clarence “Jiffy” Pereira and the small group leaders were Bernie le Battie, Bernie Groenewald, Wayne Doyle, Dr. Margaret Crawage, Cheryl Petersen, Dennis Douman, Maanda Phalaandwa, Martin Nkomo, Andrè le Battie, Tony Bennetts and Pastor John (from the DRC). The first Youth small group leaders were Clint Pereira, Cindy Sampson, Brian Scoble, Melissa le Battie (now Adams) and Craig Pereira. These small groups have been the catalyst for the rapid growth of the church.

AFM Victory Celebration started off with 40 regular members in the double garage of Pastor Clifford Botes in Eagle’s Nest (near Kibler Park). We then grew to 80 members by the end of 2001. On the 4th January 2002, we moved into a 120-seater chapel on the corner of Hay and Ferreira Streets, Turffontein. On the first Sunday of occupation, the church was full. We had to have two Sunday morning services – one at 08:00 and the other at 10:00 to facilitate further growth. On the 30 August 2002, we had to vacate that premises and we occupied a premises on the corner of High and Kennedy Streets, Turffontein, since the 1st September 2002. On the 1st of September 2006 we vacated that premises and moved into our new church property at corner of George and Lily Streets, Rosettenville. Our place of worship accommodates about 500 people and there are about 450 active members at present.

AFM Victory Celebration Noordgesig – The AFM Church in Noordgesig had a presence in the community for more than 60 years. In 2006 the presiding pastor Japie Petersen decided to go independent from the AFM Church. This left a void in the area and for almost two years. Dr Clarence Pereira decided to re-establish the church and to plant a branch of AFM Victory Celebrations. The fist service was held on Sunday 11 May 2008. Denovan Maritz together with the brothers Andre and Theo Le Battie and their families accepted the call to re-launch the church in Noordgesig.