Cape Town for Jesus tickets available! 22 March 2010

UPDATE:  Here is the direct link to book your tickets for this great event.

I had the joy of attending the Turn2God event in Pretoria this week and it was so special!  Cape Town for Jesus will be just as great!

Original post:

I received the following email from our Global Day of Prayer offices this morning. See http://www.gdop-sa.com for more.

This is going to be a special event where people of all ages, races and denominations will gather to pray for the city of Cape Town and for the World Cup soccer events that will be taking place in the city (and the nation). I would encourage you to be part of this special event! I would love to see all my friends in Cape Town joining together to pray for our city.

Let's not allow theological differences to keep us from celebrating our love for Christ, our commitment to our city, and modeling our Christian unity in diversity!

I remember the first Transformation Africa event at Newlands Rugby Stadium in 2001 - it was such an awesome time to see young and old, poor and wealthy, white and black worshiping and praying together for the city!

Mayor of Cape Town (Da Plato) and our Provincial Premier (Helen Zille) will be in attendance, as will a number of Christian sports persons, soccer world cup ministry leaders, and of course many Christian leaders from across the country and the world! I hope you'll be among them!

Good News!!

Tickets for “Cape Town for Jesus” prayer gathering are NOW OPEN FOR SALE at Computicket.

'A great prayer gathering will be held on Monday 22 March (public holiday) this year at the new Cape Town stadium'

This special occasion will be the first opportunity in which this beautiful new stadium will be fully utilized prior to the handover to FIFA for the Soccer World Cup tournament.

The program for the day will have as its focus prayer and blessing for the stadium; our city; provincial and national leaders; the Soccer World Cup Tournament; our children and youth and the emergency services operating in and around the stadium. Uncle Angus Buchan will be the main speaker on the day. Let’s join together with 68 000 others to commit our city, our nation, and the 2010 soccer stadiums to the Lord!

Tickets can be booked at Computicket http://www.computicket.com/web/event/cape_town_for_jesus/110515079

Entrance: R40pp (all persons (including babies) are required to be in posession of a ticket)

Gates open from 11:00 Prayer program from 13:00 to 16:00

There is no limit to the number of tickets you are allowed to purchase, so BOOK NOW to avoid disappointment!

Visit http://www.gdop2010.com for more information.

Finally, there are 10 000 tickets that are made available at R10 per ticket (this covers the cost of the train and / or bus into the city) for persons who cannot afford to travel to the city, or cannot afford to pay the regular ticket price. These tickets can be booked via the GDOP offices at 021 856 3130. The regular tickets, at R40 per person, cover the cost of some of the city amenities that we're using (safety officials, permits etc), plus the cost of hiring the stage and equipment for the day.

Please consider advertising this event in your Church bulletin, or letting friends and family in the Cape Town area know about it.

Thanks!

Dion

Update on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 10:59PM by Dr Dion Forster

A reader of the blog sent me an email expressing some concern about needing to 'pay to pray'.  I understand his concern and so sent him an email in response.  I am not sharing his email here since I have not asked his permission.  The gist of it, if I understood him correctly, was that it is not a good witness to persons who are not Christian that the event organisers are asking Christians to pay to come to the Cape Town stadium for a day of prayer.  He suggested that we should make it free and 'trust God to provide' for the costs incurred.

Here's my response to him.  I'd love to hear your perspective!

Hi Mr X,

Thanks so much for your email.  I appreciate it a great deal.  It is always great to connect.

Mr X, the event itself was at the invitation of the City of Cape Town (in fact it was Mrs Zille who invited Graham to take it up).  They needed to test the stadium's systems, but since it is getting close to the world cup they wanted something that could test the systems without putting much load on the pitch.  A concert or other such event was the perfect choice!  She thought of us since we pray with her fairly regularly and that's how it all started.

Of course there are costs involved in setting up such an event.  First, we have to pay for the all of the permits and city officials that are necessary for the event (emergency services, traffic officials, security, stadium staff, cleaning staff etc.)  This is a test event and so they have to use their staff and systems.  Then there is the additional cost of setting up the stage and sound for the event.  This is a soccer stadium and so all of this equipment has to be brought in.  Computicket is the world cup ticketing system.  We did want to do our own tickets but could not do so, they takes a fee (in the region of R15) per ticket.

Then of course there is the cost of providing trains and busses for 14 000 persons to get to the stadium from the various areas that cannot afford to travel here.  That costs hundreds of thousands of rands.

At the end of the day it is costly to do set up such an event for our city.  In better times some individuals, or groups, may have been able to fund the event entirely.  This is not currently the case.  While we have a number of very large donors the shortfall had to be made up out of ticket sales.  Surely you would not expect the tax payer to pay for an event such as this?

Mr X, my suggestion is that you pray for our city without feeling the need to be at the stadium.  Those persons who wish to gather will be there (both those who could afford to purchase a ticket, and those to whom tickets were supplied without charge).

I disagree that it is a poor witness.  If someone stood to make money from the event then that would be one thing, however the event will cover its own costs and at most a person would have to pay R40 for an incredible day with other believers, praying for the city and nation.  What a joy!  I think it will be a wonderful testimony!

Thanks for your email.

Together with you in Christ,

Dion

Just to mention that while I have participated in the arrangement of the event I am not an official spokesperson, this is merely my personal opinion and perspective on this wonderful event.

Comments

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