ABOUT US

One church, many congregations

Our mission is to reach people through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples and raise leaders to impact our local community, city and every nation.

Willows congregation was planted in 2013, with 30 passionate leaders and family members. We started to gather in a tent and through God’s grace and provision we were able to build our venues to not just serve our Willows congregation, but also our city-wide church. We saw God’s faithfulness and favour upon our church. Today we have a beautiful venue and a well-established church.

We are a multi-cultural, multi-generational community of people from many different backgrounds and ethnicities who have been united for one cause: TO HONOUR GOD.

As a Willows congregation we believe in family and strive to create a place where people can come, be restored and healed, a place of belonging, a place that they can call home.

Our Values

LORDSHIP

Value Christ in us Colossians 2:6

Jesus is “King of kings and Lords of lords.” We believe that whole-hearted submission to God’s will and His Word is the starting point of the Christian faith and the foundation of all spiritual growth.

EVANGELISM

Value people John 3:17 | Luke 19:10

God’s heart is to reach the lost, we’re passionate about preaching the gospel and doing ministry in a way that engages people outside of the Christian faith. We seek to build churches primarily through evangelism, not transfer.

DISCIPLESHIP

Value maturity in Christ Matthew 28:19,20

We’re called to make disciples, our primary focus is establishing biblical foundations, equipping believers to minister, and empowering disciples to make disciples – not conducting meetings, facilitating programs, or building buildings.

LEADERSHIP

Value godly influence 2 Timothy 2:2

We’re called to establish churches and campus ministries in every nation, we’re committed to a culture of empowering leadership. We’re intentionally multi-generational, and we deliberately create opportunities and platforms to develop the next generation.

FAMILY

Value Relationships Psalm 127:1 ,3

Family is the foundation and validation of ministry, therefore we refuse to sacrifice our marriages and our children on the altars of temporal justice. And because we believe God has called us to be a spiritual family, we embrace community, reject the idea of disposable relationships, and choose to walk in love, respect, and unity.

Our Leaders

Johnathan & Lindri Atkins are happily married with three beautiful children – Nathan, Lika & Matthew. They are privileged to be in full-time ministry for more than a decade and leading the Willows congregation since 2016.

Johnathan loves people and is passionate about healthy relationships and marriages. He has been deeply impacted through discipleship, and believes in the value of true discipleship. He wants to see Jesus honoured in all circumstances and people that will live from a living relationship with God and not for themselves.

Lindri believes that music can be used as a platform to bring glory to God and reaching people. She is also part of the Beyond Mus!c team, which writes songs for our city-wide church to affirm the calling that God has placed on us as a movement.

They believe that God wants to establish His kingdom in South Africa and every nation through local churches by the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our Elders

Elders act as Christ’s overseers, God’s household managers (Titus 1:7), has been given delegated authority to govern, preach, teach, feed and equip the local church for works of service. The lead elder is to lead and care for the appointed elders and to raise new elders.

The eldership team as a whole is to lead and care for the core leaders and local church through biblical governance. The leadership of the elders is to be exercised in a way that models Christ-like, humble, servant-hearted and loving leadership.