South African Hub
About Our Local Hub
About Us / National Team / National Office / South African Founders / Statement of Faith
About Us
The mission of Growing Families—South Africa is to provide the family with parenting and family resources that will instill, encourage and perpetuate the passing of parenting skills from one generation to the next.
National Team
The “National Team” is a team of two couples who have been unanimously endorsed by the Growing Families leadership community: Gareth & Beth Hearn and Alastair & Andrea De Wet.
Gareth and Beth Hearn have a pigeon pair of twins, born in 2012, and a younger daughter born in 2016. Gareth's summary: "When we found out we were expecting twins, we freaked out and looked for help... two sets of friends referred us to Growing Families, resulting in a very intense but nevertheless do-able first six months." We have since grown in appreciation of the insight and practical advice offered by the Ezzos through the courses, so much so that we brought it to our home church, and now are helping to expand the reach even further.
Alastair and Andrea De Wet have three beautiful girls: Hannah aged 18, and twins Sarah and Alex, aged 16. We attended Preparation for Parenting ourselves, before Hannah was born, and fell in love with what we saw... we have honestly never looked back. Alastair and Andrea have together been leading classes for the last 16 years and have coached many many families through the stages from Newborns through to Teen Years. We are passionate about the principals that literally “changed our lives” and we are ever grateful for what we have been able to learn and implement along our own pathway of parenting and truly the proof is in the pudding... we can testify to having great teenagers that we adore being around. We have had the privilege of being able to share and walk alongside and coach other families, along this amazing journey. Andrea is a Registered Nurse by profession and runs a Baby Vaccination Clinic in Centurion. She coaches new parents in the clinic through Growing Families/PFP principals, and acts as a support to moms all over South Africa.
National Office
South African Founders
Gabi and Alan Dixon started up the Growing Families in the mid 1990s. They have made a positive impact in countless homes with their heart to impact families for Jesus. They have served the ministry with dedication and integrity for almost 25 years. In 2020 they decided it was time to hand over the reins and ease into retirement. Gabi says: "It has been an enlightening and inspiring walk and we consider it a great privilege to have been part of GFI ministry."
Statement of Faith
We believe there is one true God, manifested eternally in three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who possesses all the divine attributes and is coequal, coexistent, and coeternal with the Father. We believe in His virgin birth, that He was God incarnate (both God and man), for the purpose of revealing the Father, redeeming men and ruling over God's Kingdom. He accomplished man's redemption by the vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood and sacrificial death on the cross. By His literal, physical resurrection from the dead and His ascension to the right hand of the Father, the sinner is justified. We believe Jesus to be the mediator between God and man who will return in glory to judge all mankind.
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity, possessing all the divine attributes with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the super-natural and sovereign agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ at the moment of conversion. The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, and empowers all believers for spiritual service.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit who administers spiritual gifts to each believer for the purpose of equipping the saints and for the building up of the body of Christ.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and lost, the saved to eternal life and the lost to everlasting punishment.
We believe that all who place their faith in Jesus Christ are placed by the Holy Spirit into the spiritual body of believers known as the church, with Christ established as the head. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by the teaching and instruction of the Word, by building the faith of its members, by providing an atmosphere of worship, by providing fellowship, and by fulfilling the great commission to reach the world for Jesus Christ.
We believe that man is a sinner and that the penalty for sin is eternal separation from the Father. We believe that eternal life is a free gift of grace bestowed upon each repentant sinner who responds in faith to the provision of salvation in Jesus Christ. Regeneration is instantaneous and is accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit. Genuine regeneration will manifest itself by righteous attitudes, edifying conduct, and good works to the extent that each believer submits himself to the control of the Holy Spirit.
We believe the Bible is God’s expressed declaration. It is authoritative for life and salvation and speaks with clarity to all points above. It is the Word of God (literally God-breathed), and accepted as inerrant, verbally inspired, and infallible.