Southern Africa consultation
October 27 2000
"This is the time to rise above differences and concentrate energies on the mission to which we have been called," Warc general secretary Dr Setri Nyomi told a "mission in unity" consultation in South Africa last weekend.
Unity between Reformed churches was indispensable if they were to provide
the right kind of leadership and to focus on the life-and-death issues
confronting southern Africa, he urged.
Dr Nyomi challenged delegates from 19 Warc member churches in the region to form again the "united front" with which many of them had confronted apartheid in the 1970s and 1980s.
"We need the same kind of united front and commitment to action
today," he said. "This workshop will be waste of financial resources
if it remains a 'talk shop' with no follow-up actions."
The consultation took place in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, from October 19 to 22 2000. It was jointly organized by the Southern African Alliance of Reformed Churches (SAARC), Warc's "area" structure in the region) and the Mission in Unity Project 1999-2002, which Warc co-sponsors with the Geneva-based John Knox International Reformed Centre. Its purpose was to reflect on Reformed mission in unity in southern Africa, "as it has been and as present times demand".
Participants recognized that there was much to celebrate.
"We are grateful for the manifold ministries carried out by Reformed
churches, including evangelism, health work, education and the promotion of
social justice. We give thanks for the role churches have played in processes
of political liberation in southern Africa during recent decades."
But they acknowledged that Christ's mission in southern Africa was far from
complete. The effects of apartheid in South Africa were still deeply felt;
civil war continued in Angola; unresolved land issues in Zimbabwe were leading
to division and death; economic injustice went hand in hand with ecological
degradation; and political instablity and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS were
devastating the lives of millions. In many churches, women were still denied a
place as equal partners and young people were not taken seriously as the
church of today.
"These realities challenge us to reclaim our heritage, both African
and Reformed, which affirms that God intends abundant life for all and invites
us to share in God's mission as demonstrated in Jesus Christ, especially to
those who are impoverished, marginalized, and denied full humanity," the
consultation said in its final statement.
Confessing their failure to overcome existing Reformed divisions in
southern Africa and affirming that Christ calls Reformed churches "to
form one confessing and witnessing communion", delegates committed
themselves to give fuller expression to their unity at local, national and
regional levels. They undertook to reshape and strengthen their churches'
critical engagement with state structures and civil society. And they agreed
to work together in transforming and contextualizing the style and content of
worship, the ways in which they train and employ women, men and young people
in ministry and mission, and the ways in which they respond prophetically to
the needs of their societies.
Participants overwhelmingly endorsed SAARC as the appropriate body to lead and unite their churches in mission. They affirmed that, under its current executive committee and coordinator, Rev. Majaha Nhliziyo, SAARC was well-placed to play a coordinating role and asked it to monitor the implementation of project proposals for common mission action at the national level which were developed during the consultation.
The meeting was led by Rev. Japhet Ndhlovu of the Reformed Church in Zambia and Dr Bukelwa Hans of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (moderator and vice-moderator of SAARC respectively) and Prof. Maake Masango. Speakers in the consultation included the two co-chairs of the Mission in Unity project, Prof. David Mosoma and Prof. Lukas Vischer, and one of Africa's most experienced Reformed leaders, Very Rev. Dr John Gatu of Kenya.
Prior to the consultation, the general secretary of the Alliance
spent three days in meetings with three member churches in the region.
In the head offices of the Dutch Reformed Church in Pretoria, Dr Nyomi and other Warc representatives had separate meetings with the executive committee, women leaders and youth leaders. The main focus of these meetings was the commitment of the Alliance to accompany the Dutch Reformed Church in reshaping itself in the new South Africa, with a special focus on the reunification of the Dutch Reformed family of churches.
Dr Nyomi also met the leadership of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa, with its new moderator, Rev. Diane Vorster, and its general secretary Rev. Alistair Rodger. He was accompanied by Rev. Majaha Nhliziyo, Ms Jet den Hollander of the Mission in Unity Project, and Dr Lukas Vischer. Warc expressed its joy at the uniting process which led to the birth of the UPCSA last year (1999). The discussions focused on consolidating the unity of the church and various elements of its participation in the life and work of the Alliance.
In Braamfontein, Dr Nyomi met the leadership of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and discussed ways in which Warc can accompany the church in facing its current challenges.
