I am, my brothers and sisters, very grateful to be able to speak to you as your president, since this year's general council also marks the end of my term. So much has happened since 1982 and now it is only right and fitting that a few remarks be made about this period. It is not a report in the general sense of the word, but my own reflections of what has happened and to this organization that we call the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. As you will understand, the decision that we made in Ottawa regarding apartheid and the white Dutch Reformed Church, the Status confessionis, the declaration that the theological justification of apartheid is a heresy, the suspension of the two white Reformed churches who were members at that time, that decision dominated the work and the life of the Alliance, in a way we could not have foreseen. There was hardly a time and place where I have been that this decision was not at the centre of the discussion. Understandably so, because the situation in South Africa has worsened over the last few years.

My own role, small though it may be, in the South African situation, has not escaped the attention of the world or of our churches. The decision of 1982 was a bold decision, controversial at the time. For many it may still be controversial. But there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that that was the only decision we could take. It was the only decision we could take with any dignity. For what was in question then as it is now, if we talk about the situation in South Africa, is not only the fact that the life of a people is at stake, not only that a political situation may deteriorate into civil war. What was at stake then and what is at stake now is the credibility of the witness of the church in the world and the credibility of the gospel. What is at stake now is the very confession of the church that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In these years I have been visiting many churches. To my regret I have not been able to visit all of you. Sometimes there was a lack of time; sometimes I had planned to come and then some other crisis would erupt in South Africa that would prevent me from coming. But I did visit many of you and I was asked to speak on many occasions. In these years, I was also in the forefront in the battle in my own country: acting on behalf of our people, marching, confronting the police and the army and the State; having been arrested, having been arrested many times, spending time in prison; speaking at church gatherings especially on the themes of peacemaking, justice, hunger and poverty; acting also as consultant for governments on many issues through all this. Some in the World Alliance may have become exasperated with what I was doing. Some may have become irritated. Some may even have been embarrassed. I sincerely hope that no-one was ashamed. For myself, in whatever situation I found myself, whether in the church or on the streets, whether in battle with the forces of apartheid or in prayer with those who are in detention; whatever I have been doing, I hope that you will understand that I was never ashamed to be called your president.

I want here to make use of the opportunity to publicly thank the churches of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches for your support. Right through these years as the crisis in South Africa deepened, I was immensely strengthened by the messages of support and the tangible signs of encouragement that I have received from churches and from many many individuals across the world.

This honour that I have been given, this position that I have been catapulted into without having asked for it, has brought awesome responsibilities that I find very, very hard to fulfil. It is not easy to suddenly find oneself as a spokesperson for God's people in so many parts of the world. It encourages me, but it also rends my heart. I stand up to speak at a political meeting in a place like Stockholm, and after I have spoken, a man from Kurdistan comes to me with tears in his eyes and he says: "You know, I did not know you, but today I heard in your words also the cries of my people. Thank you for also speaking on our behalf." But that again, my brothers and sisters, is a responsibility that humanly speaking, I would rather not have. If it were not for the constant prayer of' so many of you right across the world and in this body, I would not have been able to do anything that would have pleased either God or the church or humanity.

When I was in prison, you visited me, by sending your general secretary to obtain permission from the South African government to see me, at a time when not even my own family was allowed to speak with me. When I fasted in solidarity with the hunger strikers who had been kept in detention so many months, I received a flood of letters of support, of encouragement, of prayer. When my life was endangered, you came to my side in many many ways, even to the point of sending the general secretary and Rev Sylvia Michel from Switzerland and Pastor Guhrt from Germany to come and be a physical presence, so that the South African government and those who threaten my life could see that the world church was at our side. I am deeply grateful for this. And there is really no way in which I can express the gratitude of my heart or of my family or of my church for what this has meant for all of us in those trying times. But I ask you to accept this inadequate expression of my own appreciation for this steadfast witness.

Maybe the World Alliance does need someone less controversial, as someone has written to me. Maybe it is true that you deserve a president that would not always call upon you to write letters to some head of state who never listens anyway. Maybe it is true that you do deserve someone who does not always have to be asked to keep out of trouble some way or another. But while you had me, you stood by me and by the church that has sent me to Ottawa as a delegate, and you stood by the cause that we stand for. And I was happy always to be able to say that the World Alliance of Reformed Churches has taken a stand on the issues of justice and peace, human dignity and human rights. And from that stand, we shall not waver.

Now, we are moving into the next phase. Seven more years will go by before this general council will meet again. The world has seen so many changes. There is a new rapprochement between the USSR and the United States of America which gives new possibilities for peace in Europe that we would not have thought possible a year or two ago. All of a sudden the desire for freedom and peace in the hearts of many in central and western Europe has blossomed openly, in a way that is a joy to see. Does it really mean that we are entering a new phase, where peace will not only be a word that we speak in conferences where we want to pacify the world before we go back to the business of war? Does it really mean that the superpowers, as they call themselves, have now realized what they have done up till now has been so irresponsible that a change must come, that the future of the world cannot depend on a few men who have the power to decide whether to drop a bomb that can destroy half the world at once. Have we really entered an age where wisdom and humanity will prevail? We pray to God that this is so.

The policies of these two great nations have immediate consequences for other parts of the world. Flowers of freedom are beginning to bloom in Poland, in Hungary and no less in the USSR itself. In other parts of the world there is also a sign that things are changing. Southern Africa offers new possibilities for peace in Angola and even in Mozambique. There is new hope in Afghanistan; and there is the process towards independence in Namibia which came about because of this new policy of Mr Gorbachev and the apparent decision of the superpowers that there should not be an East-West battle in far-off areas in the world anymore and that negotiation and discussions are preferable to war.

The independence of Namibia also is on the cards because of the consistent pressure on the South African government. Even the limited sanctions that have been imposed by certain nations of the world have made it financially impossible for the South African government to continue the disastrous war in Angola and Namibia. The military challenge that was posed by the Cuban troops made the South African government realize that it has more to lose by trying to stay in Angola than by withdrawing with as much honour as could be salvaged and to seek a political solution for the problem of Namibia which they have caused in the first place. In Central America the contra-war seems to be over and prospects for reconciliation are greater than ever before. Again, for these things we thank God.

The question that arises time after time, of whatever political situation we may speak of in the world, is the witness of the church in this new situation. Is the church simply going to try and follow in the footsteps of the politicians or is the church going to take the lead and speak the Word of God seriously, openly and prophetically to the political leaders of the world so that they will know where we stand. Will we be echoing only the empty phrases of politicians who speak out of expediency or will we be witnessing to the truth of the gospel and articulating the desires of God's heart for the people of his love and his world?

But the struggle continues in other parts of the world. The danger of a nuclear war may have been diminished, but it is by no means over.

I have warned in 1983, speaking at the assembly of the World Council of Churches that the churches of the North must not make this nuclear war an issue from which they exclude the churches of the South. The question of peace is not only a question of nuclear war or nuclear disarmament. It is a question of war, period. It is a question that touches on the issues of hunger, of poverty, of discrimination. The peace that we seek is a peace that encompasses every aspect of the life of God's people on earth. Over these seven years I have testified at committees and hearings where the nuclear question was central. But I have always said: you will never be able to speak about this question with integrity if you do not also speak as clearly as you can on the issue of conventional war.

In Africa, the Middle East and other places of the world, people are not dying because of a nuclear bomb that was dropped. People are dying because of the ravages and destructive power of "ordinary" guns and tanks. The nations of the rich world that speak of peace but manufacture those guns must find people who buy and use those guns. As a consequence, it is our people and our children who suffer. And that is even apart from the fact that the money that is used for these armaments, whether nuclear or conventional, could have been used for purposes of peace and education, better housing and human understanding, for creating a climate in which our children will not be afraid to grow up, and in which women will not be afraid to have children at all. This is an issue that I think that our churches have not addressed adequately. Maybe the time has come for the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, while continuing to speak out on the nuclear threat to also constantly raise the vexing question of the violence and destruction done by conventional war. There are situations in the world that have not changed at all. I think of Guatemala, Chile, and other Latin American countries where the battle for justice is far from over. In a country like Burma the pain of the people has deepened. Although there is a new search towards democracy and reunification in Korea, it also brings new tensions and clashes. We are here also to speak to that particular situation.

There is an ongoing and devastating war in Sudan. From the Sudan alone there are more than 350 thousand refugees, from Ethiopia more than 600 thousand refugees. In Mozambique 280 thousand children have been orphaned by the war generated by RENAMO and supported by the South African government and other interests in the world. In South Africa itself the state of emergency is four years old. And over these four years, that has meant unchecked powers for the police and the army and for the Minister for Law and Order. It has meant thirty thousand people detained without trial, without charges, in the first 18 months, forty percent of them children under 18 years old. Children in my country as young as eight, ten and twelve years old have been put in jail and tortured by the South African government. It meant legalized murder. For the last six or seven years there have been more than a hundred and twenty unsolved political assassinations. So many hundreds on death-row, most of them going to die on the gallows for what the South African government considers "treason".

It is now treason in my country to say that apartheid is evil and that the South African government is a minority government. It is considered terrorism to call for an economic boycott to put pressure on the South African government. It is considered treason to call for a march down the streets to put weight to our legitimate demands for democracy and freedom and human dignity. This is the situation the churches and the people in my country are facing. We have been pushed to the forefront of the battle and the questions arise in our own hearts: how do we lead our people? If a government no longer knows the difference between right and wrong; if a government no longer knows the difference between justice and injustice; if a government only survives through oppression and violence, threat and intimidation; and if a government is unrepresentative and undemocratic, not representative of the majority of the people, what is it? We have given an answer: such a government is illegitimate. Do we have the right to say "no" to that government? As Christians, is it our duty to break the unjust laws that the government makes?

We have come to the conclusion that it is. Church father Augustine very long ago had said words that I have repeated in South Africa so many times. These words do not please the South African government, but they are nonetheless true. He says: "What worth are worldly princes and governments when justice is lacking. They are no more than a gang of robbers." The minister for justice has called me "impertinent" for saying so. He has said that he will charge me with subversion if I say it again. And so the South African council of churches took that quote and put it on a poster which is now floating around the country and I guess in most parts of the world. We believe it is part of our witness to remind the government: "If you do not do justice you are no longer the servant of God for the good of the people," as Romans 13 says. "You have turned yourself into the beast of the sea," as Rev 13 says. That much must be clear.

At the moment we are in the midst of a defiance campaign. People who have been restricted after they have been released from unjust detention have now decided to say to the South African government, "We will no longer obey these restriction orders". What is the role of the church in a situation like that? We need a word from this general council on the whole question of obedience to human authority. We need a word from this general council as to how the church should lead in a defiance campaign such as this. I must say to you that I am filled with pride, but also with shame when I think about somebody like Mama Sihlangu who is now 75 years old. Over the last four years she has been jailed three times, restricted two times and now under restriction orders. She cannot leave her home between six o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the morning. She cannot speak to more than ten people at a time. She cannot attend any gathering of any kind where the South African government is attacked or criticized. She cannot participate in any women's group or any women's work, because she is considered a threat to the security of the State. Mama Sihlangu came to the church service last Sunday, walked into the pulpit and said: "These are my restriction orders; I have come to announce to the Minister for Law and Order that I will no longer obey these orders". And then she added: "I am very, very, very fed up with all of this." Seventy-five years old. I looked at her and said to myself, "Here we sit with a church full of ministers of the gospel who dare to preach to their congregations the Word of God on Sunday. How many of us have the courage of this 75-year-old woman?" May I be so bold as to ask this question of the World Alliance? How many of us here, will have the courage of Mama Sihlangu to stand up in the face of a government who has not hesitated to kill little children and to say, "I will defy your laws, because they are in conflict with the laws of God". And she chooses not the street, but a church service in the presence of God's people, to make that announcement.

It is in that situation that the challenge to the church grows. It is a question for every single Christian around the world. And wherever our churches are in these situations they will seek guidance from this world body to help us in this struggle. This challenge to the Alliance comes not only through the South African churches. Our churches in other parts of the world are faced with it. The question of obedience to God or to human beings is universal. It should be clear that all of the issues we will be talking about are burning issues, taken from the life and the heart and the struggle of our people and our churches all across the world.

We will continue our discussions about justice, peace and the integrity of creation. In reference to this, permit me to remind you of the story of creation found in Genesis. There is the garden in which Adam and Eve are placed, and in the middle of the garden stands the tree they were not allowed to touch.

I am inclined to accept the explanation that in the ancient East that was a custom. When you rent out your land to someone else, somewhere on that land is a tree that the person who rents that land is not supposed to touch. That tree is a sign that the land does not belong to you - you have only been given the land. And so the question is not ownership, the question is stewardship. And that is true for God's world and for God's creation. We have forgotten in this world that we have not been given ownership, we have been given stewardship. And we have transgressed, we have crossed boundaries and limits that were set by God and we are paying for it and we are making coming generations pay for it.

The second thing that I want to say is that creation includes human beings, especially the children. I hope this Alliance will have something to say about the rights of children. In my country it is the children who suffer first. If a child of ten years old can be taken to jail, and the police explain that "he or she is a threat to the security of the state", something must be said. If a four year old girl can be shot and they explain: "we did not know she was a girl, we thought she was a dog", something must be said.

But there is another side as well. In 1985, an important part of our nonviolent campaign against the apartheid regime was the burning of candles on a Wednesday night. A candle-light in a window was a sign of defiance, a sign of hope, a sign of faith also in Jesus who is the light of the world. A light that says that even the darkness of oppression and apartheid would not overcome it. On this particular Wednesday afternoon, my son and a friend had gone to tell the neighbours that they must not forget to light a candle. The police saw them, threatened my son and said: "If you ever do this again, you will see what will happen to you." He came back, told me about it and then asked the most profound question I have ever heard. He asked: "Daddy, why is the government afraid of a candle?" That question must be taken up by this general council, because I think it gives us insight into the mind of Jesus when he said that the little children will understand the things of the Kingdom of God better than the wise men of this world.

Do you remember the story of the western Christian missionary who came to Africa, trying to bring the people to Christ and then one day he saw somebody go to the woods, stand in front of a tree, and started speaking to it. This man said to the tree: "I need you, I'm going to cut you down, because I want to make a canoe, so that I can travel on the river and catch fish for my family. But I am speaking to you, spirit of the tree, to give you time to find another home and I will come back in a week's time. If you have found another home, I will cut you down. But please accept my apology, for you know that we are dependent on each other and in this case I am dependent on you." All of you who come from the other part of the world would say that this is heathen religion. That's what you called it then. Now, most of you are beginning to understand that this is ecology. That is the way you have respect for God's creation. Something of the spirit, of that kind of understanding, ought to infuse the theological thinking of WARC. We have not yet learned enough from the people in those parts of the world, and we have to learn some more.

What I have just told you is more than just a story. It has profound theological implications. These theological implications ought to become part of the theological programme of WARC We have found in our country and elsewhere that in the struggle the church itself has become a site of struggle. Powerful political and economic interests are trying to use the church for their own ends, alienating it from its calling to stand where God stands, namely on the side of the poor and weak. This causes division within the church. This, however, is not only a political decision. It is a decision that is the consequence of a fundamental theological choice. In South Africa, for example, I understand the Status confessionis to mean that one cannot be a Christian and support apartheid. Conversely, we cannot be a Christian and not resist apartheid. If the church does not participate in peaceful resistance to apartheid, what then is the meaning of the Status confessionis and the Confession of Belhar? But it is these and other questions with profound, day-to-day political consequences that have brought the struggle into the church. And I must insist: the choices here are primarily theological, not political. So that in a real sense it is not the political consequences that are the cause of rift and division, but rather the fundamental theological choices that must be made for the church to be true to its calling. That is why the decisions of Ottawa were so crucial for the life of the Alliance and all of its member churches. Those were decisions that focus on the South African situation but with universal impact. since they testified to a fundamental theological choice the general council has made. I hope that this again will be the ringing testimony of this general council.

My brothers and sisters, we must do this; we must encourage people in their struggle for justice all over the world, but we must remember that we do this only on the basis of our faith in our lord Jesus Christ. It is our faith in Jesus, it is our love for the lord that is at the heart of our discipleship as we struggle for justice. Any other basis will not do for the church of Jesus Christ. We go into the battle as people who have been inspired by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. All other consideration, all ideologies are secondary. It is this faith that tells us to be where we must be, to stand where we must stand and to fight for what we must fight for. All that we do, must be done through our love for Him Who died for us all. There are two weeks ahead of us, do not forget the places where you come from, do not forget the pain of the people you represent, do not forget the struggles of the people for whom you will speak in this general council. Above all, do not forget, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Some of you have reminded me that you saw Bishop Tutu and myself dancing on television not so long ago. That was not only because I was inspired by the good Bishop to dance with him, but that's a genuine expression of joy that the South African government will never understand. How is it that people so sorely oppressed can dance on the streets and on the pulpits? How's that for reformed worship? And do not forget that we are called by God but remember this:

We are not called to be fearful, we are called to love;
we are not called to be perfect, we are called to be faithful;
we are not called to be fearless, we are called to be obedient;
we are not called to be all-knowing, we are called to believe;
we are not called to claim, we are called to give,
we are not called to be victorious, we are called to be courageous;
we are not called to lord it over others, we are called to serve others.

For it is in serving that we shall reign;
it is through courage that we shall find victory;
it is by giving all that we shall gain all;
it is in believing that we shall find certainty;
it is in obedience that we shall overcome;
it is in faithfulness that we shall find perfection;
it is in loving that we shall dispel fear;
it is in slavery to Christ and his justice, that we shall find freedom,
now and forever, for ourselves and for the world.

Thank you. God Bless you.