Being church in the present world economy

Conference on being church in the present world economy is being held at UP, from 17-18 August 2009.

Program

All is welcome !

Southern Synod a new face and a new heart !

The recent Synodical Commission meeting implemented the decision of the Regional meeting in 2007, to change the name of the Synod. The new name decided upon is SOUTHERN SYNOD. This name, of course has been in circulation for years, so we simply endorsed an identity that has been alive, in the minds and words of us all.

Another deeper development is the decision to implement the Integrated Ministry model. This model has been discussed and workshopped at length and we feel that this is the way to go.
Key ministries is hence for us: Service and Witness, Congregational as well as Proclamation and Worship.

We will continue to update our systems and forms to further phase in this new face of ministry

Message to the churches in Zimbabwe, by AACC

Message to the Churches in Zimbabwe

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

It is with joy and anticipation I write this letter to you just days after the formation of the new consensual Government between the ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations. I sincerely congratulate you for your perseverance in prayer and your relentless efforts to work for lasting solutions to the dire political, social, humanitarian and spiritual situation of your beloved country. Reiterating what AACC last year said in its statement on the power-sharing agreement of September 15, 2008; indeed “the Zimbabwean people are the real heroes in this process and are the first to be honored for their perseverance and relentless quest for peaceful change in Zimbabwe”.

As members of the world-wide Body of Christ, we are called to be a people of hope, and my hope and prayer today is that this ground-breaking step in the political history of Zimbabwe finally will bring real change to the people that for too long have suffered under the yoke of intolerance, unrest and unbearable economic and humanitarian hardships. But we know that the road ahead will be long and difficult. Our thoughts and prayers go to those who are sick in cholera and AIDS, to those lacking food for the day, for the political detainees and for the refugees that have crossed the borders due to the crisis.

We know that the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, can be an effective vehicle for peaceful change in our world. At the same time we painfully acknowledge our many failures to stay true to this God-given ministry of peace: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14) and “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). Therefore, our collective engagement in the Zimbabwe situation calls all of us to a prayerful and humble soul-searching to address our present weaknesses and to empower and reinvigorate the Church again for this life-giving ministry.

In this decisive time for Zimbabwe, our appeal to you, our sister and brothers in Christ, is that you continue to work for unity and peaceful resolution to all the present challenges facing your nation. Your earlier efforts to cross denominational boundaries and bridge political and regional divides have been strong signs of hope for the world outside, and your perseverance and prophetic imagination is still essential.

The 9th AACC General Assembly in Maputo, December 2008, reaffirmed the role of AACC and its members to continue to accompany the situation in Zimbabwe by first and foremost listening to you as our sisters and brothers in Zimbabwe and together work towards a common vision for peace, justice and reconciliation. To achieve this goal we sincerely invite you to give your assistance, guidance and input to the dialogue so that the AACC, its member constituency and ecumenical partner network can play its part.

On January 25, 2009, a Special Day of Prayer and Fasting for Zimbabwe was held, as per the call of the 9th AACC General Assembly in Maputo. As our thanks go to God for answering prayers, we know that prayer must continue to carry this process to fulfilment. Therefore, please be assured of our continuous commitment to pray and work together with you for justice and peace to prevail, for democracy and human dignity to be upheld and for relief and reconciliation to heal this beautiful nation.

Finally, as the new General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, I would once again like to emphasize our longstanding commitment to accompany you as the Church in Zimbabwe as well as the Zimbabwean people in the rebuilding process that is now to take off. May God Bless Zimbabwe!

[signed]
Rev. Dr. André Karamaga
GENERAL SECRETARY

Cc: - AACC Members
- AACC Members of the General Committee
- Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC)
- Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ)
- Heads of Christian Denominations (HOCD)
- Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA)
- World Council of Churches (WCC)

In memory of Rev Dr MS Pitikoe

Rev Dr MS Pitikoe
Born: 19 March 1939
Died: 29 October 2008

The late Rev Dr Molefi Seth Pitikoe was born on the 19th March 1939 in Hendrina. He was the second child of the late Rev Japhet Mizpha and Mrs Stompie Pitikoe. On 11th January 1964, he was joined in matrimony with Sarie Kruger. They were blessed with five children, two boys and three girls: Moroesi, Billy, Tiny, Lieketseng and the late Butiki.

He did his pastoral work at the following congregations of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Afrika later known as the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa: Maseru (1963-1964), Evander (1964-1968), Zola (1968) and Tladi (1968) until he was called to higher service.

The late Rev Dr MS Pitikoe had a passion in the quest for knowledge. He started his primary education in Vryheid, he then proceeded to Bethal where he completed his Std 6. He graduated as a teacher at Stofberg Gedenk Skool in 1958 and went on to graduate as a minister from Stofberg Theological College (Pietersburg) in 1962. In 1963 he started with his ministerial career in Maseru (Lesotho).

He acquired his matric and several degrees through correspondence chiefly with the University of South Africa. In 1971 he obtained his post graduate degree at the Free University in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and a PhD in ministry at the Pacific Western University, Colorado in the United States of America in 1979. Over and above his degrees in theology, he obtained a PhD in Naturopathy at the Naturopathy College of South Africa.

He served in the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Afrika (NGKA), as scribe of the Regional Synod of Southern Tvl from 1972-1997 and for the General Synod from 1981-1994.

He then served, in the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa, as Moderator of the Regional Synod of Southern Tvl from 1999-2007 and as Assesor of the General Synod from 2001-2005.

He had a passion for justice and for the reunification of the Dutch Reformed church-family. Being part of the leadership of the then NGKA, he paved the way for the unification with the ‘Sendingkerk’. They would declare in a press statement in 1991, ‘In view of the present time in South Africa, churches are called to give a positive witness with regards to mutual acceptance and reconciliation. The unity of the DRCA and DRMC will present a clear witness that these two churches have ended the sinful separation which was forced upon them for such a long time.’

In one of his last sermons to the Regional Synod of Southern Tvl, he passionately pleaded the church reunification for the whole DR church-family to be seen as a simple act of obedience to Gods call. He read Matt 6: 5 and noted that this is a well known prayer, which we all have known since the days of our youth. He underlined the key verse, which was also the theme for the Synod, ‘may your will be done earth’. ‘What a wonderful place our world would have been if every Christian would simply do this. Our prayers would link up with daily life and we would become more, increasingly conscious of Christ in his life. Our spiritual poverty is because our unwillingness to enter a deep relationship with God, as revealed in Scriptures. It is only if we submit to the will of God, that it will cause spiritual growth. Unfortunately we don’t do it. It might be Gods will for us but we refuses to do it, then we experience conflicting loyalties. Our sense of values becomes distorted.’

He then lamented the fact that for more than 35 we’ve been speaking unity, unity…. We’ve preached unity the late Rev E Buti started this process. It’s now more than 35 years, saying the same thing, hoping that tomorrow unity will come from heaven. But, he stated, in despair, ‘it’s not coming’; why are we struggling, because people are not willing to submit to will of God. We present excuses and my own selfish will becomes first’. Then he spoke a startling word, he stated, ‘I tell you today- we won’t see unification on this earth- some say – give us 3 years- no it will take another 35 years.In our discussions we rather say: my will first and Gods will second. And then we think God must bless us. We however do like Jonah- we’re on a wrong way. So, we know what happened to Jonah. He ended up searching for God in the belly of the whale. Oh, he concluded, we wasted such a lot of money, yet Christ simply said- be one.
Where is the will of God? – I ask you, where is the will of God?
This prophetic sermon seems to be haunting us in our quest for reunification. It haunts those who would constantly remind us of all the difficulties, of all the impossibilities.
Dr Seth Pitikoe died an untimely death, yet his prophetic word still speaks powerfully to this situation in the DRC-family today. May his children see the fulfillment of his hope.

Funeral arrangements of Dr Seth Pitikoe

The funeral arrangments of Dr Seth Pitikoe is as follows:
The service will start at 10am at the URCSA in Tladi.
it is hoped and it was the wish of Dr Pitikoe that the service be simple and short and the family wish to honour this request.

WCC URGES INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNMENTS TO UPHOLD THE RIGHT TO FOOD

As "the global food crisis continues to unfold and impact on the most vulnerable in our societies," the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has called on international institutions and governments to move into swift action.
In a statement on the occasion of the World Food Day (16 October), Kobia has called on international institutions, regional intergovernmental bodies and governments "to address volatility in food and agriculture prices by re-establishing public stocks at national and regional levels". They should also "prevent [agribusiness companies] from abusing their market power" and introduce "legislation at all levels that enshrines the right to food and food sovereignty".

The global food crisis "is not primarily of production, but of distribution and access" and "stems from and reflects a failure to uphold justice and sustainability within an economic system that is driven by the values of greed and materialism," Kobia stated.

In view of this, "churches are called to bring the fundamental links between food, community, ecology and life back into perspective". "The churches need to continue to hold international institutions, governments, corporations and financial speculators accountable for the realization of the right to food and food sovereignty," the statement reads.

Whilst "many churches and their specialized ministries are responding to the crisis," Kobia encourages them to continue their advocacy work and to "renew their commitment to work for genuine land reform - including the redistribution of church lands," as well as to "promote local and environmentally friendly agricultural production".

Full text of the WCC general secretary's statement on the global food crisis:

Press statement of Executive on Boesak and Homosexuality debate

HOMOSEXUALITY DEBATE

The Executive of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa deeply regrets the misrepresentations of the procedures and decisions of Synod on the issue of homosexuality by our former Assessor, ProfDr Allan Boesak. We want to inform the world and our church of the correct information.

We want to state the following:
1. The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa is a Church who functions within the Presbyterian Church law system. That means that the church works with meetings and not individuals. Only when a meeting (Synod: General or Regional, Presbytery or Church Council) came to a decision, that decision stands and is the official position of the various structures in URCSA. Any individual within URCSA not mandated to speak on behalf of these meetings within URCSA, would voice their personal opinion and does not speak on behalf of URCSA. A person may rise in Synod or any other meeting of URCSA and make a point, but it will remain a viewpoint, unless an official decision has been taken by majority vote. This point is important to note in the light of the debates at Synod and the utterances of individuals in URCSA specifically on the homosexuality debate and in the public press.

2. Interim Policy on homosexuality (2005)
At the General Synod of URCSA in 2005 the Synod took the following decision ( decision 90) which would be the interim guideline until Synods comes to a final decision:
a) Synod confirms that the Bible is the living Word of God and the primary source and norm for the moral debate about homosexuality
b) Synod acknowledges the diversity of positions regarding homosexuality and pleads that differences be dealt with in a spirit of love, patience, tolerance and respect.
c) Synod confirms that homosexual people are members of the church through faith in Jesus Christ.
d) Synod rejects homophobia and any form of discrimination against homosexual persons.
e) Synod appeals to URCSA members to reach out with love and empathy to our homosexual brothers and sisters and embrace them as members of the body of Christ in our midst.
f) Synod acknowledges the appropriate civil rights of homosexual persons.
g) Synod emphasizes the importance of getting clarity about the theological and moral status of homosexual marriages, or covenantal unions .
h) Synod emphasizes the importance of getting clarity about the ordination of practicing homosexual persons in ministry.
i) Synods assigns the following tasks to the Moderamen:
- Do an extensive study on Christian faith and homosexuality while taking into consideration the above mentioned principles;
- Table a report with recommendations to the General Synodical Commission (GSC) during the coming recess ( 2005-2008);
- And encourage and direct discussions on the theme of homosexuality in URCSA.

3. Mandate and Report on homosexuality
The mandate was to be carried out under the leadership of the previous Assessor, Dr Allan Boesak and his Commission, consisted of Prof. Nico Koopman, Prof. Jeremy Punt, Prof Christina Landman, Prof Rothney Tshaka. According to the decision of the 2005 Synod this commission had to follow a certain process within the church with their. They were instructed to table their report during the recess at the General Synodical Commission (GCS which is the body which handles the affairs of the General Synod while the Synod is not in session) for debate. The report was to be distributed to the Regional Synods, Presbyteries and Congregations for debate. The responsibility of this commission was to direct the discussion on homosexuality in URCSA. The commission unfortunately did not fulfill its task in this regard.

4. Homosexuality debate during Synod:
The report was received only by the delegates (and not by the entire church structures as was the mandate to the commission) and they received it only a few weeks before Synod was to convene. Because of this irresponsible manner in which a report of such importance for the church and its members whose life’s are personally, directly and deeply affected by its final conclusion, the delegates were not prepared to debate this issue properly and make an informed decision. The result was that some delegates reacted to the report on an emotional level and said inappropriate and hurtful things. For these irresponsible utterances by individuals in Synod, URCSA is very, very sorry and makes an unconditional apology to the entire Church and its homosexual members who have been hurt by this. We want to stress these utterances were that of individual delegates and not a decision by the Synod as a meeting. We deeply regret that the commission did not do its work properly in terms of the process that the report should have taken in the URCSA. Synod by decision rejected these utterances and confirmed the integrity of those who worked on this report.

4. The current position of URCSA on the issue of Homosexuality
Synod regards the report as a well prepared report and thanked the contributors to the report. Synod decided that the report should take the route, as was decided by the 2005 Synod, but was not implemented by the Commission on homosexuality. The report and its recommendations are now referred back to the 7 Regional Synods, Presbyteries and Congregations for discussion.
In the meantime the current official position of URCSA on homosexuality is the interim policy as formulated in 2005( decision 90) as stated in point 2 of this press release.

5. Dr Allan Boesak’s statements in the public press.
As the executive we deeply regret the misleading and false statements made by Dr Allan Boesak ( Moderator of the Cape Synod)in the public press, since Friday. The Moderamen would like to clear up the confusing facts that Dr. Boesak put in the public domain. The Report tabled was not Dr Boesaks. It was the report of a commission which consisted of Prof. Nico Koopman. Christina Landman, Prof. Jeremy Punt and Prof. Rothney Tshaka. He only presented the Report on behalf of the commission. For Dr Boesak to claim in the week-end press that” he confronted the Synod (in this report) with an issue and that the Synod was not emotionally or theologically ready to talk about it”, would be to ignore the contributions of distinguish academics to report and claim sole responsibility for its content. He creates the impression that this was an issue between him and the Church/ Synod. Creating the impression that he was he was the champion of a cause and by so doing put the spotlight on himself. Dr Boesak took the issue of the report far too personally, while he was not the sole writer or owner of this report. Once this report was submitted it became the property of the URCSA.

When Dr. Boesak stated in Die Burger newspaper that, “he confronted the Synod (in this report ) with an issue and that the Synod was not emotionally or theologically ready to talk about”, he was absolutely correct. Dr Boesak neglected his duty as the person who was given the responsibility by Synod in 2005 to assemble a commission to work on this report and to ensure that URCSA was emotionally and theologically ready to debate with insight the issue of homosexuality. It was only three years after this mandate was given to him, that he called a commission together in June of this year. One of the members only heard in June of this year that he was a part of the commission. This report was to tabled between 2005 and 2006 at the General Synodical Commission and send to the Regional Synods, Presbyteries and Congregations for debate, because the work was not done, this process was not followed and the church and delegates to the Synod, “was not emotionally and theologically ready” to debate the subject of homosexuality. As chairperson of this commission Dr. Boesak simply did not do his job properly and he must take full responsibility for what happened with this report at the Synod. He must be honest and take ownership for this. He should not shift the blame to Synod, but he should be courageous and mature enough to admit his serious neglect. Dr. Boesak did a disservice to URCSA and its homosexual members in this regard and he puts his fellow commissioners in a very difficult situation. Despite this short space of time in which this report was completed, Synod regards this research on the topic as excellent and worthy of considering.

Dr Boesak’s accusation as reported in die Burger on Monday that, URCSA committed treason against Belhar, is an accusation that the Uniting Reformed in Southern Africa does not take seriously. URCSA has not made any decision on the report and specifically where the report deals with the Belhar Confession. Dr Boesak is simply sensational in his utterances. He has no grounds for such an accusation, because there was never a decision taken or a value judgment made by Synod ( as legally constituted meeting who can take decisions, legally) on Belhar and homosexuality. His accusation is highly irresponsible and misleading.

Dr Boesak creates the impression in the Week-end Argus that URCSA has come to a decision on Homosexuality when he is quoted , “ I cannot accept the church’s decision and stand as a representative. I will remain on as an ordinary minister. I will cannot defend such a decision.” No decision was made on homosexuality, except the decision to refer the report for proper discussion as was the intention and decision of the general Synod of 2005.

Dr Boesak has vilified the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa and its Synod for no valid reason and spoke untruths about the actions of this Church of God. We as a Church will not call on him to retract these untruths, but we leave him with his conscience before the Almighty God and we pray to God that Dr Boesak, will use his God-given gifts for a righteous cause.

This is the final public engagement of URCSA on this issue. We will now go back to our Regional Synods, Presbyteries and Congregations, to direct and deal pastorally with the issue of homosexuality in the spirit of the 2005 decision. We call on the whole of URCSA to start talking and debating.

This press release will be read throughout URCSA on Sunday to put the issue in perspective and to remove all confusion and false statements.

ISSUED BY THE EXECUTIVE:

Prof . ST Kgatla ( Moderator)
Dr. Mary –Ann Plaatjies –van Huffel( Assessor)
Dr. Dawid Kuyler( Scribe)
Rev. M. Godfrey Betha ( Actuarius)
Rev. Reggie Nel
Rev.MP Moloi
Dr. Henry Platt.