Homily at a Prayer Service for Bishop Emeritus Charles Albertyn and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

Preached at the Church of the Resurrection, Bonteheuwel, Cape Town:

"Oaks of Righteousness"

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Good News of Deliverance
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
   because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
   to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
   and the day of vengeance of our God;
   to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
   to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
   the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

Thank you all for coming both to celebrate the presence in our lives of both Bishop Emeritus Charles and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond and to pray for their healing, and the healing of all who are ill.

Both Bishop Charles and Archbishop Desmond are, in the words of Isaiah, indeed "oaks of righteousness" who have brought and -- by the way they live their lives -- continue to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and to comfort those who mourn.

Before turning to our readings, let's reminisce and recall those characteristics they have in common which endear them so much to us.

When one speaks to people around the dioceses of the Western and Northern Cape -- the old, enormous Diocese of Cape Town for which they shared responsibility with their other episcopal colleagues -- perhaps the most striking gift they were known for was their deep spirituality and centredness on God and how they could laugh at themselves and minister to others through laughter.

They are no different in retirement. Visiting Bishop Charles in his ward, there was an RSV Bible prominently at his side, even though he was not able to refer to it at the time I was there. It was the same as soon as I stepped into Archbishop Desmond's hospital room – the Bible was at his side. And the day before he came out, he shared with me the prayer intentions of the Order of St Julian of Norwich -- an order in which he is an Oblate -- which was alongside him on his bed. His life testifies to the power of prayer in helping us to discern what what God is calling us to do and to strengthen our resolve that God's will be done. Prayer and worship remain at the centre of his life, whether he's in hospital or at home, on a plane or a train – he has an unchanging spiritual routine and discipline.

Of course, being Archbishop Desmond, he also had an IPad and IPhone in bed with him -- instruments of modern technology which he uses to continue to reach out into the world to support others:  to encourage them, to joke with them, to make them feel good about themselves, to console them, to inspire them, and to assure them of his prayers.

He and Bishop Charles also share an extraordinary capacity to use laughter to overcome difficult moments, to ease tensions and thus to give glory to God.

There are wonderful stories about Bishop Charles's deep wisdom and quick wit. For example, when he wanted to tell people that they might be right in what they thought, but that pursuing the course they were determined to pursue was perhaps not a good idea, he would tell the story of the man at a pedestrian crossing. If the man saw that he had right of way, but that a car was speeding towards him too fast to stop, and the man decided to obey the little green man and cross, Bishop Charles would say, yes, the man would be right: but he would be "dead right".

Think also of how he joked that when accosted by people at traffic lights in Modderdam Road, wanting to clean his windscreen with a rag and a bucket of dirty water, he would say: "I will pay you NOT to clean my windscreen." Or of how, marching just behind Archbishop Desmond on the streets of Cape Town, he said he preferred protest marches under apartheid, which were always stopped by the police after a few yards. After marches became legal, he complained, he had to walk the whole distance.

And remember how they both laughed during Archbishop's Desmond's 80th birthday celebrations, when Bishop Charles forgot that he was down to preach and came in late in his wheelchair.

Or course, Archbishop Desmond's use of humour and laughter to leaven his message during the most bleak moments of our struggle are legendary, from his Van der Merwe stories to his jokes against himself. And when I visited Archbishop Desmond recently, he laughed so much that he cried. He reminded me that When we buried Archbishop Philip Russell, his predecessor, and he invited me to read part of the liturgy on his IPad, and I declined, he said that "I know that it's because you don't know how to use an IPad." And I have to confess now that he was right!

So as we reflect on how their special qualities of leadership and service sustain and empower us, consider how the words of Isaiah, in stating his confidence that "the spirit of the Lord is upon me," suggest that healing is not only physical. Healing is also liberation from anxiety, it is easing heartache, it is helping us to face in the eye the reality that, in the end, death comes to all of us. That reality was recognised in an exchange with Bishop Charlie and Berenice on June 16 this year. After the diocesan soccer tournament, Father Jerome Francis and I went to visit them at home. As I was leaving, he said, "Archbishop, can you see that old black dial-up phone?" I said "Yes." He said, "It is not connected and that is why the good Lord can't call me back home. But I am ready for him." At which I retorted, "Don’t worry, St Michael has misplaced your file and you will be with us for a long time."

The spirit of the Lord brings us the assurance of God's ever-present comfort, whether we are retired or in active ministry, or both, whether we are ill or healthy. For those of us who are trying to emulate Bishop Charles and Archbishop Desmond in our ministry today, the spirit of the Lord encourages us not to be faint-spirited but to act courageously, to face the challenges of our own times, the most important of which in South Africa today is to usher in justice for all our people, especially those living in the squalid conditions of our vast informal settlements.

In Psalm 121, the psalmist affirms that help will come from the Lord, that we can confidently turn to God for the strength to do what we are called to do, because God watches every step and movement we make, even the pulse of our heart or the movement of our breathing. And the dramatic story that we heard from Mark, in which Jesus, as the Gospel puts it, "makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak", tells us that when it comes to healing, God is in charge.

Of course in these days of modern medicine, God has enabled us, with the gifts he has given us, to offer opportunities for healing we have never had before. And that brings us full circle, back to Isaiah, which urges all of us here, today, now, to bring good news to the oppressed. We need to ask: is it good news for the oppressed when our public health system in parts of South Africa is falling apart? Is it good news for the oppressed when, at the same time, those of us with money or a good private medical scheme can go to private hospitals. Is it good news for the oppressed when some of us can get what Archbishop Desmond describes as medical treatment which ranks with the best in the world, and others must suffer as a result of the failures of management in our hospitals?

Down the main road next to Tokai, down at the bottom end of town and on the main road in Claremont, new hospitals are being built or older ones undergoing massive renovation. Private hospitals are sprouting up everywhere, charging high fees which as a result make them inaccessible to most of our people. Even for clergy, the church is struggling to get to grips with the rising costs of medical care. The difference between the way he is being treated and the fate of most of our compatriots is a deep source of distress to Archbishop Desmond.

As people of faith, let us approach the world with the eyes of God, seeking the mind of Christ in the varied challenges we face. These are myriad, from global warming to the desperate conditions in which so many of our people live. But today, let us re-commit ourselves to working for a public health system which will bring good medical care to all. Following Jesus' example of simplicity, let us work for good primary health care in our clinics. Let us bring our existing public health facilities, the hospitals and the clinics, up to scratch so that they money we already spend on them is used more efficiently. And let's advocate for the national health scheme which our Minister of Health is working hard to introduce.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me. The spirit of the Lord is upon each one of you. Lord, heal our land and people, and begin with me.

Amen

Housing and Family Life in South Africa

An address to SpiritFest at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown on July 7, 2014:

Joshua 24:15 says: "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Good morning, ladies and gentleman. Let me start first by thanking the Dean and the organizers of SpiritFest, especially Ms Maggie Clarke, not only for inviting me but for taking care of all the practical detail leading up to today’s programme. Thank you to the SpiritFest committee for reminding us that God is God of all, including art, for God is the creator God. As I said in my homily yesterday, this Cathedral is home for me and evokes a welter of emotions that I can express with sensitivity and care, but also without fear.

I have been given the theme, Housing and family life in South Africa.

My ancestral home is Makgobaskloof in Limpopo, and the bulk of my family live in Thlabine nearby. My father and his brothers and cousins moved to Alexandra township in Johannesburg in the early 1940s, in search of better pastures. Around 1895 the Makgoba monarch was beheaded in a war called the Makgoba-Boer war of 1888-1895. To date, the skull of Mamphoku Makgoba is yet to be found. In 1974, my family in Alexandra was forcibly removed to Pimville in Soweto, to a house which is still in my family – my parents now having died, my nephew stays in the home. Our home in Alex has been demolished and in its place a school, Zenzeleni, has been built.

Last week, together with other bishops and their spouses, I went to Alex, to reconnect with the places of my childhood, to where I worshipped, and to see where Madiba stayed when he first arrived in Johannesburg. I felt a strong sense of connection with Alex, but one that was underlain by the pain of displacement and relocation which my family had suffered.

This personal journey has heightened my sensitivity to those who need housing and shelter – which, along with the right to live, is among the most important of the rights to which we are entitled and the provision of which is also among the most important responsibilities our society needs to fulfil. Without shelter, the most important unit of human existence – the family – does not have place to flourish. The forced removals of apartheid stripped away the dignity of my parents. Even at the age of 14, being loaded onto the back of a truck in Alexandra, to be dumped in Pimville, unsettled me as well as disrupting relationships which our family had built over many years, throwing our whole community into disarray.

The forced removals of apartheid were evil, destroyed human dignity, and disintegrated families. In recent days, the forced removal and the demolition of the dwellings of the poor and downtrodden in Lenasia in Gauteng, and in Lwandle in the Western Cape – just as the cold and wet of winter held us in its grip – were deeply painful to watch and must have been totally traumatic for the families who had to build dwellings again from scratch. Whatever the circumstances that led to those evictions, they were cruel and totally unacceptable, resurrecting the wounds of how Apartheid trampled on human dignity. When faced with such events, I cannot stand by idly, but have to plead for the cause of the displaced; housing and shelter are not only constitutional rights but biblical imperatives.

Let me turn my focus to an assessment of South Africa’s human settlement patterns to paint a picture of the challenges we face.

Government white papers over the years have noted that post-apartheid governments inherited a legacy of very low rates of formal housing provision, at a time when the society has been urbanizing rapidly. In 2004, the government noted that one-fifth of people who lived in urban areas were first-generation residents and that this trend was set to continue. The backlog in housing gave rise to overcrowding and squatter settlements, and led to land invasions in urban areas. In the democratic era, the provision of housing and services has not kept up with the formation of households. Various academic and government studies note how segregation, in the words of one expert, served to “hide debilitating poverty”, and also draw a link between our housing shortages and crime.

Over the last number of years, I have been referred as “the toilet archbishop” because of my concern over water and sanitation, which go hand in hand with housing. Poor sanitation and the failure to deliver safe water in under-developed communities is a stubbornly persistent problem, not only at the level of providing infrastructure but in our failure to maintain existing services. Just to remind you of a few examples:

• The fact that there are still people who are operating a bucket system of removing sewage.
• We have had enough discussion about the saga of open toilets in the Western Cape and the Free State. We really need to get our act together to build proper toilets.
• Recently we suffered the utter shame of a school child dying in a latrine in Limpopo.
• And lately tragedy struck in the community of Bloemhof where people died from contaminated water. Is this the kind of wake-up call we need?

Our failure to get to grips with these challenges is a failure to address ourselves to upholding basic human dignity. Families, as an institution, are under siege as it is, without having to undergo these experiences to try to survive. On such questions of providing dignified human settlement there should not be explanations but action.

The most common health problems associated with poor sanitation are: diarrhoea and dysentery, bilharzias, cholera, worms, eye infections and skin diseases. There is increased risk from bacteria, infections and disease for people with reduced immune systems due to HIV/Aids. The social and psychological problems associated with poor sanitation are well documented. Toilets placed at a distance from the home, inadequate communal facilities, inadequate disposal of waste and other poor sanitation practices result in loss of privacy and dignity, exposure and increased risks to personal safety. It is especially women and the elderly who are the most inconvenienced. And so an ideal family housed in a place where parents have their privacy, and children have their space to grow, is undermined completely by these circumstances.

Although the school attendance of girls in South Africa is high compared to other developing countries, it is internationally recognised that poor sanitation facilities at schools can be one of the main reasons for girls to drop out.

The issue of service delivery protests has recently been a subject of study by a research unit of the University of the Witwatersrand, where it was found that the protests are becoming rooted in the dissatisfaction of communities about the basics not being in place.

Given this grim state of affairs what should be our message to society about family and human settlements?

1. The issue of human settlements must be elevated as a priority for our government. It is true that there are competing interests, but there is a need to avoid the backlogs on sanitation, for example. This will mean that there is a need to radically change our approach to the integrated development plans of municipalities. Various pronouncements have been made by successive democratic governments over the last twenty years, but the reality is that we have communities that are still in the same situation they were under Apartheid, where sanitation is concerned. We must commend the government for elevating the issue of sanitation to ministerial level. The proof of the pudding, however, is in the eating.

2. In order for this matter to receive attention civil society has to stand up a lot more to enforce what are basic human rights. The question remains – if a community has been without basic human rights related to sanitation and settlement, where are the faith communities that minister to them weekly? What action have they taken to ensure that this situation changes? We commend civil society initiatives like the one on Limpopo that has seen the birth of a coalition to focus on the issue of poor sanitation in schools. Such civil society pressure groups must be replicated across the country in order to hold government accountable.

3. The strike in Marikana, and the subsequent tragedy in that part of the country, has brought into focus the role of business in communities. Mining companies in particular make billions from the minerals below our land. The extent to which they plant back, both as a direct meeting of their obligations linked to their licence, and also simply as a moral duty to plant back, leaves much to be desired. It’s common knowledge that mining companies in particular are responsible for the collapse of the family unit. They are an example of what a migrant labour system can do to destabilise the family unit. Therefore a call for mining companies to invest in proper accommodation for families will go a long way in rebuilding the fabric of family in what is a huge constituency of mine workers. Secondly, and more importantly, the communities surrounding the mines must be attended to with huge investments that should eradicate things such as the bucket system, and therefore improve the health profile of these communities. Finally, business in general must identify communities where they derive their income, and partner with government to attend to the settlement challenges. Investment in sporting facilities or even mere fields can go a long way in ensuring that the settlement of communities is made even slightly bearable.

4. Community action. What has happened to local community action. In our culture letsema used to ensure that there is joint community action to clean up our places of abodes. These days we wait for government to do things for us. The President has called on all of us to clean up during Mandela day – this is a call that we endorse only as a reminder of what communities ought to be doing all around the year to live up to the adage, “cleanliness is next to Godliness”.

5. Once these things are done, we still have to attend to the spiritual challenge of refocusing the attention of society on the family. The scriptures give us hope that this battle can be won. The issue of fixing the family and the values that must underpin it, must start with each one of us.

We need to do introspection about what causes the family to disintegrate. There is a part of this story that has to do with the moral decline in our society. The fact that most crimes of murder are associated with people who know each other; the fact that we have so many reports of elderly women and toddlers being raped by family members, paints an ugly picture that must be corrected by each of us where we live.

Faith communities must launch a new initiative to encourage family ties. There are just too many families that are disintegrating under our watch as the church. What are we doing to support families that are going through difficulties? In this context there is a huge issue of child-headed households. These must be the responsibility of the churches. No household that is headed by children must be left to its own devices. If our ministry as the Church does not attend to this then it will become meaningless in our communities. There is no better action that will show our faith than taking care of children who are in these most vulnerable circumstances.

The teachings of the Church about family and love cannot be abandoned even in the face of the most difficult circumstances painted by these painful facts we shared today. We cannot abandon hope, no matter how dark the situation may seem.

At the end of the day, the issues of human settlements and family development are intricately linked. We must pursue them until there is stability in our society, and everyone can enjoy the liberation that was pronounced by the freedom charter, the liberation that is guaranteed by our wonderful constitution. Each of us must shine the light of hope wherever we are placed for the Ministry of the Lord.

May God bless you. Join me in declaring that me and my family shall serve the Lord.

National Church Leaders' Consultation - Media Advisory

Media Advisory: 14 October 2013

National Church Leaders’ Consultation – Invitation to Media

A meeting of the twice-annual National Church Leaders’ Consultation will take place on 15 and 16 October 2013 at the Southern Sun Hotel, O R Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.

The meeting will consider a report from the National Religious Association for Social Development (NRASD), which will address public health; education; economic and welfare policy, and the National Development Plan; and gender violence and human rights. Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa will lead further discussions on questions of education; and Bishop Malusi Mpulwana will head a session Towards a Rolling Church Action Plan for Social Change. The consultation will also hear presentations from Mr Pascal Paul Moloi, NDP Commissioner, and Mr Leo Makgamathe of BrandSA.

On Tuesday evening, His Excellency, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, will be in conversation with Dr Catherine Sozi, Country Director, UNAIDS. The Media are invited to attend this event, which begins at 18.45hrs.

A media statement will also be issued at the close of the Consultation, around 1300 on 16 October.

The National Church Leaders’ Consultation is currently chaired by the Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.

Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman, 021 763 1320 (office hours)
Mr Sipho Mahokoto, Senior Program Coordinator, NRASD, 083 745 3405, sipho@cddc.co.za (during the Consultation)

Church Leaders Engage with National Development Plan

The following statement was issued by South Africa's National Church Leaders on 16 October 2012

Church Leaders engage with the National Development Plan

An opportunity to deal with the wounds and the healing of our country.

The National Church Leaders’ Consultation gathering at Kempton Park from the 15 -16th October 2012 addressed many concerns and needs related to Religion and its input into addressing and making a difference in matters of Education, Public Health, Welfare, Economics and the implementation of the National Development Plan. Although we became deeply aware of the woundedness of our nation and the cry of our beloved country, we firmly believed that the unity of believers in SA can create an enormous opportunity and be a beacon of hope.

The Consultation was privileged to have the Minister of National Development and Planning, Mr. Trevor Manuel, address the meeting offering considerable reflection on the Plan and its implementation. He stressed the need for Church Leaders to not wait for government alone to address issues in our country but to take the initiative to encourage all citizens to become actively involved in the full realization of democracy.

At the meeting the Church Leaders agreed on the following:
1. We are a wounded nation facing poverty, distrust, racism and the breakdown of society which impacts negatively on the moral fiber of our country. For example, Marikana sent out a stern warning to us which show that this is a kairos moment requiring transformational leadership and action.
2. We commit as Church Leaders not only to exercise a prophetic and lamenting role in addressing the issues and struggles in South Africa but to get actively involved in making a difference in the lives of the poor, sick and suffering in our land today and to play a role in effecting healing, reconciliation and wholeness. In the same breath we call on government to more seriously recognize that Religious bodies are key partners in bringing about change in South Africa. In as much as we helped in dismantling apartheid we are called to play a vital role in the reconstruction of our beautiful land. We need integrated efforts of people, groups and institutions in making a difference. In this, Christian leaders readily avail and commit themselves to these initiatives.
3. We recognize the need for ecumenical cooperation and collaboration in addressing these giants and we appointed a group of people to take this conversation further and to bring concrete plans to the Consultation.
4. We are concerned about the state of education in South Africa and feel that Church Leaders need to assume a more proactive role in this area and not necessarily wait on government to take the lead. Consequently, a special Conference on Religion and Education will be held from 1-2 November 2012 in Bloemfontein chaired by Bishop Siwa and Prof. Jansen.
5. In addressing social issues, we believe that we not only need good economic policies but also social policies that will restore human dignity, moral fabric, work ethic and discipline in our country. We are seriously concerned that the National Lottery is seen as the major instrument in funding social development and welfare initiatives. What does this say about the low values and political priority we attach to social and welfare programmes?
6. We are concerned about racism on all levels in our society and believe that it must still be addressed by Politicians, Religious Leaders and the country as a whole.
7. We are concerned about the current political climate in our country and the escalating violence due to political intolerance, and call on the Mangaung Conference to take seriously the need for political stability and quality leadership.
8. We need to foster leadership which serves the needs of our people and the most vulnerable in our society. We commit ourselves to pray for all political parties and leaders in our country.
9. We call upon the people of South Africa to be constructive and responsible as agents of social change, rather than leave everything to government. We do so as servants of God who are called to exercise grace and truth.

The Conference concluded on a high note of practical suggestions and initiatives to address our current concerns, setting in place the necessary structures to ensure the continuity of our conversations and actions in our role to make a difference for the good of the people in our land.

Participating leaders
Archbishop Dr. Thabo Makgoba – Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Bishop Lunga ka Siboto – Ethiopian Episcopal Church
Rev. Motlalentwa Betha - Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa
Archbishop Dr. Zandisile Magxwalisa – Jerusalem Church in South Africa
Prof. Jerry Pillay – Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa
Fr. Richard Menatsi – Catholic Church in South Africa
Pastor Dr. Butisi Yakobi – Assemblies of God South Africa
Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa – Methodist Church of Southern Africa
Rev. Vuyani Nyobole – Methodist Church of Southern Africa
Rev. Braam Hanekom – Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa
Rev. Willie Van Der Merwe – Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa
Dr. Kobus Gerber – Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa
Rev. Hermy Damons – International Federation of Christian Churches
Canon Desmond Lambrechts – Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Rev. Vasco Da Gama Seleoane – African Enterprise
Rev. Moss Ntlha – The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa
Rev. Marlene Mahokoto – Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa
Dr. Renier Koegelenberg – National Religious Association for Social Development
Dr. Welile Mazamisa – National Religious Association for Social Development
Mr. Miles Giljam – African Enterprise
Mr. Marcus Van Wyk – National Dialogue Initiative for Social Change

Visit to Diocese of Natal - Interview in The Witness

The following interview appeared in The Witness on 21 November 2011, and can also be found at http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global;%5B_id%5D=72190.

THABO Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), has challenged the government on issues of service delivery and corruption, and is a “proud” member of the Press Freedom Commission. In the province recently, he spoke to The Witness about a range of hot topics in the church and society. It was clear that Makgoba (51) is cast from the same mould as some of his illustrious predecessors like “the scourge of apartheid”, Joost de Blank and Geoffrey Clayton (who refused to obey the Native Laws Amendment Act), and Desmond Tutu.

Julius Malema

“I agree with Julius Malema when he raises questions about the need for economic emancipation. I agree with him when he raises questions about the number of unemployed youth who voted the ANC into power but whose votes have manifestly not translated into creating jobs, better education, or access to health care. I agree with him, but I don’t agree with him on how he thinks this should be achieved. I disagree with the suggestion of nationalisation without putting the specifics on the table. Will nationalisation increase access to health care, improve the national education standards, address the housing backlog and sanitation and improve the living standards of unemployed youth? Without specifics, I cannot agree with him.”

The Church and politics

“The understanding persists that the church should not be involved in politics. I have a different understanding of religion and what God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit calls us to do and be. We cannot privatise faith — there is a eucharistic imperative that sends us into the world to love and serve. This entails asking why some people are more privileged than others, why some have too much food while others go hungry? And asking why and which structures and systems support that? Poverty and hunger are not because some people are more blessed or work harder than others. There are lazy rich people and poor people.

“As soon as you ask questions people call it ‘politics’. But in the Bible Jesus Christ learnt and cited the Torah and studied with the synagogue leaders — that is education. We need to raise these things, we cannot leave them to the party political heads.”

Apartheid reparations

“This is one of the things that Julius Malema is articulating, but in a clumsy way. The TRC, Desmond Tutu and other commissioners (who were mostly people of faith), could have done better in terms of reparations. They produced a document but then left it to politicians to put into action, which either did not happen or happened too slowly. Now it is coming back to bite us. The TRC did not address the economic and apartheid structures and systems that sustain and maintain poverty and economic inequality, so now we need to find a vehicle to do that.

“Desmond Tutu’s idea of a wealth tax is a way of recognising that politicians have not done what should have been done.

“The church could have done far better in addressing this issue, seeing that it was the church — specifically, the Dutch Reformed Church — that gave the moral, spiritual and theological basis to apartheid.”

The Press Freedom Commission and corruption

“I am proud to be part of the Press Freedom Commission under the chairmanship of Justice Pius Langa, to review best practice and regulation within the print media. An effective free press, and the ability of all to speak truth to power, is indispensable to successful constitutional democracy. The Secrecy Bill and Media Tribunal have the potential to undermine press freedom. If the citizenry does not engage with these they could undermine the core of our democratic ability to make constitutional values a reality.

“[The commission] will contribute to making this country’s democracy work, encouraging people to speak out and makes those we have elected serve the citizens and transform corruption. There is too much corruption and we want to make South Africans intolerant of it.

“To a large extent we are still a moral and Christian country. We must use that, not to proselytise, but to make this country shine.”

Transformation in the church

“We have talked the talk but not walked the walk in this area. The legacy of apartheid needs to be transformed, for example, priests live in houses of very different standards. Even Bishopscourt in Cape Town where the archbishop lives is a legacy of colonial times that predates apartheid. What was — and what is — the relationship between the church and the structures of power? How does it benefit some and not others? Those are the kinds of questions we need to ask if we are to be transformed.

“It can also mean changing those areas of church life that were socially engineered by apartheid, like barring people from worshipping across colour lines. It means looking at the Biblical apartheid of having only men as bishops. The Anglican Church in southern Africa has been going since about 1860 but we have only been ordaining women for about 20 years. There are 30 bishops in this province and not one is a woman. We need to start to walk our talk.”

Homosexuality

“The issue of transformation in the church touches on this issue too. There are those who feel called by God to be in a same-sex union, and those who believe it is against the Bible and God’s principles to be in that state. We need to allow God through the Holy Spirit to continue working in us and we need to keep talking until God prevails, and not us. There are no easy solutions. We must remember that it took many years before the book of Revelations was included in the canon of scripture. Look at the Nicene Creed (325): people argued and talked and died for many years before that was settled.

“I have always held that homosexuality should not be a church-dividing issue, but we need to take seriously people who take an either-or position. We need to wrestle together to understand scripture and our vocation to the world.”

Climate change and the environment

“These are also issues of social and economic justice and human rights, and we need to raise them. If you look at the mine dumps in Gauteng and the West Rand, you see a pattern that mirrors racial and political divides in geography. If you look at economic development you see big business and politicians in cahoots to get their hands on opportunities to benefit only themselves, like oil rights and access to energy. You see the developed world as the worst producers of carbon emissions at the expense of the developing world.

“There is a lot of greenwashing going on ahead of Cop17 in Durban. The government preaches the right message but does not practise it. We are far behind in developing renewable energy sources. Eskom pays huge subsidies to big industry at the expense of the poor, which is scandalous, and the government is planning another coal-burning power station.

“I hope Cop17 will be a chance to highlight these issues and I encourage everyone to make their voice heard. Sign the pledge to care for the environment in the We have Faith — act now for climate justice campaign and attend the interfaith rally at the start of the conference on November 27.”

Who is Thabo Makgoba?

CONSECRATED in 2008 at the age of 48, Makgoba was the youngest archbishop to head ACSA. He grew up in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, and went to school at Orlando High, Soweto, during the politically turbulent eighties. He is a qualified psychologist, holds a PhD in spirituality from the University of Cape Town and is a committed father to Nyakallo (17) and Paballo (12) and husband to Lungi, a former development consultant.

Call to Share Resources to Narrow Rich-Poor Gap

This press release was issued on 29 August 2011.

Poverty is reaching “pandemic proportions” and the disparity between rich and poor is continuing unabated, or even growing, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has told the Synod of the Diocese of Cape Town.

Delivering his opening Charge to the Synod, Archbishop Makgoba called for leaders in society to “reconceptualize” their role.

“Leaders across all sectors must act intentionally to ensure there is equitable access to, and sharing of, the God-given resources of our planet,” he said.

“The last 50 years have brought widespread political emancipation across Africa – but economic emancipation has all too often benefited a narrow political elite, while largely entrenching previously advantaged minorities. The poor majority do not even get the crumbs.”

In a reference to Cape Town, he said that nothing he experienced growing up as a child in Alexandra township in Johannesburg had prepared him for the “dire conditions” he had seen in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town.

The synod took place from Thursday to Saturday. Guests included the Mayor of Cape Town, Ms Patricia de Lille, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the head teachers of church schools, and the leaders of Anglican homes, institutions and other church bodies. During the service, the Rt Revd Garth Counsell, Bishop of Table Bay, introduced the diocese's new youth worker, Ms Abigail Hopley.

Verbatim excerpts from Archbishop's Charge follow. The full text of the Charge is carried below - see August 25.

"Reflecting on some of contemporary society’s persistent and pressing problems led me to write in my diary one day:

"‘When it comes to true leadership in our times, NGO development projects and charities do little more than scratch at the surface of poverty. The disparity between rich and poor continues unabated, even grows; and poverty reaches pandemic proportions. Interventions to reverse this trend will not come through democracy and elections alone. While these are critical for an open society, so far they have shown no signs of translating into prosperity for all – especially the poor who remain outside the economic mainstream of the world.’

"It seems to me that what is required is a reconceptualization of leadership – and here I am not talking only about Christian leadership, but about all leadership.

"We need a reconceptualization of leadership as stewardship of God’s resources; stewardship as in Jesus’s parable, which entails ensuring that all those over whom one exercises authority receive ‘their allowance of food at the proper time’. In other words, leaders across all sectors must act intentionally to ensure there is equitable access to, and sharing of, the God-given resources of our planet.

"The last 50 years have brought widespread political emancipation across Africa – but economic emancipation has all too often benefited a narrow political elite, while largely entrenching previously advantaged minorities. The poor majority do not even get the crumbs.

"Everyone needs clean water, basic sanitation, decent housing, and effective access to adequate education and health care. Economic empowerment must promote mass employment. This is primarily governments’ task – but the private sector must also come to the party, if we are to ensure a true ‘broad-based’ approach that encompasses those excluded by current economic models. Others look to the Church also to play a significant role – earlier this month, the Minister of Health sought our support for his efforts to make a decent and affordable level of health care to all South Africans. But the question remains of how we can best play a significant, tangible, role in economic development and emancipation – and help bring the authentic good news to the poor which Jesus promised.

"My challenge to you is to bear this question in mind, over the next two days, most of all, in our worship and in our seeking of God’s directing. But hold it also in your mind in conversations over meals, in debates, in group work – as we consider matters raised in measures and motions, as well as other priorities from theological education to children and young people; from Anglican Communion affairs, including the crisis facing the church in Zimbabwe, to those who are dying of hunger in Somalia; from the Communion’s listening process, to gender and Provincial Guidelines for pastoral care of those in, or affected by, same-gender Civil Unions....

"Reflecting on my ministry since coming to Cape Town, I have felt intensely that the underlying theme running through my busy life is the call to be a leader who is above all else a pastor....

"I have also felt the importance of pastoral leadership when walking with the poorest communities of our Diocese and City. Nothing I experienced growing up in Alexandra township prepared me for the dire conditions I have encountered in areas of Khayelitsha. Through practical engagement on issues like sanitation I have often found close fellowship and growing partnership with leaders of other churches and faith communities. Their experiences and perspectives also help my own grappling with how to tackle the many social and economic challenges that confront us on a daily basis."

Diocese of Cape Town rejects proposal to support Government National Health Insurance plan

This press release was issued on 28 August 2011

The ruling synod of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town has rejected a proposal that it should declare its support for the government's National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.

Meeting in Retreat, Cape Town, the synod approved a resolution saying that South Africa's current “two-tier” health care system was “neither just nor sustainable” and supported the principle of “just health care for all.”

However, it voted against a motion that the diocese should support the principle of the NHI. It instead called on Archbishop Thabo Makgoba to commission a study of the NHI upon which the church could base a decision.

Archbishop Makgoba said in a statement issued after the Synod:

“The Synod was unanimous in rejecting the current health care system, in which an expensive, profit-making private network, affordable only to a minority of mostly white South Africans, sits alongside an under-resourced, inefficient public health care system in which the vast majority of black South Africans receive care which is often inferior.

“There is a desperate need to improve access to health care and to improve hospitals and other infrastructure. The maternal and child mortality rates in our country are shocking for a country which has the resources we do.

“So we support the Minister of Health in his efforts to bring decent and affordable health care to all South Africans.

“But members of our Synod question whether the NHI will reform the system. Some of us fear that private hospitals will simply set up inferior 'NHI wards' alongside high-priced wards, replicating the current system.

“Others say that before introducing an NHI, the government needs to show its commitment to change by ending corruption and improving the attitudes of some health workers towards their patients.”

The original motion urging support for the principle of the NHI was proposed by the Revd Rachel Mash of St Mark's Church, District Six. The amendment calling for a study of the issue was proposed by Archdeacon Karl Groepe of the Church of the Ascension, Devil's Peak.

The Synod was held on Friday and Saturday at St Cyprian's Church, Retreat, Cape Town.

The final resolution read: “This synod, recognizing that our current two-tier system of health care is neither just nor sustainable, supports the principle of just healthcare for all and respectfully requests the Archbishop to commission a study of the NHI in the light of this and publish a statement to this effect.”

Charge to the Diocese of Cape Town Synod

The following Charge to the Diocese of Cape Town was delivered at the Opening Eucharist of the 63rd Session of Diocesan Synod, at St Cyprian's Retreat, on 25 August, 2011

Matthew 24:42-51Matthew 24:42-51

42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

45‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? 46Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. 47Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. 48But if that wicked slave says to himself, “My master is delayed”, 49and he begins to beat his fellow-slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. 51He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

6But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us—just as we long to see you. 7For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. 8For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. 9How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? 10Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

11Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Dear members of the Diocese of Cape Town, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, I greet you in the precious name of God, who calls us to live holy and blameless lives of love and faith with him and with each other. I also extend a warm greeting to all our guests. Thank you for being with us.

As I begin, let me also thank Bishop Garth and the Advisory Committee; everyone in the Diocesan Office; all at Bishopscourt; Archdeacon Anthony Langenhoven and his team at St Cyprians; and everyone else who has contributed to this Synod, and to my Charge. As always, my family deserve particular gratitude for their patience and support – along with the nearest and dearest of others heavily involved in preparations. Let me pay special tribute to Tony Hillier. We give particular thanks for his work over many years, and wish him every blessing as he prepares for retirement.

The theme of my Charge is ‘The Good News of Faith and Love’. St Paul writes to the Thessalonians that Timothy has brought him the good news of their faith and love. Faith and love are always good news. When brothers and sisters in Christ live together in faith and love, they encourage one another, and build one another up in Christian maturity. When the people of God are full of faith and love, they are a beacon of light and hope to the surrounding community. When churches overflow with faith and love, they encourage Christians throughout the body of Christ – as the Thessalonians encouraged St Paul.

But the best ‘good news of faith and love’ is that both start with God – the God who is love, the God who is faithful. Our faith, our love, owe everything to his overflowing generosity. ‘We love’ says St John ‘because he first loved us’ (1 Jn 4:19). ‘God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us,’ writes St Paul (Rom 5:8). The Psalmist recounts God’s faithfulness nearly forty times. And the writer to the Hebrews describes Jesus Christ as a ‘faithful high priest in the service of God’ (Heb 2:17).

There is no greater good news than discovering God’s love and faithfulness for ourselves: that it is not just a general attitude towards creation and humanity, but it is for you and for me! Our knowledge and experience of God, and our ability to reflect his love and faithfulness to others, should keep growing throughout our Christian lives. We will never find their limits – no matter what life brings, God’s love, God’s faithfulness, are greater.

So the central question of my Charge is this: how we can grow in this good news of faith and love?

Growth can, and should, involve both quantity and quality: growth in numbers and growth in depth, in maturity, in Christlikeness. Both are challenges to an historic church like ours, in a city of many denominations and Christian groups. We should not despise the inevitability that much of what we do is in ‘maintenance’ mode. We have a rich heritage – in people, liturgy, buildings, schools, homes, resources – and we must uphold and preserve and pass on the best of it. Overall we are in pretty good shape. We may have deficits or surpluses from year to year, but the big financial picture is sound. For this we have much to thank God – and firm foundations from which to tackle the challenges of growth with confidence.

Earlier this month I attended the Classic Pops concert that Bishops holds every three years at the City Hall. It was wonderful: well prepared and well executed, with committed boys who were exuberantly joyful in what they were doing. We left with our hearts singing.

And I asked myself – how often does our worship do this? Surely we should expect to have our hearts set on fire with the Spirit, to find ourselves fed and filled with Christ’s holy, healing, wholesome body and blood – and uplifted not just for an hour or two, but strengthened for the whole week ahead. Do we come to church – and give others reason to come to church – hungry for more of God, and expecting both to find our hunger met, and to be stirred to yearn even more deeply for him?

Perhaps for those of us who are long-term church leaders – clergy or laity – the risk is that we are not entirely expecting the Son of Man to turn up in our midst. It is easy to get comfortable running things in his absence – as Jesus’ parable warned! So we must be awake and alert; and expect the Master to come, even though he will probably upset our comfortable routines. Yet only in his presence will we find true life.

So then, let us, above all else, seek his life-changing presence evermore fully for ourselves and for those around us. As St Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, let us ‘pray earnestly that God will restore whatever is lacking in our own faith.’ We must seriously consider opportunities for renewing, deepening and sharing the good news of vibrant faith and passionate love for God, his creation, his people.

Two synod motions point to valuable resources: ‘Small Christian Communities, Renew Africa’; and ‘Church Growth, Fresh Expressions’. Both focus on growth rooted in Scripture and deepening spirituality – growth rooted in the love and faith of God for us, and our desire to know it and share it, more and more.

We must also consider the sort of leadership we need to encourage among each other now, and for the future generations. I cannot emphasise strongly enough the importance of the Endowment Fund in ensuring we leave a legacy of well-trained Clergy and laity. The motion on Lay Training is another key element.

Our gospel reading has more to say about the particular expectations placed upon those of God’s servants who have responsibilities of both leadership and care over others: ‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time?’ (Mt 24:45).

Members of Synod, these words, and the advice and warnings that come with them, are for us. How are we doing in the leadership we offer to the Diocese of Cape Town? How are we doing in the way we run our parishes, our churches, our diocesan bodies, including homes and schools, and in how we use our resources? In church jargon, we might talk about good stewardship, collegiality, and being answerable to one another within the body of Christ. In the language of the secular world, these are matters of good governance and accountability. These are the standards to which we regularly call politicians and other leaders across all sectors of society. But we can only provide a moral compass for others if our lives are directed by God in this way. For the world’s standards of good governance and accountability are merely a secular reflection of the holy and blameless life to which St Paul called the Thessalonians; they are one aspect of the wise and faithful service which Jesus asks of his followers.

We must be ready to learn from the best of secular practices. Therefore, several Synod measures propose improvements to our structures and practices. These include renaming the historic Archdeacon to the Ordinary more accurately as the Archdeacon to the Bishop of Table Bay. Second, we must ensure a clear and transparent relationship between financial and administrative tasks in the work currently undertaken by the Diocesan Secretary. Third, in line with the King III report, we propose to establish an Audit Committee, a Remuneration Committee and a Legislation Committee. These will help ensure we operate in ways that promote our desire to be wise and faithful servants, of our God, and of those to whom he sends us. In responding to this calling, we also propose amending the Diocesan Resource Teams chapter of the Diocesan Acts, to strengthen our commitments to the Environment, and to the pressing and severe needs of Social Development and Social Responsibility.

Yet, let me hasten to add, we are not environmental activists, nor social workers, nor politicians, nor moral commentators – though we may contribute in all these areas and many more. Our unique calling is to do what no-one else can do: to live out our baptismal promises in lives of faithful worship, witness and service. How can we best bring the good news of Jesus Christ, his healing touch, his redemptive power, to areas of need, suffering and deprivation? Sent by God, at his direction and in his power, we can roll up our sleeves, and get our hands dirty, and confidently engage with the messy realities, and the dire needs, of so many of God’s children alongside whom we live and work in this city. This is the lesson of Jesus’ incarnation.

And I am sure that the all-encompassing breadth of Jesus’ redemptive death and resurrection should press us not only to address symptoms but also causes. Reflecting on some of contemporary society’s persistent and pressing problems led me to write in my diary one day:

‘When it comes to true leadership in our times, NGO development projects and charities do little more than scratch at the surface of poverty. The disparity between rich and poor continues unabated, even grows; and poverty reaches pandemic proportions. Interventions to reverse this trend will not come through democracy and elections alone. While these are critical for an open society, so far they have shown no signs of translating into prosperity for all – especially the poor who remain outside the economic mainstream of the world.’

It seems to me that what is required is a reconceptualization of leadership – and here I am not talking only about Christian leadership, but about all leadership.

We need a reconceptualization of leadership as stewardship of God’s resources; stewardship as in Jesus’s parable, which entails ensuring that all those over whom one exercises authority receive ‘their allowance of food at the proper time’. In other words, leaders across all sectors must act intentionally to ensure there is equitable access to, and sharing of, the God-given resources of our planet.

The last 50 years have brought widespread political emancipation across Africa – but economic emancipation has all too often benefited a narrow political elite, while largely entrenching previously advantaged minorities. The poor majority do not even get the crumbs.

Everyone needs clean water, basic sanitation, decent housing, and effective access to adequate education and health care. Economic empowerment must promote mass employment. This is primarily governments’ task – but the private sector must also come to the party, if we are to ensure a true ‘broad-based’ approach that encompasses those excluded by current economic models. Others look to the Church also to play a significant role – earlier this month, the Minister of Health sought our support for his efforts to make a decent and affordable level of health care to all South Africans. But the question remains of how we can best play a significant, tangible, role in economic development and emancipation – and help bring the authentic good news to the poor which Jesus promised.

My challenge to you is to bear this question in mind, over the next two days, most of all, in our worship and in our seeking of God’s directing. But hold it also in your mind in conversations over meals, in debates, in group work – as we consider matters raised in measures and motions, as well as other priorities from theological education to children and young people; from Anglican Communion affairs, including the crisis facing the church in Zimbabwe, to those who are dying of hunger in Somalia; from the Communion’s listening process, to gender and Provincial Guidelines for pastoral care of those in, or affected by, same-gender Civil Unions.

As we seek God’s answers, I am sure that we will find that our social ills or lack of wellbeing require solutions rooted as much in spiritual health as in economic policy-making. By God’s grace, the gospel readings for the next two days provide us with more food for thought. These will provide the basis for my reflections in the morning homilies, and a spring-board for our Bible Studies.

As we consider these, I hope we can bear in mind the deeper question of how we can make our parishes centres of the good news of faith and love, and of encountering Christ in daily life – in ways that not only touch our hearts and souls, and the domestic arenas of family and personal life, but also help us to follow Christ’s leading in every public area of life, including work and economics. How can we go beyond providing the crumbs of charity – important though these are – and start changing the systems that leave so many in need of help, rather than empowering them to help themselves? How do we become part of God’s solution – identifying and rooting out all that impedes his command that humanity, and every human individual, should flourish; and that creation should be fruitful? What biblical values might this journey demand, what sort of questions do we need to ask and what sort of activities do we need to engage in? What type of leadership do we need to nurture the Churches’ contribution in this area, and enable this to happen?

Reflecting on my ministry since coming to Cape Town, I have felt intensely that the underlying theme running through my busy life is the call to be a leader who is above all else a pastor. I feel my call to be pastor on occasions like today, and in archdeaconry teas, as well as in the joy I feel when visiting our churches, organisations, schools and homes, across the Diocese. It is what I feel when we open Bishopscourt for an annual party for those at our Children’s Homes. Let me here publicly thank Patricia de Lille, as, formerly MEC for Social Welfare, and now Mayor, for her support; and also thank our Anglican Schools for their help. I feel it in many areas of working with Bishop Garth and Tony Hillier – and I am looking forward to exploring fresh ways at the Cathedral with our new Dean.

I have also felt the importance of pastoral leadership when walking with the poorest communities of our Diocese and City. Nothing I experienced growing up in Alexandra township prepared me for the dire conditions I have encountered in areas of Khayelitsha. Through practical engagement on issues like sanitation I have often found close fellowship and growing partnership with leaders of other churches and faith communities. Their experiences and perspectives also help my own grappling with how to tackle the many social and economic challenges that confront us on a daily basis.

Let us continue that grappling together in Synod in the days ahead, placing ourselves in the hands of the living God. Let us seek his direction that we may better make the unique contribution he asks of us – as pastoral leaders, or however he calls us – to strive as fully as possible, for the building of his kingdom, for the redemption of creation and all within it, and the glorifying of his holy name. Let us be faithful and wise, let us be awake, alert and expectant – as Jesus expects of his servants. Let us, as St Paul exhorts, pursue holy and blameless lives, of earnest prayer. And let us increase and abound in love for one another, for our God, and for his world.

Let us be people who grow in knowing and sharing the Good News of Faith and Love. Amen.

Address at 5th South African HIV and AIDS Conference

This address was given on 8 June 2011 at the 5th South African HIV and AIDS Conference in Durban.

Our title for this session is ‘Is the Religious Sector’s Response to the HIV Epidemic Sufficient?’ I shall answer by speaking about the role of faith communities as a necessary and effective partner, not only in tackling HIV and AIDS, but also TB, and across society’s health needs. I will speak as an Anglican, with my colleagues from the Anglican AIDS and Health-care Trust supporting this with practical examples from their work and experience on the ground. Colleagues will offer Catholic, Methodist and Muslim perspectives, from their long experience of working with the poor and most vulnerable. In this way, what may seem a theoretical call from my paper will be ‘earthed’ by the panellists.

Care and compassion towards the sick and the suffering has been the touchstone of most faiths since earliest times. Historically, the emergence of hospitals was strongly influenced by the care provided by Christian Churches, over many centuries. Today close to half of all health services in sub-Saharan Africa are provided by the religious sector.

But this is only part our commitment to holistic human well-being. Christians speak of humanity being created to live in harmony with God, loving him with heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbours as ourselves. In other words, we, like our God, are concerned for emotional, spiritual, mental and physical well-being of both individuals and communities. Therefore our contribution should be as much about promoting good health and disease prevention, as about responding to ill-health and its wider consequences in our communities.

This care and compassion, in practical terms, means an urgent and vocal commitment on our part to intensifying all our efforts that seek to ensure access for all God’s people, especially the poor and vulnerable, to adequate prevention, care, treatment and support. We cannot do this alone; we must continue working in communities, with those most affected, discriminated, with stigma and are silenced.

Community Engagement and Primary Health Care

It is at community level where the religious sector can perhaps make the greatest difference. Our pervasive grass roots presence allows us to work ‘bottom up’, vitally complementing the ‘top down’ approach that is inevitably part of the national and provincial responsibilities of Governments and Health Departments. And we certainly need to make a difference at the grass roots, if we are to make headway in health promotion and disease prevention as well as caring for the sick. We can do so through continuing our education programmes which help to break stigma, silence and death; and give a voice to people living with HIV. Within general health promotion, we give a particular priority to ensuring access to prevention measures, treatment, and a broad range of care and support to mothers, children and all living with HIV and TB. These are chief amongst the health challenges that we are facing at this time.

I am delighted that we share so much of this vision with our current Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. Last year he launched what he calls ‘a massive primary healthcare campaign’, which is as much about teaching healthy living as it is about caring for the sick. With Dr Motsoaledi, I was privileged to co-chair a national conference on religion and public health last October, which was sponsored by the National Religious Association for Social Development. Out of this, and our continued involvement with the South African National AIDS Council, we are developing various partnerships between government and faith communities. We hope soon to sign a Memorandum with the Department of Health.

My own church has also worked with other governments, including those of the US, UK and Canada, in running community-based programmes. Through the NRSAD we are also in partnership with the Global Fund.

In all of these, education and capacity building around good practices in disease prevention and treatment is a key objective. For though poverty exacerbates health problems in many ways, one of the most insidious is the lack of basic education. This is the most significant reason

• why HIV still spreads at unacceptable levels

• why TB, entirely treatable, remains so prevalent

• why people don’t stick with their courses of medicine

• why people are so passive, defeatist, in the face of illness, often only going to clinics when they are seriously unwell

• why so many of us follow life-style practices that increase the risk of us developing serious, even life-threatening, conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer – when so many of these are largely unavoidable.

The great saga around toilets in our recent local elections illustrates the vast task that the country faces in providing adequate clean water and sanitation facilities for our population. This is one area – among others, of course – where the religious sector is pressing the government to do better. But good hygiene habits also have a vital role to play in cutting the close to 100 deaths a day of South African children to diarrhoeal diseases.

It is a truism that ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Teaching people how to live well has always been at the heart of religious activity. So we must ensure that we train religious leaders explicitly to promote good health education – directly and through their congregations – within their local communities, as part of this call to abundant life of heart, soul, mind and body. Jesus said his followers were to be like salt in the world – a tiny amount can make the difference between a tasteless meal and something wholly delicious! We must do the same.

Informing Minds, Transforming Behaviour

Such teaching is not just to inform minds – it must also transform behaviour. Studies regularly show that in South Africa we have very high levels of awareness about HIV and TB – but this has been slow to change sexual and social behaviour. In Uganda, the most significant prevention measures came through person to person communication at grass roots level, in which religious networks played a key role. We must mobilise our people to persist in doing the same – and indeed, within the Anglican church we are particularly aiming to do this, for example, through the Siyafundisa (‘Teaching our Children’) Peer Education and Life Skills Education programmes, funded by PEPFAR. Recent studies are finally beginning to show, thank God, a reduction in infection rates among young people.

Of course, it must be admitted that churches and other faith communities have not always played a positive role in relation to education on HIV and AIDS. Let’s face it, the religious sector has found it hard to talk more constructively around issues of sex, which is so often something of a taboo subject. For too long we fuelled stigma, and with it ignorance and denial, all of which contributed to the disease’s spread. But as we learn to speak more openly, honestly, and constructively, about these diseases and the factors around them, so we can help society as a whole to deal with them in this way.

I think, for example, of a man who, after wrestling with his status, admitted openly that he was HIV +ve, even though he was a monk, and supposed to be celibate. By acknowledging publicly that he was ‘only human’, he discovered that he was able to come alongside people, and genuinely engage with them in a way he never could if they had not been able to identify with him in the way they now did. There are many other good news stories of where changing church attitudes have helped change community attitudes. I leave it to my colleagues to give practical examples from their work on the ground.

These examples, will, I hope, demonstrate that making a transition from being part of the problem to being part of the solution has required first of all a commitment to ensuring our faith leaders are well-educated in the facts and appropriate attitudes. We must continue to also tackle patriarchal distortions in our own teachings that too often collude in the abuse of women and children, which is also such a damaging part of community health and well-being.

People on the Ground

The presence of churches and other faiths in every community can help in the battle for good health in other ways. We can support Government by offering places where community-based health officers and nurse-practitioners can provide essential primary care at village level; or hold mobile clinics; or connect patients with mobile phone-based ‘telemedicine’. A consensus is emerging that these are cheap and effective ways of significantly boosting health care.

All these are over and above the care networks and programmes that so many of us already run to support those infected and affected by HIV, AIDS, TB and other illnesses. Let me mention the Anglican Vana Vetu (‘Caring for our Children’) Programme, funded by DFID and PEPFAR, which aims to ensure that orphaned and vulnerable children receive appropriate care and support to grow to their full potential. It provides counselling, education, care and support to communities and also trains people to respond to their needs.

Caring for Souls

But, as I draw to a close, let me say something about the religious sector’s unique and necessary contribution. For we are far, far, more than just another social development organisation that can assist governments in their uphill task of promoting good health. Medicine can treat the body, but physical well-being is intimately linked to spiritual and emotional health.

All of us are mortal – yet death is increasingly one of society’s last taboos. Too often we behave as if it were an unsubstantiated rumour – until, of course, it faces us. Then people need our support, our care, our clear proclamation of the love of God that encompasses both this world and the next. One task of faith communities is to help everyone to live with honesty, and face death without terror or despair – setting people free to make the most of their lives in generous loving relationships with those around them.

An ancient prayer asks God to grant us a ‘good death’. I have to say that where people have dared to face their dying, by putting their hand in the hand of God, trusting him and finding his gift of peace, that they are amongst the most healed people – healed emotionally and spiritually – that I have ever met.

It is not only the sick, the dying, and their nearest and dearest for whom we care, and for whom we pray. We can also provide health professionals with spiritual and emotional support. Sometimes, in their stressed and demanding lives, it can make the world of difference to receive a ‘good listening to’ when they need it; to know they are valued; to know that they too are upheld in our prayers and those of our communities.

This week we mourn the passing of Ma Sisulu – who, among her many gifts and achievements was a dedicated nurse. We need to value nurses as we did when she trained – and resource them to make the difference that she and her generation contributed to our country.

So may God bless our discussions here; and bless us in the lessons we take home and share with our own communities. For most of all, we pray that he will make us communities of blessing to those around – especially those in greatest need. Amen

To the Laos - to the People of God, November 2010

Dear People of God

The month since Provincial Synod has been remarkably busy. Through various conferences and opportunities to speak publicly it has been good to remind myself to remain ‘Anchored in Christ’, as our Vision says. Returning to Jesus our Saviour, his incarnation, and what it is to be human, has both resourced me and guided me, as I have reflected on the spiritual and ethical leadership for which our world cries out. In Jesus we see the fulfilment of what is promised in the book of Genesis – that to be human is to be created bearing the image of God, and intended by him to ‘be fruitful’, living in love with him and with one another.

This picture of God-ordained flourishing, of individuals and of communities, has become my key message, for example in co-hosting a conference with the South African Minister of Health on the role faith communities can play to promote primary health care across Southern Africa. It is not our job to do governments’ work for them, but we can support them. Within ACSA we have empowered great numbers to spread accurate information around HIV and AIDS; and we must now look at using the same approach in promoting everything from basic hygiene to good nutrition. Healing and wholeness were at the heart of Jesus’ ministry, and they should never be far from the heart of ours.

Human flourishing applies equally to the political sphere, where I have argued that Scripture’s vision of fruitful humanity provides grounds for faith communities to support human rights, constitutional provisions, and initiatives such as the Millennium Development Goals, wherever they promote the godly well-being of individuals and communities. I also argued that true leadership – in politics, or any other walk of life – lies in shouldering the responsibility to promote this ‘common good’. Indeed, all of us should ask ourselves whether the choices we live by enhance or diminish human flourishing at our own level, and act accordingly.

In the Irene Grootboom Lecture, and speaking at the Right to Know Campaign March, I highlighted the importance of truthfulness in upholding media freedom, in politics and in wider society. You may remember that Irene Grootboom won a court ruling that under South Africa’s constitution, she ought to be provided with adequate housing – though she died before she ever received a home. The great gulf between our just rights, and governments’ abilities to provide them, can only be effectively tackled if politicians are honest about the difficulties they face. To pretend otherwise, or make unrealisable promises, is only to raise impossible expectations that inevitably worsen relations with communities. Only the truth can set us free to work together to overcome these challenges.

In the Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture, I also commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Kairos Document, which was so fundamental in realigning the churches’ engagement with politics under apartheid. Its writers identified three different sorts of ‘theologies’ of those terrible times, and challenged Christians to challenge ‘state theology’ (using the Bible to justify and promote the government and its policies, no matter how right or wrong, on the basis of Scripture passages such as Rom 13) and ‘church theology’ (which dealt superficially in paradigms of faith such as peace and reconciliation, without looking at underlying questions like justice and mercy); and instead to pursue ‘prophetic theology’, bringing to bear the aspects of the Bible which have a direct bearing upon the situations people face.

The challenges of these three ‘theologies’ remain with us, in our changed times. Let me explain. Just because a government is legitimately elected, does not mean that its citizens are required to support all it does, unquestioningly. Democracy says politicians should still be held to account, and not only by voters every few years. This is one reason why media freedom is so important. Similarly, churches, in supporting democracy, must beware of being ‘critical friends’ of governments in ways that are too friendly and not critical enough, when human rights are not adequately pursued and upheld. It can be a difficult tightrope to walk – but we have no option but to walk it. For we must always be open to ‘prophetic theology’. As some have said, this means reading and thinking and praying with ‘the Bible in one hand, the newspaper in the other’, and letting Scripture critique every aspect of the life of our countries and our societies.

Meanwhile, over 4000 Christians from around the world gathered in Cape Town during October for the third Lausanne Congress – and in the preceding 3 days, some 500 Anglicans held a very successful conference, co-sponsored by our own Growing the Church initiative, that looked particularly at how Anglicans do mission. The Lausanne Congress issued a wonderful ‘Declaration of Belief and Call to Action’ that roots mission and ministry in our response to God’s prior love for us, and I commend it to you (it can be found online). I was privileged to be at both the opening and closing ceremonies – though in between travelled both to Lesotho for the Anglican Womens’ Fellowship Provincial Council meeting, and to the brand new diocese of Mbhashe. There, they elected as their very first Bishop, Revd Sebenzile Williams, currently Rector of St Martin’s, Gonubie, and formerly Dean of Umtata Cathedral. Please keep him, his wife Xoli and their family, in your prayers, as he prepares for his consecration on 16 December. Please also join in praying for Pumla Titus-Madiba as she takes over the presidency of the AWF, and in giving thanks to God for all that Ray Overmeyer has done during her time in office. Finally, it has been a joy to welcome the Bishop of Hull and the accompanying delegation from our link Diocese of York, in the Church of England.

Let me end by saying how much I have appreciated our recent Morning Prayer readings from Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach), through all this busyness. They have brought together wonderfully the mysteries of God, the need for true worship rooted in holy living, a call to the highest ethical behaviour, wise insights into human frailties, and sheer practical common sense. When I think of Jesus, the eternal word of God incarnate in human form, I realise again how, in much the same way, every aspect of human existence finds its proper place in him. Therefore let us redouble our commitment to ‘follow him’ and seek to grow in Christlikeness, for our own sake, and for the sake of the world.

Yours in the Service of Christ

+Thabo Cape Town

The Kay Barron Address - Anglican Women's Fellowship

This address was delivered on 21 October at the biennial Anglican Women's Fellowship Provincial Council Meeting, which was held from 18 to 24 October 2010 in Lesotho.

Dear sisters in Christ of the Anglican Women’s Fellowship; dear Bishop Taaso, our host; dear Bishop Bethlehem, the outgoing Chaplain; dear President of the Mothers Union; dear Mrs Vidal, our Australian link; dear clergy and dear freinds – it is a privilege to deliver this Kay Barron Address. Let me express my thanks for the invitation, and for the joy of participating in this Provincial Council Meeting – as well as my wider appreciation for all that the AWF is and does.

Ray [Overmeyer] – particular thanks to you, as you end your term as Provincial President. During your time in office, the AWF has grown and strengthened across the Province, and expanded its activities in a great variety of ways. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you also for your openness to learn and grow, in knowledge and love of God, through your experiences and the challenges you have faced. We wish you every blessing in whatever you turn your energies to next – and we also pray for God to bless and strengthen and guide your successor as she takes up the reins of office. Our prayers are with you, Pumla [Titus-Madiba] as you take on this new role. And let me also offer my thanks to the whole AWF Executive, in all you have done for our Province. Thank you also to Lucille [Henneker], Provincial Secretary, who does so much for the AWF. To Pumla I also offer my particular gratitude for organising the complicated travel arrangements not only to bring me to Maseru but also to get me from here to our brand new Diocese of Mbashe for their very first elective assembly, which begins tomorrow morning. Please do keep them in your prayers as they choose their first bishop.

Whenever I prepare to speak at an event like this, one of the first things I do is go to the lectionary, and see what readings are given for the day. It is remarkable how often the set passages of Scriptures offer some key insight into whatever the occasion might be, and so set me thinking about what God might be calling me to say within that setting. God certainly richly blessed and guided the work of the lectionary compilers. Yet when it came to preparing for this address I was at first a little bit taken aback. For today’s gospel reading, from Luke 12:49-53, speaks of Jesus having come to bring division, ‘mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’. It is hardly the sort of ethic which the AWF seeks to promote!

So then I turned to the other passage set for the Eucharist, from the letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 3, verses 14 to 21. It includes a wonderful prayer of St Paul to his readers. I’m sure you will recognise it. Let me read it to you:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (14-19)

It is as if St Paul is just overcome, right in the middle of his letter, with an overflowing love for his readers, and cannot help bursting into this beautiful prayer for them. As I read it, it seemed to me also to be a beautiful prayer for the AWF, with its strong resonances with your own aims: of prayer and worship; fellowship and study; mission and witness; and service and stewardship.

Our Context – God’s Call

What I want to do this morning, is to look at the wider context in which you live out these aims – painting a fuller picture of the life of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and especially as it now stands following our Provincial Synod at the beginning of the month. As you know, the question of a vision has occupied our hearts and minds for some time – and I am also aware that you have already done some work in reflecting on synergies between the AWF’s priorities and those of the wider Province. But let me reflect on where we are now, and how we might go forward from here, now that, at Provincial Synod last month, we affirmed the Vision we believe the Lord is putting before us.

The Vision

The Vision is threefold, as Bishop Bethlehem said last night, and as was stated in the President’s Report. First, we are to be Anchored in Christ – as revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Jesus Christ alone is Saviour and Lord, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It is not naïve to say that, to a very great degree, Jesus truly is the answer to all our central questions of life: whether we live in rural Mozambique or inner city Johannesburg. In Christ, our diverse Province finds its unity and identity. For if you are ‘in Christ’ and I am ‘in Christ’, then it is inevitable that we are members together of his body, the Church.

Second, we are Committed to God’s mission. Whatever God calls us to do and be, our answer should be ‘Here am I, send me; here we are, send us.’ Third, we are to be Transformed by the Spirit. Through our openness, our willingness, to be transformed, God will equip and empower us to embody and proclaim the message of his redemptive hope and healing for all people and for creation.

Anchored in Christ; Committed to God’s Mission; Transformed by the Spirit. A, C, T – in other words, ‘Anglicans ACT’. When I look at the AWF, and your track record, I know that this is certainly true. Throughout the time that I have had knowledge of the AWF, I have always been struck by your practicality and your professionalism – always ready to take concrete action to tackle specific problems and provide tangible solutions. Thank you, AWF, that you are such an example to us all of what it means to be Anglicans who ACT!

The Mission Statement

Alongside our Vision, we also have a Mission Statement – and this too is threefold. Well, it is well-known that Anglicans love the Trinity! The Mission Statement says this:

Across the diverse countries and cultures of our region, we seek:

• First, to honour God in worship that feeds and empowers us for faithful witness and service

• Second, to embody and proclaim the message of God’s redemptive hope and healing for people and creation

• And third, to grow communities of faith that form, inform, and transform those who follow Christ

Like the AWF, we start with prayer and worship – for all of life must be lived in grateful response to God who first created and then redeemed us. And it is this which feeds and strengthens us so we can live the life to which we are called: a life of faithful mission and witness, service and stewardship – as the AWF would put it.

We are seeking to live out this through eight key themes, committing ourselves at Provincial level to the following priorities: Liturgical renewal for transformative worship; theological education and formation; leadership development; health, including HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; the environment; women and gender; protection and nurture of children and young people; and public advocacy. Two further themes – transformation, and holistic mission rooted in a full commitment to evangelism – run through and undergird all these, rather than being matters to address separately. We must also keep in mind the imperatives of justice and reconciliation, gender equality, poverty, and youth.

It is important to stress that all this is for us to do at Provincial level. The Vision, Mission Statement, and priorities are to be placed alongside those of dioceses and parishes. They are not intended to displace them, nor to impose any framework ‘from above’ on the grass-roots life of our Church. Rather, they identify issues that are best addressed at Provincial level, to encourage, strengthen, and support what is being done in these areas at parish and diocesan level. For we know that each Diocese has its own particular context, its own challenges, and therefore its own priorities for tackling these, according to the grace and calling of God. It is not the role of the Province to tell Dioceses what to do. But it is our job to support them, across this whole diversity – sharing in common what can be done at that level, even if the particular expression of each theme finds different form according to specific context.

And I am sure that this is a very similar approach to that which you follow – sharing principles across the Province, but acting locally in accordance with particular tasks on the ground. This is very clear, from reading the Report that was submitted to Provincial Synod, with its references to prison ministry; to skills development; to caring for the aged; to addressing the needs of those infected or affected by HIV and AIDS, or of child-headed households, or of voluntary testing and counselling – and much more besides.

Looking Ahead

What we shall be doing now is preparing for a formal launch of the whole Vision process. The ideas for this are still very much at an initial stage, but we are also looking at making 30 November – the feast of St Andrew, the patron saint of mission – a day for the whole church to focus on the Vision, and how it can be used to strengthen our common life, and our faithfulness to God’s call. We shall also be appointing task teams, where they do not already exist, to take forward the work in each of the eight areas, in line with strategies affirmed at Synod. So let me turn now to these eight priority themes, and offer some initial reflections on how I see them connecting with the AWF.

Liturgical renewal for transformative worship

As with the Vision and the Mission statement, and as with the aims of the AWF, liturgy and worship is always our starting point. Now is the appropriate time to say a tremendous thank you to you, Bishop Bethlehem, for your time as Chaplain to the AWF. Your deep desire that we should all live in faithful obedience, with holiness of life, is always both a challenge and an encouragement to us all, and we are deeply grateful for all you have done. So now I hand the AWF into the care of Bishop Ossie.

We must not underestimate the importance of liturgy and worship, for, unless we faithfully uphold daily Morning and Evening prayer, unless we root ourselves in Scripture, unless we feed regularly on the body and blood of Christ, unless we rely only and always upon God’s leading and God’s strengthening, we are no better than any secular organisation. For even in tasks of compassionate practical service, our calling is to be channels of the transcendent power of God: his healing, his hope, his redemption, to his world. Only those who are truly Anchored in his love, and Committed to his mission, can be agents of his Transforming promises.

Theological Education and Formation; Leadership Development

Our second theme is theological education and formation – closely echoing the AWF’s second aim of fellowship and study – and our third, leadership development. In both ordained and lay life, we must nurture not only people with academic understandings of theology, but who can model the Christian life – growing and maturing in faith, applied in ethical living throughout society, at home and work, in every area. We need people who can be mentors of the next generation, both within the church, and within wider society.

Organisations such as the AWF, with so many of your members across all walks of life, truly have remarkable opportunities to be God’s salt and light in the world – in government and the public sector, in business, in the media, in schools, colleges and academia, in civil society – as well as throughout the very varied communities from which you each come. And where we do not provide you with the theological and spiritual resources to be that salt, that light, in the contexts within which you find yourselves, you must challenge us to do better! Input like this will help our task teams focus their efforts where they are most needed.

I am reminded of a challenge I once offered to the AWF in Grahamstown Diocese. One Ash Wednesday, without much thinking about it beforehand, I proposed that each member save up one rand a day for the whole of Lent. Well, I rather forgot about it – until a considerable sum of money was handed over, and the Bishop Thabo Makgoba Bursary Fund was set up. I thank the AWF for your own bursary fund and the support it gives to women ordinands. We have now supported 3 or perhaps 4 women through training at COTT. This is a very practical way of supporting theological education and formation, as well as leadership development within the church. Perhaps other Diocesan groups would like to consider similar initiatives.

Health, including HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis

Our fourth theme is health – and, as Provincial Synod pointed out, this is not just a matter of HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. There are other issues which also are of great concern, including, for example, diabetes and obesity.

A fortnight ago, I was privileged to co-host with Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the South African Minister for Health, a Conference on Religion and Public Health. Our concern was to look at ways that the faith communities can support government – both here and elsewhere in Southern Africa – in tackling the huge health burden, especially in relation to primary health care. It is not our job to do governments’ work for governments – but, as Dr Motsoaledi readily admitted, the task is too great for governments alone.

When it comes to primary health care, education is key. Too often communities are sadly ignorant about basics, including the essentials of hygiene and nutrition. Faith communities have a reach across communities that I am sure governments envy – and our ability to communicate with people can be harnessed to ensure that such information is readily shared, though we must ensure that we too, clergy and people, are well-informed. We have worked hard at this in relation to HIV and AIDS – ensuring people, including young people, have access to the facts, and know how to share them persuasively. Through the Siyakha and Siyafundisa programmes, we have trained large numbers of adults and young people – perhaps, with the completion of these programmes, that training can be put to us, and redirected to broader primary health concerns. Whether from pulpit or pews, we need to ‘gossip the gospel, the good news, of good health practices’!

The Environment

The environment is our fifth theme. We cannot effectively care for God’s people if we do not care for God’s planet, our environment. We need to do this ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’. By top down, I mean taking every opportunity to encourage governments and decision-makers to act boldly, decisively, committedly. Next year South Africa will host ‘COP-17’, that is, the 17th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is the world’s opportunity to rise to the challenges before us – we truly cannot afford to do otherwise. And as hosts, South Africa must give a strong lead. South Africans must persuade our leaders to have the courage to do so. Dear sisters in Christ, please take whatever opportunities come your way, to speak persuasively about this.

I also look to you to give a lead in the ‘bottom up’ activity. I am afraid I must admit that around my house, around my office, and when I see what is happening in churches, it is the women who are making the difference. You spot things that I just fail to see – and I am sure that far too many other men do the same! Saving paper, changing light-bulbs [globes], recycling more than just the obvious items: you have an eye, and imagination, for these things. Make us men do them – in churches, in work-places, as well as in homes.

I hope you know about Mary Honeybun. She discovered that the tiny plastic tag that seals a bag of bread can be recycled, so she started collecting them and getting friends to collect them. It takes 270kg of tags – about 800,000 – to raise enough money to buy a wheelchair. But the network she initiated has bought over 30 wheelchairs – and others are now doing the same elsewhere in the country. Everyone who buys bread can join in! Of course, we must also think much more laterally to avoid creating waste for recycling, to avoid using energy and resources, in the first place. My belief is that society must pay more attention to women in this, since, in so many walks of life, in the home and beyond, it is you who are the ‘hands on’ people, with a practical eye for what can and ought to be done.

Women and gender

Sixth on our list – though we stress that they are in no order of priority – comes women and gender. As I said at Provincial Synod, women constitute the majority in our pews, but the reverse is true at every level of leadership, lay and ordained. We wholeheartedly passed a motion calling for the church to ‘do better’! You may have seen that I let slip when I gave my charge, ad libbing from my written text, that one of my dreams is to consecrate a woman bishop for our Province – and I got a round of applause! But I am also concerned about gender equality throughout our church and our countries, at every level. We are particularly blessed that so many women make a disproportionate contribution, as individuals, lay and ordained, and through bodies like your own, and also of course, the Mothers’ Union. I hope that stronger, complimentary synergies can be developed between the MU and AWF.

I am very glad that we have now established the Gender Desk, and we welcome Revd Cheryl Bird. Please note that it is a Gender desk, not a Women’s desk. The roles of men and women alike, of every culture, were distorted by apartheid. We need to develop appropriate spiritualities for us all, for contemporary living – that are also channels of healing for the legacies of our brutalising history. At Synod I challenged the St Bernard Mizeki Guild and the Church Men’s Society to fresh reflection on what it means to be a Christian man in today’s world – especially in being actively part of the solution, to the unacceptably high levels of violence, against women and children. But I also challenge you to consider your part also, in developing contemporary spiritualities for all of us as ‘people of God’: where each individual man and woman can freely be themselves, with gender just one part of their make up and one with which we are all at ease; and a wholesomeness in our relations with ourselves and one another.

Protection and nurture of children and young people

Healthy adult spiritualities and emotional lives requires healthy raising of young people – and protection and nurture of children and young people is our seventh theme. In developing the Vision process we became conscious that we must deliberately focus not only on what we do within church, but also the care of children throughout our communities.

Preparing for Synod, I discovered that, globally, about a quarter, 27%, of the world’s population is aged 15 or under. Within ACSA, though that figure is only 19% in St Helena, elsewhere it ranges from 32%, about a third, in South Africa, rising to 46%, close to a half, in Angola. This underlines how vital their care is. Children are not merely the church of tomorrow, they are the church of today. We have challenged the Task Teams to take account of their work, in relation to young people, across the board.

Public advocacy

Finally, public advocacy – the face of the church in the world, especially in how we speak truth to power, and work so that society, government, can be as godly, as wholesome as is possible. Our calling is to help create the right conditions so that every individual, every child of God, should have the opportunity to experience the ‘life in abundance’ which Jesus came to bring. We promote good governance, honesty, transparency, justice, and the highest ethical standards, in every area of society – not only in the public sector, but across all areas of business and economics, and through civil society.

This is both the formal task of the Church – not least in the conversations, speeches and other opportunities that I and other bishops are afforded – and the task of Christian individuals in every walk of life. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury as the Second World War began, some 70 years ago, wrote powerfully about how ‘nine-tenths’ of this shaping of society would be done not by clergy but by Christian men and women through their daily lives. Many of you do this – perhaps unconsciously – through your own lives and work. The AWF as a whole does it also at many levels – including through Pumla’s participation in the International Anglican Women’s Network, which itself is an influential player at a global level, for example through some of the UN women’s bodies. Even last week, I understand, the Network was circulating a petition to put pressure on the UN Security Council to ensure that Resolution 1325, passed ten years ago should be implemented – a resolution that called for women’s full and equal participation in all elements of peace-keeping, and for greater efforts to prevent sexual violence in conflicts. Given the history of our region, we know how important this is. With South Africa now elected again to the UN Security Council, we have new opportunities to press for them to play a leading, constructive, role in this and other areas, and can harness the leverage of our international contacts to do so.

A Closing Challenge

Let me end with a challenge that relates to public advocacy in a rather more practical way, as well as to other themes which I have discussed. What legacy will this Provincial Council Meeting leave in Lesotho? It is a country of dire needs, as the Prime Minister acknowledged yesterday – in relation to poverty, in relation to health, especially HIV and AIDS. What can you do to make a lasting difference? Perhaps – and here is a ‘healing of gender relations’ idea! – you might partner with the Brothers of the SSM House, in some project. Perhaps you might sponsor a farm in a parish – channelling assistance through Hope Africa, to buy seeds, fertilizers, and so forth; and to hire a tractor once or twice a year as necessary. Perhaps in this way you can help the church in helping people to meet their own nutritional needs. Such a visible sign of commitment can also be an effective form of public advocacy – challenging others to ‘go and do likewise’ instead of ‘passing by on the other side’, to use the words of Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, and what it means to love our neighbours as ourselves.

So, dear sisters in Christ – I have spoken for long enough! May God bless you all in the years ahead, as you encourage women of God everywhere to ‘rejoice, revive, relate’ – through lives of prayer and worship; fellowship and study; mission and witness; and service and stewardship. Let me finish with the last two verses from St Paul’s glorious prayer in his letter to the Ephesians (3:20-21): ‘Now, to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.