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Could the church lead the changes we need in our society?
Church in the Community - Media Release in the Herald: 10th July 2024
Source: TCN / Trevor Jennings
Date Added: 2024-07-08
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
Date Added: 2024-07-08
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
Maybe the answer to the question in the headline lies in two thought-provoking quotes.
One made by Zipho Siwa a former presiding bishop of the South African Council of Churches: “it is time for the church to leave the building”.
The second comes from well-known national church leader reverend Chris Mothebula of Hope Restoration Ministries, who recently told Christians “that it is time for the ship to leave the harbour”.
Before I share some thoughts on a possible answer to the above question let me acknowledge the community work being done by millions of Christian congregants daily all over the world.
A wonderful example is what happened in Kariega, where hundreds of church members worked around the clock as part of a greater disaster recovery team.
People often talk about why the Church, with 80% of South Africans professing to be Christians, has so little influence in our country.
Is it not time to stop talking, but rather to pilot our ships out of their harbour, and to stop telling others what they ought to be doing.
Like Nehemiah, we should just get on with the job or perhaps follow St Frances of Assisi’s advice and to only use words if we must as we grow the Kingdom.
Some sociologists tell us that our society stands on four giant columns – the church, business, education, and government.
Since 1994 the Church seems to have lost its voice, business is just watching and waiting, education has lost its way and government is collapsing in many of our towns/cities.
Each pillar of our society should undergo a radical audit to assess the” fit for purpose” of their current leadership, i.e. how many people currently in leadership positions are just not leaders?
To what extent are players in the different domain able to collaborate to ensure 2 + 2 = 5?
Two months before the local elections in 2021 a concerned Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition met at Ebenezers International Church in Algoa Park.
The members of the coalition anticipated a chaotic road ahead and resolved to approach our local political parties to introduce a “government of local unity” and to structure the composition of its executive committee in terms of the will of the electorate.
Between them, the ANC and DA had nearly 80 percent of the vote.
We met with the different political parties several times.
At a local level they were initially were supportive, but regrettably turned down our proposal when national leadership got involved.
From day one city hall has been a pantomime of “votes of no confidence;” political party in fighting; factional battles for control of tenders – resulting in unnecessary delays and unfinished projects resulting in funds being returned to the National Treasury and wasting millions of rands of our money on embarrassing never-ending court cases, where nobody seems capable of bringing anything to finality.
Political parties are so occupied with their internal and external fighting that they have forgotten about us, their “employers”.
All we need them to do is deliver services such as supplying of water, electricity, refuse collection and a safe and clean city.
A recent article in a Sunday newspaper encouraged political parties to meet the church after the May elections.
Why does it take a journalist to call on the church to become active in civil society?
Have church leaders lost their influence?
Have churches gone soft?
Have churches withdrawn back into their buildings?
Or withdrawn back into the safety of their harbour?
Are they out for lunch or even worse have some of them been captured by the state?
On the 9th of February 2024 the church leaders in Nelson Mandela Bay met with the business chamber to exchange ideas on leadership, collaboration and renewal.
Since then, church Leaders have met monthly to seek solutions to play a more effective role on the way forward in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Examining the critical role of leadership, we firstly revisited the role of our local pastors.
We needed to decide whether our local pastors had signed up for a CEO position or to be the shepherd of a flock.
Secondly, have churches become just an extension of individual political parties?
Thirdly, why is it so very difficult for church leaders to work together?
Everybody wants to be “the” leader!
Self-interest is the root of division and understanding community success.
It was sad to see 156 groups wanting to register themselves as political parties – it looks as if we all want to be “the” leader.
Now is the time for us to focus on preparing the leaders sitting in our pews to become well-equipped community Christian leaders wherever they find themselves in the marketplace and the broader society.
Is it not time for us to revisit the teachings of Landa Cope, Loren Cunningham, Lance Wallnau and Dough Spada?
Maybe the time has come for us to develop marketplace ministry groups in our local churches i.e. artists, educators, government officials, media, business, medical and encourage groups to connect with other groups in other churches.
In the area of collaboration, we should move the walls of a church build to the boundaries to their municipal wards.
One of our biggest challenges is doing our own thing i.e. reinventing the wheel.
Before we start any training programme or other intervention, we need to do an environmental scan and research other churches or NGO/NPOs to see if they already offer similar courses.
It is ironic that projects pioneered in Nelson Mandela Bay are in more demand in the rest of the country and across our borders than they are at home.
Recently 56 people from 18 African countries altered a “Farming Gods Way” in Ghana in West Africa.
Another church is currently presenting a computer coding course in the Philippines.
Churches working together may just help us solve the problem of having 74% of our youth being unemployed in NM Bay to find jobs.
In terms of renewal, churches do not need to change “the message,” but it is time to revisit our methods of delivery.
What would our country look like if we mobilised the whole Church to take the lead in addressing the giants of inequality, poverty and unemployment?
The church will take the lead in changing lives for the better when our congregants decide to come out of their boxes.
A good start is for congregants who are employees or employers to involve their companies in upliftment projects.
Trevor Jennings
heads up the Transformation Christian Network
One made by Zipho Siwa a former presiding bishop of the South African Council of Churches: “it is time for the church to leave the building”.
The second comes from well-known national church leader reverend Chris Mothebula of Hope Restoration Ministries, who recently told Christians “that it is time for the ship to leave the harbour”.
Before I share some thoughts on a possible answer to the above question let me acknowledge the community work being done by millions of Christian congregants daily all over the world.
A wonderful example is what happened in Kariega, where hundreds of church members worked around the clock as part of a greater disaster recovery team.
People often talk about why the Church, with 80% of South Africans professing to be Christians, has so little influence in our country.
Is it not time to stop talking, but rather to pilot our ships out of their harbour, and to stop telling others what they ought to be doing.
Like Nehemiah, we should just get on with the job or perhaps follow St Frances of Assisi’s advice and to only use words if we must as we grow the Kingdom.
Some sociologists tell us that our society stands on four giant columns – the church, business, education, and government.
Since 1994 the Church seems to have lost its voice, business is just watching and waiting, education has lost its way and government is collapsing in many of our towns/cities.
Each pillar of our society should undergo a radical audit to assess the” fit for purpose” of their current leadership, i.e. how many people currently in leadership positions are just not leaders?
To what extent are players in the different domain able to collaborate to ensure 2 + 2 = 5?
Two months before the local elections in 2021 a concerned Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition met at Ebenezers International Church in Algoa Park.
The members of the coalition anticipated a chaotic road ahead and resolved to approach our local political parties to introduce a “government of local unity” and to structure the composition of its executive committee in terms of the will of the electorate.
Between them, the ANC and DA had nearly 80 percent of the vote.
We met with the different political parties several times.
At a local level they were initially were supportive, but regrettably turned down our proposal when national leadership got involved.
From day one city hall has been a pantomime of “votes of no confidence;” political party in fighting; factional battles for control of tenders – resulting in unnecessary delays and unfinished projects resulting in funds being returned to the National Treasury and wasting millions of rands of our money on embarrassing never-ending court cases, where nobody seems capable of bringing anything to finality.
Political parties are so occupied with their internal and external fighting that they have forgotten about us, their “employers”.
All we need them to do is deliver services such as supplying of water, electricity, refuse collection and a safe and clean city.
A recent article in a Sunday newspaper encouraged political parties to meet the church after the May elections.
Why does it take a journalist to call on the church to become active in civil society?
Have church leaders lost their influence?
Have churches gone soft?
Have churches withdrawn back into their buildings?
Or withdrawn back into the safety of their harbour?
Are they out for lunch or even worse have some of them been captured by the state?
On the 9th of February 2024 the church leaders in Nelson Mandela Bay met with the business chamber to exchange ideas on leadership, collaboration and renewal.
Since then, church Leaders have met monthly to seek solutions to play a more effective role on the way forward in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Examining the critical role of leadership, we firstly revisited the role of our local pastors.
We needed to decide whether our local pastors had signed up for a CEO position or to be the shepherd of a flock.
Secondly, have churches become just an extension of individual political parties?
Thirdly, why is it so very difficult for church leaders to work together?
Everybody wants to be “the” leader!
Self-interest is the root of division and understanding community success.
It was sad to see 156 groups wanting to register themselves as political parties – it looks as if we all want to be “the” leader.
Now is the time for us to focus on preparing the leaders sitting in our pews to become well-equipped community Christian leaders wherever they find themselves in the marketplace and the broader society.
Is it not time for us to revisit the teachings of Landa Cope, Loren Cunningham, Lance Wallnau and Dough Spada?
Maybe the time has come for us to develop marketplace ministry groups in our local churches i.e. artists, educators, government officials, media, business, medical and encourage groups to connect with other groups in other churches.
In the area of collaboration, we should move the walls of a church build to the boundaries to their municipal wards.
One of our biggest challenges is doing our own thing i.e. reinventing the wheel.
Before we start any training programme or other intervention, we need to do an environmental scan and research other churches or NGO/NPOs to see if they already offer similar courses.
It is ironic that projects pioneered in Nelson Mandela Bay are in more demand in the rest of the country and across our borders than they are at home.
Recently 56 people from 18 African countries altered a “Farming Gods Way” in Ghana in West Africa.
Another church is currently presenting a computer coding course in the Philippines.
Churches working together may just help us solve the problem of having 74% of our youth being unemployed in NM Bay to find jobs.
In terms of renewal, churches do not need to change “the message,” but it is time to revisit our methods of delivery.
What would our country look like if we mobilised the whole Church to take the lead in addressing the giants of inequality, poverty and unemployment?
The church will take the lead in changing lives for the better when our congregants decide to come out of their boxes.
A good start is for congregants who are employees or employers to involve their companies in upliftment projects.
Trevor Jennings
heads up the Transformation Christian Network
Source: TCN / Trevor Jennings
Date Added: 2024-07-08
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
Back to News IndexDate Added: 2024-07-08
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
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