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The church holds the keys to bring about change in SA
Church in the Community - Media Release in the Herald: 3rd February 2025th Jnauary 2025
Source: TCN / Danie Mouton
Date Added: 2025-02-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
Date Added: 2025-02-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
"Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed" (Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington in 1963).
King dreamed of healing a broken society. He imagined a radically different future. God was central to this transformative dream. "With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope," he said.
These words are fully applicable to South Africa in 2025.
Our mountain of despair consists of extreme poverty, inequality, and unemployment.
Our society desperately needs change.
We need a collective and practical dream, a compelling vision of a preferred future, an imagination of a viable path forward to guide us.
The church, as followers of Christ, holds the keys to bring about change.
Real change, like in King's America of 1963, starts with a new imagination.
Our vision of who God is, what God intends for the world, and the powerful change God can bring through the church needs to be rekindled.
God and God's action are central to this image of a new future.
God touched us. "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood" (John 1:14, The Message).
God is with us, and God has poured out God's Spirit upon us.
The Bible portrays God as the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who sent His Son to bring salvation and fullness of life.
The Bible describes God as the One who saw the misery of His people, heard their cries, was concerned about their suffering, and came down to rescue them (Exodus 3:7f.).
God is on a mission, the Bible says. God is active. God changes lives. God changes the world.
Christians are often paralyzed as agents for social action by a narrow and limited view of God.
We may think God is only interested in our souls and wants us only in heaven.
We may think work, politics, social issues, and the plight of the poor have nothing to do with faith, God, and church.
Or we may limit God to our own personal benefit.
Transactional faith is popular: I worship God because I believe God will bless me and improve my life.
Such paralyzing spirituality undermines the transformative potential of the Christian church.
We should have none of it.
Since God is missional, focused on the flourishing of life, the church must mirror God.
God's church is the instrument of God's purposes for society.
The church is a sent community, commissioned by God to reach out to the broken world. The church exists for the sake of God's mission to the world.
We see this in every book of the Bible.
The Biblical prophets stress the social and economic responsibility of God's people.
They chastise rulers focused on their own benefit and urge God's people to work for justice, to care for the plight of the poor, and to heal the land by bringing prosperity to all.
Jesus says to us, His disciples: "As the Father has sent me, I send you" (John 20:21).
Being sent, the Church witnesses to an unbelieving world and foster faith by our witness through word and deed.
Pastors and faith leaders can play an important role in cultivating a missional, sent imagination in the lives of their congregants.
If we expect to see God at work in our neighbourhoods, we need to ask where God is active in our society and where God wants us to join in action to renew creation.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, this renewed imagination has led to several discerned goals for churches:
First, create awareness of the need for social impact in churches. Build on a refreshed Biblical understanding of God's action in the world. God intends the church to make a difference.
Second, reimagine the purpose of church buildings. In addition to being meeting places on Sundays, convert them into vibrant community centres that deliver practical services to benefit the whole community.
Third, allow your faith to "leave the building." Apply your faith in society beyond the church walls. This is the space where God wants you to bring hope and transformation.
Fourth, reimagine the boundaries between churches. Lower these boundaries.
Churches do not exist to compete with each other but to cooperate. Join hands. Get to know each other and work together.
Fifth, reimagine the "enemy."
Fellow South Africans are not the enemy, but coworkers.
The enemy is the brokenness of society, the fruit of the plundering work of evil. Christ is victorious over all evil, and the full salvation in Christ includes social and economic restoration of society.
Dare to dream, like Martin Luther King Jr. Imagine a renewed future.
And act.
Ds Danie Mouton
Executive Director of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Eastern Cape
King dreamed of healing a broken society. He imagined a radically different future. God was central to this transformative dream. "With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope," he said.
These words are fully applicable to South Africa in 2025.
Our mountain of despair consists of extreme poverty, inequality, and unemployment.
Our society desperately needs change.
We need a collective and practical dream, a compelling vision of a preferred future, an imagination of a viable path forward to guide us.
The church, as followers of Christ, holds the keys to bring about change.
Real change, like in King's America of 1963, starts with a new imagination.
Our vision of who God is, what God intends for the world, and the powerful change God can bring through the church needs to be rekindled.
God and God's action are central to this image of a new future.
God touched us. "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood" (John 1:14, The Message).
God is with us, and God has poured out God's Spirit upon us.
The Bible portrays God as the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who sent His Son to bring salvation and fullness of life.
The Bible describes God as the One who saw the misery of His people, heard their cries, was concerned about their suffering, and came down to rescue them (Exodus 3:7f.).
God is on a mission, the Bible says. God is active. God changes lives. God changes the world.
Christians are often paralyzed as agents for social action by a narrow and limited view of God.
We may think God is only interested in our souls and wants us only in heaven.
We may think work, politics, social issues, and the plight of the poor have nothing to do with faith, God, and church.
Or we may limit God to our own personal benefit.
Transactional faith is popular: I worship God because I believe God will bless me and improve my life.
Such paralyzing spirituality undermines the transformative potential of the Christian church.
We should have none of it.
Since God is missional, focused on the flourishing of life, the church must mirror God.
God's church is the instrument of God's purposes for society.
The church is a sent community, commissioned by God to reach out to the broken world. The church exists for the sake of God's mission to the world.
We see this in every book of the Bible.
The Biblical prophets stress the social and economic responsibility of God's people.
They chastise rulers focused on their own benefit and urge God's people to work for justice, to care for the plight of the poor, and to heal the land by bringing prosperity to all.
Jesus says to us, His disciples: "As the Father has sent me, I send you" (John 20:21).
Being sent, the Church witnesses to an unbelieving world and foster faith by our witness through word and deed.
Pastors and faith leaders can play an important role in cultivating a missional, sent imagination in the lives of their congregants.
If we expect to see God at work in our neighbourhoods, we need to ask where God is active in our society and where God wants us to join in action to renew creation.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, this renewed imagination has led to several discerned goals for churches:
First, create awareness of the need for social impact in churches. Build on a refreshed Biblical understanding of God's action in the world. God intends the church to make a difference.
Second, reimagine the purpose of church buildings. In addition to being meeting places on Sundays, convert them into vibrant community centres that deliver practical services to benefit the whole community.
Third, allow your faith to "leave the building." Apply your faith in society beyond the church walls. This is the space where God wants you to bring hope and transformation.
Fourth, reimagine the boundaries between churches. Lower these boundaries.
Churches do not exist to compete with each other but to cooperate. Join hands. Get to know each other and work together.
Fifth, reimagine the "enemy."
Fellow South Africans are not the enemy, but coworkers.
The enemy is the brokenness of society, the fruit of the plundering work of evil. Christ is victorious over all evil, and the full salvation in Christ includes social and economic restoration of society.
Dare to dream, like Martin Luther King Jr. Imagine a renewed future.
And act.
Ds Danie Mouton
Executive Director of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Eastern Cape
Source: TCN / Danie Mouton
Date Added: 2025-02-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
Back to News IndexDate Added: 2025-02-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
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