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The beauty and value of human work
Church in the Community - Media Release in the Herald: 3rd August 2026
Source: TCN / Vincent Zungu
Date Added: 2026-08-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
Date Added: 2026-08-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
The Church leaders of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro recently came together at the Bible Society of South Africa and across virtual media platforms to pray, reflect, explore, discern, exchange ideas and find creative, practical and effective ways of breaking the vicious cycle of despair, disillusionment, unemployment, powerlessness, inequality and poverty.
This vicious cycle produces an incredible amount of individual and a collective sense of grief, shame, despondency and trauma.
The Church leaders felt it was their prophetic mandate to advocate for work and employment of the youth of our city, province and country.
There is something divine about work! What do I mean by this? In the Scriptures God is portrayed as an Eternal Architect and Master-builder who created the whole universe, the earth and all that it contains.
The prophet Isaiah captures this so well. “Oh, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our Potter; we are the work of your hand (Is 64:8).”
There is a trend of substituting work with learnership programmes and part-time jobs.
Whilst these may provide valuable experience, they are not sustainable.
They do not provide a livelihood, a living wage, alleviate poverty or raise the standard of living for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.
The Church seeks to partner with civil society organisations, government and the business sector in particular, to create employment opportunities for honest, sustainable and real work.
Our young people don’t want to live on government grants and handouts.
Work, in the right sense of the word, encompasses both intellectual and physical human activity undertaken with joy for self-fulfilment, actualisation and for the common good of society.
It requires the values of responsibility, commitment, integrity, transparency, accountability, continuous upskilling, self-development and constant evaluation. Work also demands imagination, vision, innovation and creativity.
Our work ethic begins at home in the family. That is why most of our work is domestic in nature.
It is done freely with love as we fulfil our daily tasks to raise our families, build the family household, provide adequate resources to make our home the best place to live in, raise children, teach them human values and prepare them to play a positive and active role in society.
Our awareness of God often begins in the family and shapes our faith and life.
Authentic work must benefit the family unit first, sustain its members, help them put food on the table and meet their basic human needs.
Employers, for their part, have the moral obligation to pay their workers accordingly a just and living wage.
They must also comply with the labour laws of the country regarding conditions of employment, the minimum wage and social benefits: health, contribution to UIF and retirement.
Where resources permit, they may do more to improve the standard of living for their employees to break the vicious cycle of poverty.
Work is an integral part of what it means to be human. It is tied up with human dignity.
God created everything in absolute freedom, through the power of his word, in love and wisdom.
At the climax of everything he had created, he made human beings: male and female, in His image and likeness He created them (Gen 1: 26-27).
Human beings: male and female, created in the image and likeness of God are called to become co-creators with Him.
Work gives us a sense of meaning and purpose of life itself.
It leaves us with a sense of self-worth, builds up our confidence, inspires us with incredible hope and makes us productive in whatever we do.
Honest work must transform our families, homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces, our cities, provinces and country so that it becomes the ideal place to live in.
Business and workers have a shared responsibility to operate in ways that protect the planet, create decent work and contribute to sustainable development by aligning economic activity with the demands of social justice and compliance towards the environment.
The Church applauds all men and women of our municipality and Metro of Nelson Mandela Bay who work very hard.
May you find joy, fulfilment, satisfaction and eternal reward in what you do for yourselves, your families, our metro and for the common good of society.
Bishop Vincent Mduduzi Zungu
Catholic Bishop of Port Elizabeth
This vicious cycle produces an incredible amount of individual and a collective sense of grief, shame, despondency and trauma.
The Church leaders felt it was their prophetic mandate to advocate for work and employment of the youth of our city, province and country.
There is something divine about work! What do I mean by this? In the Scriptures God is portrayed as an Eternal Architect and Master-builder who created the whole universe, the earth and all that it contains.
The prophet Isaiah captures this so well. “Oh, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our Potter; we are the work of your hand (Is 64:8).”
There is a trend of substituting work with learnership programmes and part-time jobs.
Whilst these may provide valuable experience, they are not sustainable.
They do not provide a livelihood, a living wage, alleviate poverty or raise the standard of living for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.
The Church seeks to partner with civil society organisations, government and the business sector in particular, to create employment opportunities for honest, sustainable and real work.
Our young people don’t want to live on government grants and handouts.
Work, in the right sense of the word, encompasses both intellectual and physical human activity undertaken with joy for self-fulfilment, actualisation and for the common good of society.
It requires the values of responsibility, commitment, integrity, transparency, accountability, continuous upskilling, self-development and constant evaluation. Work also demands imagination, vision, innovation and creativity.
Our work ethic begins at home in the family. That is why most of our work is domestic in nature.
It is done freely with love as we fulfil our daily tasks to raise our families, build the family household, provide adequate resources to make our home the best place to live in, raise children, teach them human values and prepare them to play a positive and active role in society.
Our awareness of God often begins in the family and shapes our faith and life.
Authentic work must benefit the family unit first, sustain its members, help them put food on the table and meet their basic human needs.
Employers, for their part, have the moral obligation to pay their workers accordingly a just and living wage.
They must also comply with the labour laws of the country regarding conditions of employment, the minimum wage and social benefits: health, contribution to UIF and retirement.
Where resources permit, they may do more to improve the standard of living for their employees to break the vicious cycle of poverty.
Work is an integral part of what it means to be human. It is tied up with human dignity.
God created everything in absolute freedom, through the power of his word, in love and wisdom.
At the climax of everything he had created, he made human beings: male and female, in His image and likeness He created them (Gen 1: 26-27).
Human beings: male and female, created in the image and likeness of God are called to become co-creators with Him.
Work gives us a sense of meaning and purpose of life itself.
It leaves us with a sense of self-worth, builds up our confidence, inspires us with incredible hope and makes us productive in whatever we do.
Honest work must transform our families, homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces, our cities, provinces and country so that it becomes the ideal place to live in.
Business and workers have a shared responsibility to operate in ways that protect the planet, create decent work and contribute to sustainable development by aligning economic activity with the demands of social justice and compliance towards the environment.
The Church applauds all men and women of our municipality and Metro of Nelson Mandela Bay who work very hard.
May you find joy, fulfilment, satisfaction and eternal reward in what you do for yourselves, your families, our metro and for the common good of society.
Bishop Vincent Mduduzi Zungu
Catholic Bishop of Port Elizabeth
Source: TCN / Vincent Zungu
Date Added: 2026-08-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
Back to News IndexDate Added: 2026-08-03
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Social upliftment,
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