UCCSA SAYS #NOXENOPHOBIA

The reflection from our Newsletter of this past month is an invitation to join in the struggle for peace. God is calling us to confront the twisted animal na-ture that rules in us. To all Africans who are eager to respond to the cur-rent Xenophobic outbreaks. I AM AFRICA is a movement by ordinary Afri-cans to break the silence against Xenophobia and to initiate real action for people affected. The I AM AFRICA posters are available on Facebook page or can be emailed to you. Email info@africapeace.co.za.The goal is for these posters to be in every shop, office, school and places of worship as well as on every street light and bus stop. UCCSA Communications Officers Mr Mthobisi Wellington Sibanda

Newsletter Date: April 2015

Congregational Chronicle

Inside this issue:

UCCSA says #Notoxenophobia

2

SACC message 1

UCCSA @ 50 2

Executive Com 4

A prophetic response

5

News Brief 6-7

OBLIGATIONS

OF CHURCH

8

The SACC is

driven by the

gospel of Jesus

Christ who was

a baby-refugee

with his

parents in

Africa;

Page 2 Congregational Chronicle

The SACC Update on the Xenophobic Challenges in

South Africa .April 23, 2015

The South African Council of Churches is, shocked, appalled and alarmed by the horrific acts of xenophobic violence that have gripped South Africa, lately beginning in Durban and spreading to Gauteng Province! We condemn this violence in strongest possible terms. We are disappointed at ourselves as churches that are found in every corner of our country, that we were caught unawares by these sad developments.

We understand that there are many underlying social and economic reasons for the apparent resentment of non-nationals in some of the poor communi-ties, but none of these could remotely justify these inhuman acts of violence. Even so, the factors behind this need investigation and effective attention. On our part and Christian communities, we commit to an abiding campaign of community dialogues and the quest for reconciliation and healing. In this regard we join the People's March in Johannesburg on Thursday April 23, to, together with civil society and government representatives, register our ab-horrence for this and be a prayerful presence in the midst of the massive public anger. We ask for supportive prayers and cooperative actions.

The SACC is driven by the gospel of Jesus Christ who was a baby-refugee with his parents in Africa; and it is compelled by biblical concern and care for those considered as foreigners or strangers. In this context Jesus says:

Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. (Mathew 25: 41 - 43)

The SACC condemns this dastardly treatment of fellow human beings, and seeks to collaborate with other faith organisations, civil society organisa-tions, all tiers of government, and with business organisations, for immedi-ate, medium term and long term solutions to these pressing challenges of our country, and to ensure that all migrants who live in South Africa live safely and can freely participate in the economy and social life.

Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, SACC Acting General Secretary

The UCCSA is turning 50 years in 2017. This provides us an opportunity to Remember, Re-new and Rejoice! We thus have to dream of the future of our church. That includes: We need to make this major highlight of our milestone. This is an opportuni- ty to reflect, renew and dream as a church on the future of our congre-gational family. Commissions for now Fundraising Committee Organising Committee Logistic and Budget Information and Publicity. Activities now The Communications Unit will start designing a Road Map from the 1967-2017 in conjuction the with the members of the UCCSA and will be Inviting people to write stories or journal on accomplishments of Celebrations for the last 50 years. UCCSA Leadership will embark on Road shows and publicity and marketing of the UCCSA brand . They will be a call for Mass Choir festivities and celebrations .The Central office will also Invite people to suggest themes for celebrations and we intend to have a strong Media and Marketing Campaign .

UCCSA 50th Anniversary Celebrations

Page 3 Congregational Chronicle

Executive Committee Member, 38th UCCSA ASSEMBLY 2015 Greetings and the blessings to you on this week in which we await the outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

DATES AND VENUE The 38th Assembly of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa will be held from

Wednesday 19th to Tuesday 25th August 2015, at Windhoek High School, Namibia. The pre-assembly Executive meeting will commence on Wednesday 19th August 2015. The As-

sembly itself will commence on Thursday 20th August 2015 and will conclude with the closing service at 19h00 on Tuesday 25th August 2015.

ASSEMBLY AGENDA/REPORTS Items for the agenda of the Assembly and Reports to the Assembly should reach the Office

of the Secretariat not later than 26th June 2015. Items not submitted in writing will not be placed on the agenda of the Assembly.

Your co-operation in these matters will be appreciated. Yours in Christ Rev. Alistair Arends General Secretary

From Gods Silence to Gods word: A prophetic response to xenophobic waves in South Africa:

Page 4

Introduction The article seeks to attempt a hypothetical questions what is God saying when things are like this? Is God silent or ignoring the situation? As a human being yes God is silent, but as theologi-ans, I think someone is challenged to discern the voice of God.

What is being said: Those attacking the foreigners are accusing them of taking their jobs. The Migrating for Work Research Consortium (MiWORC), an organisation that examines migration and its impact on the South African labour market in 2012 found that 82 percent of the working population aged between 15 and 64 were non-migrants, 14 per-cent were domestic migrants who had moved be-tween provinces in the past five years and just four percent could be classed as international migrants. With an official working population of 33,017,579 people, this means that around 1, 2-million of them were international migrants.A racial breakdown of the statistics reveals that 79 percent of international mi-grants were African, 17 percent were white and around three percent were Indian or Asian.

From Gods silence to Gods word! The section and the article assume that there is/was a time when God was or will be silent is our lives as if to suggest divine deafness. I would speak of divine restraint instead. The reading of the book of Lamentation and Isaiah 40-55 suggest that God other voices to speak till they have said all they want or can say. He doesnt interrupt, comfort, correct, explain or excuse. The prophetic question the articles brings is: those who want to hear Gods word on the situa-tion where should they put ear? Definitely not in the affluent suburbs there in not attack there, no service delivery protest, only the interest of Empire is there 1. His voice is heard in the auditorium of the slum, emijodolo. Why, it is for the struggling Afri-can to identify them with struggling South African, unfortunately, they only have a handful, guarded jealously. The survival skill says dont share Secondly, the liberation movements have failed to transform the exodus theology to the across the river Jordan theology. Where burning tyres is no longer the methodology, but dialogue and tolerance As the UCCSA we need to redefine our public engagement and prophetic theology to reflect that it is victim-centred. Not all Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Somalis are the vicims, but those who hunted by the brutality of the regime in Zimbabwe, political instability in Mozambique, those who can not defend themselves from the Boko Haram and Al Shabbab. Whose dignity, equality of all humans and the image of God is easy to take away. These are the black poor Africans . Rev Sindiso Jele

Extract from UCCSA Statement on Afrophobia/Xenophobia

A missional community

listens to and understands the stories of

their neighbors in order to be able to tell the Gospel

Story in ways that are Good

News to those specific

people.

Page 5

The United Congregational Church of Southern Africa condemns in the strongest terms possible, the recent attacks on black non- South Africans. As a church which ministers in five countries in Southern Africa, we feel the pain of our brothers and sisters to whom we are related, in the deaths and displacement of their relatives in a country which they admired for the miracle in 1994. We believe in the Christ promise of fullness of life for all, the all has no distinctions or qualifications it means all of Gods creation! While welcoming the governments response to debate the issue in parlia-ment this week, condemnatory statements by the ANC, COSATU and the SACP, we regret that the response is too little and too late: When the first attacks occurred in Johannesburg in 2008, the then President, Thabo Mbeki asserted that we must continue to manage the reality of unfulfilled expecta-tions. Seven years later the issues for those who live in abject poverty still remain. Greg Nicholson has named them and we echo his view they are job creation, skills development, hunger, service delivery, corruption, wide-spread poverty while a minority remains obscenely rich. In places of such social deprivation, here in South Africa, as in other parts of the world, the scapegoating of the other in our midst becomes the easy way out, even if the other is not responsible for our misery. In South Africa such scapegoating has found expression in extreme Afrophobia, the killing and displacement of the stranger in our midst. Most people in Government, who were in exile in North Atlantic countries will have been at the receiving end of such racial discrimination, as the graffiti in the UK shouted out loud: Wogs go home! Could we not have brought the learning from that experi-ence home with us? And when we first saw the signs in 2008 could we not have acted more swiftly in the knowledge that competition for limited re-sources (jobs, housing, a decent meal) leads to such displaced victimisation? Racism is still alive and kicking in the so-called rainbow nation and the storm still rages! Given the systemic nature of racism and the ideology of superiority which underpins and sustains it, both during Apartheid and now, it feeds a pecking order, hierarchies between different ethnic groups in South Africa with the Tsonga,Venda and Shangaan at the bottom of the ladder. But then came people from North of the Limpopo and Zambezi, and irrational though it may be, the poor and marginalised in South Africa are not too eager to share the land of milk and honey with them, especially if it is already, for them , in short supply! So a lower rank of the ladder is quickly introduced. So the Presidents statement that these are our brothers and sisters who provided shelter and assistance for us in exile will be cold comfort for the poor who were not in exile, suffered under Apartheid and thought it will be a better life for all post 1994, but by and large it has not been for them; on-ly for a fortunate few. So, a peace bus from Gauteng to KZN to provide solidarity to the more than 2000 displaced from their homes is a laudable gesture of support especially with basic necessities through Gift of the Givers. But for Government and Church alike, the questions remain: Why did the need to flee from their homes in an area of abject poverty? We cannot every time only pick up the pieces. It is time to consistently and urgently address the root causes which feed this Afrophobia. We Express our deepest sympathy and sense of shame to the families of those who died in this irrational violence

The Synod Secretary Rev Ndlazi and the Central Region Chairperson

Rev Hess with the IMB Central region IMB members leading a march

to deliver the General Seceretary Rev Alistair Arends statement about

the church's non tolerance to Xenophobia/ Afrophobia. We would like

say a big thank you to the leadership, the President Mrs Mpho Moo-

ketsi for reaching out and providing food parcels that were received by

the ward councillor together with the UCCSA statement.

The CWM Team, composed of six members, visited the United Congregational Church of South Africa (UCCSA) from 5 to 18 April. They went to the UCCSA local congregations in Botswa-na, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. From Left-Right

Rev Andrew Scott

Moon Kim Joeong

Angela Martins

Uva Rova

Rev Christopher Vijiyan

News Brief

The CWM Team Participants to the UCCSA

Common Leadership

The Officers of the Denomination Rev Phillip Strydom (UCCSA Presi-dent),Rev Alistair Arends (UCCSA General Secretary),Rev Mosweu Simane(UCCSA President Elect and Mrs Florince Norris(UCCSA Tresurer) visited the UCCSA Zimbabwe Synod Conference. During that time they met with Synod leadership, retired ministers and took part in the activities of the Synod. It is hoped that through this visits a sense of oneness, support and common vision for the Church will be achieved. Part of the Executive members that were there were The Acting Mission

Council Rev Kudzani Ndebele, Botswana Mission Secretary Rev Mpatho

and UCCSA Communications Officer Mr Mthobisi Sibanda

The meeting

was very

convivial and

hopeful, and a

lot of

groundwork

was done.

Page 6

GenerationNext Breakfast fellowship with Rev Marco Antonio (Executive Secretary -Africa Office Global Ministries) ,UCCSA Communications Offiicer Mr Wellington Mthobisi Sibanda and Mfanafuthi Shezi (Past SA Synod Youth Convenor)and UCCSA Caretaker Mr Thomas Mmolo

This was after an Official Visit to the UCCSA Central

Office where he met the UCCSA Leadership.Rev.

Marco Cable is the new Executive for the Africa Of-

fice. It was his first official visit to the Member

churches in Africa

To apply for this Programme, you must be a student preparing for ministry and must not be already ordained

Interested applicants may contact the General Secretary of the Denomination Church or the Principal of the Theological College. Application forms may also be downloaded from the CWM website at: www.cwmission.org. You may also contact Sudipta Singh, Programme Secretary for Empowerment and Train-ing at (email): empowerment@cwmission.org. Duly completed ap-plication must be submitted via email at the above-mentioned email address or at hard copy to this address:

Deadline of application is on 15 July 2015.

#GenerationNext Breakfast fellowship

CWM Face to Face Programme

Page 7

UCCSA Synods are kindly invited to send nominations to the UCCSA General Secretary for the positions of President-elect and Treasure ,Assembly Training for Ministry Chairperson and Mis-sion Council Convenors so that they can be published in the Next Newsletter. The Synods are invited to send a picture of the person they are nominating with a brief motivation of no more than two paragraphs. Please note that we will be publishing the profiles of the candidates for Treasurer and President-Elect in the next newsletter if we have them before 31 July 2015

OBLIGATIONS OF CHURCH MEMBERS The main obligation is to bear in mind that the church was founded, not

by humans, but by Christ. Christ is the head of the church, its life and its

authority. From this fact originates the church members duties. To join in worship regularly Members should make a point of being at services, with heart and mind

prepared. The goodness of God greatness of Gods mercy in Jesus Christ call for our praise. As we worship, we receive new strength and vision,

and at the same time contribute to the spiritual strength of the Church. To share in the work of the Church One cannot expect to obtain the benefit of Christian fellowship if you

leave all the work to others. The Church has many and varied activities.

There is enough to do for everyone to offer their gift, develop skills and

experience the joy of service. To join in governing the Church Congregationalist sees the running of the affairs of the church as part of

their worship. The Church meeting is its governing body, under Christ; it

is our duty and privilege to take part. To support the Church financially Consecrated giving is part of discipleship. The Church cannot fulfil its mis-

sion without financial resources. To create a pattern of private devotion If we are to receive what the Church fellowship has to offer, we must

first be prepared to give to it by deepening our own spiritual lives. We

should learn to live in Gods presence by having a daily quiet time of pray-er and reflection, of studying the Bible systematically and receptively until

it becomes the Word of God to us. To attend the celebration of Holy Communion This is the feast of those who love the Lord, not of those who are worthy

of his love. in it we celebrate the gift of Christs sacrifice made once and for all. It is also the meeting-place where we renew communion with him,

at his invitation.

To assist in creating a loving spirit in the Church The Church is a body of people who have responded to Gods call in Christ. In fellowship with them we learn the kindness, patient, thoughtful-

ness and courtesy, which we owe to all people To maintain our Church membership when we move to a new re-

gion The local church is part of the UCCSA. We must link up with it wherever

we go To value our Congregational heritage We accept the unity of all who believe in Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour,

while also regarding our Congregational tradition as a unique and vital

part of the church Universal. We are thankful for a heritage, which gives

us so many opportunities to serve. The UCCSA is part of a great compa-

ny consisting of sister churches throughout the world all linked together

by the council for World.

Rev Alistair Arends The General Secretary Email:gensec@uccsa.co.za Rev Kudzani Ndebele Media Liason Officer Mr Wellington Mthobisi Sibanda Communications Officer Email: wellosa-cha@yahoo.com Tel: +27 11 837 9997 Fax: +27 11 837 2570 Email: tel-lus.uccsa@gmail.com Website: www.uccsa.co.za

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