Episcopal News Service March 8, 2007
TEAM: Archbishop of Cape Town urges conference to answer God's call to mission
Working together can teach Communion how to deal with differences, Ndungane says
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[ENS] Cape Town Archbishop and Primate of Southern Africa Njongonkulu Ndungane told the Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM) conference March 8 that God had called the participants to Boksburg, South Africa.
"We hear and we respond because we serve a God who hears the cries of the oppressed," Ndungane said in his opening address to the TEAM conference. "God, my friends, hears and he acts and he acts through the mission of the Church and God acts through people like you and me."
God sends his people where they are needed, Ndungane said.
"We meet because God's world is crying out to him -- and we know our God hears, and our God acts," he said. "We meet because the hour demands it -- and we know that we serve the living God who says 'Today' is the time for salvation. We meet because God has called us -- and we know that those whom he calls, he directs and equips to carry out his purposes."
Ndungane summarized those cries, beginning with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He reminded the conference that 40 million people worldwide live with HIV/AIDS, 25 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Another 25 million have died of AIDS since 1981 and another three million will die this year, two million of those will be Africans. More than 4 million, and more than 3 million in Africa, will be infected.
In addition, he said, tuberculosis, which so often takes advantage of those with AIDS, will this year claim 2 million lives, the great majority in Africa. Malaria will lead to more than a million deaths, 90 percent in Africa, and most of these among young children. There will be more than 300 million acute cases of malaria globally this year. And, he said, the church hears the cries of more than 48 million sub-Saharan orphans, a quarter of who are the results of HIV/AIDS, and whose ranks are rising fast.
"All these statistics may seem overwhelming -- but, as the Lord tells Joshua before he leads his people into the Promised Land, we should not be daunted," Ndungane said, "because the hour demands that we come together, for other reasons too -- for reasons that are encouraging."
The rest of the world has increasingly become aware of the need for a comprehensive approach to aid and development. At this hour, the church can become a significant partner in the global development agenda, Ndungane said.
"It is a world that has also recently come to see that faith-based organizations are fundamental to the effective tackling of poverty," he said.
Full story and photo: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_83204_ENG_HTM.htm
More information about TEAM is available at the conference website at http://www.team2007.org. Continuing ENS coverage is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_23466_ENG_HTM.htm.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.
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