wfn.org | WARC - Mission Project team: a catalyst in South African church's mission

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> World Alliance of Reformed Churches
> News Release
> 18 July 2008

Mission Project team: a catalyst in South African church's mission

Congregations in South Africa have been surprised by the
Reformed mission team they invited to work with them.

Instead of preaching and teaching, the Joint Action Team of the
World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) spent time listening
and observing to get a sense of the church, its mission
priorities and the justice issues at play in the community.

â??This was important,â?? said Reginald Nel, pastor at Riverlea
Uniting Reformed Church, who is also missiological and artistic
consultant to the team.

â??Congregations do not start from zero but are involved in
mission action and reflection. The teamâ??s role was to be a
catalyst in this process. They are there for just a few weeks but
look at things with new eyes and so they create a particular
momentum for congregational rethinking.â??

The Joint Action Team venture is one of three programmes of the
Making a Difference Project (MADIP) of WARCâ??s Mission Project
that was evaluated in Belgium this month.

The team, consisting of Brian Handel from South Africa, Diana
Rosa Ramos Garcia from Cuba, Marilyn Camaclang from the
Philippines and Karangwa Valens from Rwanda, shared for ten
months in the ministry of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern
Africa, to help congregations in Gauteng, Kwa Zulu Natal and the
Cape regions of South Africa to grapple with the missiological
implications of the Accra Confession.

The Accra Confession is the faith stance on globalization
developed at WARCâ??s 24th General Council in 2004.

Handel reflected: â??We never had to put the issues that led to
the Accra Confession on the agenda. People are living with
poverty, power cuts, lack of drinking water and evictions every
day and are coping with them. Our role was to put these realities
in a global context and point to the Accra Confession as a
response from our Reformed tradition.â??

In Northern Kwa Zulu Natal the team got involved in lobbying for
clean drinking water. Elsewhere they joined discussions about a
golf course project that would put hundreds of farm workers out
of jobs and housing.

â??What our work added to these isolated congregations was,
first of all, the experience that they are not alone,â?? Marilyn
Camaclang said.

â??Our presence as an intercultural team representing the global
family strengthened people to continue their struggles. And our
own stories showed people that what happens to them is also
happening elsewhere in the world.

â??This shared reality became the basis for explorations on how
racial and ethnic tensions reinforce and get reinforced by unjust
structures, how gender issues play out, what our (Reformed) faith
demands and what individuals and congregations can do to
counteract the destructive aspects of globalisation.â??

> ***

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) brings together
75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries -
united in their commitment to making a difference in a troubled
world. The WARC general secretary is Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana. WARC's secretariat is
based in Geneva, Switzerland.

> Contact:
> John P. Asling
> Executive Secretary, Communications
> World Alliance of Reformed Churches
> 150 Route de Ferney
> P.O. Box 2100
> 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
> tel.  +41.22 791 6243
> fax: +41.22 791 6505
> web: www.warc.ch