Words to ponder from Archbishop Ndungane

Archbishop Ndungane is the Archbishop of Cape Town and the primate of the Anglican Province of Southern Africa. He called together this conference, and these are some quotes from his opening address to the 415 attendees at the TEAM conference here in Boksburg (including 60 youth in a parallel session). The quotes are as accurate as I can get from my typing speed. In some cases a word or two might be slightly off but the meaning is preserved. Powerful stuff.

"This is a momentous period in the life of our church. We have people of God gathered together in the context of prayer and theology … renewing the church’s commitment and capabilities to respond to God’s call to service in the 21st century. Bound together by bonds of affection that unite us and united against poverty let us seize this moment, seize this opportunity by blowing fresh winds of change into the lungs of the Anglican Communion."

"Mission is bringing the fullness of peace of love and of justice. It is the building of God’s kingdom so his will may be done on earth as in heaven. Mission is about comprehensive salvation. It must take us beyond the false idol of vertical vs. horizontal – the mistaken idea that we have to choose between preaching the salvation that brings eternal life and working to bring the kingdom here and now. None of us has that option. We must all do both." (he was in part quoting David Bosch here)

"The word was not made text. But the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth."

"The church is called into being by mission for the sake of salvation. The church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning. The centrality of mission, not only for Anglican life, but for all life as a global communion, has been an explicit part of our self-understanding. Mission is to be understood as an activity that transforms reality. At the same time mission itself must be continually transformed." (again, quoting Bosch)

"We come together for God to transform us and to make us agents of transformation."

"This is a time in the life of our communion when it would be good for us to step back and take stock of the fullness of our calling. I do not deny that we face deep and difficult issues in our internal life. I do not want to pretend they don’t matter. We are rightly concerned with what it means to live faithfully and obedient to our Lord … but this must not be at the expense of God’s mission in God’s world.

"Too often the world around thinks we care only for one thing and one thing only and that is sexuality. This week’s meeting shows this is not the case. … As we live our tomorrow fully, the whole breadth of what it means to be God’s people in God’s world, we shall better understand how to tackle the differences and divisions among us .. Through following Jesus' example in serving the needs of others we will know better how to follow Jesus' example in other areas of our lives.

"This is the moment for the church to be more visible as the credible voice for the poor, the destitute and the disadvantaged. This is the moment for the church to unite against poverty and bring hope to the people of God."

"We are treating the climate as a credit card with no credit limit and no repayment date." (quoting someone, didn't get who)

"Unchecked global warming will more than quickly wipe out all the gains of development assistance of the past 50 years."

"It is for God’s peole to remind the world that human people are more precious than we can possibly imagine. The world has to rediscover how quality of life matters far more than quantities of dollars."

"It is for us to stand up together and declare loud and clear that we stand by the standards of justice, integrity, dignity and humanity and call everyone else to stand by them, too. We stand for equitable sharing of God’s abundance and responsible stewardship of the resources to which he entrusts us. We stand for sustainable development – environmental and economic. Poorer nations must be allowed to continue to develop, and rich nations must allow this to happen, taking responsibility for their larger share of global environmental costs.

"Globalization means that we are all neighbors now, whether it comes to economic systems or climate change. Our lives are intimately caught up in each other. We need a new morality for our global village – one that equally values every child of God on this planet. We need a new and effective earth ethic. It is for people of faith to make this message heard loud and clear."

"God’s world is crying out to him, and we know our God hears and our God acts. We meet because the hour demands it and we know we serve the living God who says TODAY is the time for salavation. We meet because God has calls us and we know those whom God calls, God directs, God equips to carry out those directives. Let us carry on with joy for we know that God has a purpose for us. "

TEAM Day 1 - Opening Eucharist

The internet connection is too slow for me to post photos today -- I'll try later. Sorry.

Today was our first full day in Johannesburg -- mostly registering and getting details sorted out. That is, until 3 pm when all of us boarded buses from the hotel/conference center we're staying in at Boksburg and traveled down the East Rand to Tsakane -- a township about 40 minutes drive away.

No matter how good the program is at this conference, it will almost have to be secondary to the people you meet just hanging out. My seatmates on the bus trip were two wonderful women --The first was named Sandra. She is Guatemalan, but lives in Costa Rica, where she is married to a bishop there. She runs a diocesan day care center and showed us a picture of her daughter, who is just starting medical school (I responded with pictures of the boys, of course). The other was Nangula, and she is the brand new provincial executive officer of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. She was hired by Archbishop Ndungane 6 months ago away from her job as dean of a cathedral in Namibia. (side note: I'm never sure where other parts of the communion are on women's ordination ... but she was not only a dean of a cathedral but a candidate for bishop in a recent election, so that's fabulous!) We talked a lot about life in Cape Town (she loves it) and about the work she has been doing.

Sitting behind us on the trip was a bishop from one of the four dioceses that make up the Johannesburg area. He was talking to some people next to him and basically playing tour guide during our trip. Once we realized that, we all got quiet so we could listen. He told us we were traveling up the East Rand, which ran north out on the East side of Johannesburg. The towns and townships (during Apartheid, there were towns where only whites could live and townships outside them where the blacks, who did all the service work in the towns, lived) were mostly mining-related.

When we got to Tsakane, we were greeted by throngs of people waving tiny flags with the TEAM conference logo on them and brought into the church where there was amazing music (wish I could post the video/audio of it ... I'll be sure and do it when I get back). The Eucharist was wonderful. My seat was way off to one side -- parallel to the altar. It meant I was blocked from seeing the sermon and anything that happened up front, but had a good view of the altar. I was also sitting right next to a portable a/c unit, which was great. I actually was sitting in the section reserved for the local clergy, which was also great because I got to know a really nice local priest named Sam.

The service was about 2 1/2 hours. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the preacher. The sermon was nothing that would set your life on fire, but it was OK. The Gospel text was the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin and he used it to talk of our great need of each other. That's really what this whole conference is about -- how much every single one of us needs every other single one of us as a global community. At one point he said "each one of us has a voice without which our neighbors cannot be themselves." ... and I thought about the people I had met today -- people like Sandra and Nangula --and how much fuller a person I felt from just having spent time with them and knowing about their lives.

One of the highlights of the day came at dinner when I finally connected with Amber Stancliffe Evans. Amber was one of my college students early on at Wash. U. and now she's an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of California. She's here with her bishop (Marc Andrus -- who is on our board at EGR) on something called Pilgrimage for Peace. +Marc did this for several years when he was suffragan bishop in Alabama -- a pilgrimage with young adults, usually something civil rights related. This time it's young adults from San Francisco, Alabama and also Bob Brooks' congregation in Providence, Rhode Island. They're going to be with us at TEAM for all the plenary sessions, but when we have workshops they're going to do other things -- like site visits to places like an AIDS orphanage. I'm going to hang out with them one night and talk with them about EGR and get their thoughts about the MDGs and young adults in the Episcopal Church. I think I'm also going to go with them on some of their site visits -- I really don't want to spend the whole time in S. Africa just in the conference center.

Well, it's getting late and I need to head to bed. More tomorrow, I'm sure.

TEAM conference

Hello from Johannesburg, everyone!

I'm just settling in here having arrived a couple hours ago. I'm here for the TEAM (Towards Effective Anglican Mission) Conference -- a Communion-wide gathering on the Millennium Development Goals. I'm here representing EGR to listen and learn about all the amazing MDG ministry going on all over the Anglican Communion and also to share what you all are doing. You can find out more about the conference at www.team2007.org.

Praise God -- the conference center has what so far looks like pretty decent internet access. My plan is to blog regularly (hopefully a couple times a day) about what is happening here to help people follow it as much as possible. I'll post brief topic-heading type stuff to this list so you can know to go to the blog. I'll be cross-posting on two blogs:

My blog -- http://revmikek.blogspot.com
the EGR blog -- http://e4gr.blogspot.com

More to come. Please keep this gathering in your prayers and know that you are in ours.

Christ's peace,

Mike+

Faith-based Groups Fueling African Health Care; UN Agency calls for More Recognition of Their Contribution

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The World Health Organization says that in the fight against HIV, more support needs to be given to faith-based organizations.

The WHO made this observation in a study released last week at the Washington National Cathedral.

The report, "Appreciating Assets: Mapping, Understanding, Translating and Engaging Religious Health Assets in Zambia and Lesotho," estimates that 30% to 70% of Africa's health infrastructure is operated by faith-based organizations, or FBOs. Yet, there is little cooperation between these organization and public health programs, the report contends.

"Faith-based organizations are a vital part of civil society," said Kevin De Cock, director of the WHO's department of HIV/AIDS.

"Since they provide a substantial portion of care in developing countries, often reaching vulnerable populations living under adverse conditions, FBOs must be recognized as essential contributors towards universal access efforts," De Cock added.

According to the report, FBOs play much a greater role in HIV/AIDS care and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa than previously recognized.

Ted Karpf, partnerships officer in WHO's department of HIV/AIDS, said: "This data demands that we continue to explore and expand the field. This is the first serious study of FBO engagement in HIV/AIDS, but it cannot be the last.

"Donors and health-care funders need to take the role of FBOs into account. Without the FBOs, the hope of universal access to prevention, treatment and care is lost."

You Did It!

A message from Susan McCue of The ONE Campaign.

Thanks to your work, the U.S. Senate secured the $1 billion dollars in poverty-fighting funds you sought, and they went a step further, allocating an additional $450 million in the fight to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Every ONE member made it happen.

Please take a moment to thank your senators for saving lives by advocating for this vital funding.

Having worked on Capitol Hill for a long time, I know first-hand the pressures on Congress for funding. Being heard amid the intense lobbying is hard. Many special interests have vast resources to break through. But millions facing life-threatening situations living in extreme poverty have no voice. You came together and spoke for them. You gave them a voice. Lives will be saved, and our country is stronger for your leadership.

After hearing that $1 billion dollars was at stake in December, ONE members sent over 200,000 letters to members of Congress urging them to sign on to Durbin-Brownback "Dear Colleague" letter. 42 senators signed on to these letters and gave our champions the leverage they needed to secure this life-saving funding.

When you take this opportunity to thank your Senators for their vote you will also be reminding them that the fight against extreme poverty matters to you and you want America to reach out and lead the fight.

Send a quick thank you to your senators for fully funding the fight against extreme poverty and global disease.

Congratulations. I look forward to writing you again about our plans for the year ahead and the future of ONE. As we build from this success, we can change who gets heard in Washington and give voice to those most in need around the world. You did it.

Thank you,
Susan McCue, ONE.org

...What Sort of Realignment?

EGR board member Debbie Shew forwarded me this editorial by Bill Sachs that talks about a new awakening in the church. The language jives with my experience of the global reconciliation movement. I've reprinted the beginning here and then you can click onto the Richmond Times-Dispatch site for the whole thing

I'd be interested in your comments:

As considerable attention focuses on discord in the Episcopal Church, a deeper reality is easily overlooked. Differences over human sexuality and the direction of church life merit consideration. There should be widespread discussion of what are momentous issues. But it becomes tempting to define the state of the Episcopal Church in terms of the divide over sexuality. Instead, by other parameters the Episcopal Church and other denominations are in the midst of a historic realignment. It is a shift that has less to do with the departure of a few parishes than with a refocusing of church life. Some might say that the Episcopal Church is in the midst of a spiritual awakening.

Periodically, American life has been remade by a pervasive religious awakening. Historians speak of two Great Awakenings, one in the 1740s, which awakened the ideal of religious freedom, and another in the early 19th century, which inspired various forms of charitable work. The fruits of these awakenings remain as both basic religious ideals and major social institutions.

Various writers have sensed the possibility of a new burst of spiritual energy that would instill new religious and moral direction. Historian Martin Marty has foreseen such realignment and noted that shifts in religious allegiance over moral issues such as homosexuality are only one aspect of it. The bigger picture concerns the building of faith anew, within and among the churches. Beyond conflict over sexuality the meaning of faith community is being discovered anew.

RELIGIOUS awakenings are diffuse in their sources and outcomes. Inevitably old institutions are remade and new forms of religious life emerge. Like a hurricane the origin and course of a religious awakening are difficult to predict. A variety of spiritual and moral issues surface and only in a few instances lead to a break with religious structures. Instead, awakenings build up community far more than they diminish it. Religious life is remade from within in ways that may become apparent only in hindsight. A quiet restlessness to find a deeper faith is the source of initiatives characterized not by protest but by exploring new forms of religious life.

Read it all here.

Delivering on the Promise of Africa

This is an important article from the World Economic Forum website -- and something to consider in your companion diocese relationships and other mission work abroad. We need to be about relationships that preserve and encourage local autonomy, build capacity and that don't create systems of dependency. I always go back to the lens of "seek and serve Christ in all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." For me, an integral part of "respecting dignity" and "serving Christ" is this emphasis not on providing aid without end but on helping people build their own capacity for success.

Anyway, interesting article. I welcome your comments.

Delivering on the Promise of Africa

Africa will top the agenda of the G8 (major industrialized nations) for three years in a row, said a high-level roundtable of political and business leaders. But there will be a growing emphasis on "building capacity" to translate developed world funds into enduring progress across the continent, they said.

Vital issues for developed nations include progress in world trade, debt cancellation and overseas investments in health, education and infrastructure. In turn, African leaders on the panel highlighted their ongoing efforts to ensure economic stability, good governance, regional security, transparency and stamping out corruption.

But the leaders gave candid, and repeated, recognition to the fact that ample funds from one side and political will from the other is not enough to ensure lasting progress and security unless there is a determined focus on building capacity.

Looking back on the multilateral consensus for his New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, praised the agreements for setting up the implementing organs of the economic communities. They have "good staffs and headquarters", he said. "But when we came to the implementation of cross-boundary projects and commitments from development partners…we found that we don’t have the capacity to design a project. It is a discovery. [Programmes] won’t translate into reality if the commitments to capacity are not made."

"We need to refocus again on capacity," warned Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Otherwise the risk and danger is that the African Union may attempt peacekeeping and conflict resolution in places like Darfur and Somalia – what he called "the hard end of governance" – "but will lack the capacity to act on it".

"Liberia like so many African nations is very well endowed; for God’s sake we shouldn’t be poor," observed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia. But she added that when it was time to ensure that priorities reflect nations’ internally designed agendas, "money was not the issue, but the technical skills and capacity to put the money to effective use."

Amidst wide praise for the philanthropic work of his foundation, William H. Gates III, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA, expressed similar concerns about sustaining health system capacity in Africa.

Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Reuters, United Kingdom, and Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, asked: "Even if you bring all the right drugs and treatments," is there "a danger that the best trained medical professionals get sucked out of Africa to the north of the equator, leaving Africa bereft?" Gates observed that vaccines and treatments bring enormous multiplier benefits, and remittances home from skilled African migrants to the affluent world are a huge part of the continent’s economy. Still, regarding "the capacity of personnel in Africa," he agreed, "there definitely needs to be an increase."

Bernd Pfaffenbach, the German Chancellor's Personal Representative to the G8, affirmed that in 2007, "there cannot be any stop in what is happening…because Africa is a very proud continent. It needs more ownership and more capacity building and what we have is to offer partnership between G8 and African leaders." Sadako Ogata, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, agreed that Africa’s need for capacity will remain high on the agenda for the G8 in Japan in 2008, the third year in a row.


When a Nigerian colleague expressed disbelief that incapacity is the primary impediment to progress, and suggested that enough skilled human resources could be found within Africa, both Sirleaf and Mbeki reaffirmed their positions. "We’ve lost all our talent, we can‘t afford the conversion levels," said Sirleaf. Mbeki also acknowledged that "we had been attracting too many doctors from neighbouring countries", worsening healthcare throughout the subcontinent. "There is a capacity constraint across the board, and we need a radical increase in every respect: teachers in math, science, nurses, doctors, engineers, all sorts of people, so that we don’t have to go to Paul Wolfowitz, to borrow money from his World Bank and then hire consultants from him to say how we should spend it."