Pastor_Blog

Thursday 21st August 2008 – Soweto

Some of us are fasting today, for either part or all of the day (something people in the church do each Thursday to prepare for the evening prayer meeting). Prior to lunch we were involved in an open air evangelism event staged on the area just outside the office. 2 speaker stands and speakers were erected and 4 microphones placed on the table. Earlier on the way to the office Mark was told by Neo (a pastor of the church) that he would be preaching for an hour and Dave and I would be giving our testimonies. I was prepared to give my testimony as it really just involves relating facts. I was not envious of Mark however.
I think that Neo is starting to understand our sense of humour as Mark was only expected to preach for 15 minutes when the time came. He chose John 3: v 16 and preached well. Dave and I gave our testimonies and we all sang some English choruses.
Neo spoke boldly in Sutu and English while another translated into another African language, possibly Zulu. Most people walked on by, the men in their shack opposite sat through it with no great response and one man stood to the side patiently listening. This man came forward at the end with tears in his eyes when the invitation was given for people to come forward to accept Jesus.
Once the public address was over Tebogo (Senior pastor of the church) encouraged us to go and talk to the people around. Throughout the entire event this was perhaps the most daunting request. However God provides the words to say and the courage when needed. Dave and I spoke to 2 men both of whom said they would come to Church. One of them said he would come to that evening’s prayer meeting. The first man we spoke to initially said that he could not go to Church as that is where rich people went. We spoke to him from the scriptures and tried to reassure him that he would be very welcome there. There was something about the way he had said it though that troubled me. I don’t know whether this is the perception of the Church or if he was simply expressing some sort of unworthiness. On the whole people’s reaction to us was favourable, much more so than it would have been in England. This is I am sure because the people of South Africa have a greater sense of spirituality whether they are Christians or not and when you talk to them of supernatural matters they are willing to listen.
After lunch there was a chance to go to the Day Care Centre which was only a very short walk away. Unfortunately the children were asleep when we arrived, most of them anyway and so not cause too much of a disturbance we did not stay long. From here Paulina (one of the office workers at the church) kindly showed us around her home nearby in the township. This was typical of the construction of a lot of the houses with a corrugated steel roof and one room inside. As Paulina has an income through her work at the Church office she has been able to divide the one room into a kitchen/dining area and a bedroom. She also has had a bathroom and toilet built on. Prior to this she had to share a toilet with many other people in the township.
From here it was decided that we would all head back to our house for a rest. It was the first time we had all been together alone for some time. Being a week into the mission and tired and fasting was beginning to show. Our time here has been so blessed that it is inevitable that there are points where we will crash and we need to be so aware of the need to surround ourselves with prayer.
A little later on we held one the Bible studies that BMS had sent us out with and this was a useful time of reflection. We discussed our overriding fear of evangelism on the train and in the prison taking place on Saturday. The Bible study was on vulnerability and we certainly feel vulnerable when thinking about Saturday’s events. We did not reach a solid conclusion and the feeling was that despite our inadequacies, we must lean on God and not our own strength, however we view the situation.
Mr Mataban (our driver for the fortnight) was bang on time to pick us up and we in surprise were not ready. Still, a few minutes later we were on our way to Sasa’s house (where 5 of the girls were staying)to spend time there prior to the evening prayer meeting. There we had a time of prayer where we came together once more unified as a group. Rachel Varley is showing great maturity and wisdom on this mission and raised as a prayer point the need for us not to let our differences come in the way. I am glad she is with us.
There was much blessing at the prayer meeting at Church. It was so far removed from what we are used to at home and yet we were all able to engage with it fully. Despite our weariness I am sure we were all refreshed.

26th August
It is Tuesday of our second week in South Africa. We are having a day out visiting various parts of Soweto and the first on our list is the Hector Pieterson museum. Hector Pieterson became the iconic figure of the Soweto Uprising of June 1976. The picture taken of him being carried by a fellow student after he had been shot by police was published around the world. Students were protesting at being taught in Afrikaans which they associated with the oppression of the Apartheid system. This was bad enough, but having to learn another language was also severely damaging their chances of academic success. On 16th June students gathered for a rally to protest. It was supposed to be peaceful but ended with 23 people being shot dead. Violence escalated over the coming days, culminating in somewhere between 200 and 600 people losing their lives.

As we go around the museum and later on as we visit the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, it is appalling to think of the injustice of the apartheid system. As I read the stories and see the film footage, I feel a mixture of anger and also a sense of shame. I am here as a white person amongst blacks. I feel guilt by association. I know that racism is not dead and buried in my own country but here I am faced with the horror of what prejudice and discrimination can do. How can anyone justify treating somebody in any way other than equal, simply because of the colour of their skin? It makes the incredible welcome that we have received all the more remarkable. Wherever we go people are so pleased to see us. Why? Partly because we are white people coming into an area which is still almost exclusively black. They are delighted that we want to live alongside them – to share in their lives, to eat with them, to learn from them and to support them. Again and again we hear the same message – “we are so encouraged that you are here with us.” There is a real desire amongst the black people that we met to enjoy good relationships with white people, in spite of the past. I reflect on the enormous privilege it is to be able to share with these people.

From the Hector Pieterson museum we move on and see well-known sights in Soweto - including the homes of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Thabo Mbeki (President of South Africa) and Desmond Tutu. Is there anywhere else in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners live within such a short distance of each other? Soweto has a history of producing famous leaders.

Next we visited Pastor Tebogo’s father – he is also a pastor but in a squatter camp a little outside of Soweto. As we drive along the dusty track, it is clear that this is a very poor area. There is no electricity or water for the houses. There are shared toilets and water taps. Most who live in this area are immigrants from other African nations. It is to this area that Tebogo’s father has devoted his ministry for the past ten years. He built both the church and his home – it took about three months in total. The conditions are basic and life cannot be easy, but the face of Tebogo’s father shines with his love for God. He speaks about how blessed he is that we have visited him. He plays music and sings for us in order to praise God. His conditions may be basic and life may be hard, but he has refused in the past to take gifts that he sees as luxuries – he lives as the people in the squatter camp live. He is satisfied with that. It is his ministry. His face is one of peace and contentment. The fruit of his ministry is that many people have come to know the Lord and the church that he pastors continues to grow. Again I have the suspicion that we are the ones who are truly being blessed by meeting him and his witness and love for God.

South Africa is a land of contrasts and this is enforced in my mind as we now travel into Johannesburg for lunch in a palatial style building. Later on we travel to Pretoria to visit friends of the pastors. Fences surround the area where they live and the only way in is through the guarded gates. Such gated communities are very safe for those who live in them and they contain a number of very grand houses. The house that we visit is probably the most lavish house I have ever been in. It has a swimming pool, each of the bedrooms has a veranda to walk out onto. The master bedroom has its own bathroom and dressing room that combined has a floor space that is probably greater than my whole house. The owners are lovely Christian people who are generous hosts and who warmly welcome us. We pray and share with them as well.

As I think of the people that we have met today, I am mindful of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, at the point where he thanks the people for their gifts to him. He writes, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (4:11-12) Today I have seen evidence of people who are content with their identity in Christ. Their material wealth may be very different but spiritually they are rich. Meeting and sharing with them is the blessing that is enriching the lives of those on our team. I take a moment to thank God again for the privilege of being on this trip.

Our church trip to Soweto in South Africa was an amazing experience. Nine of us from Norwich Central Baptist Church spent two weeks visiting Rock of Salvation Baptist Church and enjoyed a truly blessed time. It is impossible to adequately sum up our experiences in words but we will try to give a little taste of what our time out there involved. Others in our team have agreed to share extracts from their journals - I am very grateful to them. We hope that this blog will enable you to have some idea of what we saw and felt while we had the privilege of being part of a different culture.

Sepp Blatter, the president of world football’s governing body, FIFA, has rightly been criticised by many sources for his ill-advised words this week. In an interview with Sky News on Thursday he was asked if he felt sympathy for Ronaldo’s current position (The Manchester United footballer has made it clear that he wants to play for Real Madrid but United do not want to sell their prize asset). His contract has four years to run but according to Blatter a player should be able to leave whenever he wants to. Blatter suggested that United were unfairly retaining Ronaldo, adding, “… in football there is too much modern slavery.” The comments have found little or no support, apart from with Cristiano Ronaldo himself!

Steve Bruce said being a footballer is, “the best job in the world”. Sir Bobby Charlton, the former Manchester United and England midfielder said, “Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence!” Pele, arguably the greatest ever footballer, said, “You are a slave if you work without a contract or you don’t get paid. If you have a contract then in any job you have to finish the contract. I think that when he finishes his contract, then he should be free to go wherever he wants to go.”

Whatever the rights and wrongs of whether a player should be able to walk away from a contract they have freely signed, it is outrageous to call it modern slavery. Luther Blissett, a former black professional, said, “Does he not realise how much offence he’s causing by throwing in a word like ‘slavery’ in the context of footballers earning millions of pounds a year? He obviously doesn’t realise the significance of the term and it’s insulting to all the people who have been real slaves through the ages - the guys who would get hung, drawn and quartered or beaten for being slaves rather than paid millions of pounds to play football. If he had any understanding of what slavery really was and the conditions people had to live in, he would never have used that term.”

Quite! Sadly, Blatter’s comments show a lack of understanding of the real world today. Modern slavery does exist but not in top class football. The following couple of stories illustrate this and are just two of many.

Cindy was 15 when her parents were persuaded (tricked) into letting her be taken from her West African home to a new life in England. She was sold – ‘Trafficked’. When she arrived, she was taken to a brothel and abused every hour, every day.

I recently received an e-mail from an organisation called “Stop the Traffik”. They were lamenting the failure of the chocolate industry to keep its promise that by 1st July this year they would end the traffiking of children onto cocoa farms. Here are the words of one child after being rescued from a farm, “I will tell you how I lost my arm. I tried to escape, but I could not. They caught me and tied me to a papaya tree and they beat me and broke my arm. I used to dream horrible dreams that they were beating me and about many other things: the hard work, my family … I still have these dreams today”. Although the majority of farmers would not treat children in this way, there are some who do, and there are an estimated 12,000 children trafficked onto cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast into a life of slavery.

Some figures estimate there are 12.3 million people worldwide who are victims of being in forced labour. As many as 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. Trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are caught in the trap of slavery.*

Sepp Blatter, like too many others in our world, is ignorant of the horror of slavery today. He must be, because surely if he knew, he could never have made the comment that he did.

* For other figures, see www.stopthetraffick.org/

It is now less than two months before I and eight others from NCBC will leave the summertime of England for the winter of South Africa. Working in partnership with BMS World Mission we have the opportunity to experience and share in mission work for two weeks in August. Last weekend we travelled to Birmingham and met with other church teams who are going out to various places, including, Kolkata, Delhi, George (near Cape Town) and Sao Paulo. We had a packed day of relevant mission preparation in order to help us be ready for that moment when we step off the plane.
So, you might ask, what do we know about the country and what we will be doing?

First, some facts about the country: South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa and has a long coastline of more than 1500 miles (over 2500km) stretching across the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. According to estimates from 2006, the population is a little over 47 million. South Africa is famous for its sunshine and is a relatively dry country. However, we have been warned that as it is winter, it may feel quite cold at times. ‘Take lots of layers’, is the advice, because places are not really set up for cold weather!

There are 11 official languages – nine are native African, one is English and the other is Afrikaans, a language developed by the region’s early Dutch settlers. As a country, South Africa is rich in minerals – it is estimated that almost 40% of the gold mined on earth has come from here. However, they also have one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world.

One of the most pressing issues for South Africa is the spread of AIDS. It is estimated that more than 5.5 million people are infected with HIV and over 1000 people are dying every day. Average life expectancy is 54 – it is estimated that at least ten years could be added to this without AIDS. Over half of 15 year olds are not expected to reach the age of 60 and there are over 1 200 000 AIDS orphans. The disease is having a devastating impact on the country.

What, then, will we be doing while we are out there? While we may not have an exact programme, there are things that we do know. Most importantly, we know the church that we are linked with – The Rock of Salvation Baptist Church (Website address: http://www.rockofsalvation.co.za/) They run a number of projects, including a day care centre which has more than 160 children on its books. Children, including AIDS orphans, victims of violence, and the poor are provided with pre-school education, scholarship and after school care. There is a skills development program to help with business plan writing, sewing, counselling and trauma classes.

Their vision in their own words is to: Reach out to the lost; Holistically meet the physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, emotional and moral needs of people in and around Mzihlophe and the surrounding areas including those coming from afar; Restore human dignity; Combat crime, and create jobs for the unemployed; Build a multipurpose center by 2010; Plant 50 churches before 2020; To revive churches that have a similar vision.

So with a little under two months to go, we are excited about the opportunity we have to go and work alongside the church and to experience what God is doing in that place. We may not know exactly what to expect, but it promises to be a challenging time as we step out in faith.

I have just become a ‘Superbadger’ on Facebook! For those of you unfamiliar with the language, I should, perhaps, explain some more. Facebook is an internet social networking site where you can connect and interact with other people. You can add friends, send messages, join groups, create photo albums, and so on and so on. Superbadger is a Facebook application from Tearfund that allows you to send pre-written e-mails direct from your profile to those people who have the ability to influence the decisions that affect those living in poverty. Of course, the idea of the name is to ‘badger’ people on a large scale so that changes are made.

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I have just returned from the Baptist Assembly in Blackpool, an annual event that gathers Baptists from throughout the country for the first bank holiday weekend in May. The theme this year was “a hope and a future”, focussing on God’s promise for an uncertain world. As ever, it was a time to listen to God, learn and be challenged and refreshed in seeking to be faithful to our calling.

In the hotel where I was staying, I received a complimentary copy of ‘The Independent on Sunday’ and I was intrigued by one of the articles entitled, ‘The Happy List’. Set up as an antidote to ‘The Sunday Times’ Rich List, it seeks to name those “who have given back, and made the lives of others happier”. Who qualifies to make the list, you might ask?

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It is Thursday evening and as I sit down to begin reflecting on living on Job Seeker’s Allowance once more, one thing dominates my thinking; I have reached the final week of my Lent Challenge. As I sit staring at the screen, fingers poised over the keyboard, my mind goes back over the last five weeks. What have I learned? What will stick with me beyond Easter? These are my thoughts…

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It is Thursday evening and I am at a meeting when someone asks me, “What time are your friends arriving tomorrow?” “Well”, I reply, “They said they would leave about midday so they will probably set off about 3pm!” I have known my visitors for many years and they are a couple of my best friends. Though they have many qualities, time keeping has never been their greatest gift and now they have three children under the age of five to get ready as well. Whatever time they arrive, I know their visit will be full of fun and laughter. We will take the children to play in the park and probably take a trip to the coast and walk along the beach. We will relax together. We will have the opportunity to ‘catch up’ with all that is happening in life. We will open up and share thoughts and feelings that might otherwise stay hidden. In other words we have a healthy, meaningful relationship and the type of friendship that we all need.

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Have you noticed how popular the word ‘blame’ is? I did a quick search on the “Daily Telegraph” website and discovered it has been used in 935 articles over the last month. As I browsed through the links I discovered that in various situations politicians, celebrities, the BBC, sports stars and general members of the public are to blame for a whole variety of things. Apportioning blame is a popular pastime. When something goes wrong we want to know why and we want to know whose fault it was. As one mother facing the tragic death of her son observed, “I have tried to keep an open mind but am afraid I have failed because it is my son we are talking about and I firmly believe that someone was to blame for his death.”

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