Amptelike
Nuusblad : NG Kerk in Oos-Kaapland
OosKaap eNuus
Visie: Een, heilige, algemene
Christelike kerk, die gemeenskap van die heiliges
Jaargang 6 - Nommer 20 - 26
Junie 2008 - www.ngkok.co.za/enuus
Jy kan Saterdae inkopies doen by ‘n plaasmark, en ook lees oor Schalk en Bonnie van Niekerk se bediening, of kennis neem
van Andrew Purves se besoek
aan die Oos-Kaap en ‘n leierskonferensie
vir dominees - alles danksy eNuus-inligting.
“We wish also to
express our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe – and in particular those
Christian leaders who, in obedience to God are risking their lives by standing for
justice in the face of raw power, caring for those who suffer in the face of
oppression, and who live the gospel of love in the face of hatred and violence.
“In
response to this call, the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa and
the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa will join with the Council
on World Mission and the South African Council of Churches to host an
ecumenical summit on Zimbabwe, 14-17 July 2008, to create space for the
facilitation of justice, peace and reconciliation in Zimbabwe.
The
summit will be held in Johannesburg around the theme “Overcoming fear by faith:
Churches in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe”. This reflects not only our
belief that fear and intimidation have become alarmingly common features of
life in Zimbabwe, but also our conviction that the promises of God’s word
enable us not to be overcome by fear, but rather to overcome fear through the
exercise of a courageous faith. The summit will therefore seek to harness the
abundant resources of our common faith in the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus
Christ to bring to bear on the quest for justice, peace and reconciliation in
Zimbabwe.”
Lees die volledige
verklaring hier.
Mens is dankbaar vir die feit dat ons as
kerkfamilie hierdie getuienis van solidariteit binne die breër gereformeerde
wêreld sigbaar kan maak, soos ook by die sinode van die PCUSA
(Presbiteriaanse Kerk in VSA). Hierdie gesamentlike inisiatief, wat
deur die SARK opgeneem is, het dan ook verlede week in drie Ekumeniese
wêreld-liggame weerklank gevind – wat op sy beurt weer gelei het tot die
wêreldwye oproep tot gebed en meelewing van alle Christene met Zimbabwiërs.
Met die dramatiese swaai van gebeure in Zimbabwe
oor die naweek, weet ‘n mens net dat die krisis daar
nie nou minder is nie. Inteendeel, dit mag dalk juis nou nog erger afmetings
aanneem. Meer van ons het al oor die afgelope maande (tegelykertyd met
weersin daarteen) opgemerk, dat buitelandse militêre inmenging onafwendbaar lyk
om die land te stabiliseer. Tensy die generaals sal abdikeer, beteken dit
oorlog oorkant die Limpopo.
Ons as kerke (gemeentes) se volgehoue voorbidding
vir ons broers en susters in Zimbabwe is dus nog meer relevant as ooit
voorheen. Dit MOET vir hulle (veral die Zimbabwiërs vir wie daar geen
ander heenkome is nie) ‘n bron van hoop wees dat
hulle broers en susters wêreldwyd daarvoor sal sorg dat hulle lot sal verbeter
– dat daar ‘n vredevolle toekoms binne sig is. Die
Evangelie van Gods geregtigheid, wat intree ten gunste van die God-waardigheid
van alle mense, is ons diepste motivering vir hierdie inisiatief.
“Michigan se mense het my verras met hul gasvryheid, die
meer plattelandse atmosfeer en die groot mere natuurlik! Mense gaan heelwat meer kerk toe as wat ek
gedink het, en daarmee saam het ek ook ‘n meer
konserwatiewe sub-kultuur ervaar.
Die Berean Baptist
Church was my gasheer en ek was verwonderd oor hoe die Here die gemeente
gebruik in die plaaslike sakegemeenskap. Talle welgestelde besigheidsmanne kom
tot bekering, en om alles te kroon is baie van hulle Rooms Katoliek van
oorsprong! Die gemeente bied leierskap-konferensies met ‘n
Christelike boodskap vir die sekulêre wêreld aan. Talle senior besigheidsmanne vind dan ‘n geestelike tuiste in die betrokke gemeente.
Die grootste les wat ek in die VSA geleer het was die
feit dat Amerikaners met dieselfde politieke en sosio-ekonomiese vraagstukke
worstel as ons hier in SA. Motor-aanlegte sluit, hul brandstofprys verdubbel, die
politieke klimaat is gespanne, die ekonomie neem af.....!
Londen is natuurlik ‘n
toeriste-trekpleister met ‘n ongelooflike
vervoernetwerk. Saam met dit is daar egter ‘n dolle
gejaag na geld en welvaart en alles wat daarmee gepaard gaan.
Geestelik het ek my vasgeloop teen ‘n
ysmuur van kerkloos-en losheid, ‘n breë gemeenskap
waarin God nog net in Naam bestaan en ‘n jong
generasie waarin daar glad nie meer tyd vir God is nie. Tydens ‘n
persoonlike gesprek met ‘n man van sowat 45 jaar oud,
het ek aan hom die vraag gestel of hy enigsins glo in die hiernamaals. Hy het
ewe koud en reguit gemeen dat daar geen lewe na die dood is nie, en ernstig
daarby gevoeg dat die Bybel ‘n mooi storie was vir
mense wat eeue gelede geleef het. Ek het
van daardie oomblik af besef hoe Groot Jesus se opdrag geword het!!!!!”
Baie geluk met jou
aanstelling, Paul.
by Carol Howard Merritt
Ek kry graag leserskommentaar
oor hierdie inset. En: wie van julle betrek ‘n
beduidende hoeveelheid jongmense in jul gemeente se formele leierskap -
kerkrade, e.s.m? Watter verskil maak dit?
Mens moet
versigtig wees as jy hieroor praat, want ouer mense kan so maklik deur jongeres
beskaam word - net omdat hulle ouer is. Hoor graag wat julle sê, veral oor
situasies waar jonger mense werklik tot hul reg kom in vennootskap met ouer
lidmate.
We
often disregard the important assets that adults under forty can offer us. In
the denominational church, leadership positions are given to people who prove
themselves in some way. Usually they’re people who have a great deal of
influence, time, or money. This makes sense. As a church builds its leadership,
as pastors and committees search congregations for elders and deacons, they
look for the strongest possible links to make up that leadership chain, and if
that person has established themselves in a community by gaining power,
donating time, or giving money, then it’s likely that they will be a solid
leader in the church. They will use their influence positively, put in the
valuable hours, and devote their resources to the work and mission of the
church. Every congregation needs these important commodities to minister
effectively.
The problem is that
young people usually do not have power, time, or money. But they have other
things: potential, creativity, imagination, vision, and ideas. As the modern
philosopher Hannah Arendt explains in The
Life of the Mind, if we look at a person’s lifespan in a linear
fashion, we can see that a person at the beginning of the line looks forward,
while a person at the end of the line looks backward. Younger people have a
natural orientation toward planning while older people have an inclination to
reminisce.
If we follow Hannah
Arendt’s logic as a general rule—a rule that has many, many exceptions—we might
understand that young people are planners, while older people are historians.
Since our denominational churches have so many older people in leadership, we
become trapped in a pattern where we desire the past: conservatives pine away
for the 1950s and liberals long for the 1960s.
This becomes clear in
the photographs we display in our fellowship hall. We place the black and white
photos on our walls, and look at how our congregations used to be, with
hundreds of people lined up in front of the doors of the church, with all of
the young families and children, hands to their sides, hair neatly combed, and
leather shoes shining. It’s wonderful to learn about these important periods in
our history. But if the energy, vision, and wall space of the church focuses on
recreating a time when the congregation’s present young people were not even
alive, trying to be part of a church becomes understandably frustrating for
those in their twenties and thirties.
I remember being in
seminary, constantly hearing about the days of mainline denominational glory,
when prominent Protestant theologians made it on to the cover of Time magazine.
I heard so many stories about the civil rights movement that I felt like I was
sinking in the midst of this institutional longing for the past. A popular song
by Jesus Jones was getting a lot of air time on the radio, and although Jesus
Jones isn’t one of my favourite artists, each time this particular song played,
I turned up my stereo as loud as I could bear it and would belt out the chorus:
Right here, right now, there is no other place I’d rather
be.
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from
history.
You see, I wanted to
enjoy my youth while I was still living it. I didn’t want to spend my time yearning
for someone else’s glory days, and I was certainly not interested in going
through an institutional midlife crisis in my twenties.
A leadership crisis
exists, but it’s not because of a lack of talent and resources from younger
generations, it’s because the church can get so caught up in trying to recreate
those Norman Rockwell days that we forget to look at where we are—right here,
right now.
Excerpted from Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation , copyright © 2007 by the Alban
Institute. All rights reserved.
Beeld-forum: Die nuwe SA hét baie blink kante; Neels Jackson; Beeld,
10.6.2008
Soms, as die slegte nuus van wat in Suid-Afrika gebeur, oor jou rol, is dit
goed om ’n bietjie terug te staan en doelbewus te dink aan wat daar gebeur wat
goed is.Ek het dit gaan doen en ’n slag weer besef
dat Suid-Afrika nou, ten spyte van dinge wat soms skeefloop, in talle en
uiteenlopende opsigte ’n baie beter plek is as sê twintig jaar gelede.
Kom ek noem op: *Destyds het die howe min magte gehad om die regering in
toom te hou. Vandag is almal aan die reg onderhewig. Die konstitusionele hof
het al meermale ’n goeie rol gespeel om regeerders in die bek te ruk;
*Internasionale sport is nou deel van ons lewens. Destyds was Noord-Transvaal
teen die WP die grootste rugbywedstryd van die jaar. Nou speel ons in en wen
die Wêreldbeker-toernooi. Ek kon ’n paar kilometer van my huis af na wêreldsterre soos Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara en Shane Warne gaan kyk. Ons
Olimpiese helde wen medaljes; *Militêre diensplig het uit ons lewens verdwyn.
Ons sien nie meer elke aand op die nuus die name van jong seuns wat op die
grens dood is nie. Anders as party van hul pa’s sal vandag se jong mans nie hul
lewe lank geteister word deur nagmerries van oorlog nie; *Die koerse waarteen
persoonlike belasting gehef word, is heelwat laer as destyds. Jan Taks steek sy
vingers nie meer so diep in ons sakke nie. *Die land se werklike probleme, soos
armoede, is baie duidelik op die nasionale agenda. Ons is nie meer so vasgevang
in ideologiese debatte soos toe nie; ... Vir die kerke was die nuwe bedeling ’n
geweldige seën. Weg is die era dat mense in party kerke gesit het om allerlei
sosiale redes. Nou is die mense daar omdat hulle daar wíl wees. En vir dié
kerke teen die wie daar vroeër uit amptelike kringe gediskrimineer is, het die
speelveld gelyk geword; ... Om ’n realistiese perspektief te behou, is dit
natuurlik nodig om albei, die goed en die sleg, in gedagte te hou.As jy dít doen, kan die positiewe goed jou moed gee om
die uitdagings te takel wat die negatiewe goed bied.
Prof Andrew Purves besoek Oos-Kaap op 4
Augustus
Andrew Purves
is professor in Pastorale Teologie en bekend vir kwaliteit publikasies oor predikantebedieing soos The
Crucifixion of Ministry.
Lees meer oor sy besoek aan die
Oos-Kaap waar hy 'n dagseminaar vir predikante kom aanbied. Die datum is 4
Augustus 2008.
Die program van die Lenteskool, Fakulteit Teologie Universiteit van
Pretoria, is pas bekendgestel. Dit bevat volle inligting oor die verskeidenheid
van lesingmateriaal wat tydens die Lenteskool aangebied word, van 7-9
Oktober 2008 te Pretoria. Die tema vir 2008 is: Teologie van
die Mall (Publieke Teologie). Die drie temas en sprekers is:
* Waar word Teologie Gebore: Piet Naude * Wat traak jou
teologie my: Nataniël * Teologie in die Virtuele Wêreld: Kobus
Kok (en andere) * Oop lesing Dinsdagaand: Skrifgesag: Is daar 'n
kernteologie?: Piet Naudé. Die konferensie word
ook weer vanjaar in samewerking met Verantwoordelike Vernuwing aangebied.
Meer as 25 keuse temas word weer beplan.
Teken asseblief die datum aan. Vir informasie of inskrywings kontak: Prof Malan Nel
(Excelsus), 012-420 2892 / e-pos malan.nel@up.ac.za of sbo.excelsus@up.ac.za
This millionaire wanted take some of his money
to heaven with him when he died, so he talked to God about it beforehand. He
told God that he had lived a good life and all he wanted was to bring a little
of his fortune with him. God finally agreed, but told the millionaire he must
limit the amount to whatever he could fit into one suitcase.
The millionaire decided to make the most of it by comparing American
dollars, French Francs, Japanese Yen, and every kind of currency available in
the world to see to it that he fit the most possible into the suitcase.
Finally, he decided the best he could do was to exchange his money for gold and
place that in the suitcase.
When he died and arrived at Heaven's gate, St. Peter asked him what was
in the suitcase. He told St. Peter that down on earth he had been a millionaire
and that God had given him permission to bring some of his fortune with him, as
long as he could fit it into one suitcase.
St. Peter told the millionaire this was most unusual and he would have
to take a look inside the suitcase before he could determine whether the
millionaire could enter the gate with it. The millionaire opened the suitcase
and St. Peter said, "Oh, yes. That's just pavement, please come in!"
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