Amptelike Nuusblad : NG
Kerk in Oos-Kaapland
OosKaap eNuus
Visie: Een, heilige, algemene Christelike kerk, die
gemeenskap van die heiliges
Jaargang 6 - Nommer 31 - 25 September
2008 - www.ngkok.co.za/enuus
Nigeriërs blaas nuwe lewe in middestad-gemeente
Namibië: Usakos soek emeritus of tentmaker
Lina Spies oor Angus Buchan: Geloof is g’n beswyming
With the clock
ticking down and less than 700 days to go, the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup,
which promises to be the best soccer world cup ever, is to be hosted on our
shores. It is estimated that more than half of the world’s population will
focus their attention on the extravaganza of exciting football and the showcase
of God given talent.
With all the hype,
energy and attention surrounding this event, great opportunities arise not only
to demonstrate the love of Christ, but also to prepare the harvest fields for
God’s Kingdom. The profound question that we as followers of Christ may wish to
ask ourselves is:
“Are we ready to stand in the gap and avail ourselves to be used of God
for his glory in this event?”
With this in mind, may we introduce you to The Ultimate Goal; a joint
church leadership led mission that aims to serve and demonstrate the Love of
Christ to all God’s people before, during and after the 2010 FIFA Soccer World
Cup. We invite you to join us as we prepare ourselves for the greatest harvest
of souls for Christ. The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup that will take place in
South Africa from 14-28 June 2009 will be utilised as preparation of what is yet
to come in 2010.
More information will be sent to you in due course and whilst The
Ultimate Goal web site is currently under construction. In the meantime, so as
to whet your appetite and keep you informed, a Facebook group on the internet
has been set up to which keep you posted on all The Ultimate Goal events. See http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19301340818
(you will however have to first register with Facebook in order to view this
group).
So please watch this space by logging onto Facebook as together we
prepare to impact South Africa and beyond through Jesus Christ, The Ultimate Goal.
* To
make our resources and structures available to serve the South African Sports
Coalition (SASCOL).
* To see
sports ministry effective developed in churches across South Africa: (a) during
the build up to 2010, (b) utilized during 2010 and (c) sustained beyond 2010.
* To
assist and enable each Sports Ministry to accomplish their own 2010 goals.
* To
channel the support of the International Sports Coalition towards 2010.
In serving the church of South Africa we believe
that God has positioned us to offer the following:
* Experience
– both within MSEHP (e.g. German), and a proven track record of sports ministry
development.
* Network:
National, Regional (High Jump Mini-Region), Continental and International.
* Effective
models of sports ministry… from grass roots to high profile including: Global
Community Games, Ubabalo, Christian based leagues, teams, touring teams,
clinics, camps, chaplaincy, schools, prisons.
* Human
resource: staff members, volunteers and those trained in sports evangelism.
* Evangelistic
and discipleship material development.
* Connection
with high profile Christian sports stars, national and international, who are willing and available to assist.
* Availability
to envision and train the church in sports ministry.
Nigeriërs blaas nuwe lewe in
middestad-gemeente
Hierdie artikel is gepubliseer in Kerkbode van 19
September 2008:
“Ons was vir baie
jare ‘n gemeente wat ons eie lidmate intensief bedien en die kerklosses onder
hulle geëvangeliseer het. Ons het die tug streng toegepas en die Woord suiwer
verkondig. Ons was ‘n goeie gemeente, maar ‘n gemeente sonder vreugde en
lewenskrag.” Só vertel ds Gillie Noeth van ‘n klein Port Elizabethse
middestad-gemeente, PE-Sentraal.
Vir baie lank het PE-Sentraal
geweet die gemeente moet uitreik na die nuwe mense wat weens
demografiese skuiwe in hul gemeenskap kom woon het. Dit sluit groot getalle
Nigeriërs, Ghanese en Somaliërs in. Baie
van hierdie mense is betrokke by dwelmhandel en ander vorme van misdaad. Daar
is ook baie dwelmgebruikers en prostitusie aan Sentraal aan die gang.
“Uiteindelik het ons ingegee voor ons roeping”, glimlag Gillie, “en met
Bybelverspreiding onder veral Nigeriërs begin”. Ingegee is omtrent die regte
woord, want die gemeente is geleë in ‘n stiller deel van die sentrale
stadsgebied en sou haar konteks nog lank kon ignoreer - voortgaan om ‘n goeie
gemeente vir bestaande lidmate te wees.
PE-Sentraal stel vir ‘n paar jaar reeds hul kerksaal tot beskikking van
‘n Ghanese pastor, Robert Bagna, wat ‘n goed-begronde bediening onder Ghanese
en Nigeriërs op die been gebring het. Verhoudinge met die buitelanders in die
omgewing het begin groei. Die uitreik na die gemeenskap was ‘n logiese volgende
stap wat hulle net nie meer kon ignoreer nie.
Toe nooi hulle die hele gemeenskap - uitlanders, swart studente, almal
wat wil kom - in vennootskap met die Ghanese pastor, Robert Bagna, na ‘n
vertoning van The Cross and the
Switchblade in hul kerkgebou. Daardie aand kom 9 Nigeriërs tot bekering.
Almal was verheug, en die beplanning was goed gedoen: alle bekeerlinge sou by
die Ghanese gemeente inskakel.
“Vier van die Nigeriërs wou nie saamwerk nie”, vertel Gillie skertsend.
“Tot ons verbasing dring hulle daarop aan om NG Kerk toe te bly kom. Ons moes
noodgedwonge eredienste vir hulle begin tolk”.
Intussen gaan die Bybelverspreiding voort. Een van die vier
bekeerlinge, Christian, blyk ‘n ywerige Bybelstudent en natuurlike leier te
wees. By bied in die week op ‘n ander perseel Bybelstudie aan, neem deel aan
die Bybelverspreiding en ontpop in ‘n egte dissipelmaker. Sedertdien het die
getal Nigeriese bekeerlinge toegeneem en woon ‘n groter-wordende groepie die NG
eredienste by.
PE-Sentraal, die Ghanese gemeente en lede van die gemeenskap het
sedertdien ‘n Alpha-kursus in Sentraal gehou, met groot seën. “Nou dat ons
multi-kultureel werk, is ons gemeente gevul met energie. Ek wil nooit weer
teruggaan na soos dit was nie”, se Gillie Noeth.
Beteken dit dat daar geen probleme is nie? Natuurlik nie: daar is
lidmate wat nie hou van die tolkery nie. Sommige wantrou die Nigeriërs en
wonder of hulle motiewe suiwer is. Die noodwendige gebruik van Engels - die
Skriflesing tydens eredienste word eers in Engels en dan in Afrikaans gedoen - ontlok
gevoelens van kulturele bedreigdheid by lidmate. Lede van die wyer gemeenskap
is gekant teen die uitlanders wat die kerksaal gebruik en oefen konstant druk
op die gemeente uit om die Ghanese dienste stop te sit. Gevolg het PE-Sentraal
ook al lidmate verloor.
Sal die gemeente omdraai na die ou paaie? Ek luister na Gillie terwyl
hy vertel van die geweldige geestelike honger onder die nuwe inwoners van
Sentraal. Mense maak hulle deure onbevrees oop vir die “Boere” en is só oop vir
geestelike gesprekke. Die oes staan ryp op die lande!
Biblia Hawesending se taak en
roeping is om die Evangelie uit te dra na die seevaarders wat op die vragskepe
werk wat die hawe van Port Elizabeth aandoen. Hierdie seevaarders kom vanaf 62
veskillende lande die meeste uit die 10/40 venster. Die opdrag van Jesus was “
gaan na die hele węreld en maak die mense my dissipels”. Ons is in die
bevoorregte posisie waar die węreld na ons to kom
Ons
verrig ons roeping deur middel van:
1. Persoonlike gesprek
2. Gee van Bybels
Ons het Bybels in 27 en lektuur
in 68 tale. Ons is in die beplanningsfase om ook die Jesus film op DVD te
versprei. In die verlede het ons die Jesus film op video baie suksesvol gebruik
maar die tegnologie op skepe verander ook en is video masjiene nie meer op die
skepe nie.
Die meeste tale waarin ons die
lektuur versprei is Sjinees, Russies(Ingesluit Oekraine,Latvia, Belarus,)
Engels,(ingesluit Fillipyne,
Kiribati, Samoa, Tuvalu) Tagalog, Shinhala, Koreaans, Tagalog, Cebuano,
Malagassy, Hindi, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Turkeye Divehi. Farsi, Dit is letterlik węreldsending sonder om die
land te verlaat.
3. Ook ondersteun ons die
Christene aan boord die skepe som is daar net een aan boord. Ons doen dit deur
Geestelike gesprek, Bybelstudie, Stig Bybelstudie groepe op skepe, Lei
Bybelstudiegroepe op die skepe deur middel van die Internet, Kerk dienste aanboord die skip, neem
seevaarders kerk toe.
4. Ook is ons betrokke by hulle alledaagse behoeftes
bv. voorsien aan hulle telefoon- kaarte wat ’n klein inkomste vir Biblia
meebring, Omruil van Valuta omdat hulle wil inkopies gaan doen. Werk saam met
ander seemansorganisasies om ’n veilige, rustige ontspanningssentrum vir hulle
daar te stel.
Aan die lig van hierdie
inligting wil ons u gemeente met vrymoedigheid nader vir die moontlikheid om
ons nie te vergeet nie wanneer u u kerkjaarprogram opstel vir die
nuwejaar, en vir ons ’n deurkollekte af
te staan. Ons wil opnuut vir die gemeentes wat ons ondersteun gedurende hierdie
tyd baie dankie sę vir u ondersteuning. Maar ons vind dat deur die loop van tyd
al hoe minder gemeentes ’n deur kollekte vir ons afstaan. Wil u nie weer
probeer om vir ons een toe te ken nie
Ons Posadres is: Biblia Hawesending
Posbus 47
Ons Bankbesonderhede is: Biblia Hawesending
Absa Bank
Bank Verekenings nommer: 511-917
Rekening no 4060566177
Ek wil ook van die
vrymoedigheid gebruik maak om u te vra: Nooi ons uit om by u gemeente te kom
praat oor Biblia of kom kuier vir ons by
Biblia
Maak ons deel van u
gemeenteprojek
U kan my kontak by
0834697138
Baie dankie dat ons op u
ondersteuning kan staatmaak
Groete in Jesus Christus
Martin Britz
Namibië: Usakos soek emeritus
of tentmaker
Die Usakos/Karibib-kombinasie soek ‘n emeritus leraar of tentmaker om hulle
te bedien. Usakos lę ongeveer 140km oos van Swakopmund op die hoofpad na
Windhoek in Namibië. Die hoof verantwoordelikheid is:
Eredienste
Gemeenteversorging
Uitbreiding
van die Gemeente Usakos/Karibib
Wat kan Usakos/
Karibib Bied
Basiese
Salaris soos wat ‘n klein gemeente kan bekostig
Pastorie-
Gemeubileerd(met die noodsaaklike meubels vir diensverrigting) of
ongemeubileerd
Ondersteuning t.o.v.
reiskostes
Plattelandse
omgewing.
Persone wat belangstel moet asb ‘n kort CV en sy verwagtinge stuur aan Posbus
235, Usakos.
Enige verdere navrae kan aan Br. Boet Oosthuizen gerig word by +264 64
530162 soggens tussen 9h00en 12h00, Maandag tot Vrydag.
Een van ons lidmate, dr Paul Scholtz, beklee ‘n senior
posisie by die Bible Institute, Eastern Cape (BIEC). Die institutuut lei
leraars / kerkleiers teologies op en fokus op denominasies en onafhanklike
kerke wat nie oor eie denominasionele opleidingstrukture beskik nie. BIEC is ‘n
geloofsbediening. Hier is uittreksels uit sy jongste nuusbrief:
Ek is tans besig met die re-akkreditasie proses van BIEC by die
Departement van Onderwys. Dit is ’n proses wat elke vier jaar herhaal moet
word. Ek leer heelwat hieruit rakende die funksionering van BIEC. Dit help BIEC vęrder om nuwe maatstawwe daar
te stel vir ’n meer doeltreffende bediening aan die studente. Dis ’n lang,
in-diepte verslag wat voltooi moet word en wat werklik uitmergelend is. Hopelik sal ek teen die einde van November klaar
wees hiermee.
Intussen bied ek hierdie semester vier modules aan: twee vir die 3e-
jaars en twee vir die BTh-studente . Twee van die modules het heelwat
voorbereiding en skaafwerk nodig gehad.
Daarbenewens het een module betrekking op moderne kerkgeskiedenis- nou nie ’n
vak waarin ek werklik spesialiseer nie. Die tekort aan dosente het my egter
genoop om self in te spring. Persoonlik
het ek hierby gebaat deurdat ek weer tot die besef gekom het van ons elkeen se
verantwoordelik om betrokke te raak by
die węreld rondom ons. Vęrder ook dat ons as gelowiges soms so traag is om die
lesse vanuit die verlede te leer en dan fisies iets daaromtrent te doen...
Die huidige “kontant-tekort” het ook ’n
sigbare impak op BIEC en die studente. BIEC het sedert Maart vanjaar ’n groot
tekort aan inkomste beleef- en dit grotendeels omdat studente net nie hul
klasgelde kan betaal nie. Ons is geroep
om God se herders op te lei en toe te rus en daarom kan ons die studente nie
eenvoudig wegstuur nie. Geloof en
vertroue in die Here se voorsiening bly dus vir ons elke oomblik ’n
werklikheid. Ek het die afgelope tyd
besef hoe swaar sommige mense werklik kry. En dan was ek ongelooflik dankbaar
vir die wyse waarop die Here nog altyd
getrou was in ons eie lewens, tog ook met ’n besef dat daar inderdaad tye kom
waarin jy gebrek ly. In sulke tye moet
jy weet dat die Here jou dra... Bid asseblief vir BIEC, sy studente en sy
dosente se materiële behoeftes.
Soms maak die Here deure toe wat aanvanklik so
oop en reg geblyk het. Op my onlangse besoek aan die buiteland was ek in kontak
met ‘n organisasie wat baie positief was om moontlike ondersteuning vir BIEC te
werf. Daar is egter skielik besluit om
nie met die aansoek voort te gaan nie.
Hoof rede wat aangevoer word is die onwilligheid van Kerke in Suid
Afrika om self by plaaslike sending betrokke te wees. Die voorbeeld van ‘n sekere gemeente wat 30 miljoen rand insamel vir ‘n gebou... en ‘n
ander wat tot 5 klank-ingenieurs voltyds
in diens het- sonder om noemenswaardig by binnelandse Sending projekte betrokke
te wees is genoem. Dit is inderdaad die
waarheid en ‘n klag teen die Kerk in die breë wat aangespreek moet word. Ongelukkig plaas hierdie gesindheid (van die
organisasie) die druk weer terug op die
plaaslike sending wat reeds wankelend, te midde van materialisme en
individualisme, in SA moet probeer voort bestaan. Bid saam met ons dat die Kerk in SA werklik
die sending nood in die land sal begin aanspreek, ook dat buitelandse
organisasies nie ‘n tipe “sanksie-houding” inneem teen God se werk in SA nie.
Ek het die afgelope paar weke van die Satelliet stasies besoek. ‘n
Elementęre omvattende inleidings kursus
in teologie word hier in die tradisionele swart woongebiede
aangebied aan kerkleiers en lidmate wat
geestelik wil groei. Die passie waarmee
die studente die Boodskap leer, en hul
honger vir die evangelie laat my telkens besef hoe waardevol hierdie
evangelie inderdaad is. En as ek sien
hoe ouer mense, wat nie werklik geskoold is nie, hulle alles gee om hierdie
Boodskap reg te verstaan sodat hulle dit weer reg kan oordra aan hul eie mense,
dan dank ek ons hemelse Vader vir die
voorreg om deel hiervan te wees.
BIEC se studente is tans besig met ‘n sending uitreik, wat deel vorm
van hulle praktiese voorbereiding vir die bediening. Hulle reik uit in ‘n voorstad
Sydenham, wat ‘n totaal multikulturele samestelling het. Uit die aard van die
saak is hier armoede, geestelike- en morele verval en misdaad aan die orde van
die dag. Die uitreik word in samewerking met ‘n plaaslike gemeente gedoen,
sodat opvolgwerk na die tyd gedoen kan
word. Bid vir ons studente, maar ook vir diegene wat met die evangelie bereik
gaan word- dat hulle sal inskakel by ‘n plaaslike kerk.
Op ‘n persoonlike noot
Wanneer die
lentebloeisels begin uitstoot is dit gewoonlik die natuur se manier om te sę
dat ’n nuwe tyd aangebreek het.
Jesus sę immers
self dat wanneer die bome bot,
dan moet ons weet dat die tyd aangebreek het.
In ons geestelike lewens voel ’n mens dan ook asof die “winter” verby
is, dat ’n mens ook die ou dooie
geestelike spinnerakke afstof en met
nuwe entoesiasme na ’n nuwe fase begin
uitsien.
Vir die meeste van ons beteken
lente ook dat die jaar besig is om
haas tot ‘ n punt begin kom. Vir die Stoltze het hierdie lente inderdaad
haas te vinnig gekom. Om te dink dat Stefané nou byna klaar is met haar
Laerskool dae raak vir my en Lana eens te veel. Dit was soos nou die dag dat sy
die klein dogtertjie was dat in die Kalahari- sand rondgespeel het. En
Juan is skielik op pad na sy finale jaar
katkisasie-klas! Dit is geen wonder dat die grys hare op ons koppe al hoe meer
word, die plooie al hoe duideliker omlyn
en die aksies al hoe
stadiger....!
Die Stoltz-gesin het baie om voor dankbaar te wees. Ons is gesond, het
‘n plekkie om in te woon, het kos en klere en ‘n voertuig om mee werk toe en
terug te ry. Lana is gelukkig by haar
werksplek, al is dit nie werklik wat sy wil doen nie. Sy help steeds van tyd tot tyd by die
Kinderhuis uit met Sondagskool lesse.
Laastens net weer dankie aan julle wat ook getrou is aan die Here se
stem en steeds vir ons en die bediening hier voorbidding doen.
Belangstellendes kan Paul kontak by paulanastoltz@gmail.com
Lina Spies oor Angus Buchan:
Geloof is g’n beswyming
Uit: Die Burger, 21 September 2008
In my Amsterdamse studiejare het ek en my beste vriendin,
Catharina de Haas, soms ons verse vir mekaar gegee om te lees. Die wonder van
die internet het ons weer bymekaar uitgebring.
Een van haar verse wat ek tot vandag as ’n kleinood
bewaar, dra die titel “Bibliotheek” en lui:
Voorlopig ben ik zo verliefd op boeken
dat ik de hemel als een grote bibliotheek
zie
met muziek op de achtergrond
en engelen om de bladzijden om te slaan.
Voorlopig houd ik alleen van god
omdat hij die bijbel liet
schrijven . . .
Met die herhaling van die woord “voorlopig” gee Catharina
te kenne dat die geloof ’n reis is waarop jy nuwe insigte kan kry in die
misterie wat God is. Op my eie reis het ek verander en paradigma-skuiwe gemaak,
maar die één ding wat nie verander het nie, is my liefde vir die Bybel.
Om van iemand “te hou” beteken in
Nederlands om haar/hom lief te hę. Binne die konteks van Catharina se gedig kan
ek ook sę dat ek God lief het, omdat Hy die Bybel laat skryf het, al kan ek
binne ander kontekste my belewenis van God ook anders verwoord.
Hoe nou verbonde die twee begrippe
“Bybel” en “biblioteek” met mekaar is, het Catharina reeds intuďtief aangevoel
toe sy haar gedig geskryf het. Die Nederlandse teoloog C.J. den Heyer verbind
die twee begrippe eksplisiet met mekaar. Hy verklaar ons praat van die Bybel
as ’n “boek”, maar ons kan dit eerder ’n “klein biblioteek” noem.
Die Bybel word immers, sę hy tereg,
gekenmerk deur ’n verskeidenheid van geskrifte. Daar is die poëtiese boeke van
die Ou Testament, die jubelende liefdesgedig Hooglied en die Psalms, en die
wysheidsboeke Prediker en Spreuke met hul kernagtige kommentaar op die
alledaagse lewe en raadgewings van hoe ’n mens dit moet leef.
Die psalmdigter gee uitdrukking aan
die volle skaal van menslike emosies: jubelend betree hy die hoogtes soos in
Psalm 47 (“Al julle volke, klap julle hande, juig tot eer van God!”) of hy roep
vanuit die wanhoop wat hom wil oorweldig tot God in Psalm 88 (“U het my onder
in die put laat beland, in diepe duisternis . . . U laat u
golwe oor my breek.”) En daar is die vier evangeliste wat die Jesus-verhaal met
verskillende beklemtonings vir verskillende gemeentes geskryf het.
Die Bybel as die geďnspireerde Woord
van God is nogtans deur mense geskryf. Die Bybelskrywers was – soos Den Heyer
dit so treffend stel – nie net die “teksverwerkers van die Gees” nie. Die Bybel
dra die kenmerke en die stempel van die tyd en kultuur waarin dit geskryf is.
Ons naďewe siening en dikwels
oppervlakkige lees van die Bybel het verskillende oorsake.
Een daarvan is dat ons grootgeword het
met ’n teksversgodsdiens. As kind moes ons elke Sondag ’n teks wat ons uit die
kop geleer het vir die Sondagskool-juffrou of -meneer opsę.
Fundamentaliste wat die histories-kritiese
ondersoek van die Bybel verwerp en so te sę elke Bybelse woord as gesaghebbend
lees en dit direk van toepassing maak op die hedendaagse samelewing, beweer dat
hulle “kinderlik” glo op grond van die uitspraak van Jesus in Markus 10:15: Dit
was toe sy dissipels kindertjies van Hom wou weghou dat Jesus gesę het dat
hulle wat die “koninkryk van God” nie soos ’n kindjie “ontvang” nie, dit nie
sal binnegaan nie.
Die New English Bible gebruik die
presiese ekwivalent vir “ontvang”, naamlik “accept”. Die nuwe Nederlandse
Bybelvertaling sę dit nog die treffendste: Jy moet soos ’n kind “oopstaan” vir
die koninkryk om dit te kan binnegaan.
Ek glo Jesus het ook presies dít
bedoel toe hy God gedank het dat wat Hy vir “wyse en verstandige mense” (Ou
Vertaling) –“slim en geleerde mense” (Nuwe Vertaling) – verborge gehou het, Hy
aan kindertjies geopenbaar het.
Verskille in vertalings waarsku ’n
mens om nie tekste eensydig te verstaan en aan te haal nie. Om oop te staan vir
die evangeliese boodskap beteken darem seker nie dat jy jou rasionaliteit en
denkvermoë moet opskort nie.
Ek wil my verstout om te sę dat om
voortdurend te vertel hoe ’n eenvoudige boodskap jy bring, maar hoe waar dit
is, omdat die Bybel so sę, nie van nederigheid getuig nie, maar uiters
aanmatigend is. Jy is by uitnemendheid daartoe in staat om “kinderlik” te glo
en daarom het jy die boodskap vir die hedendaagse Suid-Afrika direk van God
ontvang.
Dit is presies wat Angus Buchan doen.
Ek ervaar die hele verskynsel van die ontwortelde Skotse Zimbabwiese boer wat
sy cowboy-voorkoms – spykerbroek en wawielhoed – kennelik kultiveer, as intens
ontstellend.
In sy radio-onderhoud met Freek
Robinson het hy geen enkele vraag reguit beantwoord nie en van die inbellers
het ’n mens geen vrae gehoor nie, maar slegs lofuitings. Wat ’n mens tot
vervelens toe gehoor het, was: “The Bible says . . . ”
Toe ek met ’n sug van verligting die
radio afgeskakel het, het ek nie geweet wat die Bybel volgens Angus Buchan sę
nie.
Om sonder konkrete voorbeelde te
verklaar jy sę maar net wat die Bybel sę, is ’n ontkenning dat die Bybel ’n
grootse boek en eintlik ’n “biblioteek” is. Die Bybel sę baie dinge op
verskillende maniere; die Bybel vra om nie vereng te word deur die
verabsolutering van enkele verse buite konteks aan te haal nie.
Om te lees, beteken om begrypend te
lees en wie verstaan ’n boek waarvan hy net enkele bladsye of paragrawe gelees
het?
Het diegene wat na Buchan se
saamtrekke stroom en binne die reformatoriese tradisie opgevoed is, werklik so
min van die Bybel in hul kerke geleer dat hulle behoefte het om by “oom Angus”
te gaan leer wat die Bybel sę?
Wat my die diepste ontstel van Buchan
se boodskappe is dat hulle so deur en deur man-georiënteerd en seksisties is en
dít binne ’n nuwe demokrasie wat juis daarna strewe om mure tussen mense af te
breek.
Wat hy predik, is uitsluitend, terwyl
Jesus se boodskap insluitend is. Die man moet sy regmatige plek as hoof van die
huishouding inneem. Die vrou moet terug na haar rol as huisvrou en haar
liefhebbende man onderdanig wees. Mans moet hul kinders “dissiplineer wanneer
hulle stout is . . .as jy hom ’n pak slae moet gee, gee hom
’n pak slae”.
Ek neem aan Buchan het net seuns; hy
het, anders as die omstrede biskop Spong, kennelik nie “drie geëmansipeerde
dogters” nie. Ek is begenadig deurdat ek self uit presies so ’n geďnspireerde
vroulike gesin kom.
“Oom Angus” ken die aanspreekvorm
“Boet” – darem een van sy vyf Afrikaanse woorde – en ek vra my af of daar darem
’n “Sus” in sy swymelende skare is, wat dalk iets anders wil word as ’n gedweë,
onderworpe huisvroutjie?
Geweld baar geweld. Ek is prinsipieel
teen alle lyfstraf, maar ek sal graag vir “oom Angus” wil vra of pa’s ook hul
dogters moet slaan? Is daar nie genoeg geweld teen en misbruik van vroue nie?
Ek voel as ongetroude, professionele vrou in my menswaardigheid gekrenk deur
Buchan se sanksie aan vroulike “onderdanigheid”. Ek verfoei die woord
“onderdanig” in al sy betekenisse: “gedweë, nederig, onderworpe” (HAT).
“Geen politieke party, geen
kultuurgroep, geen dialoog kan Suid-Afrika red nie. Die redding is in Jesus.”
Só rapporteer Die Burger (13 September) Buchan.
Wie het in die fundamentalistiese
suide van Amerika die slawe vrygestel? Abraham Lincoln. Wie het die
Geallieerdes in die Tweede Węreldoorlog geďnspireer tot die oorwinning oor die
tirannie van ’n waansinnige Hitler en so Europa bevry? Winston Churchill. Wie
het Suid-Afrika bevry uit die woestyn van apartheid? F. W. de Klerk toe hy
Nelson Mandela bevry het om Suid-Afrika deel te kon maak van ons globale
węreld.
Jesus het geglo in verandering, maar
die pad van verandering na versoening is ’n lang en ’n moeilike proses. Dit kom
nie deur woorde en deur op saamtrekke in ’n godsdienstige beswyming te raak
soos duidelik sigbaar is op die foto’s van mense in Buchan se gehore nie.
Die gebod van die liefde vra om
konkrete dade teenoor die “ander”; die vreemdeling, die verstotene, die arme en
die lydende. Dit gaan nie om ’n liefdesemosie wat jy aan jouself en ander
opdring nie; die emosie kan slegs ’n toegif wees.
Angus Buchan begin by emosies wat hy
hemelhoog opjaag. Volgens hom het die herlewing alreeds plaasgevind. Dan moet
dit tog ná sy saamtrekke nou reeds sigbaar wees in ’n minder gewelddadige,
medemensliker, liefdevoller Suid-Afrika. Waar sien ’n mens dit?
Jesus het gekom dat ons lewe kan hę en
dit in oorvloed (Joh.10:10) maar sy weg is nie sonder meer maklik nie en dit
kan nie in ’n emosionele beswyming gevolg word nie.
Bronne
Den Heyer, C. J. 2000. Ruim geloven Zoetermeer:
Uitgeverij Meinema
Wiersinga, Herman. 2000. Op ooghoogte: Portret van een
postmodern geloof. Zoetermeer: Uitgeverij Meinema
Ron Reynolds stuur die volgende
bydrae:
It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We
had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped
giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was
a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.
Every day, my
husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get
water to the fields.
Lately this
process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and
filling it up with water.
But severe
rationing had cut everyone off. If we Didn't see some
rain soon...we would lose everything.
It was on this
day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I
have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband
and his brothers when I saw my Six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the
woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a
serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a
great effort ... trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he
disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house.
I went back to
making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed.
Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful
stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour:
walking
carefully to the woods, running back to the house.
Finally I
couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on
his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was obviously doing
important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping
both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the
water he held in them ... maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny
hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods.
Branches and
thorns slapped his little face, but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much
higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.
Several large
deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed
for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close.
But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down.
And I saw a tiny fawn lying on the ground; obviously suffering from dehydration
and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped
in my beautiful boy's hand. When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run
back to the house and I hid behind a tree.
I followed him
back to the house to a spigot to which we had shut off the water. Billy opened
it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there,
letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift 'cup,' as the sun beat down
on his little back. And it came clear to me:
The trouble he
had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had
received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me
to help him. It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands.
When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him.
His little
eyes just filled with tears. 'I'm not wasting,'
was
all he said. As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water
from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I
stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever
known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my
face began to hit the ground, other drops...and more drops...and more suddenly
joined them. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping
with pride.
Some will
probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. Those miracles don't
really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with
that... I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day
saved our farm...just like the actions of one little boy saved another.
I don't know
if anyone will read this...but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my
beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon... But not before showing
me the true face of God, in a little, sunburned body.
*~THAT'S GOD
~*
Have you ever
been just sitting there and all of a sudden you feel like doing something nice
for someone you care for?
THAT'S GOD! He
speaks to you through the Holy Spirit
Have you ever
been down and out and nobody seems to be around for you to talk to?
THAT'S GOD! He
wants you to speak to Him.
Have you ever
been thinking about somebody that you haven't seen in a long time and then next
thing you know you see them or receive a phone call from them?
THAT'S GOD!
There's no such thing as coincidence.
Have you ever
received something wonderful that you didn't even ask for, like money in the
mail, a debt that had mysteriously been cleared, or a coupon to a department
store where you had just seen something you wanted, but couldn't afford.
THAT'S GOD. .
He knows the desires of your heart. .
Have you ever
been in a situation and you had no clue how it is going to get better, but now
you look back on it?
THAT'S GOD! He
passes us through tribulation to see a brighter day.
Lesslie Newbigin het ‘n geweldige belangrike
bydrae rondom missionęre teologie gelewer. Hier is ‘n verkorte weergawe van ‘n
onderhoud met hom.
The Gospel in a
Culture of False Gods
Andrew Walker interviewed Bishop Lesslie Newbigin in 1988. The following
is an extract from the full interview, which was published in the book,
Different Gospels.
WALKER: Bishop Newbigin, in recent years you have turned your attention
particularly to problems of Western culture. Would it be correct to say that
you think that advanced Western industrial societies took a wrong turn with the
Enlightenment?
NEWBIGIN: I became involved in these questions basically because I was a
foreign missionary in India and have been through the experience of seeking, as
an Englishman, to communicate the gospel across the cultural divide that
separates our countries. And therefore I have had to reflect about the way that
one communicates the gospel in a culture whose presuppositions simply make it
incredible.
Having spent most of my working life in India and then come back, I have
discovered - in a way, to my own astonishment - that one faces the same problem
here, and that one is again in a culture where, when you attempt to communicate
the gospel, you are going completely against the stream.
What has troubled me greatly is that the response of the churches on the
whole has been so timid - that there is a tendency to feel that when somebody
says, 'But I can't believe that!', then you hoist the white flag and say,
'Well, of course we can't expect you to!' As a foreign missionary, on the other
hand, one is accustomed to the situation where you know that what you're saying
runs counter to the dominant culture, but nevertheless you have to say it.
WALKER: Let me be clear about this: are you saying, in effect, that when
you came back to 'the mother country' that sent you out to mission 'the
heathen,' that you came back to a land of heathens?
NEWBIGIN: Well, yes, in a sense. By which I mean that I had been
accustomed, like all of us in the 1960s, to talking about the secular society
and its great values and so on. I was to a considerable extent conned by the
dominant theology of the 1960s and thought that secularity was one of God's
great gifts - and there is a real truth in that. But it didn't take long to
discover that we are really not in a secular society, but in a pagan society -
not in a society which has no gods, but a society which has false gods. I came
to feel that more and more.
WALKER: If you think, then, that we're in a society that has false gods
as opposed to no gods, what are these false gods?
NEWBIGIN: Well, very obviously, at a superficial level they are money,
sex, prestige, power - all those things. But at a more
fundamental level, I think there hides a concept of reality which is supposed
to be beyond question. As you know, the sociologists like Peter Berger talk
about 'plausibility structures'. In any society there is a plausibility
structure - things within that are immediately believed; things that contradict
it are simply not believed.
Now we have a plausibility structure which, broadly speaking, is the
result of the whole immense shift of thought that took place at the
Enlightenment, with all its positive elements. But what people fail to see, of
course - and one does fail to see it if one has never moved outside of it - is
that every plausibility structure rests upon faith commitments.
What I find so difficult is that we're in a society here where if you
make statements which are within that plausibility structure, you're OK - no
questions are asked, you can say what you like. But if you make, for example, a
Christian statement, then that's not acceptable in public life - it's not
acceptable in politics, it's not acceptable in the university essay - because
that represents a particular faith commitment and therefore it is ruled out -
omitting to note that our accepted plausibility structure also rests on faith
commitments.
What I feel, and have felt, is the need to encourage my fellow churchmen
to be less timid in challenging the plausibility structure that dominates our
society, to be ready to say, 'Yes, what I'm saying rests upon other faith
commitments, but that doesn't make it untrue.'
WALKER: Well, let's take this up, then. What are these faith
commitments?
NEWBIGIN: I think it is the belief that the scientific method - which
has been so enormously fruitful for human life - is the only reliable way of
understanding the total human situation. That's what I think one has to
challenge.
The difficulty I feel is that when Christians are unwilling to challenge
that, then the gospel becomes either (a) just something that is helpful - you
know, 'It helps me in my personal life'; or (b) something which degenerates
into mere moralism - 'This is what you ought to do' - so that preaching becomes
either telling people what they ought to do, or lambasting people because of
what they do do; or (c) something which just offers people some kind of personal
'spiritual' consolation, but does not challenge people's understanding of what
is the real world they have to deal with.
WALKER: I know that Jim Packer has sometimes used the phrase
'scaled-down Christianities', by which he seems to mean that we cut our gospel
down to fit the secular climate in which we find ourselves. Is that what you
think is the most negative aspect of modern Christianity?
NEWBIGIN: Yes. And you see this is the kind of issue that one faced in
trying to communicate the gospel in India. You obviously had to take seriously
the whole Hindu worldview, with its great elements of rationality and strength,
which I found enormously impressive. In that kind of situation you have to ask
yourself, not 'How can we fit the gospel into this?', but, 'At
what points does the gospel illuminate this, at what points does it question
it, at what points does it contradict it?'
But one has to express those things in a way which the listening Hindu
will recognise as his own language. That's the crucial thing. And that I think
was the difficulty, because if you're going to use another language, you're at
least provisionally accepting the way of understanding the world which that
language embodies, and you therefore have to commit yourself to the other worldview,
at least up to that point - but in order to challenge it.
WALKER: How do you answer people when they say to you, 'Why, Bishop
Newbigin, do you believe in the incarnation and the resurrection of Christ?' I
mean, how would you suggest to a modern world that such a belief is credible?
NEWBIGIN: Well, ultimately, of course (and here we see my Reformed
background), I come to the doctrine of election. I mean that by his mysterious
grace God took hold of me, an unbelieving, pondering person, and put me in a
position where the reality of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen,
became for me the one clue that I could follow in making sense of a very
perplexing world.
The test, of course, can only come at the end. I would want to claim
that that clue ultimately gives one a kind of rationality that is more
inclusive of the whole of human experience than the real, though limited,
rationality of the reductionist and rationalist scientific point of view. But
at the end of the day, we have to wait for the day of
judgment. There is an element of risk, there is an element of commitment
involved, where you don't pretend to have something - that is, if there were
some way by which I could prove the authority of Jesus Christ from outside,
then that would be my authority and not Jesus Christ. I can only point to him.
WALKER: Given that you can point to him, do you think it reasonable or
unreasonable to suggest that to be a Christian does involve some minimal amount
of beliefs?
NEWBIGIN: Oh yes, surely it does.
WALKER: I mean, if somebody was to come here, put you into a corner and
say, 'Now look here Bishop, what have you got to believe to be a believing
Christian?', what would you say were the basics?
NEWBIGIN: I would simply say, 'Jesus Christ, the final and determinative
centre around which everything else is understood.' If that is there, I am not
enthusiastic about drawing exact boundaries. I think you can define an entity
by its boundaries or by its centre. I think that Christianity is an entity
defined by its centre. So provided a person is, as it were, 'looking to Jesus',
and seeing him as the central, decisive, determinative reality in relation to
which all else is to be understood, then even if his ideas are weird or
off-beat, I would regard him as a brother in Christ.
But once you start trying to define Christianity by its boundaries,
you'll always come up against some kind of legalism. You know: 'Has he been
baptised? Has he been confirmed? Was the bishop who confirmed him in the right
apostolic succession?' and so forth. Or: 'Has he had the right kind of
religious experience? Was his conversion datable? Did he have those kinds of
feelings at that time?' and so on. You always finish up with some kind of
legalism, whereas I think Christianity is to be defined by its centre.
WALKER: If we're going to define Christianity by its centre, in what
ways can you say that Jesus Christ is still 'good news for modern man'?
NEWBIGIN: Because death is conquerable; because the crucified is risen;
because not just anyone rose from the dead, but this one who went down to the
very depths of the human situation; because he is raised. I see Christianity as
a kind of fall-out from an original explosion of joy. But of course you don't
just communicate it simply by arguments. It's an existential reality present in
a believing, worshipping community, and the only ultimate hermeneutic for the
gospel is a believing community.
WALKER: What are your hopes for the future as far as the Church is
concerned? What do you look for generally and hope for as the way forward?
NEWBIGIN: You may think that I'm evading your question, but I do believe
fundamentally that the horizon for the Christian is not some prospect, some bit
of futurology - either for his own personal life or for the life of his society.
The horizon for the Christian is 'He shall come again' and 'We
look for the coming of the Lord.' It can be tomorrow or any time, but that's
the horizon. That horizon is for me fundamental, and that's what makes it
possible to be hopeful and therefore to find life meaningful.
As regards what we can in our fallible human guesswork anticipate, I
don't know. The one thing that strikes me about all the futurological essays
one reads is that after ten years we realise that they were wrong. Our capacity
to forecast the future is very limited. All I can say is that one sees signs of
hope, one sees signs of growth. I often liken the Church to a bush that's been
very hard pruned: I think there are buds, and though they are very small I
think they are signs of hope.
Extracted from Andrew
Walker's book, Different Gospels: Christian Orthodody and Modern Theologies
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1988).
Dear Tech support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct
slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry
applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs
such as Super 14 5.0, Springbok 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1.
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the
system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
Dear desperate,
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband
1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2
and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as
designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry
2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
But remember, over use of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to
default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring
Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law
1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of
all your system resources.) Also do not attempt to reinstall Boyfriend 5.0 program.
These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory
and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional
software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support
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