Communitas » Terugblik op WINTERSKOOL 2014
TuisbladVennote Ekklesia Terugblik op WINTERSKOOL 2014
Kursusgangers uit verskillende godsdienstige, politieke, ekonomiese en kulturele agtergronde het saamgeluister en saamgepraat oor onderwerpe soos Hoop te midde van wanhoop; Die kerk – deel van Afrika en die Globale Wêreld; Wat het gebeur met versoening; Uitdagings vir gemeentes in die volgende 20 jaar; Interkulturele kerke; Kinderbediening; Fresh Expressions; Dissipelskap … noem maar op.
Prof Nico Koopman het in sy toespraak genoem dat baie Suid-Afrikaners ná 20 jaar steeds uitsien na ‘n samelewing waar geregtigheid seëvier: “twenty years into the new South Africa we hunger for a society of justice, justice that is an expression of dignity, justice that is seen in freedom from oppression and justice that rejects the alarming socio-economic inequalities in South Africa and the world at large”.
Sy uitgangspunt is dat ons elkeen verantwoordelik is vir wat in die samelewing gebeur, en hy het kerke aangemoedig om aktief betrokke te raak en die oorsake van dinge wat verkeerd gaan, aan te spreek.
Prof Piet Meiring van die Teologiese Fakulteit van UP het hierbay aangesluit en bygevoeg dat geregtigheid noodsaaklik is vir rekonsiliasie: “Justice and reconciliation are two sides of the same coin. For reconciliation to happen, there has to be a sense of justice being part and parcel of the process. Lasting reconciliation can only flourish in a society where justice is seen to be done.” Hy het benadruk dat rekonsialiasie beslis nie vir sissies is nie… “To act as a reconciler, a builder of bridges between opposing individuals as well as communities, asks for a strong commitment, resilience, and nerves of steel.”
Dr Mvume Dandala het die volgende gesê: “I start with a fact that Christians have sometimes acknowledged that Christianity has not been entirely innocent of the evils that have been perpetrated on our continent. It is a fact beyond dispute now that instead of Christianising the Africans, Christianity served as a handmaiden for the cultural expansionism of the West.” Hy het benadruk dat alles in Afrika beslis nie sleg is nie, en herontdek moet word. “It is the disembowelling of the peoples of Africa of their personhood that robs them of the conviction that they have any unique contribution to make in the domain of universal peoplehood… Africa needs its soul restored. Is the Christ whom we proclaim the restorer of the soul that Africa needs and is waiting for?”
Dr Dandala het die gehoor met die volgende uitgedaag: “The challenge begins with the need to become an authentic African Church in our faith and practise… if indeed we have a potential to find HEALING IN Africa, should we not seek new meaning to what it means to be human together in the ideal of UBUNTU and inspired by the Gospel of Christ?Should we not consciously seek accelerated opportunities of conversation between us all in order to craft a missiological approach that, while proclaiming Christ, also consciously seeks to build new models of being church in Africa against which we can hold each other morally accountable for our common calling in and for Africa?”
Tags: Dandala, dissipelskap, fresh expressions, Geregtigheid, hoop, Marlene le Roux, Meiring, rekonsiliasie, ubuntu, versoening