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Vol 17 No 5 June 2006 ONLINE The official gazette of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth: Church of the Province of Southern Africa

Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage PAGE 3  •  The Bishop writes ...  •  The view from pulpit and pew  •  Tag lines  •  Equipping the Kingdom The Bishop writes ... My Dear People of God, Greetings in the name of the Risen Christ, ascended up to heaven as at this time! By the time you receive this letter Synod will be a thing of the past. Yet, be that as it may, we shall be carrying with us the resolutions to deliberate on. There are those that spring from the Bishop’s Charge in terms of the vision the Lord has given us. We are still faced with challenges, which both the Christian Church raised at SACLA, and subsequently emerged from the United Nations. All these challenge us to see life as an enjoyable gift “to its fullness” given to us by the risen Christ. All these challenges equally make life a menace. In order of priority, I believe that poverty needs to be vigorously tackled, and be made history. In order to do that opportunities of employment should be created. Giving a beggar a R2 coin, or providing soup kitchens, are good acts of mercy, but they do not solve the problem on a long term basis. There is the danger of creating a dependency syndrome. Yet we must continue to ensure that those in our sight continue to share with us meals for their day to day sustenance. The question still remains though, what do we do in our outreach programmes in each worshipping community to alleviate poverty? The archdeacons will help the Bishop with coordination and follow-up on such programmes. Disease is another problem. HIV/AIDS continues to pose a threat to human life. Statistics are alarming in Africa. In South Africa we do not seem to be changing any mind set. Young people die in scores and hundreds daily. It is no joke; the killer disease is sending young life to the grave. I would like to hear more from your programmes whether there is any visible impact in transforming the situation. Worse still is domestic violence, which is inflicted on women and children, even by those I had hoped have seen the light. The elderly, both in our city homes and country, suffer this gruesome action of pain in their life inflicted by those who see themselves as powerful. The short term solution is to report any occurrence of violence seen in the neighbourhood to both the police and social workers. The long term is creating a home atmosphere conducive to teaching the values of life to the young. The Canons for  Family Life, Youth and Health will assist  implementing a vigorous plan of action, which will yield tangible results, even if to the smallest degree initially. These issues and many others bother me very much. You are the Church. Begin to be visible and make a difference. What the MU Christian Family Life does for Orphans and Vulnerable Children needs active and committed support. Thus far I hear nothing from the Church Men’s Society and Bernard Mizeki. This is the time for these brothers to get involved. We would like to hear their stories in the diocese too.Let us join forces with other Christians in the city so that we can effectively address these giants with a united front. The East Cape Council of Churches and the Moral Regeneration Movement are part of our programme. They deserve support from us. We require action that speaks louder than words in bringing transformation to the city. "At Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and continued daily in the Temple with one accord, breaking bread from house to house with gladness and singleness of heart. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47). May the joy and power of the Spirit of Pentecost fill your hearts always. Yours in the service of Christ, Bishop Bethlehem Nopece The view from pulpit and pew Congratulations to ‘Worm’ from the punk group ‘The Finkelstiens’, who proved the strongest link in the SABC show ‘The Weakest Link’. Worm, whose real name is Sean Brautheseth, nominated the House of Resurrection Haven as the recipient of his winnings of over R18 000. Tthe Eastern Cape is often overlooked by Auckland Park, so this was welcome news, as the Haven continues to seek funding from the Provincial Health Department in Bhisho. Some sad news from the Haven: the matron, Maggie Williams, has resigned, and has taken up a new post in the Health Department. iindaba wishes her every blessing as we salute her for the wonderful loving work she did at the Haven. Go well, Maggie! One of our beloved clergy widows, Ruth Harker, has moved to Port Alfred. Ruth is the widow of two clergy: her first husband was Dean Beaufort of Grahamstown Cathedral. Her second husband, Hugh ‘Horse’ Harker, for Chaplain at St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown for many years. Ruth, who is well in her 90s, still drives her car, and keeps herself busy. We wish her happiness in Port Alfred. Sipho Tokota has just moved to the Parish of the Good Shepherd, looking after the western side of the Parish. He is living at All Saints, Bluelilliesbush. Unfortunately, the day after he settled in his new home, he was rushed to the Mercantile Hospital in Port Elizabeth with diabetes-related complications. iindaba wishes him a speedy recovery, and every blessing in his ministry at Bluelilliesbush and in the Tsitsikama area. Another priest who has moved is Elliott Banzana, formerly the rector of Holy Spirit in KwaZakhele. Elliott has now moved to Motherwell, and will take care of St Timothy’s. St Timothy’s and St Matthias are now independent communities, so the search for an incumbent at St Matthias is now on. iindaba readers are requested to pray that a suitable priest is found. Continue to pray also for vacancies at the Cathedral, St Stephen’s, New Brighton, St Ninian’s, Somerset East, Christ Church, Cradock, the Greater Karoo and now Holy Spirit, KwaZakhele. Two of the Diocesan ordinands are due to be ordained to the diaconate at the Cathedral on Trinity Sunday, 11 June, at 15h00. They are Zola Xaba, who is at present Lay Pastor at St John the Baptist in Walmer, and Wayne Potgieter, from the Parish of the Good Shepherd in Humansdorp. All are welcome to attend the ordination, and there will be parking on the Market Square, where your car will be watched by car guards. Please remember them when you return to your car! iindaba would like to place on record the diocese’s appreciation to our Diocesan Secretary/Treasurer, Keith Rae, and the members of the Diocesan Office staf - Busiwe Gwentshu, Val Heath and Debbie Vencencie, and the Bishop’s secretary, Jenny Cowling - for all the hard work they put into the preparations for and the smooth-running of our 20th Session of Diocesan Synod, whilst at the same time they kept the wheels of the diocese running smoothly. As iindaba was being put to bed the news came through that the Metropolian of the CPSA, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, has announced that he will retire in 2008. 'It is the 160th anniversary of the Diocese of Cape Town and also the year in which the LambethConference is due to be held again" he said. Tag Lines No one has ever become poor by giving. Equipping the Kingdom Asked what New Wine was all about, David Stansbury replied, “It is equipping churches to see Jesus' Kingdom grow.” David Stansbury is the canon for mission on Bishop's Chapter, and he heads up New Wine in our diocese. He told iindaba that the vision of New Wine is "To see Christians and churches alive with the joy of knowing and worshipping Jesus Christ, and equipped through word and Spirit to live and proclaim his kingdom in the love of God the Father." He said the strategy is to work in the parishes with the clergy of the diocese to build up the people of God.  Some of the ways this is done are: • Partnering with local churches to deliver local training days to support ministries with the church, e.g. healing, prophecy, kids' work, worship, family time, worknet, prayer, etc. • Linking people involved in specialist areas of ministry e.g. ordinands, rural/inner city ministry. • Giving opportunity for different groups to encounter God in ways appropriate for them – e.g. days for women, men, youth. • Developing national training programmes which are delivered in a number of regional centres for Gap Year students, interns, and other trainee leaders. • Providing access to theological training through the on-line New Wine Bible Institute. Some of the parishes that have been visited recently, and the programmes run, are: St Mark and St John - "Christianity in the Market Place"; All Saints' in Kabega Park - "Healing Rain"; a Taizé service at St Cuthbert's; and a New Wine Leaders weekend in Jeffreys Bay . "We have a really good diocesan team  whose members are willing to share their skills and knowledge with others. We also hope to draw more leaders and teachers into the team, but we need the invitations from the parishes to visit them. Where appropriate we also need the New Wine events advertised so that anyone in the diocese who is interested can come along too," he said.New Wine's strategy is to work with church leaders. Some of the ways are:  Envisioning them with an understanding and experience of the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in the life and mission of a local church. • Gathering leaders into local network groups to receive mutual personal support, leadership training, and encouragement throughout the year. • Holding national and regional training conferences and retreats for church leaders across a wide range of levels of experience and responsibility. • Helping in the recruiting, training and deploying around the country of leaders with New Wine values. • Encouraging new expressions of church to reach previously unreached people. David may be contacted on: Tel/fax: 041 585 2437 Cell: 082 448 8396 Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage