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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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Are we all talk?Lydia Hutchings
Loneliness, hard work and plenty of quiet evenings in was what I had prepared myself for when I got on a plane bound for Cape Town last June. Don't get me wrong, I was excited, but you get a lot of grim warnings when you tell people you're off to South Africa. Add to this the fact that in two months it's pretty hard to feel you 'belong' somewhere, and perhaps you can see why I was apprehensive. Luckily, though I didn't know it then, I was on my way to one of the most welcoming and dynamic communities I have ever encountered. Within a few days of arriving it was clear that those 'quiet evenings in' were never going to materialise! Woodstock Methodist Church, inner-city Cape Town, isn't your average place of worship. It would be easy to underestimate its achievements when you look at it from the outside; a normal-looking (albeit bright orange!) house on a normal-looking street in Woodstock, with a small garden and an extension that looks like a hall at the back. Well, that extension is in fact the church itself, simple but sufficient, and the house is a hive of activity, and the home of SHADE. SHADE is a project of the Woodstock Methodist Church that seeks to provide a safe, inclusive community for displaced people in Cape Town (they find that the political term 'refugee' is not broad enough). The project is run both by and for these people, and has grown considerably in the last few years to incorporate a children and young people's branch, and a women's network called Sister2Sister, with 18 satellite projects in 10 African countries. SHADE seeks to identify needs and find mutually empowering solutions, through activism, through education and through training. I couldn't remember all the different things I did over that two months even if you asked me. Woodstock thrives on the unpredictable. Spending a lot of my time working with the 50-strong youth club, a lively mixture of young people from several different African countries, I learnt why reacting to whatever situation is thrown at you is both essential and rewarding. Dealing with war zones, tight budgets, newcomers and the Department of Foreign Affairs calls for flexibility. But this is not just a reactionary place. While I was there the congregation were going through an impressive process of writing a kind of 'mission statement' for their church, which took hours of critical introspection and prayer and was extremely productive.
So where does God fit into this remarkable community? Everything SHADE and the Woodstock church stands for is built upon a strong Christian faith. Powerful worship and discussion takes place several times a week, and talking openly about God is the norm. However, what I became a part of was a moving congregation, not bogged-down with words but driven into action by them. Many of the people I had the privilege to meet have witnessed and been the victims of horrific violence. There is a large community from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Cape Town, the majority of whom fled the country on foot with no possessions and no idea what would happen to them. They know more than anyone the importance of action. Not just action, but demonstration. We need to hear God's word, of course, but more than that we need to see it. Tell people how much God loves them and they might believe you. Show them, and they'll have to. We are required to 'act out' God's will for us and for all of his children. It was sitting in a café talking to Greg Andrews, the minister at Woodstock, when the force of this idea really struck me. If we stopped talking about God and just got on with doing his will, would we start to make the difference he so wants us to make? A bit too radical perhaps, but it's worth thinking about. Personally I feel I need to keep talking, if only to stay focused on what I really believe. But I've certainly learnt the power of action. Tembo Kalenga, co-ordinater of Sister2Sister, teacher, social worker, counsellor and minister, often quotes the passage from Micah written below. Every step we take we must take with God. But sometimes the best way to bring God's love to people is simply to get on and do it!
If you would like to make a donation to SHADE you can do so online
at www.shade.org.za
(click on 'Support Us'). |
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