"And he came seeking fruit on it and found none" (Luke 13: 6-9)

African Christianity has either borne bitter fruits or none at all. For many Africans, the Church continues to be an ambiguous institution they love to hate. Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, in his recent inaugural lecture, likens it to a "problem child". On the one hand, Christianity is more rooted in the Continent than anywhere else, on the other hand, the Continent continues to reap bitter fruits of poverty, wars, abuse and enslavement. As we reflect on the Theme of this Conference: "With Christ in Africa Today," we must ponder for a while on what to do to this big tree called Christianity, which is green with leaves of millions of African adherents, yet continues to fail them at their hour of need.

Luke's Gospel records how Jesus responded to the disappointment of finding no fruits on the fig tree. The targets of his disappointment, in the context of this narrative, were both Jerusalem and, of course, his favourite targets: the Pharisees and the leadership of the Synagogue. He condemned this system of religion: "Cut it down!" he said. And today, Jesus would pronounce the same judgment on his Church because it continues to bear bitter fruits or nothing at all.

The journey of Christianity with Africa has always been fraught with contradictions. This is the religion Africans have embraced zealously and unashamedly. Yet it is in Africa where we can say it fails to deliver. This love-hate relationship is best captured in the 1965 novel by the Kenyan author, Ngugi wa Thiongo, where he narrates this conversation between Nyambura and Muthoni, two daughters of Joshua, the first convert to Christianity in the area:

"I want to tell you something," Muthoni said to her sister, "But please promise me that you will keep what I tell you to yourself."

"Well, first tell me about that something," Muthoni said.

"I have thought and thought again about it. I have not been able to eat or sleep properly. My thought terrify me. But I know I have come to a decision." She stopped; gazing past Nyambura, she said slowly and quietly:

"Nyambura, I want to be circumcised."

For a second Nyambura sat as if her thoughts, her feelings, her very being had been paralysed. She could not speak. The announcement was too sudden and too stupefying. How could she believe what she heard came from Muthoni's mouth?

"Circumcised?" At last she found her voice.

"Yes."

"But Father will not allow it. He will be very cross with you. And how can you think of it? Besides," she continued, "you are a Christian. You and I are now wise in the ways of the white people. Father has been teaching us what he learnt at Siriana. And you know, missionaries do not like the circumcision of girls. Father has been saying so. Besides, Jesus told us it was wrong and sinful."

"I know, but I want to be circumcised."

"Why? Yes. Tell me. Why do you want this? You know this is the devil's work. You and I are Christian. Were we not baptized long ago? Are you not now saved from sin?"

"I know but Look, please, I - I want to be a woman. I want to be a real girl, a real woman, knowing all the ways of the hills and ridges."

"But Father, remember him."

"Why! Are we fools? Father and mother are circumcised. Are they not Christians? Circumcision did not prevent them from being Christians. I too have embraced the white man's faith. However, I know it is beautiful, oh so beautiful to be initiated into womanhood. You learnt the ways of the tribe. Yes, the white man's God does not satisfy me. I want, I need something more. My life and your life are here, in the hills that you and I know."

Muthoni's simple protest reflects the deepest feelings of every African Christian. We have indeed embraced the white man's religion, yet we want something more. Perhaps that is where the problem is: that African Christianity continues to present itself as the white man's religion.

We would not be doing justice to Jesus' warning because more than the religious community which he condemns as hypocrites (Luke 13:15), the real target of his anger was the nation and the political leadership of the city state of Jerusalem. Hence the text ends with a lament over Jerusalem when he says:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken." (Luke 13:34).

Quite clearly for us, we need to pose the same question to our political principalities. Africa needs to interrogate its leadership and systems from the point of view of whether they have any fruits to show to its children. For many of us, we have toiled bitterly to end oppression. The blood of our sisters and brothers was sacrificed in order to grow this beautiful tree of democracy. But the time of reaping the fruits of our toil seems to offer nothing but disappointment. Year after year for decades we have been offered promises of a better life, yet what we find in the end is disappointment. Summits are held are lavish Hotels attended by Heads of States, peace treaties are signed with fanfare, noble programmes are announced to the acclaim of ordinary people. Yet when we come looking for the fruits, we find nothing. What are we to say? Jesus said: "Cut it down!" The Gospel tells us that the vine-dresser pleaded with the master: "Sir, please leave it this year also. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down" (Luke 13:9).

At this juncture in our history, it feels like Africa has been given a second and last chance. The people of Africa have given their leadership a last chance. As African leaders admit the failures of the Organisation of African Unity, as they ponder the Millennium Africa Recovery Plan (New African Initiative), as they embark on the search for African Unity, they must know that the people's patience is not unlimited. We dare not be disappointed again because we will lose faith in the political systems and resort to our own means. The people will cut down the tree. For us in the Church, our members have given us the second and last chance. If the Church which they love dearly, as a hen loves its Children, if it continues to fail them when they need it most, they will desert us. The good news is that the Church is a bride who really loves her groom. But, if we continue to return her love with scorn, then we do not deserve any better treatment than to be cut down. This is the story of Africa's journey with Christ.

The Ecumenical Journey

The Ecumenical movement has been part of this journey. Through the World Council of Churches and its Assemblies, we have sought to define how we can become a tree that bears good fruits for the poor. The All Africa Conference of Churches has deliberated on the state of Africa both prophetically and with passion. The Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Southern Africa (FOCCISA) continues to develop a vision for "the Region We Want" in its annual gatherings. For us as a national council in South Africa, the same challenges and questions continue to present themselves. How are we to become an organ which can minister to and advocate for the good of the poor in our society? Indeed the question of our continuing relevance and indispensability can no longer be evaded. Has the time not come for us to be cut down? Has the ecumenical model not outlived its relevance? This Conference seeks to address squarely the issue of the mission of the SACC. What do we exist for? Does the ecumenical movement have a future? It is in response to this question that we can understand our role in the lives of our people.

In Search of the Vision and Mission for the SACC

Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall reminds us in his book, The Future of the Church, that:

The first and most natural thing that happens to people confronted by an unexpected or shocking prospect is to grow retrospective. "Where are we headed?" quite understandably begets the companion question: "Where have we been?" Partly this procedure betrays a psychic need to retreat from the anxiety of an uncharted future. Today the past, courted in various attempts to recreate or re-establish or refurbish it, functions as a lively temptation for many Christians on this continent. People are enticed into believing that the way into the future is through a return to some remembered past -- usually a past more glorious in the remembrance than it ever was in reality.

One of our fatal dangers as the SACC is that we tend to invest our currency in our glorious past. In many respects, it is natural and even honourable that we should acknowledge our history and those who helped shape it. However, there are inherent risks in such an exercise. As we seek to reconstruct the past of the SACC, there are nagging questions such as: Which past? The past of the SACC is contested. A common feature of contemporary South Africa is the failure to be honest to the past. This is a consequence of two misrepresentations. Either you have those who have chosen to be selective about their memory, those who have developed a convenient amnesia. For example, you never meet anyone who defended apartheid. On the other hand is the claim for martyrdom, those who claim to have been sacrificial lambs for the struggle. Behind this general discontent is a hankering to a past where as the Church we occupied a privileged position. Hence you never cease to hear lamentations about so-called Christian Holidays such as Ascension Day, and Christian Education in Schools, which we count as a loss in our democracy. For such people, the future of the SACC lies in reoccupying that center stage we used to occupy in the past. But is this where our future really lies -- in the past?

In our view, we need to begin by affirming that our future does not lie in our glorious past. Indeed, it has a link with our past, but a particular tradition of that past, not a past in which we were the centre of the establishment. The significance of the SACC's past is that it succeeded in becoming a base for those who could not find a home in either Church or society. The meaning of Adrian Vlok's bombing of Khotso House was that Khotso House had become a threat to apartheid ideology in its special way: by offering itself as a place of refuge to those who needed one. We need to correct any misrepresentation of history that says we as Churches were champions of the struggle. It is interesting that even on the international scene, those forces that opposed the liberation movements and those that colluded with the apartheid forces to bust sanctions and the isolation of the apartheid -- such as German and Swiss Banks -- are today heaped with praises for their role in the anti-apartheid struggle. The true heroes and heroines of the anti-apartheid struggle have been forgotten as our political leadership consorts with their new-found comrades in the World Bank and IMF.

The future of the SACC lies in our acceptance that we do not belong to the establishment and never did. Our vantage point is being at the pulse of pain, vulnerability and poverty. To stake such a claim should not suggest that we must withdraw from mainstream public life. It does not mean we should retreat into a ministry of souls. What it means is that we must begin to redefine the basis of our power from an alternative vantage point: that of the disestablished and disempowered of our society. The lesson from Jesus is that he went out to the rural and isolated villages, and from that vantage point mounted a movement which took Jerusalem literally by storm. He did not run away from Jerusalem, neither did he rub shoulders with the famous and powerful.

It is from this basis that we can begin to answer the question: Quo Vadis SACC? "Where is the SACC Headed? " To answer to this question is to attempt to define an agenda for the SACC.

In Search of the Agenda for the Ecumenical Family

The Spiritual or "Churchy" Agenda:

There is a view gaining currency in South Africa today which argues that the SACC must return it true mission, which is narrowly defined as busying itself with essential matters of spiritual life. Many in the church are relieved that apartheid is over so that the SACC can do what it was "supposed" to do, namely to unite churches in South Africa. It is a matter of concern that some who make that argument are those who should know better, especially those who are in government today. There is a widely held view by our new political leadership that the SACC has outlived its usefulness and when they invite the Church to meetings, it is only to make opening prayers. We should refuse to be turned into praise singers of the state. It is true that there are many in the Churches today who subscribe to this notion. To be fair, it is true that the core business of the SACC is not politics, economics or society as such. That is why we have argued that the SACC is not merely a development agency. What drives our mission and vision is a system of values and beliefs. Therefore matters of morality are our core business. The problem is that the "Church Agenda" school have a narrow view of spirituality, a kind of spirituality that abstracts us from the world. The problem is that this is foreign to the biblical notion of spirituality and cannot square itself with the God "who so loved the world".

As we search for the agenda for the Ecumenical organization in our times and in Africa, we must of necessity embrace the dimension of prayer, values and faith. However, we cannot fail to see the prayer of the heart, the values in public life and the faith of the poor. We recall from Allan Boesak, when he called for Prayers to end apartheid rule, that indeed prayer can make news if it is prophetic.

The Transforming Agenda:

There is another dimension to the SACC's agenda. It is one rooted in the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament and in the radical message of Jesus Christ. It is the agenda that seeks to remind us that we are called in order to transform, transcend, combat and overcome those forces that act against the God of life. This is the transformation agenda that was the drive behind the SACC's witness against apartheid. In essence, ours was the desire to see human dignity being preserved, to promote respect for human life and to build communities of justice. To the extent that this vision was viewed as dangerous by the then political lords, the SACC was persecuted and treated as an enemy.

I want to suggest to this Conference that this prophetic, transforming agenda remains our core business, and, without it, we have no reason to exist. South Africa needs reorientation. Not in the "Back to Jesus Movement" direction; but rather, a reorientation of vision: reorientation towards values that put people first. It needs to be said that apartheid did not create the SACC and therefore the demise of apartheid does not imply the demise of the SACC. Our reason for being is abuse of power by the powerful, the violence of the wealthy against the poor, the abuse of women by our patriarchal society, the ill-treatment of foreigners in our midst, and the pain of racism in our society.

If anyone can tell me that we no longer have the poor, that the powerful are no longer corrupt, that the rich no longer exploit the poor, then -- and only then -- perhaps the SACC would no longer be necessary. The tragedy of our reality is that we have succumbed to the culture of "Thata ma Millions", a culture that is reflected in the bank heist, the smash and grab robbery, and the Lotto mania that has gripped the dreams and hopes of the poor, promising them the miracle of transformation from poor squatters to residents of the millionaires' suburbs.

It is clear that what South Africa needs at this juncture is not a weak or domesticated SACC, but an SACC that has a clear vision of its role as an agent of transformation. The SACC should not and cannot contest for power. However, we cannot absent ourselves from the public square of ideas and policy-making. This requires engagement, participation, not withdrawal. It involves raising crucial questions about where our society is headed. It means displaying prophetic indignation with systems that continue to feed on the poor and on the powerful who treat the poor with disdain. We have to raise these concerns and voices, not as a political aspirants or opponents, but as those who share in the daily crucifixion of the poor.

We hope this Conference will deliberate on these issue when it considers the Ad Hoc Transformation Report that we are presenting to you. At this moment, I want to thank the Committee, ably led by Prof. Manaka, which examined the issues of the Mission and Vision of the SACC, amongst other things.

HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES

Key Programme Areas (KPA's)

In its long history, the Council attempted to respond to any and every issue that impacted the lives of a majority of its members. We offered bursary programmes for the education of African students, legal support for those on trial, material support to dependents of those in prison, advice to rural and relocated communities, and solidarity to victims of apartheid violence. Since the last conference, the programmatic work of the Council has been structured into five key performance areas, which are in fact programme areas. The five are:

• Emergency Relief
• Ensuring Justice
• Health
• Poverty Eradication
• Reconciliation and Healing.

To support these programmes are the following units:

• Capacity Building
• Faith and Mission
• Public Policy Liaison

1. Emergency Relief

The programme has been very successful in coordinating the churches' response in situations of crisis, such as when there are floods, even beyond our borders. It has begun to mobilise local church support for such interventions. In addition, the unit has been involved in setting up disaster management structures in provinces and in facilitating the training of volunteer partners.

Through the programme, the Council is also involved in process of providing humanitarian aid to war torn areas such as Rwanda and Angola.

A major part of the units work has been to offer support to refuges fleeing into South Africa for various reasons. This work has entailed close cooperation with government, including assisting in the process of identifying refugees who qualify for resident permits.

2. Ensuring Justice

This programme has four sub-programmes, that is, covenant and land, education for democracy, human rights and peace and justice. The overall activities of the programme have been informed by the quest to strengthen the churches' ability to advocate for justice in all levels and sectors of society.

Among the activities undertaken were:

• The publication of two books: Church, Land and Poverty: Community Struggles, Land Reform and Policy Framework on Church Land and If the Colours of the Rainbow Could Talk: Stories of dispossession and hope.
• The drafting of the Policy Framework on the effective utilization of Church-owned land which was subsequently adopted by the National Church Leaders' Forum, thus making it easier to involve churches in utilising Church land in contributing towards poverty eradication.
• The completion of an audit of Covenant communities that are still active and interested in partnerships. Subsequently, three provinces were identified as priorities i.e. KwaZulu/Natal, North West and Northern Province.
• The Youth Forum focused on HIV/Aids and developed a policy document on the integration of HIV/Aids into church youth programmes. This was done through a partnership with the Department of Health - SA Aids Youth Programme. Ten consultative workshops were held in each of the nine provinces.
• The KwaThema Reconciliation and Healing Centre (KTRHC) is a successful peace building project that was started in 1995, with the support of Justice Ministries.

3. Health

It is worth noting that although HIV/Aids was already reaching pandemic stages, the 1998 National Conference gave no directive on the matter. The Council only began to address the issue in 1999, and it has only been since 2001 that a staff person has been assigned full responsibilities to coordinate the programme. In that time:

• The programme facilitated the SACC's involvement in the National Religious Association for Social Development (NRASD) campaign against HIV/Aids targeting the mobilisation of religious leaders and the setting up home based care and counseling centres.
• The programme has also been part of a Southern African regional consultation on HIV/Aids which sought to find ways of sharing strategies and developing effective networks among, churches in the region. Subsequently the programme was given the task of coordinating this regional initiative.
• A national strategic planning workshop was convened, and it produced a strategy document on how the SACC can intervene meaningfully in the HIV/Aids struggle.

4. Poverty Eradication

Through this programme, the following activities were undertaken:

• Capacity building has been the major activity of the programme throughout all provinces. Actual training included project management, proposal writing and needs analysis.
• A strategic planning process was undertaken and a research study was done in the Northern and North West provinces to identify church-based poverty eradication projects with a view of assessing impact and success factors and using these to facilitate cross-utilisation of resources. Two regional offices were opened in KwaZulu to serve as the base for development work in the Northern parts of the province. A land audit was completed in the Eastern Cape aimed at helping the churches to make maximum use of the land at their disposal for poverty eradication.
• Potential entrepreneurs were trained on starting businesses, business management skills and tendering.
• The programme spearheaded the Council's participation in the Jubilee 2000 movement, both nationally an in at least six provinces. In this regard, a special church leaders workshop on the Jubilee campaign was held to try and get the maximum possible support of church leaders. The programme has also became involved in the pro-poor budget initiatives facilitated by ESSET and the Public Policy Liaison Unit that culminated in the launching of the People's Budget Campaign in 2001. Economic Literacy Training workshops were also held in conjunction with ESSET, with the last workshop also having participants from Zambia.
• The national office collaborated with other organisations such as Jubilee South Africa, Initiative for Participatory Development, SANGOCO, ESSET and the National Land Committee. Good relations were maintained with the Church of Canada. There have also been numerous engagements with government as well as the National Development Agency. Some provinces followed up on the national office initiative and developed their own working relationships with provincial governments. In the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal, these relations are at the level of the Premier's Office and address a broad range of issues.
• The Northern Province undertook a study on micro-lending (mashonisa) with ESSET which produced a report called KGOKAGANO highlighting the difficulties and abuses of the system.
• The driving force behind this objective was going to be the Month of Compassion campaign. To date, only two provinces are known to have actually received donations around the concept, which are the Eastern Cape and the North West. In Gauteng, initial meetings have been held to develop a framework for raising funds from congregations. The national office became part of an initiative to found the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund, a micro-finance agency. At the moment, discussions are going on with the regional office of OIKOCREDIT with the view of enabling church level entry into the market using ECLOF as a vehicle. The Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal have their own initiatives on the concept of micro-financing.

5. Reconciliation and Healing

The activities of the programme revolved around three areas:

• Healing of memories which ran workshops in all the provinces aimed at helping participants to overcome the hurts and pains of the past as part of the process towards meaningful reconciliation.
• The programme also ran skills training workshop in the area of trauma counselling. These workshops culminated in a training of trainers process for people who had gone through the healing of memories workshops and had the potential to be trainers themselves.
• A churches' racism conference was held under the title the Church and Racism "Outlining Alternatives". The programme is also involved in the preparations for the World Conference Against Racism through the SANGOCO and the World Council of Churches. A delegation of the SACC led by the President and the General Secretary has already been organised.

6. Capacity Building

• The unit ran Church-Based Community Organising workshops aimed at skilling community leadership to be involved in finding solutions to local problems.
• It was also involved in the development of governance systems in the provincial councils as well as training provincial council leaders to acquire the skills necessary for the accomplishment of their duties.
• Various budgeting, strategic planning, project and financial management programmes were run for the staff of the council.

7. Faith and Mission

This programme ran for long periods with any full time staff in the period under review.

• A number of national consultations were held under the programme's auspices:
  • The role of churches in the 1999 elections
  • Clergy consultation on reconciliation
  • HIV/Aids Strategies
  • Moral Renewal
• The Free State held three provincial faith and mission consultations, the Northern Province had one, Mpumalanga had one and the Western Cape has had an ongoing religious leaders' forum which discusses theological issues. These provincial meetings help the provinces to reflect on the theological imperatives of the programmes in which they are engaged.
• The programme facilitated the organizing of prayer services during the All Africa Games held in 1999 with the support of local ministers. It again responded to a call to organise memorial and other services following the Ellis Park disaster in April 2001.
• Bible reading skills training workshops were run with a fair amount of success and the programme collaborated with the Institute of the Study of the Bible in the Tamar Campaign which aimed at highlighting the incidence of women abuse and mobilising for corrective action through churches using the Biblical account of the rape of Tamar in II Samuel 13. Bible Studies, Sermon outlines, posters and pamphlets were produced for this purpose.

Provincial Councils of Churches

Since 1995, the Council has restructured itself in a manner that locates programme implementation and monitoring in Provinces. This has meant that we established an office in each of our nine Provinces. To date, we have nine functioning offices, each of which have a Provincial Executive providing oversight on the activities and programmes of the Office. It is the declared desire of the Council that each Province be given space to identify its priorities and to plan its activities with the National office providing resource and capacity support. More significantly, it is the desire of the Council that effective ownership of Provincial Councils be vested in the Churches in the Province. We have gone a long way in realizing these desires. Except for a few Provinces, a majority need assistance from the National Office.

The Ad Hoc Transformation Review Process has begun the work of defining the place, status and relationship of Provincial Councils within the broader national council. An attempt has been made to express this relationship through instruments such as a Memorandum of Understanding. It is our view that we must continue to seek the wisdom of this gathering about how best to regulate relationships between and within the Council and Provinces. Where necessary, constitutional amendments must be effected.

The Reports of the Provinces are included in your package, and they capture full spectrum of activities undertaken.

AIDS: A Special Challenge to the Church in our Times

There are battles that we must at best avoid simply because they are unwinnable. There are battles which, no matter the outcome, you never emerge unscathed. There are battles which we cannot evade, which we do not engage because we are assured of victory, but because conscience obliges us to get involved. One such battle confronting the Church in our times is the battle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is not yet clear whether as Churches of diverse traditions, we have come to the full realization of the challenge of AIDS. Reading from how various Churches are responding to the crisis, there seems to be a self-assurance that we are on the right path. The evidence points to the contrary. It is clear that despite our voluminous sermons and moralism, the danger is engulfing our villages and cities.

In some respects, the Church is a late starter -- like shouting fire when the house is long since consumed. Looking at Papers submitted at the 1995 SACC Consultation on "Being the Church in South Africa Today", almost all papers dealt with the problematic of Church-State relationships. There was disturbing sidelining of the AIDS question. Reference to AIDS came almost in passing in the address by the then-President of the SACC, Dr Khoza Mgojo, and was given a respectable paragraph in the concluding part of the presentation by the then-General Secretary of the SACC, Dr Brigalia Bam.

Dr Mgojo, in discussing the prophetic role of the Church, and had this to say:

(But) the prophetic dimension must be complemented by the pastoral concern for the sheer enormity of human suffering in our region and the world over. We need to care for people, nursing the wounds of the oppressed and bleeding people. This is to say that we need to act pastorally towards the victims of AIDS and war.

[Dr. K Mgojo, Being the Church in South Africa Today, p.10]

Dr Bam in concluding her paper went on to say:

The demands we face not only in South Africa but throughout southern and eastern Africa are tremendous. I can only mention some of them briefly:

The AIDS epidemic is expanding. Strategies need to be focused on containment through programmes which integrate prevention, health care and community support. Today the typical AIDS patient is a young, black woman living in a township in substandard housing. The man has left or died. There are three or four children, at least one of whom is HIV infected. She is nearly destitute and desperately worried about the future of her children.

[Dr. B Bam, Being The Church in South Africa Today, p. 52]

Despite this marginalisation of so important an issue, the Conference Statement "Reconstructing and Renewing the Church in South Africa" named AIDS as one of the challenges which requires moral leadership. It said:

Many diseases are exacerbated by poverty and poor health services. The pandemic of HIV/AIDS constitute a serious threat to society.

However, despite this discerning observation, no plan of action was developed around the challenge.

The recent statement by the Catholic Bishops Conference entitled "A Message of Hope" comes close to what we consider a correct analysis when it says:

"AIDS must never be considered as a punishment from God. He wants us to be healthy and not to die from AIDS. It is for us a sign of the times challenging all people to inner transformation and to the following of Christ in his ministry of healing, mercy and love."

But what the Statement goes on to say regarding the use of condoms to fight the spread of AIDS deserve our rigorous scrutiny.

The critical question for this Conference is: if truly AIDS presents itself as a sign of the times to the Church, how does it challenge our theologies, our customs, our worship, and indeed our practice. The fact of the matter is, as long as mainstream culture, advertisement, television, movies and mass media in general sell sex to the youth of our nations, our moralistic counsels will simply be speaking to the minority of youth who are not in the endangered group in any way. The time has come when we need to ask whether we have anything to say to those youth who do not come to our Churches every Sunday. Are we perhaps not speaking to ourselves and to the converted in only preaching abstinence and faithfulness? Indeed, the challenge faced by the Church is not what we say to those of our members, but rather whether we have anything to say at all to those who may not be as virtuous and morally exemplary as our "good" youths. Why are we unwilling accept the simple truth that a majority of the youth who fall in the most threatened age group, are contracting the AIDS virus and dying in numbers? Why do we still persist in the denial that a majority of young people, despite our sermons and intercessions, possibly on account of their hardness of heart, stupidity or dangerous adventurism, simply do not subscribe to the "A and B" sermon we preach? Does it matter that to these groups, condoms, this fragile plastic, can actually become a means of defense against this dreaded disease or at least it can restrict its spread? What do we have to fear and why do we assume that educating the youth about condoms means giving them license to indulge in sexual promiscuity? The truth is that there are millions of young people in our universities who have access to condoms, but who have chosen for themselves a lifestyle of values. We need to be reminded that the fact that someone sits with a person of the opposite sex does not mean: "Let's sleep together". The decision to sleep around or not is not decided by the availability of opportunities or the lack thereof. There are many young people for whom the moral law of abstinence is written in their hearts. They do not abstain for fear of contracting AIDS, or for fear of being caught, or for fear of the Church or their parents. To them it is simply a matter of their choice. But there are millions of others who, despite their sincerest wishes, despite their vow to wait, falter. The tragedy is a majority of these are in our homes and churches. They are amongst our choirs and youth groups. Does it matter to us that these young people may have sinned, but they do not need to die? I am formulating these questions as provocatively as possible because there is a tendency in Church talk to play with words. The question is clear: What will it take for us to advocate the use of condoms as a weapon against the spread of AIDS? We either say never ever, or we acknowledge that in this matter, we have are unwilling to speak and therefore counsel each person to consult their conscience.

One thing that must be refuted with all the strength we can muster is the fallacy that Africa has AIDS because we are promiscuous, engage in immorality, or have forsaken the ways of the kingdom. This is an unfair characterization of our moral conduct. The truth is that, in the last five decades, no continent has turned to God in millions more than Africa. In no continent is Christianity as popular as in Africa. Yet, this very same Africa is the one that has seen AIDS explode where in other countries it is on the decrease. Is this a coincidence, or perhaps can we be forgiven for claiming that possibly our version of Christianity is one of the main reasons for the spread of HIV/AIDS? Why, we must ask, is the state of California -- which has turned promiscuity into a badge of honour -- winning against HIV/AIDS? Why is it that Scandinavia, where the concept of open marriages is widely accepted, has much lower rates of AIDS infection than African nations? Is the fact that both California and Scandinavia promote the use of condoms just a mere coincidence? Indeed, the time has come for us as the Church to question whether would we rather have our youth chaste and dead or simply alive -- as weak and impure vessels, but at least alive? Are we ready as the Church to embrace this hard message or do we rather prefer to subscribe to our traditional medicine, which as we now know, is failing our people to disastrous proportions.

Clearly, if we are to become different, it is not in repeating what LoveLife and other similar campaigns are saying. Our message must clearly seek to go beyond the condomize gospel. The problem for churches is that when we say we need to go beyond, some interpret that to mean a denial of the starting point. We must say a categorical yes to Condoms, but as a value-driven community, we need to raise the stakes and say AIDS is more than fluids transmitted during sexual intimacy. AIDS involves a number of challenges such as:

1. gender equality questions;
2. cultural taboos, especially in Africa, about what parents are to speak to their children about sex;
3. customary practices, especially in our rural areas where women have no say in matters of sexual partners (including the practice of polygamy);
4. questions of our capitalist system that has turned sex into a commodity which sells products;
5. serious ethical questions around the morality of the pharmaceutical industry which puts profit before people;
6. important questions about how we care for those terminally ill, about our caring systems in general and the present commercialisation of hospitals in the name of efficiency;
7. critical questions of poverty, access to health services; and
8. finally, AIDS raises a question about how we bury, especially as Africans.

Therefore, in saying AIDS is the Kairos, we want to say this is a fundamental challenge to us and to society as a whole, where the church needs to speak with specificity and particularity. It is not the time to sermonise and moralise, but to give courageous leadership as the Church. After AIDS, life cannot be the same, sexual relations cannot be the same, an act of love can easily turn into an opportunity of death. It is from this vantage point that this Conference should speak. It is from this premise that South Africa dearly needs to hear what the Churches have to say on this crisis. To do less would be a tragic and missed opportunity. We hope the Commission on AIDS will assist this Conference to come with a message to our people and the nation as a whole. The time has come to speak and to speak coherently, with clarity and compassion. I call on Conference to convene a Theological Consultation to map out our theological response to the challenge of HIV/AIDS.

Issues to be considered by Conference

The pandemic of AIDS has brought to the fore the issue of funerals in the Black community in particular, especially in the townships. In rural areas there is a sense in which funerals are still conducted in accordance with custom and tradition. The situation is different in the townships and the tragedy is that as in many other trends in society, it is the poor who pay the price. Our first admission should be that something has gone disastrously wrong in our communities when it comes to funerals. The second admission is that as churches we have failed and continue to fail our people, especially the poor, in this matter. Christian funerals, especially those in which we preside as ordained ministers, have become a charade and are in reality worse that pagan services. There are Muslim funerals, Jewish funerals and even African customary funerals. Today what passes as a Christian funeral is in reality a shame to those who are followers of Jesus' tradition. Had it not been for the fact that a majority of the poor, especially poor widows are wooed and pressured into these funerals, this would not have been a matter of concern. And had it not been attended by the incidence of serial funerals in one family within a short period of time, we would have left this matter to each person's counsel. The situation as it stand now, compels us to wage a battle against this issue. We must rise up and declare as heretic, pagan, and unChristian funerals which are becoming fashionable in the townships. This should not only apply to the infamous magintsha and maGents funerals, but should now include those funerals where our people spend exorbitant amounts on coffins and entertainment. Is it perhaps not the time for the Church to take a stand and declare that we are not going to participate in funerals that are nothing more than a show piece? Is it not the time for us to declare as immoral and pagan these funerals of the wealthy and famous. Should we say: as a Church, we would have nothing to do with these philistine practices. I hope this Conference will pass a resolution asking the Faith and Mission Unit to develop strategies for how we can reintroduce morality in our funerals and change the present custom around funerals, tombstones and coffins.

Ecumenism is clearly entering a new era. With the emergence of Provincial Councils we need to go even further and localise ecumenism. There is thus a need to promote the establishment of local ecumenical councils in metropolitan centres. Part of this move should be to align local interdenominational ministers' fraternals to new metro local governments. As we have seen, social service delivery is moving down to local authorities. There is thus a need to be organise at that level in order to ensure that there is effective monitoring and implementation. Additionally, ecumenical cooperation is more vibrant at the local level where various denominations can collaborate on issues related to neighbourhood crime prevention, AIDS care, and generally working together for the promotion of good neighbourliness.

The coming United Nations against Racism Conference is in some ways an event above us. The issues raised seem too global to be of relevance to us. However, the issue of racism continues to plague us, whether this be in the Northern Province as in the Tshepo Mathoga murder by rugby players, or in the Andrew Babeile case in Vryburg. I need to commend both the Northern Province Council of Churches and the North West Provincial Council for their role in each of these cases. The North West Provincial Council has endorsed the call for presidential pardon of Andrew Babeile, and I think this Conference needs to support such a call. But more importantly for us, we need to take the agenda further, a step ahead of the global conference. We need to develop anti-racism plans and strategies which outline how we are going to attack this growing scourge in our community. Linked to this should be a clear plan on how as Churches we should embrace the challenge of xenophobia. How do we make our churches friendly zones to our brothers and sisters from outside our borders, especially those who are of African descent?

For many years the Council of Churches has been involved in a noble programme to promote the value of compassion amongst South Africans. This takes place every October as the Month of Compassion Campaign. We need to reaffirm this practice and challenge Churches to support it as the single ecumenical event. The Month of Compassion should be more than fund raising. It should be about inculcating the tradition of supporting ecumenical undertakings, promoting the value of compassion in our broader society, and eradicating poverty.

One of our proud legacies as South Africa is that it was from our country that the Programme to Overcome Violence was launched. Since then, a Decade to Overcome Violence is in process. We must commit ourselves to this programme and develop a national programme along these lines. We are also mindful as South Africans that we are part of a region that is still steeped in conflict. Our programme should be deliberate in its regional emphasis. Above all, we must seek ways of being part of FOCCISA programmes in this area.

The issue of violence should of necessity be located within our gender foci programme. Statistics give testimony to the sad reality that the first place where victims encounter violence is in their homes, especially as women and from their spouses. Violence is therefore decisively a gender issue.

There is evidence that women's advancement has taken a faster pace in the public sector than in any other sector in the country. The Church especially lags behind, despite having been the first to launch the decade in solidarity with women It is clear that as the Church we never truly took this seriously, or at least nothing has emerged out of this. We must seriously question our commitment to the gender agenda. In this respect, we need to take stock of where the obstacles are, and how to remove them. There is no doubt that whereas Jesus is and has always been in solidarity with women, the same cannot be said with certainty about the Church.

The issue of the lottery and gambling also requires the serious attention of this Conference. As Conference will remember, the apologists of the lottery told us that this is a means of raising money to help the poor. The irony of this logic is that the lottery has become a scheme for stealing from the poor in order to enrich a few of them, whilst plunging millions of them into abject poverty and the welfare basket of the state. For us as communities of faith, what is even more troubling is the dangerous value basis of the Lottery Culture, the dreams of millions it sells. We should take it as a matter of concern that the moral fibre of our community is eroded by such schemes and that a new culture of unbridled materialism is bred. For many people, making wealth becomes a matter of fate, not hard work. This is a moral issue. The complication for us is that we have to minister to the victims of these tricksters. As this is happening, many ministers have to struggle with ethical questions about whether they should become part of the distribution of this dirty money. We hope this Conference will assist us in developing a position on this issue. After all, in a global capitalist system, no money is clean money, for even grants from donor agencies are tainted by being linked to investments in areas about which they have no knowledge. The simple question for us is: should we become part of the lottery distribution agencies? Additionally, what do we need to do to counter the evils of lottery and gambling?

The SACC as an Institutional Witness

Who is the SACC? We need to be reminded that the SACC is broader than the people at Khotso House. Certainly the SACC is more than the General Secretary. The SACC is a community of those who proclaim their ecumenical identity. It is a community given expression within our borders but with relationships to our partners in the region, on the continent, and in the North. The SACC is also its constituent members, the denominations and congregations. The ecumenical principle of the SACC means it is also made up of associations and social movements such as Jubilee Movement, women's and children's rights groups, human rights organisations, environmental movements, and peace movements. The SACC is an umbrella body of diverse political, denominational and ideological traditions. What constitutes our identity is faith in the triune God who seeks to make the world more humane and to transform it to reflect the values of the kingdom. The faith basis of the SACC is a distinctive mark of its values which should identify it as an entity distinct from NGOs. The manner in which the SACC works with people, its approach to development, all this is definitive.

As an institution, and like other social institution, the SACC is governed constitutionally. This Conference is the highest governing forum. We are grateful for the Presidium elected by this forum. The Presidium is assisted by the Executive Committee, elected by the Central Committee. The SACC is therefore also its NEC and its Presidents. Many have appreciated the manner in which the SACC President has represented this organisation recently during difficult times in our nation such as during the Ellis Park disaster, the Xolani Nkosi funeral and recently during the Bredell land crisis. We thank the NEC and the President for that.

The SACC is also its Staff both in the regions and at National office. Currently we have a total of 67 staff members, nearly 40% of whom are women. The SACC is grateful for the dedication of these men and women who are serving us at a time when they cannot enjoy job security. The SACC still remains a place for training and opportunities for the life of the Church and South Africa as a whole. In this respect, it remains our wish that staff development be made central in our human resource development strategy.

Acknowledgments

We extend our gratitude to all our partners who continue to support us with generous resources. It is difficult to estimate in monetary terms the support we enjoy. Many of our partners who have journeyed with us during the struggle years, have continued to be with us during these even more exciting times.

Conclusion

At another time, our Lord will ask: what did we do when South Africa was rebuilding itself from the ruins of its apartheid past, when the wounds of those who were victims needed healing, when institutions of democracy were fragile? Then we shall have the opportunity to answer: that when we saw those in need and those in the pangs of hunger, we asked questions about their poverty; that when we saw racism tearing our communities apart we called for ideals that transcend our narrow ethnic identity; that when we saw those who lived with pain of HIV/AIDS we sought God's wisdom and guidance and offered a caring hand; and that when our communities where engulfed with violence and conflict, when our neigbourhood where ridden with crime, we became peace builders. Then our Lord will ask: How did you manage that? And we will answer, because we believed in your word of assurance Lord, that you will be us and that wherever these deeds are taking place, Lo, you are in our midst!.

Respectfully Submitted

Dr. Molefe Tsele

General Secretary