A group of Minsters gathered recently to speak about the Christian faith and pressing issues of concern within the community that need to be addressed.
The Laudium Ministers Fraternal Meeting was held last Wednesday afternoon, (December 1), at the Bethesda Revival Church on Primrose Street in Laudium. Chairman Pastor Kevin Naicker invited Rev Moss Nthla, General Secretary of Evangelical Alliance of South Africa to be the speaker. The Reverend spoke of the Christian faith and community issues.
Rev Moss told the Laudium Sun,”My story in connecting the Christian faith and community concerns started in the anti-apartheid struggle when we opened our first church. It never stopped, but has continued to this day. It is grounded in the person and mission of Jesus Christ, who was born in the first century of the Christian era, in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem.
In his day, he described his identity and mission in these terms: I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. He was addressing his religious rivals who questioned both his identity as the son of God and his messianic mission to give abundant life to all who believe in him.
In his public ministry, he denounced those who used power – religious, political or any temporal power – to oppress the poor and vulnerable, the women, the sick and the frail.
Then, as now, both the identity and mission of Jesus Christ continue to be sharply contested. It is so in 21st century Palestine – where his will to give abundant life to all who believe is denied. In his hometown of
Bethlehem, Palestinians continue to be denied the prospects of abundant life by those who hold power in Israel.
So too in South Africa, those who hold power use corruption to abuse and dehumanise the poor, denying them the democratic promise of human dignity and freedom from ignorance, poverty and disease.
The Christian church has – as its reason for being – the responsibility to bear witness, in word and deed that Jesus Christ came into the world that all people everywhere may have abundant life. This gives a clear challenge for all Christians to:
Renounce the corruption of the world and embrace the life- affirming values of Jesus, who used his power to serve the weak and vulnerable, to heal the sick, protect women and children and proclaim the good news. During these ‘16 days of Activism’ against violence directed at women and children, we would do well to read the life and times of Jesus again. Join those in our society who are determined to act against state capture and corruption. (The widely popular campaign of Defend our Democracy has called on the nation to observe the 3rd -10th
December as Anti-corruption week. It would be a hopeful message in this season of Advent, if every local church were to signal its revulsion of the scourge of corruption in our society, for graft takes bread out of the mouths of the poor.”
Pastor Kevin Naicker, of Bethesda Revival Church, said, “I want to take a stand against any form of corruption and to ensure that we will live in a peaceful, crime free community. We are tired of living in fear and unhappiness. That is why we organised this meeting, as the Pastors to come up with a plan and solution for a better nation.”
