Just 31 years old... Keeping what truly matters at the center of our ministry.

Today we were reminded that in Swaziland, one of the 6 nations that
are part of the Conference of the Methodist Church of Southern
Africa, the average life expectancy of a person living in that
Kingdom is just 31 years of age...

Can you imagine? If you live to be over 31 years of age you are
regarded as exceptional.

The Church has a great deal of work to do.

Sadly, I am afraid that we will be sidetracked into issues that are
not as important as HIV AIDS... It is likely that we will spend a
lot more energy, insight, creativity, and time, debating the same-sex
matter (of which I have become an unmerited champion), rather than
focussing on those who are dying around us. Dr Robert, our visiting
speaker from Ghana, reminded us that we need to take care that we do
not miss where God wants us to be, by being sidelined into the
'glamarous' and 'demanding' voices of popular culture that seem to
easily set our Church agenda.

Our Presiding Bishop has asked us to keep the following matters as
highlights in our deliberations at Conference - these are the issues
in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ most needs to come to bear.
Christ, is after all, the Lord of true life. The three issues we
have been challenged to keep in the centre are:

1. HIV / AIDS
2. Poverty
3. The witness of the Gospel in the public arena.