Press statement on the Church's response to the xenophobic attacks in Southern Africa

This afternoon the Consultation of Christian Churches in Cape Town issued the following statement to the Press. A challenge was issued to all Christiana across South Africa to stop and pray for 5 minutes each day at 12.00 noon, asking God to help us in this critical time in our nation's history. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba read the folllowing statement:

"We, as a body of concerned Church leaders in Cape Town, and representing a considerable majority of Christian citizens in this city and nation:

Taking into account the very real social, economic and racial complexities in the city

Note the very real concerns around the scourges of HIV, AIDS, poverty, crime and corruption

Conscious of the very real tensions that exist in the townships of this nation and

Mindful of how the people of Africa took in, cared, for supported and encouraged us in the dark days of Apartheid

Remind Christian citizens in our nation that God's Word, the Bible, commands that we care for, demonstrate compassion for, and support the foreigners who live among us. We are appalled at the violence that has wracked our city in the past days, and are shamed by the despicable treatment of men, women and children, and the theft and vandalising of property, by some of our citizens.

According to the dictionary an alien is: a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization, as distinguished from a citizen; a person who has been estranged or excluded. It also means an unnaturalized foreign resident of a country; a person from another and very different family, people, or place; a person who is not included in a group; an outsider.

We are aware that many of our people, once unwelcome in this the land of their birth, were treated kindly and generously by the peoples of the nations of Africa; at one time or another, many of our people lived in counties where they fitted the above descriptions of aliens, strangers and foreigners. Yet, despite this, they were treated well.

As Christians, we embrace the Old Testament teaching about strangers and aliens who are described as (1.) Those who were strangers generally, and who owned no landed property. (2.) Foreigners dwelling in another country without being naturalized. So the Holy Scripture says in Ps. 39:12: 12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were.

Both of these classes of alien were to enjoy the same rights as other citizens, and God's people were commanded to show them kindness "as to their own". In Lev. 19:33, 34 we read "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. And in Deut. 10:19 we read 19 …And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Turning to the New Testament, we remember that in sending his Son to live among us, God entered an alien environment. The brutal treatment that Jesus received at our hands should act as a permanent reminder to those of us who belong to Christ not to mistreat or oppress those who are foreigners among us.

We must also remember that we were once aliens and foreigners from God's Kingdom. In Eph. 2:12 we are urged to "remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." Yet, God did not reject us, but reached out to us to include us in his covenant of grace.

Accordingly, we call on citizens of our nation:

To remember the kindness and generosity show to us by the people of Africa during the dark days of the struggle

To respond in kind by helping those who have been displaced by the current violence with shelter, blankets, food and any other assistance that may be required

To give thanks for the hospitality shown to our people in those days and for the kindness which has been shown in certain quarters to those seeking help and refuge in these difficult times

To respect the rights and dignity of all people to who are resident in this country, irrespective of colour, creed, language or nationality, to enjoy safety and security

To refrain from immediately from attacking, persecuting or damaging the property of any person considered an alien, foreigner or stranger

To seek ways in which, together with those from other countries, the social, political, economic and racial challenges of our country might be addressed

We also recognize that the tragic situation unfolding in our nation serves as a timely and ominous warning of the growing frustration of the poor & marginalized with the pace of delivery.

We further call on President Thabo Mbeki and our government to rapidly increase the pace of delivery and services in South Africa and to significantly increase efforts to bring justice, stability and peace to the suffering people of Zimbabwe.

We offer ourselves to serve and help mediate between estranged communities or groupings, and call upon all to refrain from either initiating or reacting to, violence against any other person.

On behalf of the CCC Church Leaders' Action Group."

Response to the Xenophobia driven violence - Calvary Methodist Church

Here is a practical way in which we can show our Christian love and witness in this difficult time in our country's young democracy. I can personally vouch for the incredible work that Alan Storey and the Calvary Methodist Church do! I would wholeheartedly support their work! Please do spread this appeal as widely as you can via email or your blog.

Rich blessing from Cape Town!

Dion

Hi everyone,

You are surely aware of the Xenophobic attacks that have spread through many of our communities in Gauteng over the last 10 days. One area close to Calvary is Ivory Park – Kanana section, where violence has left 5 people killed and many more beaten, traumatised and hundreds fleeing from their homes – many of which have been burnt to the ground.

We have also had volunteers of one of the soup kitchens connected to Calvary threatened to stop feeding foreigners - - - we continue to do so but people are very angry and truth be told most of the foreigners are chased away before we even arrive to feed.

We have direct contact with around 400 displaced people staying at the Rabi Ridge police station. With others we are helping to provide food and clothing and blankets etc. If you are willing and able to assist with a donation – please bring whatever you have to Calvary in Midrand or make a financial donation straight into our account using the reference REFUGEE. I guarantee you that every cent will go to where it is supposed to go and all donations will be accounted for.

If you have clothing to donate please bring it to the church where it is sorted into types and sizes and on the basis of interviews handed out to the relevant people in need. If you have time to help sort clothing at the Church – this would also be appreciated. Other necessities needed:

Toilet Paper
Soap
Baby food / formula
Blankets
Fresh Vegetables for soups
Mielie meal

The situation on the ground is frighteningly desperate.

Bank: Standard Bank
Account Name: Calvary Methodist Church
Account Number: 202 539 962
Branch: Midrand (00 11 55) Reference: REFUGEE

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to phone me. 083 654 8568.

Thank you,
Alan


Alan Storey
Calvary Methodist Church – Midrand
011 805 3375
083 654 8568

A perfect afternoon in Paradise!

I arrived back from Israel on Thursday and it has been quite hectic at the office since then. Today, however, has been a lovely family day. This morning we woke up bright and early (as all parents of infants do!) and went off to Church at Coronation ave Methodist Church in Somerset West. Philip Buckland was preaching and he gave a superb message on the theme of Aldersgate (traditionaly 24 May is celebrated as the day on which John Wesley's heart was 'strangely warmed' by God's Spirit. This was a seminal event that led to the start of one of the world's most significant revivals! I am encouraged that Wesley was often missunderstood in those years - I have experienced the same in recent months since leaving the respectibility of my teaching post to join a worldwide prayer movement. Well, all that I can pray (in humility and grace) is that in some small way I would have the joy of facilitating revival through my ministry.

This afternoon, however, we're doing something that we haven't done in ages - we're going for a walk as a family! Partly we have not done so because I have not been able to walk since my accident! Gladly my cast is off and I can walk further each day without my crutches. Partly we have not been for walks such as these since we have not had anywhere safe or suitable to go for walks. Our new home is perfect for a bit of 'otium sanctum' [Latin for 'Holy leisure].

Praise God for days like these!

Oh, and the documentary 'One and undivided - the story of Paul Verryn' was screened, but not at 9h30, it was aired on SABC 2 at 11h30. It is an incredible story. I have it on DVD if anyone did not see it! I am so encouraged!

A documentary on Bishop Paul Verryn and the Methodist Church of SA's role in working against Apartheid

Tomorrow morning (18 May 2008) at 9h30 am (CAT) a documentary entitled 'One and undivided' will be screened on SABC 2.

The documentary is part of a series called 'In the name of God'. It looks at various attempts to work against the evils of injustice by people of various faiths. Last year I was asked to be a part of this particular documentary on my friend Paul Verryn. Paul is a remarkable man, single minded, brave, eccentric, and of course also with a few 'rough edges'... All great people have a few of those (in my experience at least).

I would encourage you to tune in and watch the documentary. I haven't seen the final product myself, so it will be exciting to see how it comes together. If there is anyone out there who is able to tape it and send me a copy I would be eternally grateful! Please just drop me an email to arrange it.

Rich blessing!

Dion

Getting ready to head back to South Africa... Loosing my religion...

Tonight is my last night at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Jerusalem - we fly out at 1 AM on Wednesday morning (first to JHB, and then from there back to Cape Town where I land at around 2pm on Wednesday). I had the day off today (well, almost, we had two meetings this morning, but we were able to get away at around 1oam).

I spent the day with my friends Cois, Corne, Etienne, Wilma, Dawie and Isebel going through Hezekiah's tunnel at David's city (just outside of the Old City near the Western Wall). It was quite a challenge to make it through the tunnel on crutches, but I was adamant that I wanted to experience this! The tunnel itself was carved well over 2000 years ago. In some places one has to wade through water that is almost waste deep, however, for the most part it comes up to the top of one's calves. The challenge for me was that I had to remove my cast to walk through the tunnel, and in places it was narrow and low - so using crutches was not all that easy. However, it was a great experience! I couldn't do it last time I was here, and when our group went out the other day I was in the studio and meetings, so I was pleased to do it today.

Now, on to what truly matters!

Yesterday the Global Day of Prayer was such a wonderful blessing and encouragement. It was magnificent to see Christians from 214 of the world's 220 countries praying in various manners and contexts (from the Orthodox Christians in Egypt to the Charismatic Christians in Texas, Catholics in Latin America to Messianic Jews here in Jerusalem). The purpose of the movement is very simple:

1. For 10 days we encourage people to pray ardently for the struggles, joys, and contextual issues that they are faced with in their communities. In many contexts 'houses of prayer' are formed in communites where Churches work together to pray for 24 hours a day, for 7 days a week. Naturaly we give some prayer pointers and guidance, but the idea is simply that people will pray for the needs they are aware of, ask God to give them insight, guidance, help, and counsel to work for the establishment of God's Kingdom of grace and blessing.

2. The Global day of Prayer normally takes place on Pentecost Sunday each year. On this day people gather in various forms throughout the nations of the world. In some places (like India) there are huge public gatherings of hundres of thousands of persons, in other places, like Lebanon, people will meet in private homes, or small Churches. The idea is that people across the world will gather together on one day of the year (Pentecost Sunday in the Latin calendar) to humble themselves, pray, seek God's forgiveness, and ask God to hear and answer their prayers. Most of these events have a mix of worship, some teaching, and communal prayer. There is a prayer for the world that is said in the many languages of the world (see the Global Day of Prayer website for the prayer).

3. This is followed up by 90 days of blessing - here Churches and communities are encouraged to find creative and practical ways to address the issues that they have prayed about. In most instances there is an encouragement to address the practical and felt needs of communities (food, clothing, job creation, fixing up schools, helping in hospitals etc.) This year there has been the added challenge for Christians to read the Bible in 90 days.

Amazingly, even though I have read through the Bible numerous times, I did not realise that you can actually read the whole Bible in 90 days if you simply read for 1 hour a day. If you're interested in signing up to read through the Bible with about 100 thousand other Christians then please follow this link to the Bible Marathon sign up page.

Well, yesterday was a truly special day here in Jerusalem. I spent most of the day outside the Jerusalem Convention centre at a mobile studio with Graham Power. From there various interviews were conducted, information was shared about the various nations, gatherings, and the movemnt itself. In total the broadcast lasted for 18 hours (which is more or less how long it takes from sunrise in Fiji until the sun sets on the last gathering place, Hawai). I was so touched to see children, parents, and diverse Christian communities gathering in such harmony and joy to worship the Lord and pray.

I will confess that it is truly a blessing to be out of the conflict and struggle of leading the seminary and be doing this work! Somehow working with lay Christians seems to have a lot less trouble! Maybe I am still in the honeymoon period? I will ALSO confess that there were some expressions of worship and prayer that were not quite my style. More than once I had to ask for grace to leave space for some of the more charismatic and pentecostal expressions to have the space they deserve within the diversity of our Christian world. There are some hectic ways in which people express their devotion and sincerity to the Lord!

Perhaps the most encouraging part of the day for me was meeting with the son of my friends Graham and Daine Vermooten (who run the Media Village in Cape Town as a base for YWAM). Their son has been doing mission (Discipleship training) here in Jerusalem. He and the rest of their group came and prayed with us last night. This is a new generation of believers! They are young (all in their late teens and early 20's). Most of them have multiple tattoos! The one young guy you see here (John) has the name of Jesus tatooed on his neck! He also has other tatoos to remind him of the how God graciously rescued him from a life of addiction to drugs (Meth, cocaine, and herion). These young people skate in the streets of Jerusalem, befriend young people, and share their faith through their love. With dreadlocked hair, multiple piericings, and passion for the way of Jesus they are making a huge impact upon this city! Their aim was to win over religion with love! Doesn't that sound absolutely fantastic!? To win over religion through love!. They prayed passionately for us to serve God with courage and integrity. I was blessed and touched by their love for Jesus and the Gospel of Christ. I feel that I am loosing my religion - and it is good! I think this new generation doesn't see the distinction between conservative and evangelical, between liberals and charismatics.... They understand that Jesus wants to address the social needs of people, but also that people need to deal with their sin and cultivate a passionate relationship with Christ!

Well, tomorrow we have a few meetings to wrap up our time here and plan for some events later in the year (some of the folks we have working with later in the year - we have a critical meeting in London in September where a number of prayer, youth, mission and Church groupings will be meeting to work out creative and fresh ways to bring the Gospel, contextually, to young and old across the Globe. Then we are also going to be in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil in October for the ITN and Harvest evangelism meetings which aim to help create strategic alliances between people who minister in Churches and in wider society (what we call 'marketplace', i.e., among educators, politicians and business people).

The work I am doing now is so exciting - I am truly grateful to God for the blessed opportunity to be part of such great things! But, heck, I miss Megan, Courtney and Liam!!!!!!!!!

Megie's birthday is on the 19th of May, I am so pleased that I'll be home for that.

Global day of prayer - transmitting live from Jerusalem on Pentecost Sunday 2008

Today is Pentecost Sunday, yesterday we spent a wonderful time praying in the Upper Room site in Jerusalem. This first image shows a young man from Ghana (Peter Serekewa) praying with a gradnfather from Cape Town (AyJay Jaantjies), asking that God would heal the relationships between generations in cities across the world.

We currently have 214 of the world's 220 nations praying together in small and large events throughout the world. We have just heard that San Marino is now also on board with prayer and repentance!

The Global Day of Prayer is a simple process where we encourage Christians simply to pray for their families, cities and nations, asking God to intervene in the key issues that they are facing (whether it be violence, poverty, dissease, crime, or whatever the struggles are). You can read more about it on the Global day of prayer website.

As I write this I am sitting at the GodTV studio where the satelite linkups from across the world are coming through and being beamed across the globe. As the sun rises (from Fiji to Hawai) we are celebrating with Christians the joy of knowing that God has a real concern for the needs of people, that when the body of Christ is united, faithful in prayer, and active in ministry, we can see God's loving Kingdom established as justice, mercy, love and blessing flow from God through the Church. If you're in South Africa and want to tune your DSTV decoder into GodTV for free, please follow this link and follow the instructions to tune in your decoder. Of course, you can also watch some of the feed online at GodTV.

Here's a Youtube Video that tells the story of the Global Day of Prayer:

Please pray with us, and for us, as we celebrate the outpouring of God's Spirit to empower us establish God's gracious Kingdom here on earth!

Just to mention that I am updating my blog a little less frequently at the moment. Partly it is becuase things are quite hectic, but also because internet access is quite scarce (and EXPENSIVE!!!) here in Jerusalem!

Technorati tags: GDOP, Global day of prayer, GodTV, Pentecost, Israel, Jerusalem, Graham Power, prayer

In the city of David, Jerusalem (on crutches)

Today we visited the City of David in the old city of Jerusalem - it was wonderful to walk on the old walls of Jerusalem that date back to the Ottoman Empire, and even earlier to the Canaanite period.

One of the things that has left such a strong impression upon me on this second visit to Israel has been the sense of history here. In South Africa we have very few buildings that are older than 400 years. Here one can walk in a single street and see modern buildings, and right next to those buildings that are over 2000 years old!

I must confess, however, that it has been a bit of a challenge doing this trip on crutches. My leg has held up well, but I have had to take some medication to stop the swelling and pain. However, I would gladly do this all again!

Back to Jerusalem.

Yesterday we travelled back from the Galilee to Jerusalem. I was impressed, once again, by the distance that Jesus would have covered on foot as he moved towards his death. Not only is it far, but it is also a very steep climb up from the coast!

I do believe that Israel (both as a region and as a cultural and religious grouping) have a special place in Biblical history. I am, however, not convinced that the Zionist agenda (to 'restore Israel' as a sovereign state) is in line with Christian theology. I am open to correction and being convinced. However, I think that issues of justice and God's universal evangelical agenda supercede a nationalist Jewsish state.

One of the problems is that many texts related to Israel and Jerusalem (e.g., Psalm 122 and Ezekiel 36) are read by contemporary Christians without any acknowledgement of the fact that these texts have their own social, contextual and historical setting. It is a mistake, by my mind, simply to think that one can give 'eternal prophetic' status to texts such as these and ignore other texts in scripture that speak of justice, mercy, peace, and God's love for all nations. I think Ezekeil 36:22, together with Acts 1:1-11 show that with the ascension and Pentecost God's missiological agenda shifted from the geography and bloodline of Israel to the Kingdom of God throughout the world, among all people. The 'sons of Abraham' according to both Pauline teaching (see Romans and Galatians) are now counted as such not because of their bloodline, but because of their faith!

So, don't get me wrong, I do pray for the peace of Jerusalem - but I also pray for the peace of Darfour and Zimbabwe etc. This is a special place, but God loves other places and people with the same passion and grace.

Let me know if I'm missing something.

Shalom from Jerusalem! Today we shall pray at the City of David. You may notice thay I am not uploading as many pictures. There are two reasons for this. First, I have not found too many things that I felt were of interest in the last day or so. Second, internet access has been somewhat problematic and unreliable.

Tiberius at night - celebrating 60 years of Israeli 'indipendance'

What a lovely evening here in Tiberius. Today the Israeli public are celebrating 60 years of 'independence'. I know that this is a contentious celebration, and so security is SUPER tight!

It is fantastic to see the national pride (although, I do believe it is a little misguided). I would have loved to have my family at an open air event like this back home.

Praying on the border between Syria and Israel

This is a remarkable sight! This border is such a contested area (the subject of two wars between Israel and Syria). It is so peaceful here today. As we prayed we could see the UN embargo zone, tanks, troops and army intelligence in the area.

Sadly there is such a sense of 'self righteousness' among many Christian Zionists. The truth is that Israel does so much to infringe on the rights of their neighbours. Many of the persons on our tour do not share my views - however, I am convinced that Israel will need to repent and turn from injustice to justice and mercy (as all nations should) for there to be true peace in this region.

Caeseria Philipi - 'Who do you say that I am?'

Here at the border of modern Lebanon, on the foot of Mount Hermon in Caeseria Philipi Jesus asked Peter the question 'who do you say that I am?' It is amazing that he asks this question at an ancient pagan site, the temple of Pan.

Worship and testimony with Arab Christians in Nazareth

We are at the Nazareth Baptist Church for a meeting with Christians from the Nazareth region tonight. It is so wonderful to experience worship with an Arabic flavour! There are about 100 Christians gathered. We have come together to encourage one another, to share the blessing of Christian unity with one another and to learn from each other.

I forget, sometimes, that the Church throughout the world is so much more diverse than just western and African forms. What a joy and a blessing to be here.

The Christians here are so passionate about their faith (even though they are a minority community among Muslims), they have such a firm commitment to proclaiming the Gospel, and making it visible through acts of Christian service and mercy. I am deeply encouraged!