A New FACE Jamaica

1st September – 19^th October, 2013

Programme Description

Aim:  A New Faith And Culture Exposure programme to introduce clergy to a ministry context different to their own to stimulate theological reflection and to gain a cross-cultural perspective.

A New FACE provides a cross-cultural exposure for those in ministry; introducing clergy to ministry in a different context to their own to stimulate theological reflection, and to gain a cross-cultural perspective. Such exposure might be used to:

• Enable someone to work (or develop their work) in a multicultural context
• Prepare people to work with a church’s international partners
• Equip someone to work as a missionary.

Methodology:  A group of up to ten clergy will spend six weeks in Jamaica hosted by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. During this time there will be one week of orientation, then a placement with a local congregation and finally a one week evaluation/debriefing where participants can process and reflect on their experiences.

Dateline: 12th July 2013

For more information, please email empowerment@cwmission.org

Download the application forms here:

• A New FACE Application Form – .pdf
• A New FACE Application Form – .doc

CWM recognizes the telling impact of climate changes on the natural environment and humanity as a whole and is committed to the call for all humanity to fulfil the stewardship responsibility to “tend” and “keep” the earth (Genesis 2:15).

Reflecting on its own businesses and operations, CWM has contributed to the growing eco-crisis largely due to the carbon footprint[1] from air travels, program and administrative modus operandi.

CWM in its commitment to climate justice has drafted an “Environmental Policy Statement”. The policy is in its initial stage but grounded in the recognition that as a faith organization, CWM has a stewardship responsibility to care for, to defend and to advocate for all of God’s creation. We will coordinate our efforts in implementing green initiatives across all CWM offices to comply with our environment policy and responsibility.

One of the most immediate effects of the policy is to review and revise its global office operation in Singapore to become as “green” as possible. Preliminary consultation with a local green initiative – Eco-office,[2] is in process to help the Singapore office implements environmentally-friendly processes and practices. A “Eco-office committee” has been set up to increase awareness amongst staff and to put in place various “green” practices and processes.

The following areas of the CWM office Singapore operations have been identified to be reoriented towards a green-office standard:

• Waste minimisation
• Recycling
• Paper use
• Energy conservation
• Water conservation
• Purchasing practices
• Staff Engagement

Subsequently, CWM Singapore will call on its regional offices to likewise take on the same or similar “green” initiatives that are practicable in their context. CWM also hopes to eventually call on member churches to integrate environmental awareness and sustainable practices into every facet of the church’s and individual’s life.

How YOUR WORKPLACE or YOU can do the same:

• Set up recycle bins and boxes.
• Posted signage to remind staff to reuse, reduce & recycle.
• Office purchases are geared to towards sustainable farming or eco-friendly products.
• Air-conditioning is kept at 25 °C.
• Copier is set to energy saver mode.
• Printing is done on double-sided pages.
• Reduced paper prints for meetings and events through sharing files & documents online.

Links to useful information on green practices and carbon calculators:

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

http://www.climatecare.org

http://www.travelnav.com/flight-emissions/

https://www.atmosfair.de

Photo: David J.M. Coleman

“Livingstone recognised that for the gospel to flourish he needed to create an environment that can sustain it.” These led to the two pillars of his legacy; Christianity and commerce.  Both came about as a response to the slave trade that Livingstone experienced first-hand on his first visit to the region. “Livingstone recognised that if you just condemn the evil trade without providing alternatives, you have not provided a solution. So he also notes that commercial prospects are good and that ushering in lawful commerce would naturally eliminate slave trade”.

A side effect of Livingstone’s progression in the region was that it opened avenues for the British to lay claim to the land in the name of Empire. Milner asks whether the political and legal systems that Malawi inherited at independence were the best for his country: “In my opinion, we can improve on these systems to make them more relevant to our environment. Again, when you consider the injustices that are associated with the colonial system, you tend to understand the tension that is there between the rich and the poor; the whites and the blacks, because this dichotomy reminds Malawians of the colonial era. The dichotomy is an extension of the colonial era, which unfortunately is very much associated with Dr David Livingstone who was very much opposed to those ills. I honestly believe that if these people that exploited the native people had done so when Livingstone was around, he would have taken them head on”.

Christianity was spread with an inclusive agenda towards the traditions of the native people of Malawi. “Livingstone did not try to change the indigenous cultures and languages of Malawi. Instead, he allowed these to subsist together with Christianity”.

That being the case, Christianity is often mixed with traditional practices and languages across the nation. Missionaries were instrumental in bringing health systems and education, as well as infrastructure to the people and now the legacy of Livingstone can be seen by the church providing and running large parts of the education and health sectors in Malawi. “Livingstone recognised that for the gospel to flourish he needed to create an environment that can sustain it.” He and the missionaries that came after him set up health systems, schools and centres for education.

200 years on, Milner believes that Malawi has to ask itself the question of its own progression. “It is true that Malawi has progressed, but not as much as Livingstone would have liked or wanted. Livingstone’s vision is still being realised today”. The two pillars of his legacy are a message of hope, one that CCM with support from CWM has a responsibility to continue.

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Written by DAVID CRUCHLEY, edited by SHIREEN LIM

Hosted by the United Reformed Church in Scotland, the Council received warm welcomes from the Scottish Synod Moderator, Rev John Humphreys, Provost of South Lanarkshire Council, Eileen Logan, the minister of Hamilton United Reformed Church, Rev Derek Corner and greetings from Rev Roberta Rominger, URC General Secretary.

The congregation, which included a number of ecumenical partners in Scotland, heard from Mr Joseph Milner, Director of CWM Council from the churches of Christ in Malawi, of the legacy of David Livingstone in the country that he spent so much time in.

Mr Joseph Milner, CWM Director for CCM speaking on Livingstone’s legacy in Malawi, Hamilton URC
Photo: David J.M. Coleman

CWM Moderator, Rev Samuel Tikeri Tialavea, spoke to the congregation about the theme of the 2013 Council ‘Hope: Impulse for Mission’. Taking his principle reading from the book of Lamentations chapter 3:16-24, Rev Tialavea spoke on the hope of Christ that can come from deepest despair. Lamentations ch 3:22 – 24 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I hope in Him’.” For Rev Tialavea, the writer of this passage reassures the reader of the faithfulness  and compassion of God and invites us to put our hope and trust in the Lord with all our heart. God met the writer in the midnight of his despair and gave him hope. The Moderator offered a prayer that in the lonely place in our lives God will meet us there.

CWM Moderator, Sam Tialavea, preaching at opening worship for Council, Hamilton URC

CWM believes that its mission is influenced and inspired by hope; there is no obstacle that can prevent us from singing God’s love to the corners of the earth. Hope is the source of energy for those who know the love of God. Rev Tialavea calls those gathered here and the whole CWM family to embrace the fact that there is no relationship so broken that cannot be healed by the knowledge of the hope in God’s love.

Hope is not wishful thinking; it is a call to action, it is the fuel for liberation of the downtrodden. As it was for David Livingstone, so should it be for CWM. Hope as an impulse for mission.

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Written by DAVID CRUCHLEY, edited by SHIREEN LIM

The whole group visited the Livingstone Memorial Centre in Blantyre giving an opportunity to explore and learn more about the man who has had such an impact on the shape of some member churches, as well as CWM as an organisation.

The setting was beautiful and the museum was thoughtfully presented running as a narrative through the house (see picture) that Livingstone grew up in. As a boy, Livingstone’s family shared one room in a house that was owned by the company that ran the mill and all who lived there, including the children, spent their days working in the mill which no longer stands.

Livingstone’s childhood house, now the Memorial Centre. His whole family of 9 lived in one room on the top floor. The house was shared by families that worked in the mill, including children.

Delegates were able to explore the parkland that makes up the grounds of the centre, but also the museum in the house. Standing in the one room in which Livingstone’s 9 person family, lived, ate and slept, it was easy to see the stark contrast between the cultures of the two worlds Livingstone was to inhabit; that of working class industrial Glasgow, compared to that of the vast plains, mountains, rivers, lakes and bush of modern-day Malawi and Zambia.

Detail of Livingstone statue; depicts the lion attack which Livingstone survived due to the intervention and care of his friends and God.

This contrast between Livingstone’s familial background and the places in which he worked, including the lengths that he went to in order to get there, training as he did as a Doctor or Physician, as well as his theological training, give food for thought on how we can break out of our constraints. Economic, cultural, social, political barriers must be broken through in order to bring messages of hope to communities world-wide.

Saturday 15^th June; Cultural Evening

The cultural evening was a celebration of Scots culture, which included a ceilidh and traditional folk music, providing a chance to share in the joy that we can bring to each other as a community of God’s children together.

Council members shared songs from Scotland, Samoa and Taiwan. These songs tell of joy in the hearts of the people, songs that offer peace to fellow travellers and that give opportunities to remember loved ones in the past whilst looking to the future.

Sharing in a song from Samoa – Lutisone Salevao, Fei and Sam

Traditional Scottish musicians with Rev. David Coleman – URC Director for CWM Council.

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Written by DAVID CRUCHLEY

They will be based at Glasgow Caledonian University for their meetings and will also have opportunities to sample Scottish hospitality throughout the event.

The following events are open to members of the CWM family and to the public:

• Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China
• Presbyterian Church of Korea
• Presbyterian Church of Myanmar
• Presbyterian Church in Singapore
• Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
• Gereja Presbyterian Malaysia

The Round Table Meeting is an annual gathering of CWM regional groupings, offering member churches 0pportunities for mutual learning and sharing together experiences and challenges in the implementation of their mission programmes. The meeting will also include exposure activities in which the host church introduces its context and programmes through onsite visits.

World Vision Singapore presents the Children of The Blue Sky Choir. This choir from Mongolia was born out of the need to help children in crisis from impoverished families. Established by World Vision Mongolia in 2004, the choir serves to rehabilitate, develop and nurture the children through stage music and singing. The choir has won much acclaim since it took first place in the ‘MungunKharaatai’ (Silver Swallow) Children Art Festival in Mongolia.

Participating Churches

Amazing Grace Presbyterian Church
30 June 2013 (Sunday) at 10am

Korean Church In Singapore
30 June 2013 (Sunday) at 2pm

Yishun Christian Church Anglican
6 July 2013 (Saturday) at 7pm

International Baptist Church
7 July 2013 (Sunday) at 9.15am & 11.15am

Adam Road Presbyterian Church
13 July 2013 (Saturday) at 5pm

Barker Road Methodist Church
14 July 2013 (Sunday) at 10.30am

St James’ Church
14 July 2013 (Sunday) at 2.30pm

Participating Schools

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)

CHIJ Secondary

Grace Orchard School

Methodist Girls’ School

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ Secondary

Singapore Chinese Girls’ School

Da Qiao Primary School

Ling Kwang Elderly Home

Christian Business Men’s Committee

For more information, please visit the “Hope for Every Child” website.

Speaking from Luke 11:1-4 where Jesus taught on prayer, the Rev Dr Cowan challenged the Christians to “hold the perpetrator accountable for the sake of love; openly acknowledge the wrongs of history, past and present, for the sake of truth and justice; and work towards healing for the sake of redeeming community”. See the full text…

Reflections on the Elmina Experience

by

Collin I Cowan (Revd Dr), General Secretary, CWM

At the WCRC May 2013 Executive Committee

Lord teach us to pray

Luke 11: 1-4

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.  When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins [transgressions], for we also forgive everyone who sins [transgresses] against us.  And lead us not into temptation.”

I will begin this reflection with an acknowledgement that I have come a long way since 2004 when I first visited the Elmina Castle.  I am grateful for this opportunity to say so publicly.  It has been a long journey in my personal healing and sense of hope in God’s design for the restoration of relationships and the experience of life in all its fullness for all.

My 2004 Elmina experience was a very painful one.  I was challenged by the experience and I had great difficulty reconciling with such acts of inhumanity. Negative emotions consumed me and even surprised me.  I asked myself then, how could we bring ourselves to allow an ideology of supremacy to make so callous our capacity for compassion and care of the other?  Then the issue was racism; but it could easily be classism or patriarchy or any other social construct that pit one group of people above the other. I told my Bible study group that “I did not realise that I was capable of such negative emotions; and when challenged I responded by saying: “I have enough respect for my colleagues in the group to know that they can articulate their own struggle”.  Well, I still do and know that; but in the context of that situation, when everyone was recovering from the shock of that ordeal, it may have been insensitive and inappropriate, on my part.

There are two experiences that contributed to the journey of healing and hope over which I have come.

1. Rev. Dr. Prince Dibeela, who was walking with the small group of Caribbean delegates throughout the whole process, shared with me much later how alienated and lonely he felt when the Caribbean group excluded him from our struggle.  Overcome with pain and grief we had huddled together in a circle weeping and praying.  He told me later that he was not invited into the circle and that, for him, was as painful as everything else he had experienced on that journey.  I learnt from that honest sharing of such a close friend of mine how self-absorbed I had become that I could not even see or observe the pain of another.
2. The second experience came when I visited Robin Islands later.  I was given a tour of the prison.  I saw where Nelson Mandela was kept; visited the locations where he carried out some of the hard labour imposed on him; and met with some of the persons who were in prison with him and were now part of the story-telling drama.  During question time I asked of this older gentleman who was in prison with Mandela: “How is it that you are able to share so freely and without any sense of bitterness?”  His response sobered me and has never left me since: “Our hearts are too small to entertain and consume all this bitterness and anger”.

Those two encounters were moments of healing and hope for me.  I saw in myself one too self-absorbed with my pain and too consumed with anger and bitterness to have anything meaningful to contribute to the restoration of relationships and the experience of life.  So when the Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi invited me to offer a reflection on this pilgrimage, I struggled long and hard in knowing what I could say that could assist us with our own struggle today, as I am sure there must be much of that going on right now.

I turned to God for help; and in the night time of my struggle the words of the disciple to Jesus came to me and would not leave me – “Lord teach us to pray”.  The request of the disciple came in the context of Jesus’ own prayer life on display.  Throughout their journey with Jesus, the Bible does not portray the disciples as people of prayer, not even once.  It is, therefore, difficult to know for certain what prompted this response and what might have been the real interest of the disciple.  The only clues we have are his observations that Jesus was a man of prayer and that John also taught his disciples to pray.  From Jesus’ response, however, we may conclude that Jesus was not willing to interpret this request as a mere interest in methodology, form or pattern of prayer.  Jesus’ response focused on attitude, disposition and content.

“When you pray, say: ‘Holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done… Give us this day our daily bread; forgive us our transgression as we forgive those who transgress against us; and lead us not into temptation’”.

I submit to you that this response of Jesus is a design for the restoration of relationships and the experience of life in fullness for all creation.  Jesus declares: When you pray consider that God is holy and that God’s kingdom and God’s will are the only considerations, ultimately.  Approach your prayer with that attitude, I imagine Jesus to be saying, and it will be clear to you that ‘daily bread’, a disposition to forgive and be forgiven and a desire to be freed from the inducements of temptation or evil need be the only content of your prayer”.  When the content of our prayer is geared towards requiring only the essentials for our daily needs, be it material or emotional; and when our prayer commits us to desiring the same for others, we are on the path to building bridges of understanding and opening doors for meaningful relationships.  This is why I suggest that Jesus’ response constitutes a design for the restoration of relationships and the experience of life for all; and with this understanding of and commitment to prayer, our hearts are wide open to confront life’s challenges without the bitterness and hate that trap us and render us impotent in the search for a better way.  I pray that everyone could pray the prayer that reflects our narrative because in so doing, we contribute to the actualisation of the design.

The questions that linger for me are these:

1. How did the disciple respond to Jesus’ take on his request; and what impact might that approach have had on his life and relationships?
2. How did the Church atop the slave dungeon pray; and did they see any connection between their prayer and the crimes of violence being committed to other human beings?
3. How do we pray; and how might our prayer assist us in this moment of reflection on this pilgrimage?

This is a time for honest reflection.  The question ‘how’ helps us to wrestle with the meaning of justice in the face of present day slavery, human trafficking, child labour and other forms of social evil.

So when you ask how think how we:

1. Hold the perpetrator accountable for the sake of love
2. Openly acknowledge the wrongs of history, past and present, for the sake of truth and justice
3. Work towards healing of the breaches or transgressions for the sake of redeeming community.

I suggest that we take just one aspect of the prayer for consideration – “Forgive us our transgression as we forgive those who transgress against us”.  I use transgression as against sin or debt.  Those are equally loaded motifs but I want to concentrate on how we wrong other people and how other people wrong us.  That is a common assault and I believe that this pilgrimage is all about us facing the demons in us and in each other, such demons that lead us to harm each other.  Our fore parents have transgressed against their contemporaries; we have transgressed against each other; and it is very, very painful.  Jesus says let this be at the centre of your prayer life, an acknowledgement that we have transgressed against others and that others have transgressed against us.  Forgive me for personalising this.  I do so in order to locate each of us in the struggle and search for a better way, as we embark on this pilgrimage.  I am not unmindful, however, that issues of oppression, assault on human dignity, and the violation of social trust are structural and systemic, sometimes much more difficult to name and to address.

In addressing the issue of crime and violence in South Africa, Basil Manning, a race and gender analyst, defines it as a “culture of violence”.  And he argues that this culture is the result of two great evils – the acts of inhumanity and indignity meted out to people of South Africa in the name of racism and the reaction by the victims of that violence towards the perpetrators.  It is a vicious cycle, he argues, in which everyone is affected and without knowing, it becomes a way of life.  We have become a broken people, battered and bruised by each other.  In this prayer Jesus is aware that we all need deliverance but he is equally aware that we have to come to that place of acknowledgement.  “Forgive us… as we forgive those…”

Let it be understood and accepted though that forgiveness is not one of the easiest things to accomplish.  It has been said that “forgiveness is not a virtue but a gift to be prayed for”.  Attitude and disposition matter in the journey towards forgiveness.  Bishop Azariah tells how he and his wife maintained their commitment to praying the Lord’s Prayer, holding hands, every night, When it became difficult to pray this prayer holding hands, they did it only as a matter of formality; and it was only at the point of “forgive…” that their hearts melted and they turned towards each other in a face to face encounter.  Forgiveness requires us to face ourselves or each other in an honest, truth-telling encounter.  It is by so doing that we, the offended, divest ourselves of the pain, bitterness and hate that otherwise consume and control us.  And it is only after we have divested ourselves of such negative emotions that we can free the other.  To free the other, our offender, is a decision we make, a decision not to hold her/him at ransom; not to allow that offence to become a weapon of victimization, an instrument of revenge or a platform for ridicule and respite.  And our prayer for God’s Will to be done may very well be: “Lord, help my offender to confront his/her guilt, accept his/her transgression and make amends”.  This is no easy task and I appreciate that the offended is always required to go the extra mile; but in the words of Desmond Tutu, “There is no future without forgiveness”.

So I bring this reflection to conclusion by inviting us to pray, not to use words to manipulate each other and to silence those who wish to articulate their struggle and confront their offender.  Rather I invite us to develop the attitude, and disposition which will allow us to face ourselves and/or each other in an honest, truth-telling acknowledgement, acceptance, accountability and, by God’s grace, acquittal.  I pray that this pilgrimage will lead us to pray with sincerity, “Forgive us, free us of our transgression, as we free those who transgress against us”.  Amen

“How could the church pray over dungeons?” a pastor of the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands asked the group following the visit.

Rev Collin Cowan, who currently serves as the head of the Council for World Mission, posed the question in a sermon preached at a service arranged at the castle by local Presbyterian congregations for the committee following the visit.

The Jamaican clergyman reminded those attending the service that the sale of human beings for profit continues today in a practice commonly referred to as “human trafficking” in which children, women and men are tricked or sold into enforced labour as sex workers or agricultural labourers and prevented from returning to their home community.

“How do we pray among the atrocities being meted out in today’s world such as child labour and human trafficking?” Cowan asked.

The castle’s chapel built at the end of the 15th century was used by Portuguese Catholic traders. When the Dutch captured the castle and took over the trade in 1637, they built their own chapel for Protestant worship. They continued to trade in slaves until 1814. Today the Portuguese chapel is a museum focused on the history of the slave trade.

Lydia Adajawah, a Ghanaian executive committee member, sees a strong connection between the history of the trade in African slaves and the issue of human trafficking today.

“I just returned from a WCRC consultation in Cuba on human trafficking where we saw the link to modern day slavery,” Adajawah says. “We saw how we allow financial hardship to drive people to seek work in perilous conditions. They are desperate for work and then find themselves enslaved.”

“It is hard to admit but Africans were complicit in the slave trade,” Adajawah notes. “At the consultation we saw how people around the world today too are implicated in modern slavery.”

WCRC’s executive committee will hear a report on the Cuban consultation during its meeting that gets underway today and runs until 17 May at the Forest Hotel in Dodowa, in the greater Accra region. The committee is expected to make church response to human trafficking a programme priority for 2014.

This article was first published on 8th May 2013 on WCRC. You may view the original article here.