41 minute read
Member Church News
AFRICA Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) tackles healthcare de ciencies through its development programme
Located in the centre of the capital is SAF, an organisation set up as a Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM)’s development programme, which runs a medical clinic and main pharmacy to tackle de ciencies in healthcare. This project funded by the Union of Welsh Independents (UWI) since 2018/2019 has borne fruit in Madagasar, where medical care is also too expensive for the average person and the population to doctor ratio is high.
Housed as part of the FJKM o ces, SAF has acquired ultrasound equipment and built waiting and examination rooms, where they treat adult and child-related diseases and administer vaccinations at a ordable fees. SAF also runs a maternity and contraception clinic, which serves 200 women and 80 pregnant women every month.
As malnutrition a ects half the population, SAF also runs a National Nutrition Programme in rural villages where they have pharmacies.
Image by FKJM.
The Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA) General Secretary Rev. Lungile Mpetsheni has reminded Christians to speak out in adverse situations, and to speak up for those in need in his Easter Message.
Referring to John 19:28-29 where Jesus said that he was thirsty after six hours on the cross, Rev Mpetsheni wrote that those who su er should use their voices in this trying time of COVID-19 infections, where issues of economic inequality and gender-based violence have worsened, and church ministers face di culties in their work.
Those at the cross responded to Jesus’ thirst and provided him with something to drink. Likewise, we should hear and respond positively the voices of those who are in need. Serving God includes serving the needy, homeless and destitute, since Jesus said that whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40).
The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (UCJCI) builds new columbarium and memorial garden
Hope United Church in North Eastern Regional Missional Council of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (UCJCI) has constructed a columbarium and created Hope Memorial Garden, which were dedicated in late February. The environmentally friendly Garden is powered by solar energy, and o ers 24/7 access with seating capacity up to six visitors.
Construction had begun last August in a phased approach, and the rst column was ready by January 2021, thanks to the dedication and skills of many church members and friends. The project is intended to be an income source for the church’s programmes and the vision is to construct four towers to house a total of 256 inurnments.
Mr. Stephan Wright, elder shows the features of a section of the columbarium.
Members in discussion.
UCJCI re-imagines church through CWM Member Church Initiative (MCI) Project
Combining performing arts with new information and communication technologies (ICT) is viewed as a powerful communications tool, especially in the colourful Caribbean culture that employs music, dance, poetry and drama. Recognising changes in the ministry landscape, the UCJCI embarked on nding innovative ways to communicate with those inside and outside the church.
Through the CWM Capacity Development Programme (CDP)’s Member Church Initiative, basic digital lmmaking equipment was procured for its performing arts ministry, and the UCJCI youth and young adults programme training. This empowers them to work towards developing relevant, creative digital content for its various platforms. It is also expected to enhance the ministry’s worship, advocacy, youth engagement and more, enabling them to reach audiences in a non-traditional manner. Vulnerable families in Mongla, Bagerhat received hens and instruments for rearing hens, and improved sanitation through the installation of 100 clean toilets.
Image by UCJCI.
Church of Bangladesh (COB) Barishal Diocese builds new church in Sundali
New church at Sundali Barishal. Image by COB.
Church of Bangladesh (COB)’s Barishal Diocese has purchased land and are in the process of construction of a new church building in the Sundali village of Khulna Deanery. New believers of the church at Sundali and Phulergati also gathered at the courtyard of a church member last year to celebrate their rst Christmas after baptism, where church leaders from St Stephen Church, Rajghat and Jessore Christ Church shared in their joy.
Rt Rev Shourabh Pholia, Bishop of Barishal Diocese of Church of Bangladesh (COB) expressed his gratitude to those who have generously partnered with the diocese in this church building for those in Sundali, Nawapara, Jessore, and urged them to continue their support. Besides this, there are plans for renovation of historical churches which have contributed greatly to the COB as a whole.
Shalom, a development organisation of COB, continues humanitarian work
The re-construction work of a 1,200 feet road at Kanainagar village in Mongla Upazila was inaugurated in mid-February.
Image by COB.
100th anniversary celebration of Katolmari Parish
At the margin of Mymensingh division at the foot of North Meghalaya hills, lies Haluaghat Deanery. Katolmari Parish is one of its parishes, which celebrated its 100th year anniversary earlier this year. Among their guests was the COB Moderator Rt Rev Samuel Sunil Mankhin, who called on all their children, young men and women to live lives of complete trust, con dence and reliance on the Lord.
Katolmari Parish. Image by COB.
Church of North India (CNI) Moderator highlights World Immunisation Week, encourages all to get vaccinated
For this year’s Easter greetings, Church of North India (CNI) Moderator The Most Rev Dr. P. C. Singh went beyond asking Christians to meaningfully participate in Holy Week
In the Moderator’s April message, he highlighted World Immunisation Week (24 to 30 April) 2021’s theme “#Vaccines Work for All”, and encouraged all to receive their vaccines to keep themselves and others safe. Calling it “a great health intervention”, he remarked that it was heartening to see the vaccine available to all free or at a nominal fee.
Church of South India (CSI) opens tailoring training centre
Earlier this year, Dorcas Tailoring Training Centre at St. John's (CSI) Church, Pondicherry was o cially opened for community development and empowerment, especially for vulnerable women and the transgender population.
This Centre was started by the vision and the help of Rt. Rev. Dr. J. George Stephen, Bishop in Madras Diocese and Bishop Amma Mrs. N. Yamuna, and is “a missional attempt to redeem the lost, recognise the least and restore the last”. The opening ceremony in February was participated by the Department of Mission and Evangelism, Church of South India (CSI) Synod and the Board for Mission and Evangelism, CSI Madras Diocese. their “immense courage in their determination to secure justice for their nation and in standing against the forces of evil”.
It also a rmed the statement by 12 national defence chiefs including the UK’s Foreign Secretary, stating that a professional military is responsible for protecting – not harming – the people it serves, and urged the Myanmar Armed Forces to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar.
In addition, The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) expressed its hope that “this democratisation movement will serve as the cornerstone of Myanmar's true democratisation, where the right to live and the right to autonomy of various ethnic minorities are respected.” In its statement of solidarity, it also urged the Myanmar military to “respect the results of the general elections and immediately hand over power to the civilian government.”
“It is the prayer of the church that violence and su erings of the innocents must be stopped immediately, justice prevail, and peace be restored in the country,” wrote PCI Senior Administrative Secretary Rev G.S Lyttan in the statement issued by PCI.
Image by CSI.
Towards an eco-friendly world: CSI green sermons and children’s performances
Image by CSI.
Through recorded songs, dances and activities, children of CSI have expressed their desire for an eco-friendly world. These performances have been captured in this digital bulletin of the CSI Department of Ecological Concerns, which also feature ten-minute “green sermons” by various representatives of CSI dioceses and organisations. Download through this link: https://www.cwmission.org/wp -content/uploads/2021/03/CSIEcology-Bulletin-March2021.pdf
EAST ASIA
Presbyterian Church of India (PCI), National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and United Reformed Church (URC) release statements in solidarity with PCM
Our member churches Presbyterian Church of India (PCI) and United Reformed Church (URC) have released separate statements of solidarity with the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar (PCM) as the situation continues to deteriorate in Myanmar.
The URC added its voice to the many voices who have condemned the violence used to suppress nationwide protests by citizens, and commended
Image by PCANZ.
Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China (HKCCCC) General Secretary’s re ection on future challenges and opportunities in Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China (HKCCCC) General Secretary Rev Dr Eric So has shared the rst of several re ections on the future challenge and opportunities in Hong Kong. Reiterating HKCCCC’s missional commitment to HK, the GS wrote about the need for the church to re ect on how it can reposition its role and mandate in the upcoming decade.
One such role is being a faithful prophet, who critiques social morality and monitors government policies with love, peace and justice as its core values. In addition, it should be concerned for the people’s spirituality. “A prophet would speak to God’s people, to call for their repentance, perseverance and to encourage their trust in God for a blessed future,” he said. Click here to read his full letter: https://www.cwmission.org/wp -content/uploads/2021/03/202 103GSsDesk.pdf
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) and United Reformed Church (URC) hold 100th anniversary thanksgiving service
In the UK, in addition to the service, the PCT will be refurbishing Dr Maxwell’s grave and commissioning a memorial plaque.
Reformed Church (URC) held a 100th anniversary online thanksgiving service on 6 March for Dr James Maxwell, the missionary doctor widely regarded as PCT’s founder.
In 1865, Dr Maxwell became the rst missionary to be sent by the Presbyterian Church of England, now part of the URC, to Taiwan, then known as Formosa. During his six years in Taiwan as a pioneer in the practice of medicine and missionary work, he founded the Qiho Medical Clinic and the Fucheng Presbyterian Hospital, which later developed into the westernised Sin-Lau Hospital. He also established chapels in a number of places.
In recognition of Dr Maxwell’s contributions, PCT will work with the Tainan City Council in Taiwan to hold exhibitions, and a guided tour visiting places of signi cance in Dr Maxwell’s work. Also, they will name a park and public library after him, and produce a series of postage stamps.
Image by PCT.
Dr James Maxwell’s Grave to be refurbished. Image by PCT.
EUROPE
Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) expresses concern for Myanmar while o ering local support with partner churches
Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) has expressed deep concern for Myanmar, and is calling for prayer while lending a helping hand. Together with partner churches, it supports a health centre just across the Myanmar border in Thailand, which provides healthcare to refugees.
United Reformed Church (URC) raises more than £12,000 for vaccine campaign
Ibrahim (pictured) was selected to receive cash from Christian Aid's Covid-19 ‘C19NALPER’ project in Nigeria. An accident left him with limited work opportunities and reliant on constant support from family members. C19NALPER is supporting vulnerable households to access basic needs, and protect them from the impact of lockdowns and strict containment measures.
The United Reformed Church (URC) launched a campaign in February to raise funds to help global neighbours without access to COVID-19 vaccines. In the UK, half of the population has had at least one vaccination dose as of April, and this campaign provided people with an opportunity to show gratitude for their vaccines and to help others out. The campaign eventually raised more than £12,000 for Christian Aid, a charity that is providing
URC and Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW) among church leaders urging government to cease housing asylum seekers in barracks
Napier Barracks. Image via Google Maps.
URC and The Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW) are among church leaders appealing to the UK government to end the use of military barracks as accommodation for asylum seekers in the UK.
In an open letter to the Home Secretary in February, church leaders across denominations voiced their concern about the refugees’ welfare as they watched events unfold at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent.
The signatories of the letter also sought con rmation that the authorities would not expand the use of barracks as contingency accommodation and whether a timeline would be set for their closure. With the shared view that all humans deserve dignity and welcome, and understanding that the government intends to shift the residents into suitably dispersed accommodation, the church leaders appealed to the government to continue to work with local authorities, devolved administrations and support organisations to the Christchurch earthquake and the rebuilding that followed, the parish had moved 11 times to di erent sites before settling on its current site. Ably led by their minister Rev Dr Jooh ong Kimm, the Union parish is a Presbyterian and Methodist partnership.
PACIFIC
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) Moderator encourages congregations to stay strong in faith
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) Moderator has encouraged congregations to hold on to their faith and focus on the Lord in the ongoing pandemic. “These past months have seen our resolve, our core, our faith put on the platform of public opinion. The scrutiny and comments have highlighted ignorance and lack of understanding that Christianity is not a social club - but it is faith in a God who is in the storm with the world,” wrote Rt Rev Fakaofo Kaio in his message for April.
The Moderator also shared about the o cial opening and dedication of Crossway Community Church, a testament to a resilient community and people. After
Image by Crossway Community Church.
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) Moderator calls on NZ government to help end Myanmar coup
After Presbyterian Church in Myanmar (PCM)’s statement condemning the country’s military coup on 1 February, the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) Moderator wrote to the New Zealand Government to express deep concern on 17 February.
In his letter to Minister of Foreign A airs Hon. Nanaia Mahuta, the Right Rev Fakaofo Kaio applauded the government’s e orts in support of democracy in Myanmar*, and even indicated their “willingness to share information received from their contacts in Myanmar if required”. Due to PCANZ and PCM’s partnership, he was aware that the developments have a ected people they personally know such as the Chin ethnic community in NZ who have family members in Myanmar.
Lastly, the PCANZ Moderator urged the government to “monitor this crisis closely and use all diplomatic channels to work with the international community in helping seek a peaceful resolution”. Without international support, Myanmar risks entering another long period under a military dictatorship, devastating for millions of its residents, he said.
World Day of Prayer 2021 led by women of Vanuatu
The World Day of Prayer is a global ecumenical movement initiated and carried out by Christian women who welcome all to join in prayer and action for peace and justice on the rst Friday of March. This movement led by women of many Christian traditions from more than 170 countries and regions is symbolised by this annual day of celebration.
This year’s material was prepared by the women of the Vanuatu island, based on this year’s theme “Build on a Strong Foundation”, which also points to the foundations of the World Day of Prayer - “Informed Prayer - Prayerful Action.” The service of worship service can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=edQMgNFdRdo&feature=y outu.be
Cyclone Pam II, 13.3.2015. WDP Vanuatu Artwork by Juliette Pita.
World Day of Prayer 2021 by Vanuatu women.
The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that at a Special Members’ Meeting, held on 31 March 2021, Rev Dr Jooseop Keum was appointed as the next General Secretary of Council for World Mission (CWM). Rev Dr Keum will succeed Rev Dr Collin Cowan and assume office on 1st July 2021. Rev Dr Cowan leaves CWM having completed two successful terms of service.
Dr Keum is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, and currently serving as the Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary and Director of the Korea Institute for Future Ecumenism. He comes to CWM with a wealth of knowledge, experience and passion for global mission and ecumenism, amassed over 25 years of working in leadership roles in various ecumenical bodies, CWM member churches, and academic institutions. Not completely new to CWM, Rev Dr Keum served the organisation as the Executive Secretary for Mission Programme from 2003 to 2007. Thereafter he answered the call to serve as the Director of Commission on World Mission and Evangelism at the World Council of Churches.
Rev Dr Keum comes to this leadership position at a Kairos moment for mission engagement in the wake of an unprecedented shake-up in the global missional landscape. As CWM looks to the future, the Board is confident that Rev Keum is uniquely equipped and ready to lead this extraordinary mission organisation, working at the cutting edge of modern mission, especially in light of the CWM 2020-2029 Strategy Framework - the roadmap for the prophetic journey to be pursued.
"The successful outcome of the search process during this Easter season is a reminder of the power of the Holy Spirit who empowered and enabled the process to be done with energy, dedication and perseverance in the current unfavourable and pandemic-ridden global environment,” said CWM Moderator, Rev Lydia Neshangwe. Reflecting on the detailed process, Rev Neshangwe said, ”We give all glory and honour to God for the progress and completion of this process with the outcome of a General Secretary-elect”.
In response to the news of his appointment, Rev Dr Keum said, “It is my honour to be called by the member churches to lead CWM as its General Secretary. I sincerely appreciate their support and trust in my experience and leadership in the world mission. I was formed, developed and matured within the CWM missional perspective and praxis since my youth. Having been inspired by, journeyed with, and contributed to the missionary movement for the last three decades, I respond to this call based on my faith in the missionary God. Indeed, the world has been facing various challenges, many of which can be addressed with a shared vision, deeper commitment, stronger cooperation, and mutual partnership among the churches and ecumenical partners. We are called to live in the light of the resurrection, which offers hope-filled possibilities for transformation in the pandemic-stricken world. Therefore, we are called together towards our vision of life-flourishing communities.”
“I am delighted that, after a healthy and robust process of discernment, CWM has called Rev Dr Jooseop Keum to be its next General Secretary. Dr Keum comes to this role at a strategic moment in time. The Covid-19 pandemic is only a glimpse into the pandemics that plague the global community dividing the peoples of the world and destroying the environment”, said Rev Dr Cowan, the outgoing General Secretary. “Our brother, Jooseop, he continued, “is rightly placed to lead CWM into this next phase of the prophetic journey, with our vision, ‘Life-flourishing communities: living out God's promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth’. His sensitive pastoral heart, passion for justice, commitment to the ecumenical movement and love for the Church are among the gifts he brings that will serve to advance the Mission of CWM for such a time as this. It is my great joy to pass the baton of leadership to him, with my prayers and best wishes.”.
Dr Keum received both his PhD in Mission and Ecumenism and MTh. in World Christianity from the New College, University of Edinburgh; his MDiv. in Ministry from Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary; and his BA in Christian Education from the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary.
CWM 2020 - 2029 Strategy Framework
Council for World Mission is pleased to present, for public release, its 2020–2029 strategy framework. The strategy framework is the outcome of a wide consultative process involving individuals and groups from a broad cross-section of the CWM family. The Board of Directors, at its March 2018 meeting, agreed on the planning process and appointed a Strategic Planning Group (SPG) to lead this process. The SPG worked under the distinguished leadership of Professor Park Seong-Won, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, outstanding Church leader, social activist, academic and ecumenist.
In keeping with the decision of the Board, which stipulates that the process be consultative, participatory and open, the SPG set out to engage a cross-section of individuals and groups spanning the entirety of CWM’s community. The process also included our ecumenical partners and people’s movements to obtain their insights in the reading of the signs of the time and discerning the direction for the next ten years of CWM’s life. The responses, which were further analysed by working groups, have been immensely insightful and have provided meaningful data to inform the development of the strategy framework.
The 2010–2019 strategy framework had three major components:
Programme – aimed at enabling member churches to develop missional congregations; to express solidarity and prophetic witness to a world in chaos; and to deepen partnership and ecumenical engagement as a way of witnessing to God’s justice in the world.
Location – in response to the 1977 decision to link location to the ideological shift in mission thinking and practice, thereby making London a temporary home for the new organisation.
COUNCIL FOR WORLD MISSION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK 2020 –2029
RISE TO LIFE
Confessing witness to life-flourishing communities
Structural realignment in governance and management – to enable more effective accompaniment of member churches in doing God’s mission.
In this exercise of discerning the path to the next ten years, all three aspects of the strategy underwent a review, and its outcome has influenced the SPG in formulating this strategy framework. The preliminary outcome of the programme evaluation has contributed to the reading of the signs of the time and has informed the shape of the missiological mandate. Both the location and the structural reviews are incorporated in the strategy framework and show the various nuancing of these over the years by the Board of Directors. Analysis of data collected from member churches as well as insights from working groups have affirmed the relevance of both the location and the governance reviews in the strategy framework for 2020–2029.
The strategy document offers CWM a challenging and inspiring future, which builds on our life and witness so far. The strategy is shaped around several key elements:
A prophetic reading of the signs of the time A theological underpinning of our prophetic calling A missiological mandate for responding in faith and witness Key organisational implications and insights for governance, location, finance, and communication
This strategy framework is designed to guide the Board of Directors and Management in developing strategic plans of action for different stages along this ten-year trajectory as we explore specific ways in which God is calling us to engage with God’s mission in the world. The framework does not dictate what the programme of CWM should be from year to year; nor does it dictate what member churches are doing in response to God in their contexts. Instead, it offers principles, signposts and insights based on a reading of the signs of the time, on our theological reflections on this reading and on our discernment of their meaning for engagement with God’s mission over the decade from 2020 onwards. It is hoped that member churches and ecumenical partners may draw inspiration and guidance from this framework for contextual engagement with God’s mission as well.
CWM, through its Secretariat, will be guided and informed in discerning and developing programmes and activities for the different implementation phases of this framework; and to deepen the CWM strategy of working through member churches and in collaboration with ecumenical partners to bear faithful prophetic witness to the God of life. CWM also anticipates that member churches and ecumenical partners will benefit from this framework. This framework also invites them to engage with this collective reading of the global mission issues from their context, and thus to inform and shape the vision and practice of life-flourishing communities, rooted in justice and peace.
There are several appendices to this strategy framework, offering additional information and more detailed explication on aspects of the framework. Among them is the full report of the Legacies of Slavery Hearings, a project which was undertaken by CWM to expose complicities of London Missionary Society (LMS) with enslavement and colonisation; it offers CWM a clear mandate for making racial justice
central to our work and witness as God’s people. There are several recommendations in this report, and the Board of Directors, as well as the 2019 Annual Members Meeting, have authorised that these recommendations form part of the framework to inform CWM’s mission throughout this coming decade.
This is an opportune moment for CWM. The theology statement, which is appended to this strategy framework, is a rallying call for all the people of God. “Rising to life: Breaking out from Babylon” is an invitation to rise with the Risen Jesus and to proclaim that death is defeated and “Babylon is as fallen as the tomb is empty”. This statement is as audacious as it is subversive. It is intended to defy the forces and systems of death and destruction and to declare that Jesus alone is Lord. In articulating and affirming a theology of life, we assert that rather than succumbing to the gloom and doom that characterise so much of life as experienced by the majority, we will claim an alternative vision of hope and freedom. This alternative vision can only be claimed by resurrection people, people who, like those on the road to Emmaus, feel a strange warmth in our spirit as God meets us in the Risen Jesus and accompanies us in our struggle and search for meaning.
We commend this strategy framework to CWM and its member churches, our ecumenical partners and the wider Christian community. We pray that it will inspire us to rise with Jesus in the midst of forces and powers which despoil, destroy and deny God’s vision of justice, love and peace. By sharing in Jesus’ daring and life-transforming mission, CWM can play its part with others in enabling the emergence of life-flourishing communities, where justice and peace are experienced by all. God has endowed the people of God with the spirit of resilience; and, accordingly, we share the theology of St Paul that invites God’s resurrection power to make us a new people, a new movement which offers today the life and love of the coming new Heaven and new Earth:
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So, he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:13–20)
Shalom!
Collin I. Cowan General Secretary
The 2020-2029 Strategy Framework document is available to download at https://www.cwmission.org/cwm-presents-2020-2029-strategy-framework/ Alternatively, email us on council@cwmission.org or insight@cwmission.org for a copy.
CWM’s legacies project is primarily about addressing the roots of racialised inequalities and injustices today and owning that they lie in part in the rhetoric, praxis and fund raising of mission societies like CWM’s forebear London Missionary Society. LMS, with others, developed and perpetuated a racist colonial anthropology with which it recruited, made money and occupied White and Black minds, lands and bodies, dressing in in Christian vision.
CWM continues to pursue the legacies project work, following the Board’s commitment to address our complicity through acts of repentance and reparation. The work focuses on these general areas:
Strategising and advocating the long-term scope of this work with the CWM Board and with member churches
Continuing scrutiny of the CWM archive
Critiquing Whiteness
Promoting Black critique
Extending and connecting the legacies work with regions beyond the geography of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade
CWM Act of Repentance and Apology
August 23rd 2021
The Board has set this date for CWM’s act of repentance and apology. It will be a virtual event hosted on-line by CWM and led by the Board of Directors. In this we aim to confess the legacies of slavery in our life and begin the process of sending CWM to being an organisation committed to reparation and anti-racist action. It will be a moment in which CWM speaks for itself, not its members, but calls on its members to bear witness to the same need for self-transformation if we are to enable life to flourish in a world where race continues to divide and oppress. It will also enable CWM to press for similar action by other mission organisations and especially the governments of the former and current colonial powers.
Regional gatherings
(March – June 2021)
There will be a series of regional meetings to familiarise the wider membership with the Legacies findings as we move to the act of repentance
Member church Legacies processes
CWM staff are also engaging with and available for legacies conversations within the member churches. Two churches in the Europe region, the URC and UWI, have launched their own Legacies processes, through which they are addressing their own history and complicity in enslavement and the racism which has grown out of that. An ecumenical conversation has begun in the Netherlands responding to wider community pressure to address Dutch colonial history. Conversations with colleagues from member Churches (and ecumenical Partners) in the Caribbean underscore how the legacies of slavery agenda is timely and urgent to highlight and expose the historic roots of contemporary inequality in the Jamaican (and Caribbean) context, especially over land rights and access
Developing regional models for ongoing work
CWM is moving beyond the first phase of the Legacies work, particularly addressing the dynamic of Anti-Black racism within the framework of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. We want now to examine the inter-sections with the other regions and spaces, White Colonial Christianity occupied in the name of Christ. This is to show the continuities and be open to dis-continuities, but to continue to confront the global pandemic of Anti-Black racism. There will be regional gatherings to plot out a relevant process. Exploring intersections with Indentureship will provide a key plank in this work, as it gathers South, East Asia and the Pacific into the legacies of slavery.
CWM has arranged with Trinity Theological College, Auckland a series of 6 talanoa to address the legacies of slavery and colonisation in Aotearoa and Oceania. They will address the impact Christian mission has had on Pasifika history, rhetoric and politics. Scholars and activists from several Pasifika contexts will gather to map out some of the key areas mission must address in order to fully de-colonise itself of its racist premise and practice.
History
March 20th and March 27th
Rhetoric
June 20th and June 27th
Politics
Sept 19th and Sept 26th
More details from CWM Pacific nikotemo.sopepa@cwmission.org fuata.vareasingh@cwmission.org
Trinity College
nvakauta@trinitycollege.ac.nz
Research on Children and Racism
It is clear from the CWM archive how much of the racist mission thinking of LMS and others was targeted at children. They were told stories of native cruelty and white missionary heroism so that they might give their money to the work of LMS and so that they might consider becoming missionaries themselves. We are seeking to consider how to amend for this through two research projects based in the UK. The first is based in the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture who are overseeing further archival research on the materials produced for mission Christian education. The second is based in Birkbeck college, London, who are overseeing research into contemporary Christian Education materials to examine what materials exist or need to be created to enable churches to be safe spaces for children of all races. Both are scheduled to report in the summer of 2021.
CWM is working with the University of the West Indies Institute of Caribbean Studies and Reggae Studies and the Edna Manley College to produce artwork that further unmasks the legacies of slavery in a Caribbean context. These will be community art projects enabling artists and communities to name for themselves the ongoing legacies. Artwork is scheduled for presentation by Aug 2021.
Reparations and Economic Justice work (ZacTax)
The legacies of slavery are not only located in Christian mission organisations but root themselves in the economic and political systems which grew out of colonisation in the dominance of Capitalism, which is itself a legacy of slavery. CWM is committed with World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches and The Lutheran World Federation in economic justice work together through the New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) project. CWM is working with these partners to make reparation for colonisation and climate change a key piece of our advocacy and action. As a result, CWM has commissioned Ms Priya Lukka, an economist and reparations activist, to map out some key elements of a campaign which calls for a global tax to enable reparation, the Zac Tax. Meetings are planned to engage member churches in Europe and Caribbean, alongside our NIFEA partners to help steer the work and shape the outcomes.
Covid revealed again the racialised nature of inequality and injustice in our world. 2020 also gave a moment of challenge whether in reality Black lives matter. CWM legacies work has begun to address Whiteness therefore in a series of ways. We will shortly launch the Mayflower project which will address the history of White colonial violence from the perspective of the communities worldwide who have had to spend 400 years resisting it.
Materials have been produced to open up anti-racist visions of Church and the implications this has for how white people and systems function in churches. Work will begin shortly to look at the ways Liturgy has been a vehicle for White supremacy, especially in the Ecumenical and Development sectors. A series of symposia will begin to unpack this further. Inter-religious perspectives on whiteness are also being sought, which will connect with the ways White supremacism became Christian supremacism as well as see if Whiteness is being addressed in other faith traditions to Christianity.
Whiteness work:
Building on the legacies street bible studies where people have gathered to read the Bible on sites of colonial and racist violence work is beginning on examples of how churches can pray down the statues and sites commemorating historic figures with connections to enslavement and racist oppression. 2020 saw moments inspired by the Black Lives Matters movements which exposed the lauding of figures whose exploits and profits from enslavement are commemorated in statues and public sites. This has spurred calls for statues to be removed and for history to be told more honestly and critically. As we move to our own act of confession CWM is developing other public and virtual acts of witness to expose hidden history and challenge the veneration of such figures as Nelson, Rhodes and others.
Protesters throwing the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston into a harbour on Sunday. Credit: Ben Birchall/Press Association, via Associated Press
Wider Advocacy
CWM legacies work continues to be shared with other partners as requested, particularly with the World Council of Churches as they restart their Programme to Combat Racism, it has also enabled dialogue with new partners like the The Presbyterian Church (USA). Plans are developing to bring together UK based mission societies to see if there is common concern and energy to develop a wider legacies commitment.
Mrs Hardly Wilkinson and her husband Stephen.
In Memory of Mrs Hardy Wilkinson
It is with much sadness that we received the news of the passing of Mrs Hardy Wilkinson, who died peacefully Saturday, 27th March 2021 following a two-year-long battle with cancer. Hardy was appointed to serve in Madagascar in 1972, the year in which she married Stephen Wilkinson. For over 30 years, Hardy and Stephen offered themselves to the mission field in the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM).
While in Madagascar, Hardy operated a home for girls called Akany Avoko just outside the capital, Antananarivo. This home assisted families at risk; had a small baby unit and a “halfway house” for older teenagers preparing to leave to earn their own living. The other cases were social cases, (often abandoned children) and girls placed in the home by families with special problems. In 2006, the number of children being cared for at the home was approximately 150. This is a testament to Hardy's strength and dedication to the task. Hardy continued to support the Center’s Management Team whilst also dedicating her time to training new social workers and childcarers in Antananarivo even after retiring from the position as Director.
We thank God for Hardy’s life and witness. Her character exuded love and care and could be seen through her leadership of the home. The FJKM and its communities have been significantly impacted by the Wilkinsons’ work. CWM was truly blessed by Hardy and Stephen’s commitment to the Partner in Mission service.
We celebrate Hardy’s life and pray for God’s peace and comfort for Stephen.
The Pacific Draws the BLUE LINE Against Deep Sea Mining
CWM Pacific and least 389 NGOs, institutions, academia, parliamentarians, scientists, movements and individuals internationally have endorsed this joint statement against Deep Sea Mining (DSM), calling for recognition of a common responsibility to protect the ocean.
The Ocean is the living blue heart of our planet. It is our common heritage, but also our common responsibility. We are its guardians. We recognise its significance and its essence as the basis of our Pacific identity and wellbeing. We Are the Ocean. In its preservation, we are preserved.
For millennia, our ancestors have held this mantle of stewardship, embedding the wisdom of their resource management and conservation practices into their culture and traditions. Their vision was always beyond their temporal needs; the survival and wellbeing of future generations was central to their view of the world.
As custodians of the responsibility to protect the Ocean against its exploitation and destruction in our time, we have a moral obligation and longstanding legacy to uphold. Our forebears have, on this frontier, stood firm against the ruinous incursions of nuclear testing, driftnet fishing and bottom trawling, and marine pollution. Against impossible odds, they united to move a world to adopt a nuclear test ban treaty, a ban on driftnet fishing and the London Dumping Convention. Awareness of the connection between climate change and the health of our Oceans gathers momentum globally.
Deepsea mining is the latest in a long list of destructive industries to be thrust into our sacred ocean. It is a new, perilous frontier extractive industry being falsely promoted as a proven answer to our economic needs. While its promised benefits remain speculative, its pursuit is insidious. Even at an experimental stage, deep sea mining (DSM) is already proving harmful to Pacific communities, their livelihoods, cultural practices, and their wellbeing.
We call for a total ban on DSM within our territorial waters and in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Mindful of the nuclear legacy in the Pacific, and determined to not see it repeated, our Ocean must never again be used as the ‘testing grounds’ for dangerous pursuits that serve the interests of powerful states, institutions and industry. Rich states, promoting their multinational companies, facilitated by powerful institutions have been working with our own Pacific Island governments enticing them with the promise of wealth, despite technologies for extracting minerals on the ocean floor remaining untested in terms of environmental safety.
Land-based mining also came with the promise of economic, social and environmental benefits for our people. Pacific peoples have carried the environmental and social costs of phosphate, copper, gold and bauxite mining in the region and continue to feel the impacts of its devastation. Our lived experience in the Pacific shows clearly, however, that powerful corporations benefit the most while our people bear the costs of the destruction of our natural environment. Across the resource frontiers of our region, history records this deception time and again.
The corporations, institutions and their government backers advocating DSM promise great wealth from the unexplored depths of our oceans. Their claim that DSM’s environmental impacts will be minimal is audacious given the fact that very little is known, let alone understood, about the ecologies of our oceans.
We will not be fooled by predatory actors who frame the discussion and set the rules to advance their interests. We call on our Pacific Governments and the international community to stand, once again, on the right side of history.
What is actually known about our ocean depths runs contrary to the push for DSM. Scientists increasingly warn of:
the resulting biodiversity loss including of many known endemic species, and others yet to be identified that will be affected and that most likely will never recover,
the risk of giant sediment plumes traveling beyond the mining sites, smothering and potentially destroying all lifeforms on the seafloor,
the danger of wastewater plumes, including potential toxins lethal to marine life, discharged from the mothership, impacting ocean ecosystems at various depths with attendant risk to our already threatened fisheries,
the risk of toxins entering our food chain via contaminated fisheries,
potentially devastating oil spills from vessels occurring.
Pacific governments keen to pursue DSM have to ask themselves, to what extent are they willing to destroy the ocean’s life support system during a time of climate, and planetary emergency and in what is commonly known as the age of extinction. Our governments must ask themselves who stands to gain the most from the destruction of our ocean.
Furthermore, scientists acknowledge the critical carbon sequestration functions of deep-sea hydrothermal vents and methane seeps, and are cautioning that the release of sequestered methane (a greenhouse gas thought to be 25 – 50 times more potent that carbon dioxide) could be a ‘doomsday climatic event’.
The health of oceans is already under unprecedented threats including from a multitude of human induced stressors such as overfishing, pollution, plastics, nuclear waste and radioactive material, and climate emergency along with related impacts such as ocean acidification and warming of oceans.
To mask their profit seeking motivation, proponents are attempting to ‘greenwash’ DSM, arguing that seabed minerals are necessary for so-called green technology and to enable the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This is a spurious argument as the minerals needed can come from better recycling efforts, ethical consumption and production, and prioritising the reuse of minerals in circulation.
It would be beyond ironic if leaders of Pacific Island countries, which are already at the forefront of the impacts of climate change and facing existential threats to territorial integrity, allow themselves to be persuaded to mine the ocean floor, thereby pushing the world into the doomsday scenario.
Although our own governments and industry actors have argued that the mining of resources on the deep seabed are entirely the provenance of the state, governments are still required to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of the people, particularly indigenous peoples, over any development activities which would adversely impact their lands, territories and resources. The fact is our governments do not have the free, prior and informed consent of our people to proceed with DSM in the Pacific Ocean nor in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
There is no scenario in which DSM is permissible. If it’s not safe in our EEZs, it’s not safe in the Pacific as a whole, and therefore not safe for the world. A total ban on DSM is the only way to ensure the integrity of the ocean, the heart of our planet.
We therefore:
call for recognition that, as our common heritage, the ocean demands our common responsibility for its protection;
call on all Pacific leaders to join the growing ranks of governments, scientific authorities, CSOs, global leaders and indigenous groups the world over opposing the rush to mine the ocean floor and, in doing so, destroy our common heritage; and
welcome the stand taken by some Pacific governments of a moratorium on DSM within their EEZs but strongly urge all of our governments to move beyond their EEZs and support a global ban on DSM.
UCJCI seeks a Communication & Information Technology Coordinator
Long-term mission opportunity with the Partner in Mission Programme
Summary
The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman
Islands is seeking a mission partner to assist them in the area of communication. The Communication and Information Technology Coordinator will work under the supervision of the General Secretary on external and internal communications, and information technology systems, services and strategies, with the primary directive to communicate and promote the vision, mission and witness of the United Church.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Public Relations or Management Studies.
• Five years related work experience or the equivalent combination of training and experience.
• Specialist training in Communication Technologies and Methodologies including Digital Content and Social media Management.
Minimum Qualifications General Expectations of the Partner in Mission
• Is current on creative, communication and technological trends, and seeks opportunities to use this information in innovative and effective ways to advance the strategic communication plan of the UCJCI.
• Is responsive in anticipating, planning, and implementing innovative, contextually relevant and high impact communication strategies for Synodical programmes.
• Develops an annual comprehensive programme and budget, aligned with the strategic communication plan for approval by the General Secretary.
Mrs. Vickeisha King Burke Partner in Mission Coordinator Email - vickeisha.burke@cwmission.org
