Growing the Church
Bishop Sitembele has charged Rev.Bulelwa Sihlali with the project Growing the Church.
The Anglican Diocese of Mthatha has been growing steadily under the guidance of Bishop Sitembele, and now boasts fully 100 parishes. Many of these parishes however are not robust in character, being based in communities where there are high levels of unemployment and illiteracy, and where the congregations consist largely of pensioners and scholars. In the more urban parishes, there are problems with drink and drugs especially among the young. HIV/AIDS is a problem across the board. A project to grow the church has to take into account all these factors, and concentrate on three things:
- Growing the congregations spiritually
- Continuing the growth in congregation numbers
- Empowering congregations to tackle some of the community ills
The project targets mainly young people - the 18 to 35 age group, although there will be initiatives for younger people and also some that are not age-specific. It aims to reach out to those who are not currently church attendees, and also help young people to develop themselves and their awareness of and responsibility for the world around them.
A key milestone is the Anglicans Ablaze conference in Gauteng between 2nd and 4th July 2014. Mark the dates in your diaries! All are welcome and registration is open until the end of June.
This conference is a Growing the Church initiative whose theme is "Hope is Rising". It will feature some exciting workshops as well as inspirational speakers such as Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, our own Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Bishop Martin Breytenbach, Liaison Bishop of Growing the Church. The topics in plenaries & workshops include:
- Becoming a Missional Church;
- Fresh Expressions of Church;
- Transformational Discipleship;
- The Work of the Holy Spirit in the 21st Century;
- Integral Mission - setting captives free;
- Youth - our Hope;
- Prophetic Preaching;
- Leadership Development; and
- Spiritual Formation.
For details, go to: www.anglicansablaze.org or call 021 763 1315 / 021 797 9997