Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free…

In a previous post, in this blog’s early days, I talked about how for me, the very beginnings of my call to South Africa lay in a lunchtime in summer 1995, watching the footage of the Springboks (the South African rugby team) taking the Rugby World Cup trophy around the townships.

In those still early days of Mandela’s presidency, many had predicted that the dream of a new South Africa, a Rainbow Nation, was pie-in-sky. Division ran too deep, forgiveness was too steep a price – on all sides of the issue.

John Carlin was a South Africa based  journalist for some of that time, and his book (originally called Playing The Enemy, now re-released as Invictus) is a fascinating and gripping account of how Mandela used the emblem of the Springbok rugby team. For so long it was a symbol of hatred and oppression, but Carlin tells how Mandela used it to woo the hearts of the Afrikaner homelands and, through the against-the-odds World Cup victory of 1995 in South Africa, give the nation a glimpse of  a future to work towards, and that might yet be reached. It’s a great book – more about the making of a nation than a sport. Rugby really only gets a look in towards the end; but it says so much, that will be relevant to anybody (husband, wife, parent, child, pastor, boss, employee…) who has faced a person or people seemingly intractable and entrenched.

Now comes the film version, Invictus. If ever a sports story deserved a film version, its this one. Elsewhere you can read my review of the film – suffice to say, I like it. Inevitably, this is a film that some will say is too sentimental, clichéd or replete with dewy-eyed optimism. That, though, would betray a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding of the fear that still held much of a nation in its thrall in 1995. A misunderstanding of just how transcendent sport can be. A misunderstanding of the way hope can invade realism and not compromise an honest view of that reality, but still give an impetus to keep going 15 years on.

Many of my South African friends tell me how it was on that day, when Francois Pienaar held the trophy aloft, they truly felt hope for the first time; and that still, to this day, that inspires them to keep going and working. We, just a few days from departure now, feel that same hope. When hope is real, it’s honest. Honest about the past, the problems of that past and the possibilities of the future – of all shades.

In the film, Mandela is inevitably played by Morgan Freeman. Watching it, and reflecting on the liberating power of the hope and the heart of the story this film tells, I was reminded of another Morgan Freeman film. The Shawshank Redemption was not a big hit in the cinemas; instead it gained some sort of viral popularity through video rentals, to such an extent that it has now become the favourite film of many.

The defining image of that film is of Tim Robbins’ character crawling through a tunnel he’s spent years of unjust imprisonment digging, then through a sewage pipe, finally falling out; standing arms spread soaking up the rain, washing the foulness and the stench of the sewage and years of oppression and suffering. It’s a powerful, moving moment – all the more so because of what’s come before. All who watch know that freedom isn’t easy; by that stage, we’ve already seen one released lifer unable to handle freedom and commit suicide. Freedom is hard, but that doesn’t mean you don’t exult in it.

The Shawshank Redemption is summed up in the line ‘Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free‘. Mandela spent 27 years in prison, and came ready to forgive. He’s a great man, though of course not a perfect one. Still, in the country that united briefly around a sports tournament, there’s a need for hope to trump fear like the glorious virus it is. We’ve said that we see South Africa as a country of hope and possibility – that’s why we’re going. To pay a small part of growing hope whilst taking the fear seriously. Some South Africans who see Invictus have stood to applaud at its end, moved again to remember what gripped the country’s heart back then in 1995.

Please pray with and for us, that in some small way we can, we will both experience and spread hope that is real and lasting. It’s what people everywhere need, and it’s the essence of the gospel. Fear holds captive, hope sets free.

By Dave

“This not a burden, this is an adventure. Don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done”

The people of Israel were for a long time an enslaved or homeless people. Jesus was poor. Good worship of Him is defined by God as not being about the quality of the band, the correctness of the liturgy or the Biblical nature of the lyrics (though these may be important). It is, instead, about showing the truth of what you sing, say and read in your relationships with those who have less than you:

“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.“ (Isaiah 58:5-8)

Some respond to this by saying that Jesus told His disciples that we will always have the poor among us, so we need not focus on ministry among them. One response to that is to look at Jesus’ own attitude to the poor, and to consider that the only reason we still have poor among us is because we rich do not distribute what we have more than enough of to where it should go. It quite simply is the Christian imperative to serve the poor.

This imperative is a large part of what our heart beats for. It’s what we long to do in South Africa, and feel Mowbray will give good opportunity to do just that. In such an economically unequal society, in a city where AIDS infection is around 30% and unemployment around 40%, a church worthy of the name must be working with and on behalf of the poor.

It is not and will not be easy. Often this sort of service feels like swimming against an irresistible tide. We must and will go on, though. How do you go on? By being inspired by those who lead and who paint the big visions which excite us. Take five minutes to click this link, view the video and be moved and inspired yourself. Come back here and leave your responses and ideas for what a church in the urban heart of Cape Town, close to a university that draws students from across a continent, can and should be doing. We will take note and listen. And just maybe you’ll want to come join us.

Dave

Why St Peter’s?

Google Satellite Image of Mowbray, Cape Town

We’ve explained elsewhere something of the background of our sense of God’s call on us to go to South Africa. There follows from this a logical need to explain why we have chosen to go to this church at this time.

As we’ve said, we went over for a friend’s wedding in March of this year. As we planned that trip we felt it would be a good idea to dig around what we felt God was stirring in us – explore some options, get a feel for the country, talk to some people and see what they thought. There were several formative experiences – a day in townships with one of the larger churches in the city (we’ll say more about that another time), the many good people we met and – not least – the conversation we had with one church leader.

He’s responsible for a team of New Wine Anglican churches just outside of Cape Town. He’s a really inspiring person; spending an hour in his company, we really got a sense of what God was doing in the area and in the church in the city. We told him of our thoughts about our future, and our search for the next step. His reply was to tell us about two churches in Cape Town which needed a new vicar. Neither of these churches are part of his team, but he is one of many with a heart to see them with a new leader in place, taking the next step in their lives as the body of Christ in their localities.

From his description of the areas they were in, we came away strangely excited about St Peter’s Mowbray. If you don’t know Cape Town, Mowbray is a diverse, urban area in a very strategic area.  A major train line from the suburbs runs through the parish with the station next to the church, with it’s African-style taxi rank. There’s the University of Cape Town nearby, to which students come from all over Africa and a big teaching hospital. There’s real ethnic diversity – this is no white suburb (which really wouldn’t be our scene!); this is the most ‘African’ part of what often feels like a fairly European city. We walked round the area and loved it instantly.

I said ‘strangely’ attracted, though, because in many ways it’s not the sort of church we would instantly go for. Currently it has a membership of about 80 or so, mainly retired folk and a handful of younger families. It has a style of worship with which we are not naturally familiar – the clergy wear robes, there’s an organ and choir and the 1662 prayer book is the liturgy of choice. From our evangelical charismatic background, that’s a big change!

We were left, though, with an overwhelming sense of vision for the place – for the gospel heritage already there; the potential for the church to make a real and meaningful impact on the local area, influencing the city, the country and the continent through the many students; for the church to be one that’s diverse, integrated, engaged and outward-looking. It’s been without a full time leader for some years now – the previous vicar having retired some time ago, but continuing Sunday ministry and some pastoral work until a new leader was to be appointed.

Returning home, we communicated all this back to the vicar we had met with – as well as our sense that we wouldn’t be able to move for a year or so….in which case the answer would probably have to be ‘no’. His response was that it would take around a year for the whole process to happen, and that our heart for the church and area was exactly matched by a group of people praying for the church and area!

So we took this as God’s strong encouragement to explore further – we contacted the church (although it’s an Anglican church, St Peter’s appoints its own clergy), we were invited for interview and after discussion and thinking, we all seemed in agreement that this was what God was calling us and St Peter’s to. The way it all happened – the openness of the church (they seemed happy for new things to be done at first, in addition to the continuation of the current models), the gracious provision of God through friends for the trip to the interview, the sense of doors opening when pushed – all contribute to the overwhelming sense that this is God’s call on us at this time in our lives.

This doesn’t mean it will be easy. We are not going for an easy time, and we don’t expect one. In many senses we will be well out of what we are used to and at ease with. It will be a process of loving, honouring and building with what’s there at the same time as adding to it with new ideas and new people with a heart and love for the area. We’ve already met some of them, and they’re great people! There’s no guarantee of what we may call ‘success’, but then God’s idea of that is often very different to ours. But we do know that we have to go; and it’s going to be an exciting journey. We hope that you will be equally blessed as you journey with us.

Once we have some photos sent through we’ll post them up so you can see what it looks like.

You can keep fully up to date by subscribing to this blog, either by email or RSS, using the links on the right of the page.

Dave

So how did all this happen?

How does a young (well, mid-30s), British clergy couple get to the point of deciding to uproot and move literally half away around the world? Good question. To learn that, we need to go back in time somewhat…

It’s the summer of 1995. Dave and Bev are still a year away from meeting for the 1st time. Dave’s sitting eating lunch. In itself, not an unusual state of affairs. But in the context, Dave has been reading a great book called “Prayer” by Richard Foster. In this book, the author goes through a whole range of different types of prayer. One of those is the Prayer of Tears – asking God to give you a sense of His heart for people and situation – to cry some of the tears that are on His heart. Dave thinks that would be a good thing to pray for, so He does.

He expected the tears to come because something miserable – about sin or something serious like that. So it takes him somewhat by surprise that as he watches the news that summer afternoon, he starts to cry. Why?

It’s a few days after South Africa have won the Rugby World Cup, an event which had (crucially) gone a long way towards uniting the nation only short while into the country’s new life as a full democracy. Teetering on the brink of chaos, the country had gathered miracoulously around sport. The news footage is of the Springboks (the rugby team) taking the trophy around the townships, a white team celebrating with poor black children. Dave is crying because God has chosen to show him something of His heart.

Mandela presents Francois Pinnear with the Rugby World Cup.

One summer later, just before a move to London, he attends the Stoneleigh International Bible week, where he senses that God may be calling him to South Africa. He forgets about it as soon as he leaves. He moves to London, meets Bev in a homeless hostel where they are both working, gets accepted to train as a vicar, starts training in 1998 and they marry in summer 1999.

Fast forward to 2005. Dave & Bev move to SW London, to Putney where Dave is Associate Minister at St Stephen’s Putney & St Michael’s Southfields.

One of the many good things about this job in this part of London is that there a lot of South Africans there – the evening service is, when we join, about 80-90% white South African. One morning, Dave woke up and remembered the stuff that you’ve just read. Brilliant, he thinks. ‘I didn’t need to go to SA – SA came to me. Foreign mission without leaving London!’

But that doesn’t seem quite good enough. So Dave & Bev talk about it, but Bev isn’t keen. She’s heard about the levels of crime in that country, and doesn’t like the sound of living there. So Dave at first accepted that, and then thought – ‘If this is of God, that’s not the right response. So God, if you want us to explore this, change Bev’s mind’.

Bev’s mind changed, overnight. “You know that South Africa idea we talked about? I’m not worried now.  I feel like we could go there”.

So over the next couple of years, we think, talk, pray and explore. On a trip to take a friend’s wedding in March 2009, we meet with a Cape Town vicar. We tell him what we’re thinking. He responds and tells us about St Peter’s in Mowbray, which we explore….and that’s where we are off to. We’ll post in the next couple of weeks about what the church and area we are going to is like. That, though, is the essence of how we have ended up going there at all. It’s a story of God graciously giving us an opportunity, and us having just about enough of a mustard seed of faith to think He might have something in store. One thing we’ve learnt from this already: God has a plan for each of us.

So, we’re off to South Africa….

You’re probably here because you’ve heard that we’re off to South Africa, and you’d like to know some more.

So the first thing to say is thank you. We wouldn’t even be thinking about doing this without people like you. So you’re essential to this! Over the next few weeks and months we’ll be updating this site with news, updates and ideas about different ways in which you could help. Please subscribe by using the RSS feed, or check back every few days. Surf around the site a little and see what’s new.

So the news is, that Dave’s been appointed Rector of St Peter’s Church, Mowbray (Cape Town). The plan at the moment is to start work there some time early in 2010. As you can imagine there’s lots for us to do between now and then, and you’ll read about some of that here. Feel free to leave comments, get in touch with us or just read and pray.

That’s all for now. In a little while we’ll post something about our sense of call to the amazing people and nation of South Africa. Check back soon and join the journey!

Dave & Bev