FORTY-SEVENTH SESSION OF DIOCESAN SYNOD KWANZIMELA, 1-3 October 2009 THE BISHOP’S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1. Preamble Ukristu uyiNkosi. Uyabusa. Christ is King. He reigns. “Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve...with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” (2 Tim 1:2-3) In the name of God I wish to warmly welcome you to this Forty-seventh Session of Synod of the Diocese of Zululand. These few days will be hard work, requiring concentration and application but from the outset let us remind ourselves that we are not in this alone, that the Holy Spirit is the one who calls us together and who is present and active within and 1 among us. I am confident that, during the course of ths Synod, we will see and experience plenty of the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, that is, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22). In the midst of the hard work, the debates, the conversations and, ultimately, the decisions we are going to make, let us not lose sight of the presence of God’s Spirit among us and let us rejoice in the signs of life, hope and holiness we see in each other. Let me begin by praising God and giving thanks to him for the ongoing love and support I receive from my family, my wonderful wife Nobelungu, affectionately known by many of us as uMa Dlems, our children and, the latest addition to the family, our grandchild, Renzo Nkanyiso. I want to express my deepest gratitude to God for the wonderful people, lay and ordained, who make up the membership and leadership of this amazing Diocese: S the Bishop’s Chapter, my closest advisors, made up of Archdeacons and Canons. For the first time in the history of this Diocese, Chapter enjoys the presence and the capable contribution of three lay canons, namely, Mrs Buyiswa 2 Ntshangase, Adv William Gwala and Mr Musa Myeni. Bishop Lawrence Zulu and Ruth, his wife; all the wonderful clergy of this diocese who love our Lord Jesus and give themselves sacrificially to serve God and his church; the Rector and the churchwardens of the Good Shepherd, KwaMagwaza, for allowing us to worship and work here; the lay and ordained members of Diocesan Council, Finance Committee of Diocesan Council, the Diocesan Board of Trustees and the Directorate of the KwaMagwaza Agricultural Lands; the Bishop’s secretary, the Diocesan Secretary and the staff at the Diocesan Office; The Diocesan Chancellor and Diocesan Registrar; all members of Boards of Diocesan Departments, Institutions, organisations and task teams; all churchwardens, treasurers and members of Parish Councils; 3 the people of God as a whole, who are striving to hear God and grow in love and obedience to his will; the many volunteers that give of their time and expertise freely and generously; a very special greeting to the youth of the Diocese, the present and the future of our church; a special greeting for all those who are attending Synod for the first time. Welcome. Relax and enjoy it! Thank you, my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Without you we would be nowhere. May God reward you for your faithful service. But, above all, we want to give thanks to God who has given us himself in his Son Jesus Christ, and continues to give us life through his Holy Spirit. It is our good custom to acknowledge those in our midst who have joined the clergy since our last Synod in 2006. We congratulate them and wish them many years of faithful ministry in this Diocese. For a full list see Appendix A. 4 We give thanks to God for three clergy persons who have joined the Diocese from other parts of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa or from other churches: the Revd Raymond Mbonambi and the Revd Eugene Ngcamu from the Roman Catholic Church, and the Revd Thokozani Mcineka from the Salvation Army. Since our last Synod we have also said goodbye to the Revd Russell Mngomezulu who moved to the Diocese of Port Elizabeth, the Ven Nkosinathi Ngcobo who joined the ministry in the neighbouring Diocese of Natal and the Ven Clement Khumalo who serves the people of God in the Diocese of the Highveld. We wish them and their families all God’s blessings in their new ministries. With sadness, we acknowledge the resignation of the Revd Khulekani Sono. I take this opportunity to wish him well in his present and future endeavours. We remember with deep bonds of affection the members of our clergy who have died since our last Synod: the Revd Mineas Zungu, Rector of St John’s, Inhlwati and the Revd Nalson Mdlalose, a self-supporting priest at St David’s, Vryheid. May they rest in peace and rise in glory. We also remember with gratitude all members of past Diocesan Synods who have died since December 2006. 5 I wish to acknowledge in our midst the presence of Bishop Michael Vorster, of the Methodist Church of South Africa, Bishop of the Northern Coastal Region of KwaZulu-Natal; the Revd DNP Luthuli, representing the KwaZulu Regional Christian Council; Bishop Kumalo of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eshowe; and Bishop Buthelezi of ELCSA. We also welcome the Honourable Mayor of Mthonjaneni Municipality, Councillor William Harris. I take this opportunity to thank the Rt Revd Graham Dow, retired Bishop of Carlisle in the Church of England, for his support and co-operation during his episcopacy and congratulate the newly appointed Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Revd James Newcome, formerly Bishop of Penrith and Suffragan of Carlisle. Bishop James will be enthroned on Saturday 10th of October 2009. To him, his dear wife Alison and family go our sincere prayers at this time. We send greetings to our link Diocese of George in the Province of Southern Africa, to Bishop Donald Harker and Joan, his wife. We also acknowledge with gratitude the ongoing financial support offered to us by the Emmanuel Church in the Diocese of Northampton, Church of England, St James’ Church, New York and the Diocese 6 of Sydney in Australia. 2. DIOCESAN PASTORAL PLAN 2007-2016: “UNITED TO BE SENT” OR “MASIBE MUNYE SITHUNYWE” Our last Synod of December 2006 gave its blessing to the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, “Communion for Mission” or “Masibe munye sithunywe”, as an instrument to bring to fruition or implement the Diocesan Vision of “Wait upon the Lord and reach out”. We, then, confirmed our commitment to nurture our fellowship with God and one another (communion) and to be sent into the world (mission) to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom and make disciples according to God’s heart. In my charge today I simply aim to draw your attention to some practical points to be borne in mind as we move forward, together, in the implementation of the Pastoral Plan. Emil Brunner, the Swiss theologian, wrote that “The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning”. In other words, no mission - no church. Jesus called the Church to share in his mission of restoring the beauty and harmony of creation and humankind distorted by sin. “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you”, 7 Jesus said. Like Jesus, we are sent. But, before you can go out, or reach out, to somebody else to help them to a closer walk with God, you and I somehow need to go into ourselves and see what it is in our own heart that needs God’s transforming grace. 2.1. SPIRITUAL GROWTH: A CALL TO PRAYER Before you reach out you have to look deep into your own soul and see what needs God’s cleansing love. Mission quite literally begins at home, by looking deep into oneself and seeing what needs conversion in me before I look for conversion in others. We are reminded that the first priority of our Pastoral Plan is “call to holiness”. This call is for everyone and is the foundation of our mission. This call to holiness is manifested in each one through a life of prayer and worship. A life of personal holiness is one that, embodies personal prayer and regular worship; sees personal life as part of God’s unfolding plan; imitates the life of Christ in such a way that living his way just becomes second nature, and, last but not least, wants others to share in it too. 8 In my last Pastoral Letter to the Diocese entitled “Lord, teach us to pray”, I attempted to express, beyond any possible doubt, that there is no effective and transforming mission unless it is accompanied by a deep and sincere life of prayer. Our prayer life cannot and must not be reduced to our corporate, liturgical prayer once a week, on a Sunday. The rhythm of our day needs to be punctuated by well planned, faithfully kept, quality times spent in the presence of God. Prayer needs to become more and more the “ordinary stuff” of our Christian lives, in our homes, in our organisations and in our parishes. As I pointed out in my last Pastoral Letter, “our parishes without exception should be schools of prayer”. To this end, our KwaNzimela Diocesan Pastoral Centre should become more and more the venue where our people are encouraged to come and be coached in deepening their prayer life. I believe that our corporate, liturgical worship will only be meaningfully transformed when each one of us, individually, will have taken seriously this call to a deeper experience of the love of the Lord in prayer.