The INGDOM The official newsletter of the Diocese of Pretoria (Anglican Church of Southern Africa – ACSA) K In This Issue 1Call to join our Lord in his mission to the poor 2Modisa - The Shepherd Speaks!! 4Archdeacon Joseph Dhladhla licenses lay ministers 5Cathedral to host the 10th World Choir Games 5Phyllis Kraft receives the order of St Alban The Martyr 6Hope Africa conference gives Tumelong Mission a thumbs up 8 Who is Tumelong Mission?” Asks Bishop Allan 9 Pastoral Letter May 2018 10Plans for eco-congregations unveiled 11Book review 12Know your Diocesan gender committee 13Diocesan youth meeting in pictures, St Paul Saulsville JUNE 2018 SECOND QUARTER | ISSUE 8 1 Diocesan Office: CALL TO JOIN OUR LORD IN HIS MISSION TO THE POOR The Rt Revd Allan John Kannemeyer The Bishop By George Mahlaela P O Box 1032, Pretoria 0001 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has She said there was additional funding from 802 Pretorius Street anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. Nozala Trust, St Mary‟s Diocesan School for Arcadia 0083 He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the Girls and Eureco Ferreira, to build proper prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to classrooms at the same care centre in Contact Details: set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Maboloka. “We expect completion in June Office: (012) 430 2345 Lord‟s favour”Luke 4:18-19 was quoted by the 2018 and look forward to Bishop Allan Fax (012) 430 2224 Director of Tumelong Mission, Paulina Tlaka, officially opening and consecrating the Fax2mail: 086 273 4297 when addressing their Annual General Meeting buildings on Mandela Day 18 July 2018” Email: [email protected] at the Bishop Kraft Centre, Pretoria West. proudly announced Paulina. Website:www.pretoriadiocese.org.za Referring to the 2017 Theme to „‟Enlarge our The Director told the gathering that care Territory‟‟ she said it was their aim to increase and relief work continue to bring hope and Theme the footprint of the Lord‟s work in all the needed relief to scores of destitute families. “We’ll drink from these wells – They Archdeaconries, building capacity and being a She said in the next year, they hope to devoted themselves to the apostles’ serious agent of social change. “In pursuit of this intensify this part of the church‟s ministry. teachings and fellowship, to the theme, we up-scaled our HIV and AIDS breaking of bread and the prayers.” prevention programmes in 2017, registering “With the Bishop‟s current efforts to (Acts 2:42) huge improvements in the number of people prioritise the youth, and the decision to reached. We also introduced Voluntary Medical include the environment as part of our Mission and Vision Statement Male Circumcision” said the Director. mission to care for creation, we will add entrepreneurial skills to our current offerings “To grow as a Christ -centred Church so By “Enlarging our Territory” Tumelong and work to reach more youth. that each Parish can support a Rector Mission brought about substantial improvement and become a forming centre of to the care of children by focusing more on early The appointment of a fieldworker who will Spirituality, Mission and Ministry.” childhood development as the most important be working closely with the clergy and area to get the foundations right for small Friends of Tumelong, will strengthen Editorial Team children to be able to learn and grow to their full community development efforts and bring Reports/Editing – George Mahlaela potential. Paulina reported that Corpus Christi greater collaboration and alignment as we let Reports – Donald Chiloane Church in Garsfontein and St Alban‟s College our collective Prayer of Deeds proclaim the Reports – FanaJiyane donated generously towards the building of new good news to the poor, breaking into our Design – Nkosinathi Sithole ablution facilities, construction of a borehole, communities and enlarge the Kingdom‟s territory” she concluded with excitement. Website Admin – Fabian Kannemeyer renovation of thekitchen, installation of new cupboards in the storeroom all at Tumelong We would love to hear from your parish, Haven, Maboloka. guild and organisation. Send short articles and photographs electronically to George Mahlaela at: [email protected] or [email protected] or Call 083 6287577 CLOSING DATES FOR SUBMISSIONS 14 DAYS AFTER EVERY DSC MEETING The generous caring supporters of Tumelong Mission Bishop Allan and Paulina at the from the East. From left: Dora Semenya Diane Higgs, AGM of Tumelong Mission Elizabeth Boje and Jill Daughhety. JUNE 2018 SECOND QUARTER | ISSUE 8 1 We must especially see the opportunities in this ODISA - HE HEPHERD M T S sorry state of decline. Our Synod theme calls upon SPEAKS!! us to drink from the wells which our Lord Jesus Christ provides. Through the work of the Holy Spirit the early Church identified the wells of Istarted to write this report on Monday 13 May Scripture, the Eucharist, Prayer and fellowship as 2018, which was the second anniversary of my indispensable for the sustenance of the people of consecration and enthronement as Bishop of this God. Our Synod theme especially calls upon us not Diocese. I gave thanks to God that I have been only to maintain the dignity and integrity of these entrusted with an inheritance of inestimable value spiritualities, but also to drink deeply and properly and prayed that God would continue to sustain us from them. They are meant to fill us with the and guide us toward Himself, and divine spirit of our Lord, and our Synod theme into our new and challenging is an unashamed call to return to these wells. future. Our Church is in decline, but this decline Is the Church in has more to do with the dramatic changes decline? that our context is forcing upon us, and It is indeed a new and whatever will emerge in the future is challenging future that we likely to be dramatically different from face because, truth be told, what we are accustomed to today.This the traditional Church is in reflection affirms our choice of our Synod decline, or so it appears. theme. I have come to appreciate again over From Church attendance to this Eastertide how the Spirit of the Risen those who identify as Christians, Christ continues to live in and to build up his from financial challenges to our tendency to Church. Easter is the event of our Christian exclude those dissimilar to ourselves; from salvation through the death and resurrection of infighting to the loss of our prophetic voice and our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the centre of our our habit of competing with each other for reflections and our mission in the world. “Dying, members – all the data reveals an alarming he destroyed our death, rising, he restored our downward trend. On the local front we are not life”, as we recite in the liturgy at the Eucharist. saved from the signs of decline. We’ll drink from these wells We have just sold our Church building in At the Synod we undertook to source and develop Cullinan. This after numerous attempts to manage suitable material on Scripture, the Eucharist, the changing demographics of Cullinan, and Prayer, and Fellowship, for discussion and initiatives to revive the life of a Church which reflection in Parishes, Guilds, and the various th dates from the beginning of the 20 century. Our ministries of our Diocese. Much work has gone assemblies in the Diocese are characterised by into this. Really good material for small group discussions that reflect our own battles with this discussions was developed in the Parish Churches decline: from truant clergy to fighting fires among of Equestria and Atteridgeville. This material has our members, from considering measures to arrest been made available to the clergy for wider use in our precarious financial positions to lamenting our the Diocese. Prof. Pityana, Archdeacon Mariri, and lack of growth, from addressing malpractices to I led the clergy in critical reflections on our Synod maintenance of the status quo. We experience very theme during a Clergy School in March. And in little growth, if any. February the Bishop of Matlosane and Dean of the Province, Bishop Diseko, led more than fifty This is the sad truth I see when I reflect on where members of our clergy in a most meaningful we are and where we are going. But it is not the retreat at St Benedict‟s in Rosettenville. The Lay whole picture. Our context is challenging, change Ministers of the Diocese will gather for a seminar and hardship rule, but not death. The traditional which Fr David Swanepoel will facilitate next Church is far from dead because we serve a living Saturday. The Seminar will focus on the liturgy of God and we have the wells of Good Friday and the Eucharist with a critical reflection on the Easter and Pentecost to drink from when we participation and roles of the Lay Ministers in this assess where we are and we note our decline. act of worship. All of these initiatives are aimed at JUNE 2018 SECOND QUARTER | ISSUE 8 2 ensuring that we return to drink deeply and seen to act effectively in cases of sexual abuse.” properly from the spiritual reserves which our Archbishop Thabo also said that in recent weeks Lord provides.This sitting of the Diocesan “four individuals have either spoken out publicly Standing Committee will hear more reports of the or contacted my office privately to report works in progress which we decided upon at experiences of sexual abuse in two Dioceses” Synod. dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.