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CFT's bi-weekly CHRISTIAN NEWS 15 July 1997 * GCOWE 97: Christian leaders attend global consultation - With as warm a welcome as sub-freezing temperatures would allow, Pretoria played host this past week to 4,000 delegates from 135 nations for the Global Consultation on World Evangelization. "A church for every people and the gospel for every person by the year 2000." This short phrase sums up the purpose and unifying goal of the International AD2000 and Beyond Movement, a loose confederation of Christian entities from nearly every country in the world which sponsored the conference. But when looking at the thousands of ethnic and linguistic groups in the world which have not yet had an opportunity to consider the claims of Christ or even meet a Christian who speaks his language, the question becomes "how?" To help answer this question, the World Mission Centre of Pretoria set up ten different working consultations around the city. The last GCOWE, held in Seoul Korea in 1995 helped to refine focus to those cultures (defined primarily by language and location) most needing the opportunity to learn of Christ, most of which were identified at that time to reside in the 10/40 window, an area 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Further research has, since then, developed a list of 1739 groups determined to be the largest and least-evangelized in the world. Called the Joshua Project peoples, the list has done much in the past two years to encourage outreach to those groups where Christians are rare or unknown. Of particular interest and discussion during these meetings was the new list of 597 peoples which still have no reported church planting activity, to which there were commitments made in several consultations to seek to engage these in church planting efforts by the year 2000. The largest consultation of 1,100 delegates, the African National Initiatives brought Christian workers from nearly every nation in Africa to Hatfield Christian Church. African churches, who, encouraged by the AD2000 and Beyond Movement, increasingly see themselves as senders of missionaries rather than receivers. South Africans particularly may have the fastest-growing contingent of missionaries, with the number doubling twice in the past 6 years. (GCOWE Press Release) * Human Rights chairman: Church `must accept' gays - _20The SA Human Rights Commission chairman, Dr Barney Pityana, says that the reality of homosexuality should be accepted as it cannot be wished away. It a statement, he said the church should not stifle the debate of human sexuality, but promote frankness. Pityana is an Anglican minister and a well known liberation theologian who previously worked for the WCC. After acceptance of homosexuality "it is important to affirm the humanity of others and recognise the full expression of that humanity". "The reality of a `gay' Christian being loved and accepted would impact on and confront the church's own teaching and challenge prevailing prejudices," said Pityana. He added that Christians should not decide who belongs to God and who does not. Nor should they deny what he has created. * Multi-faith religious education - _20MRE (Multi-faith religious education) could well
become a reality in South African classrooms should the interfaith community get their
way. At an MRE conference held at UNISA 3 & 4 July it was proposed that only well
trained teachers certified by MRE educationists should be allowed to teach religion at
schools. These teachers will be sensitive, tolerant and able to guide children to
appreciate all religions and make their own choices. One of the main speakers, Dr Chrissie
Steyn called for more affective education where children will be able to
"imaginatively identify with someone of a different religion." _20She proposes
that such education should start in primary school. MRE will include rituals, dances,
texts and ethics of the various religions. Dr Steyn praised a study in Britain which
showed that children taught MRE were found to be very tolerant. Children from Christian
schools were the least tolerant, she said. The conference was very supportive of African Traditional Religions (ATR), in other words, occult practices involving ancestral spirits and witchcraft rituals, and agreed that this should be a central part of the multi-faith curriculum. It was proposed that a whole set of MRE text books will become available by next year. Two books soon to be published are: "Rainbow Religions", "African Religion & Culture, Alive!". Close working together with government officials made the authenticity of the conference somewhat dubious. Minister Simangaliso Mkhatshwa, Deputy Minister of Education, (a catholic priest and well known liberation theologian) |
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