The original proposal for church-to-church connections ...

In late 2001 and early 2002, the idea for the establishment of local church to local church connections between churches of the KwaZulu-Natal Region of the UCCSA and of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC was under discussion with various parties at the denominational and conference and region levels, with the proposal summarized for and approved in the first instance by the KZN Region on the basis of the following text from February-March 2002:

A Proposal for a Programme for

Church to Church Contact

             The people of the churches of the UCCSA in KwaZulu-Natal, and those of the United Church of Christ in Massachusetts, USA, are brothers and sisters in the faith.  Through the shared origins of many of our congregations in the church of yesterday, and our mutual history over the decades from the first missionary efforts linking there to here, we are also in a true sense cousins in the church of today.

            We propose a programme to enrich the lives of our churches and our members  through contacts and links between the people of our local congregations, to rediscover this sense of family, and to re-energize the spirit of our common purpose as friends and neighbours separated by distance but made close by history and the bonds of our faith.  The goal of the programme would be to enhance our understanding of one another, our churches, and our communities, based upon direct contact of the people of the churches themselves and shared experience, allowing us each to learn from and with the other rather than through the intermediation of the formal media or others.

From such an immediacy of experience, from what we hope would be real understanding, we may discover ways in which we can help one another, to touch each others’ lives and the lives of our respective communities.  We would hope to strengthen the sense of direct relevance of our separate problems and issues, as well as our sensitivity to our differing perspectives on our common problems and issues in this fast-moving world and these fast-moving times, to allow us to forge a common sense of the purposes for ourselves as God’s people.                 

Nature of the Programme.  We propose a programme through which the KwaZulu-Natal Region of the UCCSA and the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC (or other intermediate body in that area) would seek to identify and recruit particular local churches, or groups of churches, on each side, who would be interested in exploring and participating in such a programme.  The regional bodies would endeavour to assist those churches regarding initial introductions and communications, and with the development of a sense of what the nature of their ongoing contacts would be.

The participating churches would themselves determine how their relationship would develop, but this should, we think, concentrate initially on communication and exchange by the churches and groups within the churches – youth to youth, Sunday School to Sunday School, women’s group to women’s group, for instance – and  on joint and parallel services and programme activities, prayer and other support links, and other efforts to relate and link the normal lives of the participating churches the one to the other.  Where and as the activities and programmes of the participating churches involve their people in the issues of their broader communities, the goal of sharing the lives of our churches should seek to relate to such outreach activities as well.

Once the programme is underway, the participating churches should be asked to commit to continue their roles in the programme for a certain period of time.  It will undoubtedly take at least several years for the mutual familiarity and concern, which the programme will seek to develop between our churches, to emerge, so a commitment of, for example, four years would be in order.  It will also be important for the programme to require the participants seriously to consider and evaluate the success of or issues with their participation, for each local church to review its participation in the programme to determine whether and how to continue or terminate this involvement after some period of time.  Again, to plan for such an evaluation within four years or so would seem appropriate.

Pilot Churches.  The programme should begin through the identification of a few ‘pilot’ churches in KZN and in Massachusetts.  The progress and experience of the pilot churches would be monitored closely through the regional bodies in order to use the information as to what works well, and what perhaps does not, as guidance to frame and form the programme for subsequent participating churches.

The extension of the programme beyond the pilot churches will depend upon the experience of the pilot churches and the interest of further potential participants.  The progress of the programme should be communicated to appropriate points in the denominational structures as well, as the experience of the programme as it proceeds may inform similar efforts elsewhere, whether as a model for or contrast to such other programmes. 

Role of Broader Structures.  We will seek to link the people of the churches through as few intervening structures as is practicable.  The focal point of this effort should be the lives of the local churches.  The roles of the regional and denominational structures in this effort should be those of coordinating, facilitating, and monitoring the activities, and considering and communicating the significance of these efforts to the broader church communities.

These are therefore intended not as ‘denomination to denomination’ contacts – which, while important, leave the local churches, and their members, learning about each other through brochures and the like – but rather as a means to connect the people of the churches.  Nevertheless, we do feel that the sense of the relevance of our respective broader denominational programmes, the interest of the people of the local churches in such broader programmes, and their involvement in and support for such programmes, should be enhanced and strengthened by the greater immediacy and personal nature of their more direct knowledge of their ‘cousins’ in the other denomination. 

Resources.  The programme will seek to explore and inform us all of our shared history as churches, the similarities we share and the differences we have developed.  It will, at the core, be about people learning about other people.

Some to whom this sort of programme is suggested may react from an assumption that such a programme would from the necessity of the perceived contexts be all about the ‘people of the south’ being enlightened by the ‘people of the north.’  No. 

We hope and believe, rather, that the programme would serve as a vehicle for true mutuality in our relationship with each other.  Where the point is to share and participate in the life of the church, both ‘here’ and ‘there’ for all the participants, we will each be in a position to contribute a full portion of what will make the full experience, and the programme built around it, fulfilling.  The desire would be that this sort of common effort could serve as a vehicle for ‘south to north’ as well as ‘north to south’ communication.

In particular, reactions to the idea of such a programme may proceed from a presumptive concern about inequality of resources, especially the role of money.  No.

The ‘resources’ to be shared through this programme are intended to be the lives and experiences of our churches and their members.  Who will doubt the wealth of our own churches in those respects?  For those most concerned about such matters, we should emphasise that the purpose of the programme is not and will not be to serve as a conduit, directly or indirectly, for the transfer of monetary resources from one church to another, from one place to another.  

Implementation.  But what about cost, and what about implementation?  The intention here will not be to form another structure of or on our churches, but to begin a further function involving church people themselves.  To succeed, the programme must depend upon those people.  What the programme may become, depending as it will upon the interests and concerns of the participating churches and people, will need to engage with the practicalities of time, space, and expense in such a relationship.  Those will be parts of the shared challenges of the common experience.

But for purposes of getting started, we have Ruthann and Jan Hall, who have been worshipping with us in KZN for two years, and have served with us as missionary volunteers working this past year with the regional Mission Council.  They have indicated their willingness, their eagerness even, to offer their time and energy as they now return home to Massachusetts, to serve as coordinators, facilitators and enablers for this effort.  They report that they have spoken preliminarily with representatives of the Massachusetts church regional bodies about the basic ideas of such a programme, and the people there are excited about the possibilities of such a connection being forged between our local churches and theirs.  The Halls’ home church pastor, Rev. John C. Lombard of the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord, Massachusetts, who visited KZN last year, strongly supports the effort, and has proposed that congregation as one of the pilot churches and a source of assistance in the logistics of the start-up effort.

We look forward to establishing communications with these and other interested parties, to explore further these ideas and the development and implementation of the programme.  Our regional officers should serve as contact points for these efforts, and may delegate these functions as appropriate. 

Forwarding the Proposal.  The KwaZulu-Natal Region of the UCCSA proposes the development and implementation of such a programme to enrich the lives of the local churches in this region.  We request that the General Secretary of the UCCSA communicate these matters to our partners at Global Ministries for its support of this initiative.