General Assembly Moderator Rt. Rev Mzukisi Faleni visiting USA.

Date of Article: 27/03/2010

Presbyterian Church of Africa

General Assembly: Moderator of PCA Visiting USA.

Overview of the 2009 PCA General Assembly and the 2010 General Assembly Executive held at Libode Port St. Johns Circuit, Embo Presbytery from 18^th to 21^st March 2010.

This is just a snapshot overview of the above meetings which are not necessarily destined to be in comparison to the previous meeting or should not be misconstrued to depict such a viewpoint.

By and large, the atmosphere was electrifying, people came in droves with high expectations and eagerness to be revived spiritually and emotionally notwithstanding the disappointments they experienced from the past General Assemblies. Consequently, people came with mixed feelings.  The G.A was characterized by an inclusive participation of her delegates and other members present in conformity to the G.A Moderator’s appeal that people should be part of and own the decisions and resolutions taken in the meeting.

In the main, I may enumerate and or categorize the areas of interest on the subheadings listed below;

1.    Church administration and Governance;

2.    Church Policies;

3.    Constitutional Amendments;

4.    In-service training and capacitating of ministers

5.    Sense of Identity or belonging to the PCA.

6.    Strengthening fellowship with other Ecumenical Churches

On church administration and governance- In leading the discussion, the General Assembly Moderator and the Stated Clerk, Rev. M Mantlana touched on improved accountability, enhanced transparency and facilitation of congregational sector reforms. The report on the establishment of the Central Office in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth was a marvel to listen to. Everybody was elated because people could now point and see where their hard –earned monies have gone to. The fact that minor improvements had to be undertaken did not deter them especially members of the WCA who made an outstanding financial contribution.  The Central Office would be officially opened on 18 July 2010 in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth. This is going to be a very important day in the history of the Presbyterian Church of Africa in decades. Since the church has been engulfed by the cloud of litigations, after the Mthatha High Court report, it became evident that there was light at the end of the tunnel. The report about the unscrupulous and corrupt manner in which the legal charges were inflated by our legal representative cannot be over-emphasized. The church appeared to be unanimous on the next steps to be taken in getting rid of this malpractice.

On church policies, it became apparent that there is no organization that can run properly without adherence to its policies. To this end, policy review was conducted on Education, Finance, Pensions, and Retirements, Election of the Moderator and Office Bearers and on Stipend. By so doing the church is destined to maintain uniformity and comprehensive understanding in applying her policies for the improvement and proper governance.

Constitutional amendments made included inter alia:

Ø  Election of the Moderator of the G.A which shall always be mandatory at the end of the first year of the reign of the current incumbent moderator. The election of the Moderator-elect by the ordinary meeting of the General Assembly shall always be mandatory and not discretionary.

Ø  The office bearers of the General Assembly shall occupy the office of the General Assembly for the period of THREE years.

Ø  G.A Executive – How is this body constituted, what are its powers and functions.

Ø  Missionaries and Pastors – A clear description of the two types of ministers had been clarified.

Ø  Calling of the minister - Requirements for the minister to be called are also clearly defined here.

Ø  Secular Courts – The emphasis here s that no member of the church should appeal to secular courts without having exhausted all the mediation process of the judicatories of the church. The proper process to be followed has been clearly outlined again here.

Ø  Ministers’ stipend – Adherence to the agreed stipend of ministers in conjunction with the Presbyteries has also been emphasized. Noncompliance with this provision will pose a threat of rendering a failing circuit non existence and be incorporated to neighboring circuits

In-service training and capacitating of ministers – Empowering  our church leadership and  her ministers in particular, has always been  the church’s  priority and long overdue. The Cape Town seminar in January lived up to expectations. Everybody clamored for more training. The contributors to the seminar are well known and respected scholars of Theology.  I don’t think we would have done justice if we do not mention the contributors to this seminar which were:

Prof. W Mazamisa.

Dr T Qubuda,

Dr M Plaatjie and

Rev. O L Makalima

For the benefit of those who missed the seminar and those who would like to receive documents or the collated report of the seminar, the G.A Secretariat has made it available. Other logistical arrangements on how to obtain the documents would be made later.

Sense of Identity and belonging to the Presbyterian Church of Africa

Towards the conclusion of the General Assembly, people were not disappointed; instead, God’s grace was demonstrated throughout. They did not understand grace better, but had a better understanding on how to access it. This became evident after the G.A Moderator’s input on “Who we are or what makes us Presbyterians but not Pentecostals or other churches” Here the teachings of John Calvin as our source of origin was elaborated on. Notice was made to the effect that in October 2010, churches of the Reformed tradition across the world would be celebrating John Calvin’s birth. It was stated that our duty is and will always be to advance and protect our faith and tradition of Presbyterianism. We must be sure of what we stand for in as far as the reformed tradition is concerned. The major characteristic is that we are a Christ Centered Church that preaches the Word of God. We also advocate the Apostles’ Creed. After this short but indebt presentation about who we are, I listened to an interesting comment by one elderly preacher saying, “ Bazalwana, ingathi kuthethe uMzimba ngokwakhe – yintoni enye esisayifunayo”

Strengthening fellowship with other Ecumenical Churches

It was encouraging to receive encouraging reports about our involvement in fellowship with other local, national and international ecumenical movements. These included the SACC, AACC, WARC, GLOBAL INSTITUTE OF THEOLOGY (USA) and The PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF USA.

There is no doubt that the Presbyterian Church of Africa is committed in the local and global processes of peace, justice, healing and reconciliation and gender-based violence. By joining forces with these bodies, it is also our belief that this is another way of enhancing closer inter-faith collaborations for peace as conveyers of God’s message.

The breaking news that our General Assembly Moderator, Rt. Rev. M Faleni has been invited to attend The Global Institute of Theology brought much delight to the entire PCA congregation.  He will be travelling on 2 June to Atlanta and on the 15 June to Grand Rapids, on 30 June he will be flying from Grand Rapids to Minneapolis to attend the PCUSA General Assembly.  The PCA MODERATOR will be back to South Africa on 8^th July 2010. While the Moderator is away, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly will be in-charge of the PCA matters.  I (Recording Clerk) believe messages of support and encouragement were received even from outside our church parameters i.e. other religious denomination.  Our Moderator made us proud! We believe that the church would benefit a lot from this journey.