The future of Soshanguve CC

[Dit is het rapport dat op 14 oktober door het zendingsteam, op 24 oktober door de zendingscommissie en op 5 november door de kerkenraad van Maranata aanvaard is. Geschreven door een commissie, bestaande uit Tjeerd de Wit, Thabo Matlaela, Harry Pouwels, Hans Sterk en mijzelf.]

Mission work is God’s work in which we are involved.

It is only God who makes things grow, but we must use good seed and sowing methods.

 

Being dependent on the holy Spirit does not exclude taking strategical decisions.

“Where does the Lord lead us?”

Instruction

Maranata church council appointed us to give advice in connection with the future of Soshanguve CC. This is based on the strategic plan 2009-2014:

Since work in Central has been going on for 20 years now, 2011 will be a decisive year. If there is no real growth towards institution, this mission point will be closed down.

Mission work in Soshanguve Central was started in 1989. Since then there was growth in Soshanguve – resulting in churches in GG, WW, XX and F4 – but Central stayed behind. This has been a concern in the Mission Board over the years. Rev. T. de Boer was appointed to work full time in CC during 2009, 2010 and 2011. Now is the time to make the decision. Close or continue?

We actually met three times in Soshanguve:

• an initial meeting to acquaint ourselves with the facts and figures about CC [11-08]
• a meeting with the congregation on Sunday after church, where we asked questions in order to hear from the members their opinion about the lack of growth [02-10]
• a final meeting to formulate our advice as given in this report [12-10]

Criteria

How does one define ‘real growth toward institution’?

In mission circles we often use the three selves formula. A mission point should grow into a church that is self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting. More or less the same criteria we find in the Maranata policy document Beleid vir die instelling van die ampte (2003) [1]. We think the three selves can help us to evaluate the mission work in Soshanguve CC.

The main question in connection with CC is:

Can we expect this preaching point to grow into a self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting church?

Based on reports from the past and on our talks with church members, our answer is negative.

1.     A self-governing church?

The number of men in CC remains very low. See the figures given by the missionary:

There are only one or two brothers who can be trained to become elders. The experience with young men is unfortunately that many of them buy a house in XX and move away from Central.

2.     A self-propagating church?

After 22 years the membership is still low[2]. This is a difficult area to evangelize: most people have lived here for many years and ‘have their own church’. People who recently moved to a new area like XX seem to be more open ‘to try another church’ in that area.

Attendance on Sundays is app. 35. Church activities like prayer meetings, cell groups and catechism classes are poorly attended. This seems to be the main problem. The congregation is not very active[3]. In their own words: they suffer from a lack of commitment, a lack of faith and a lack of love.

This spiritual problem can be explained from a wrong approach in the past. The ‘spoon feeding’ by the mission was done with the best intentions but it kept the congregation passive and dependent.  It is difficult to change this mindset. Active young members are disappointed by the laziness of older ones. New members are discouraged by this attitude.

3.     A self-supporting church?

In 2008 the mission provided the congregation with a church stand in CC. What is missing, however, is a feeling of ownership. Only a few members contribute to the building fund. Maintenance of both the yard and the church building is in arrears.

Sunday collections are low. Tithes are below standard as well[4].

This has to do with poverty, but even more with motivation. Members admitted this during our talks with them.  Students and pensioners cannot contribute much. But those who can, lack commitment for the kingdom of God.  In the words of the missionary: “Even though we may see a surplus at the end of 2011, spiritually we have a definite deficit.”

A growing church?

The church in CC adopted a beautiful motto in 2008: Christ Central. The leading Bible verse in the strategical plan is Galatians 4 verse 19: … until Christ is formed in you … Our sad assessment is that this spiritual growth has not been realized[5].

After 22 years CC is still in the 1^st phase of mission work: Coming to Christ[6], without moving into the 2^nd phase: Growing in Christ[7].

Conclusion

We believe that the Lord Jesus, through his holy Spirit, calls people to be his servants.

He gave his church instructions to spread the gospel and the results are ascribed to the work of the Spirit, as it pleases him.

We must follow the indications given by the Lord.

If, after 20 years, we see there is no ‘real growth towards institution’, we should surely conclude that we must work in a different way or that we should work somewhere else.

The gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached in Central for more than 20 years. This was not in vain. But it doesn’t look like we will be reaching our target of church planting in this area.

We don’t deny that there are committed younger and older Christians in CC. People live and die in Christ. But we don’t see CC as a church growing towards institution in the coming 5 or 10 years.

We advice Maranata, therefore, to stop the mission work in Soshanguve CC.

What does that mean in practice?

1. no missionary will be allocated to CC
2. the present activities will be scaled down
3. the current members will be given a ‘transfer’ (attestation) to other ‘branches’ like GG
4. the church stand will be sold

Other solutions?

Is there a possibility to continue the work in CC in another way?

We discussed several options. The independent church in Soshanguve GG could take over and hold an early service in CC. But the church council is struggling already [8]. We can’t expect them – without a missionary – to make CC grow towards institution. The same applies to the church in WW that is walking its own difficult path towards independence.

Exit strategy

The strategic decision not to continue mission work in CC, will be difficult for the existing members, esp. those who are on pension. We propose a good exit strategy, as follows:

1. Rev. De Boer will help all members with their ‘transfer’ to the ‘branch’ of their choice.
2. He will also make sure that the pastoral care is transferred to the ‘new’ church.
3. The church in GG will receive an amount per month, to provide transport for the pensioners from CC attending the services in GG[9]. Maranata allocates money for this purpose in 2012 (100%), in 2013 (50%) and in 2014 (25%).
4. Members in CC are encouraged to continue their cell group activities. Christians living in the same area should share joy and sorrow, study the Bible and pray together.

The missionary will be available for other tasks in the mission field, from 1 April 2012 or earlier as the work in CC is finished.

Lessons to learn

What can we learn from our experience in CC (Central) for the mission work? In hindsight it is always easy to see certain things. What we say now is not meant to judge former missionaries. But there are some lessons to learn.

1. Has Central been given a fair chance to grow? The start in 1989 was good. But ever since Rev. A.J. de Visser started to focus on GG, CC has been treated as a stepchild. Other areas got attention – WW and XX – but Central never had a fulltime missionary until 2009. [Student George Mnisi lived and worked in this area.] It is true that mission work has been done in Central since 1989, but how focussed were we on this mission point? If we want a preaching point to develop into a mature church, that mission point deserves undivided attention of a dedicated mission worker.
2. In the present mindset of the people in CC we gain what we have sown. With the best intentions, our missionaries in Mamelodi and Soshanguve have ‘spoiled’ the church members. Examples are the diaconal support to poor people, the providing of transport to the church, the availability of project money, bursaries for students through the Thusano fund and church buildings erected by ‘the mission’. If we want a preaching point to develop into a mature church, it is important to involve the members from day one. This includes tithes and offerings, ownership of church stand and buildings, taking responsibility for church activities and developing spiritual gifts.

 Mission work is God’s work in which we are involved.

Even after the last three years, we don’t see real growth towards institution in CC.

 Let us rather use the money and the manpower the Lord provides, in another place.

May the holy Spirit bless this decision.

[1] The policy document mentions three reference points for the congregation:

1.            The membership (counting only members who are active and committed)

2.            The social situation (will the congregation be able to become self-supporting?)

3.            The manpower (how many men are available to be trained as elders of the church?)

[2] Around 80, of which only 45 members [25 families] actually live in Central.

[3] Rated 3.65 on a scale of 1 to 10.

[4] Rated 4.9 on a scale of 1 to 10.

[5] From the report of the meeting with CC church members:

“We do not doubt the sincerity of many members’ faith. But we get the impression that this faith has not resulted in the reaction expected from a believer. A reaction which should include works of thankfulness, caring for each other, a willingness to participate. Has the gospel really transformed people’s hearts as well as their will, their heads, their arms and legs, so that something happens, apart from a third attending Sunday services?”

[6] Planting. Leading Bible verse Matthew 11 verse 28: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest …

[7] Care. Leading Bible verse Romans 8 verse 29: … to be confirmed to the likeliness of the Son …

[8] GG recently asked classis North for additional manpower due to lack of elders in their church.

[9] Of course the people involved have to contribute themselves what they can. But it wouldn’t be fair to burden GG’s deacons with extra expenses.