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God's work must continue
Fellowship of the Councils of Churches in Southern Africa (FOCCISA)
June 10, 2005

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower, will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it. For if he lays the foundation and he is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him saying "this fellow began to build and was not able finish it." Luke 14:28-30

We, as Church leaders of the Fellowship of the Councils of Churches in Southern Africa (FOCCISA) from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe having gathered at Mantenga, Lodge, Ezulwini, Swaziland from 30th to 31 May 2005 under the theme "The Region We Want: Communicating Human Rights and Good Governance – God’s work must continue" to better inform ourselves on the issues of good governance, accountability, transparency, respect for the rule of the law and human rights in the region and to develop strategies for the promotion of a stronger ecumenical movement in the region commenced our deliberation with a liturgical service celebrating the presence of the Lord amongst us by reading and praying from Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 1-8.

We have analytically considered the harsh socio-economic and political situation in which the people of God especially the poor and oppressed live in the region and we see the degree of poverty, ill health, exploitation and injustice they are subjected to by their leaders and we have heard their cry for help (Ex: 3:7-10). We spent some time theologically examining these experiences in the light of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke: 4:16-19). We have no choice but to follow the dictates of our Lord, and hence we have worked out pastoral strategies to "bring the good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, recover sight to the blind and set the oppressed free" (Luke 7:18-23).

We Recognise that:
Despite their hard work the people of Southern Africa still live in abject poverty, war, conflict, HIV/AIDS and their attendant consequences. The hungry, the homeless, the sick, the oppressed, the exploited, the marginalized prisoners and women as a representation of the poor crying for justice and liberation from all their sufferings. Economic exploitation, injustices, rejection, lack of human rights and accountable governance, gender imbalance and marginalization are among the problems that bedevil the people of the region. There is a proposal from the AACC for the reconfiguration of the Ecumenical Movement on the African Continent and we welcome the initiative as a step in the right direction.

Now therefore:

• Realizing our common destiny for a region free of economic, social and political exploitation we as Church have not done enough to engage the countries of the region to be accountable, to have a sense of responsibility and to affirm the dignity of the people and promote their skills and creativity to overcome poverty:
• Acknowledging our desire to change the status quo characterized by political intolerance, the exploding humanitarian disaster of HIV/AIDS, lack of freedom of movement and human rights, non democratic and bad governance structures, bad economic policies resulting in an influx of refugees and up-rooted people.
• Reaffirming our desire for closer unity in God with regards to the building of a stronger ecumenical movement in Africa we recall the 2003 FOCCISA Bi-Annual Assembly recommendation, which states that there are three levels of interaction within the Ecumenical Movement in Africa. a) The first entry point for the Churches into the movement is at the National Council of Churches (NCC’s) level, b) the second is at Sub Regional Fellowships (SRF’s) level and c) the third is at All African Conference of Churches (AACC) level.

Thus the three levels, National; Regional and Continental structures should not be compromised under any circumstances.

We call on FOCCISA to:

1. Be prophetic and stand up for Jesus to engage in such activities as to promote the quality of life for the people in the region in the manner Jesus did for the people of His time.

2. Establish and endorse the FOCCISA Youth Network

3. Renew and affirm the mandates of EJN, EDICISA, SACMUP and the Youth Network, the implementing and service arms of FOCCISA policies and programmes. 4. Have the Youth Network engage on issues of HIV/AIDS, economic justice and peace building

5. Have SACMUP continue with issues of the up rooted people in the region.

6. Have the Economic Justice Network (EJN) specialized in programmes of economic issues, trade, debt, food security, etc.

7. Reaffirm our commitment to the Budget Monitoring Programme of EJN

8. Have EDICISA continue to be the memory of FOCCISA Affirm commitment to EDICISA 2005-2010 Corporate Plan which include programmes on democracy and development promotion: a) Human Rights and Accountable Governance Programme b) HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Programme c) Conflict transformation and Peace Building Programme.

9. Continue to look for answers to the soul searching questions arising from the renewal of the ecumenical movement in Africa vis a vis:

• What will be our identity as a region in the ecumenical movement and the added value to FOCCISA?
• How do we guarantee de-centralization and effective programming if the regions are to be Regional Offices of AACC?
• How will the issues of leadership/responsibilities be resolved?
• Are we not giving too much power to one person or group of a few people who can do whatever they will with it?
• The issue of fund raising is not clear in the MOU – have our partners suddenly decided to fund continental structures rather than regional ones?
• There are more questions than answers on constituency, identity, autonomy, structures, working modalities, constitution, etc
• Seemingly emerging are two ecumenical bodies – why not create stronger working relationships between the two ecumenical bodies?
• The name RAACC is problematic and giving the impression that there are two organizations.
• FOCCISA’s independence and autonomy should be clearly stated in the MOU and also clearly stated should be the fact that FOCCISA is seeking partnership with AACC.

We commit ourselves as individual NCCs to:

1. Continue with God’s work as we deal with the issues of human rights and good governance in the FOCCISA region.

2. Endeavour to bear testimony to the wisdom of St. Luke that whatever we do, we should have a well-planned agenda so that we do not falter on the way.

3. Work with the service arms of FOCCISA i.e. EDICISA, EJN , SACMUP and the Youth Network and any other bodies that may be established by FOCCISA

5. Establish Youth Desks to deal with the issues of young people.

6. Take further the issue of Reconfiguration of the Ecumenical Movement in Africa to our National Councils of Churches and find how best to respond with regards to its implementation.

7. Disseminate the results of this Bi Annual Assembly to our respective Churches, ecumenical bodies and networks.

We acknowledge with appreciation the support and prayers of those who made this timely Bi-Annual Assembly possible. Nothing can happen if there is no dream. And when we dream together our dreams become a reality. Amen…

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