Good Friends in Christ
They are like two sisters, sitting side-by-side up here to the north (in the ‘neck of the UPCSA’). I am referring to Tshwane and eGoli Presbyteries, of course.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending some time with Graham Duncan (Moderator) and Zwai Mtyhobile (Clerk) of Tshwane Presbytery. The Presbytery extends, ‘like a ribbon’, in a narrow band across the top of Gauteng and bottom of Limpopo from Rustenberg and the old Bophuthatswana in the west to Nelspruit and White River in the east up to the Mozambique border. There are about 28 congregations and the majority are centred around the Tshwane metropole. The Presbytery meets quarterly, on the second Saturday of February, May, August and November. Our main centre for training ministers in South Africa, the University of Pretoria, is in the heart of this Presbytery and our students for the ministry studying there are attached to congregations in the Presbytery. Several ministers of the Presbytery are seconded to the SANDF or Police or Correctional Services. Graham Duncan is the UPCSA appointed academic at the university. The Sedibeng House of Studies, where our students for the ministry are housed, is in Menlo Park, near the university.
A few years ago, then Moderator and Clerk, Glynnis Goyns and Theo Groeneveld organised a cycle rally across the breadth of the Presbytery which raised about R500 000, the interest of which is still being used for the growth of small congregations and church development. Sadly, the Presbytery is struggling with the consequence of disunity in the Church Associations with some congregations being split by members belonging to different groups.
I am very grateful to my two colleagues for a frank discussion of the Presbytery’s life and work and for their commitment to build a strong Presbytery.
The Presbytery that has been my home for the last ‘more than nine years’ is the Presbytery of eGoli. Geographically, it is small – covering a circular area with Krugersdorp and Randfontein in the north West, Midrand in the North, Edenvale in the East and Mulbarton and Soweto in the South. It has 31 congregations in full status and three or four which are transitional or nuclear. It includes suburban, inner city and township Churches. Kingsley Dale (St Mungo’s, Bryanston) is the Moderator and John McKane (Linden) is the Clerk. Our Central Office (in Park town, Johannesburg) is located within the bounds. The Ministry Secretary is a member, as are Prof Maake Masango (Pretoria University) and the Rev Ndoda Mbuyisa (SANDF).
It was my privilege to serve as eGoli’s Moderator for two terms (2006 – 2010) and to visit every church building, preaching in many. eGoli has five of the largest (in terms of infrastructure) congregations in the UPCSA. It also has a full time mission enabler, the Rev Vusi Mkhungo. In recent years, it has seen decline in many of the smaller congregations. Two (St Ninian’s, Roodepoort and St George’s, Joubertpark) have been closed and one (Krugersdorp) has been relocated. Several of the township churches and a significant number of the suburban congregations are struggling and cannot afford the stipend of a minister.
eGoli also has its Association struggles with the majority of congregations (who are former PCSA) opting for membership in the MF and the aggrieved group of the UPWF.
Some years ago, the Presbytery decided to ‘turn its world upside down’ by choosing to take a close interest in the life and work of its congregations. Presbytery resolved to no longer have ‘a life of its own’ but to consider the life of its congregations to be its core business. We meet 6 times a year, every time in a different congregation (with the exception of August which is in the Moderator’s Church) and the congregation gets to tell us of its life and work. So we share the stories and network among congregations to help each other. eGoli considers itself the ‘golden heart’ of the UPCSA.
Warm greetings to all of you who read these blogs
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