Ministering to South African Migrants

On 12 June 2013  a number of pastors and leaders in the CRCA met at the Sydney airport to think about how we as churches can bet minister to South African migrants and pastors. This was the first time CRCA has gathered South African ministers of our denomination together. This was an important meeting, given the significant contribution South African Ministers and migrants are making to our denomination. There was a palpable cathartic atmosphere in the meeting, in which people shared both the positive and negative

experiences of their new life in Australia and the impact of the difficulties of adjusting to both the national and church cultures here. If this was all we achieved, it was a great step forward for the CRCA. We listened to each other and especially to our South African brothers. There is significant loss and pain in forced migration from your homeland to set up in a foreign country with a different culture.

DISCUSSION

Ministering to South African migrants

The meeting wrestled with the problems, and found them particularly difficult to define. We have sought to distill the following from the discussion:

(1)  Migrants and ministers need an opportunity to tell their stories because:

a.       The losses sustained in migration are great

b.      The challenges of integrating into a new society/church are great

c.       Communication is difficult due to language barriers

(2)  Cultural differences need to be explained/explored

(3)  Welcoming needs to be deep and ongoing so that real hospitality and integration happens so that a real sense of community and belonging develops among migrants. It also needs to address the tensions that occur in congregations where a significant number of people from a single culture come in, so old members don't feel like strangers in their own church.

(4)  Practical needs are to be addressed

(5)  Newcomers need to be discipled in the gospel as the gospel is the only power that can effect change from within. We need to explore how the gospel:

a.       Challenges South African culture & Australian culture

b.      Provides a deeper security than career, money & success can

c.       Informs our commitment to the church life

d.      Compels us outward to the mission of Christ so that our desires increasingly serve to that mission

e.       Celebrates cultural diversity in church community … ‘every nation, tribe & language’

f.        Our identity is found first of all in Christ (not in our nationality). This is also where we find unity between cultures

 Possible actions

(1)  Collect and circulate stories, perhaps a regular section in Catalyst.

(2)  Find a key person (a champion) in each congregation with the role to welcome, integrate and involve new South African members

(3)  Develop a bridge-building discipleship course that includes:

a.       Understanding cultural differences

b.      Understanding the CRCA

c.       Understanding the gospel (not narrowly, but how it impacts our lives re church, work, culture etc

 Supporting South African Pastors

 South African pastors expressed a sense of isolation in the denomination, and all had stories that needed to be told. Their wives also struggled with the sense of isolation that sometimes led to an indifference/disappointment towards the denomination. It was noted that attendance at ministers and wives conferences by South African pastors have been dropping.

 Possible Actions

(1)    Each South African pastor is to be offered a suitable CRCA mentor/coach and advocate (another more experienced minister?)

(2)    RTC to run an induction course for SA pastors as an intensive focussing on CRCA ministry culture, worship style etc.

(3)    Encourage South African Ministers and wives to attend Ministers and Wives Conferences, as a valuable networking tool.

Conclusion

The group agreed to meet again in 12 months, and participants agreed to write and collect stories of South African Migration to share amongst the group, focussing particularly on how the gospel informs those stories.