Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - June 26, 2005
Futhi Ntshingila Johannesburg

'The African Independent Churches' leaders are going to play a pivotal role in moral regeneration. One must take that seriously'

DWINDLING numbers of people who go to church and the challenge of HIV/Aids have sent clerics back to school to learn new leadership skills.

The African Federation of Churches has, together with the University of Johannesburg, Unisa and the Gauteng Department of Health, put together a training course aimed at empowering church leaders. It is hoped this will help them win the hearts and minds of greater numbers of people, especially the youth.

The Rev Kate Bapela, the federation's CEO, said the role of the church and its leaders had come under the spotlight in recent years, not least because of the Aids pandemic.

"We are facing one of the biggest wars, against HIV/Aids," she said.

Research conducted by the federation had highlighted the pressing need for social and moral regeneration and that there were too few prominent clerics to lead the way in dealing with these and other challenges.

"It became evident that a definitive plan by churches had to be implemented," said Bapela.

The result is a three-month, university-accredited leadership course for ministers.

Church leaders attend lectures - part-time at the University of Johannesburg - on management, entrepreneurship, managing HIV/Aids in the community and theory of corporate governance. On completion of the course, they receive a Unisa certificate.

Bapela said that initially the federation had targeted leaders of the African Independent Churches, to which more than half of the South African population is believed to belong.

"We specifically focus on African Independent Church leaders because, as most Africans get older, they come back to their home churches looking for African answers," said Bapela.

But a visit to the University of Johannesburg's Auckland Park campus found not only these but ministers representing 32 different churches in deep discussion about the leadership structures of their churches.

Speaking in whichever language they were comfortable, they debated the weaknesses and strengths of hierarchical leadership.

The women especially elaborated on the problems they encountered as leaders in their churches, citing favouritism and male domination.

Sarena Mbalathi, Archbishop at St Mary's Apostolic in Alexandra, Johannesburg, said that when her husband, a minister, had died she had felt his church begin disintegrating without leadership.

"I knew how the church was run because [he] discussed a lot of things with me while he was alive. So I had to take over and keep the church together.

"It was hard work and I paid dearly for that because I did not have time to grieve. I had to forget my pain and work on keeping the church and the community together," she said.

Mbalathi said the course had been an eye-opener, giving her a better understanding of leadership and how the church could draw young people into its fold.

Professor Francois Swanepoel, of the theology and religious studies faculty at Unisa, said the course was a proactive and practical way of helping religious leaders to cope with change.

"One would have to recognise that more than 50% of the total population of South Africa belongs to the African Independent Churches. They [the churches' leaders] are going to play a pivotal role in moral regeneration. One must take that very seriously," said Swanepoel.

It was for this reason that the Gauteng Health Department had joined the churches' federation in training ministers. Department spokesman Simon Zwane said church leaders were crucial in the fight against HIV/Aids.

"We feel that our work as a department is complementary to that of church leaders, particularly on this issue of HIV/Aids. We are all preaching prevention so it's important that we work together. We are assisting with training so that we are on the same page," he said.

Ren- Benecke, co-head of the communication department at the University of Johannesburg, said it provided a venue for lectures because it felt the training course was worth supporting.

"This initiative is a brilliant step in getting everybody in South Africa on par to deal with diverse challenges... and that's why we are involved," he said.

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) commended the initiative, saying it would give ministers tools to deal with new situations.

The SACC's Rev Luke Pato said he was particularly happy that leaders from the African Independent Churches were included because they had in the past felt left behind by similar initiatives.

050627
ST050618