December 17, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya – Churches' on-the-ground assistance in Africa needs to be matched with equal energy for advocacy that challenges the structures responsible for the problems in Africa.

That was the word from the Rev. Dr. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, to the 10 members of the Church World Service Africa Forum who participated in the AACC's 9th General Assembly Dec. 7-12 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Africans are "giving it their all," Dandala said, but because of structures that rob them of the fruit of their labors – for example, their countries' massive external debt and unfair trade agreements – their energy investment is giving them nothing back.

The CWS Africa Forum includes the Africa secretaries of CWS member communions, Canadian ecumenical colleagues, and representatives of Africa-related organizations as defined and invited by the forum, said Christoph Schneider-Yattara of CWS, who staffs the forum.

The AACC, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is an ecumenical fellowship whose member churches and organizations include more than 120 million Christians in 40 countries, making it Africa's most comprehensive ecumenical body. It meets every five years in continent-wide assembly.

Forum members used the occasion of the Maputo assembly for their own half-day meeting, at which they were joined by staff of the Maputo-based CWS Southern Africa Regional Office and several African partners, including Dandala.

"One of the concerns that I believe the global church community needs to address is the question, â*˜What causes poverty?'" he told the group, urging the global ecumenical community to a "ministry of empowering people for self-reliance."

Dandala recalled that the missionary movements of old didn't have many resources and "weren't strong at providing emergency assistance, but very good at providing community transforming institutions" – especially schools.

Caroline Njuki of the United Methodist Church General Board of Global Ministries chairs the CWS Africa Forum. The forum plans to hold its spring meeting in the United States, and has invited the AACC's incoming General Secretary the Rev. Dr. André Karamaga to be present. Karamaga takes office in January.

The forum's purpose is to provide a common table for the exchange of information and concerns, to build ecumenical networks that further the members' work, and to explore collaborative solutions through joint efforts and advocacy related to the Africa region.

Some 1,000 people attended the AACC's Maputo assembly, at which delegates transacted official business – enacting a "Maputo Covenant" and resolutions on the crises in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name just a few of their actions.

Other participants worked in nine sub-theme "tracks" on topics ranging from the environment to economic liberation, and from health to human rights. For more information, visit the assembly weblog at http://aaccassembly08.wordpress.com/.

Church World Service