Background, vision and aims

Churches, ecumenical bodies, Christian organisations and individual Christians all over the world have been alarmed by environmental destruction in its many forms. This has stimulated numerous Christian initiatives to respond to local and global environmental concerns. The stories of such Christian responses deserve to be shared and communicated to others.

The Network of Earthkeeping Christian Communities in South Africa (NECCSA) was established on 20 May 2002 to respond to this need.

• The main purpose of this network is to stimulate a concern for the environment and, more specifically, environmental justice amongst Christian churches in South Africa.

• It provides a communication network to share information, concerns, visions, stories, resources and creative suggestions with one another in order to support, encourage and inspire others to address environmental concerns effectively and from within a Christian orientation.

• The focus of the network on "earthkeeping" suggests that Christian ministry includes the responsibility to attend to (to "keep") the well-being of the whole earth community (which includes but also transcends human well-being).

• The struggle for environmental justice seeks to challenge the abuse of power that results in the situation that marginalised people have to suffer the effects of environmental damage caused by the greed of others.

Organisation and structure

As a communication network, the most important task of NECCSA is to distribute helpful information received from its members to the other members. This takes place especially through bi-annual newsletters and a monthly NECCSA Update (distributed electronically only). By its very nature NECCSA is a highly decentralised network and does not form an independent organisation with its own agenda. It remains dependent on the activities and contributions of its various members to operate effectively.

To facilitate the functioning of the network, NECCSA has been launched in various provinces in South Africa where an interest in such a network has been identified thus far. Members of the network in each province are encouraged to organise their own regional meetings, events, projects and activities in order to address local and regional environmental concerns. Representatives from the various provinces serve on the NECCSA Governing Board to ensure the proper functioning of the network.

NECCSA Constitution