Network of Earthkeeping Christian Communities in South Africa

NECCSA Update: March 2005

A monthly newsletter on Church and Environment in South Africa

 

1. Easter and ecology

What does the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have to do with the Earth? Some would be inclined to think “… perhaps not all that much.” Christians engaged in earthkeeping may be content to find inspiration for their commitment in other sources, for example grace, the glory of God’s creation, God’s providence, the divine command to “subdue the earth”, the notion of responsible stewardship, the prophetic hope for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation and so forth.

However, a failure to relate earthkeeping to the core of the Christian gospel, to the message of redemption in Jesus Christ, and to the symbols of the cross and the resur­rection, will inhibit a Christian engagement in earthkeeping in the long run. Then earthkeeping will remain the hobby of a few enthusiasts who are convinced of the need for earthkeeping on grounds other than their core Christian convictions. This will amount to a form of self-marginalisation.

The challenge for NECCSA and its members is therefore to reflect in these days on and witness to the signifi­cance of Jesus Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection for the well-being of the earth and all its creatures. This will provide a stronger motivation and inspira­tion for earthkeeping than the use of any other Christian themes could ever hope to achieve.

2. Report on the National Ecumenical Environmental Conference, 14-17 March 2005, Hartebeespoortdam

A special NECCSA Update with details on the proceedings and outcomes of this conference will be distributed via the NECCSA channels within the next few weeks.

The delegates at the conference expressed firm support for the establishment of a Southern African Faith-based Environmental Institute. Following the presence and valuable inputs of several participants from faith traditions other than Christianity, there was consensus that such an institute should include such role players in its structures and organisation. Further work will be required to clarify such organisa­tional structures. An interim steering committee was elected to facilitate the process.

3. The road ahead for NECCSA

What has NECCSA achieved over the last three years? What are its strengths and its weaknesses? What should its core activities be? These questions were discussed at the most recent meeting of the NECCSA Governing Board and also during an informal group discussion at the recent National Ecumenical Environmental Conference. These debates also took place within the context of various views on how NECCSA should position itself in relation to the envisaged Ecumenical Environmental Institute.

Following these discussions, Ernst Conradie, NECCSA Secretary for the last three years, offers the following considerations in this regard:

Strengths:

·        NECCSA has maintained a certain presence in ecumenical circles and is certainly the most important current voice on issues relating to Christianity and earth­keeping in South Africa.

·        The NECCSA Updates are distributed quite widely, probably to more than 200 readers every month. It is not distributed to NECCSA members only, but to any person who may be interested in Christianity and earthkeeping.

·        NECCSA’s website has a wealth of material and resources and is updated on a regular basis.

·        The annual NECCSA newsletter has been of a high quality.

Weaknesses:

·        NECCSA has been unable to attract a large number of official members. The hope that Christian communities (congregations and organisations) would declare themselves to be ecological communities did not materialise (yet).

·        The functioning of regional representatives has not been satisfactory. There are still no representatives in 3 of the 9 provinces. The role of these regional representatives has to be clarified.

·        NECCSA’s operating costs are remarkably low and money has been spent frugally. Nevertheless, the original grant has now become virtually depleted and alter­native sources of income will have to be found soon, especially to maintain the NECCSA website.

·        The focus on networking and the use of the internet implies that NECCSA’s work is typically attractive to people in leadership positions and accessible only to those who use computers regularly.

·        NECCSA has maintained excellent but not official contact with those denominations which have formal environmental desks, unions, projects or commissions. It has not been able to promote earthkeeping through the organisational structures of other denominations.

Proposals:

·        That NECCSA should continue to do what it does well, namely to function as a network distributing information relating to Christianity and earthkeeping to those who are already interested in and committed to this cause. Such information could include stories on Christian earthkeeping, environmental issues that require attention, church statements on the environment, upcoming conferences and events, available resources (publications and liturgical resources), matters for reflection and discussion, etc. It should remain a decentralised network which does not have a particularly strong organisational structure and environmental projects of its own. The focus should be on the activities and needs of its members.

·        NECCSA should continue to invite individuals and communities to become (lifelong) members in order to demonstrate a strong commitment towards earthkeeping. The notion of membership for a two year period only should be scrapped and replaced with life-long membership.

·        The notion of nominal membership fees (at present R20 for a period of 2 years) should be dropped. This seems to be more of a burden than anything else. Instead, funds to cover NECCSA’s operational costs should be solicited from a number of individual donors (e.g. users of the network) who can contribute relatively larger amounts.

·        NECCSA’s activities should centre around the monthly NECCSA Updates and maintaining the website. The annual newsletter should be regarded as a more substantial version that would supplement the monthly Updates and should be distributed electronically too.

·        If so, NECCSA may be seen as something like a decentralised newspaper, indeed, an information network. It gives publicity to whatever its own members may wish to communicate to others.

·        The notion of regional representatives should be replaced by something like the “regional correspondents” of a newspaper. A region could be understood as widely as a province or as narrow as a municipal district. Such a correspondent could also focus on a specific client group (e.g. one denomination). Such regional correspondents will have a fourfold task: 1) to collect information on Christianity and earthkeeping from within their own region, information which may be included in the monthly NECCSA Updates and the website, 2) to maintain a list of persons who are interested in Christianity and earthkeeping within the region, 3) to help distribute the monthly NECCSA Updates to such people. Such regional correspondents should be identified on a volunteer basis. 4) to participate in the bi-annual electronic and telephonic meetings of the NECCSA Governing Board.

·        The task of editing the monthly NECCSA Updates should be shared by a revolving editorial committee approved by the NECCSA Governing Board.

Appeals:

If such views would be endorsed by the NECCSA Governing Board, one may call, already now, upon readers of this NECCSA Update to …

 

NECCSA website address: www.neccsa.org.za where membership and banking details can also be found. You are invited to accept ownership of this website in order to use it to share information on Christianity and earthkeeping practices. Please send any information to the email address below.

You are welcome to distribute this NECCSA Update electronically to any other interested person. You are also welcome to send news to be included in the next NECCSA update to emcemp@iafrica.com by 15 April 2005. You may send such contributions in the language of your choice.

If you prefer not to receive the NECCSA Update in future, please send a message in this regard to the email address mentioned above.

Distributed by EM Conradie 21/03/2005