News

God created the Earth and said “it is good” so why is it bad now? On Saturday the 31 August, we had the opportunity to address the GBFS at their annual conference which was held at St. Peter’s in Khayelitsha. The conference saw about 100 young people gather from all 3 dioceses in the Western Cape. The session to present to the members took place after lunch. We were welcomed by the GBFS President of the Diocese of False Bay, and were allocated a half an hour to present to the members. We started our time off with some praise before moving into the presentation and devotion. The presentation focused on introducing the young people to what Green Anglicans is and what it is that we do as many were uninformed about the movement. In the presentation we had the young people reflecting on their environments, those around their houses, their church and within their communities. Then we had them reflect on the state of the rivers and sources of our water and its conditions, and for majority the response was that both were in bad conditions. We then proceeded to ponder the fact that when God created everything it was good, how then has everything gone bad and how do we get it back to being good. This then led into the devotion where we shared that we are chosen by God, and we are chosen to bring about social justice, just like Jesus did. We not only need to bring about social justice for people but for all of creation. The session for the day was led by Bino Makhayalane and John-Paul Roberts. We appreciate the support of CTEET for this programme

55 YEARS OF ANGLICAN YOUTH – 55 TREES FOR MAXIXE The Anglican Youth of Lebombos Diocese in Mozambique celebrated Provincial Youth Day with a wonderful event full of joy and worship Celebrating the #seasonofcreation, the day started with a March through the streets of Maxixe carrying the Anglican youth banners. 55 shade trees were planted throughout the town to green the city. The young people then had several talks – Rev Mpho Mohale representing Provincial Youth Chaplain encouraged them to put on the whole armour of God Canon Rachel from Green Anglicans talked about the sacredness of God’s earth – we are concerned to keep the sanctuary of the church clean up the sanctuary of the Earth is filthy. She shared how plastic does not break down, it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces and ends up in our rivers and oceans. By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. She brought a message from the Archbishop calling on young people to take the lead on caring for creation In the afternoon there was a health exhibition where people could give blood and take various health tests, and an art exhibition where young people showcased their products. A wonderful Eucharistic celebration followed led by Dom Carlos Matsinhe. The young people then followed with praise and worship until the early hours! In the morning the young people joined the morning Eucharist at the blessed Virgin Mary of Chambone church. Rev Mpho challenged the young people from the text of Jeremiah 2:7 “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable”. They are being called to renew the earth – the earth lies polluted but we are being called to act. Canon Rachel handed over the new youth manual in Portuguese “Cuidar da Creacao” to the archdeaconry youth leaders and chaplains. Provincial government officials who were present at the service were also given a copy by the Bishop. After the service the young people cleaned up litter to leave the Mother Earth clean before they boarded buses to return to different parts of Mozambique

BEING A GREEN DISCIPLE IN THE DIOCESE OF NIASSA The Diocese of Niassa held a four day consultation on “Intentional Discipleship” in Lichinga. The consultation was led by Canon John Kafwanka and Canon  Mark Oxbrow. As part of the exciting programme, Green Anglicans represented by Ven Raphael Eugenio looked at discipleship from an environmental point of view. Each day there was a slot to focus on the environmental aspects of discipleship and caring for creation. In the first session the attendees where challenged to consider the five items they would need in the case of an emergency. How can we best help our congregations to keep these items safe if an emergency should take place? What are the most important five actions the Church can take in the case of an emergency such as flooding or a cyclone? In the second session they looked at environmental challenges they face – using the “problem tree” as a methodology to look at the root causes of deforestation, dirty water and plastic waste etc. During the third session they looked at how the Church can adapt to climate change and be ready to face disasters in the future. The materials were adapted from “pastors and disasters” by Anglican Alliance After the workshop the group did a clean up in the community. Bishop Dino Gabriel from the Diocese of  natal also joined the Consultation together with two priests from the new Diocese of Nampula. T

MZI MOVERS! The Guild of Mary Magdalene held their Diocesan Annual celebration at the Collegiate Church – Holy Cross, Flagstaff. The Mzimvubu green Movers team safe guarded the integrity of the environment by cleaning up the church yard during lunch time. Yolanda Ursh Macaula Photos Kalipa #caringforcreation #seasonofcreation

600 Servers take up the challenge of caring for creation God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. The Anglican Server’s in Action (ASIA) from the Diocese of Mzimbuvu came together for their annual Diocesan Conference in Matatiele on the weekend of the 9 to 11 August 2019. The conference saw over 600 young people in red from across all over the Diocese. After a day full of pray and worship Bino Makhalanyane from Green Anglicans  was afforded space to address the conference as Care for Creation remains one of the main priorities in the Diocese. The message from the Green Anglicans was that young people should understand that they form part of God’s creation and as server in the church of God, they need to serve God by taking care of God’s creation as per mandate in Gen 28-29. But most importantly they need to take up this duty knowing that when God created humans He then said it was very Good , young people need to know that each one of them is good and beautiful in God’s eyes and should take it upon themselves to taking care of themselves and their neighbours as we always say during penitence at a Eucharist service  “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Therefore, as you buy and through away things keeping your space clean, remember that others stay near dumping sites and it is your trash that goes there and makes them sick, lets Reduce , Reuse and Recycle. As servers it is not only our duty to serve in the Sanctuary but also to remember that “the Earth is the Lord’s” and all of creation is holy and we must look after it. The Green Anglican office wishes to salute Ms. Azolo Ludidi (outgoing ASIA President) for having impactfully served as the ASIA President for six years, we wish her well in her journey going forward.

SPIRITUALITY AND  STEWARDSHIP The women of the Diocese of False Bay gathered at the beautiful Grail Centre in Kleinmond for a weekend Eco-retreat to celebrate women’s day 29 enthusiastic ladies joined the programme. The retreat was led by Canon Rachel Mash – environmental Coordinator for the Province. At the start of the retreat she reminded us that God can speak to us through nature as well as through the written word of God “the heavens declare the glory of God’ And she encouraged us to slow down, be still and experience the presence of God.  We started with a Taize service, lighting candles and moving to a time of reflective silence The morning meditation was framed with birdsong as we listened in the stillness to the sound of birds also worshipping God. The theme for our Bible study and personal meditation was trees –  sharing which gifts God has given us and which fruits have grown in our lives. We then looked at how deep our roots go into God, so that when there are times of drought and hardship, our roots can reach God’s living waters deep in our soul. The lunch time Eucharist continued the theme of trees and we learned that in order to grow our ministries we need to be grafted onto what has come before – not just wanting to start brand new things every time. We also need to plant when the ground is ready! In the afternoon despite the wind a group set off up Jean’s hill – to catch amazing views out over the coast – reflecting on parts of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si. 4 intrepid ladies even made it right to the top of the mountain! Sunday ended with the blessing of a Eucharist in the ‘forest chapel’ let by Rev Wilma Jacobsen and what a treat for many of us to reconnect as she has just returned from the USA May God bless this ministry of spirituality and stewardship as it becomes a movement through the Diocese.