11 – 17 November 2007.
I was elected at the UCCSA Assembly in Oudtshoorn in September 2007 as the UCCSA Mission Council Convenor and my very first assignment was to attend this CWM Round Table meeting. It was my first experience of the CWM meeting. I was informed that the purpose of meeting will be to receive progress reports on the funds already disbursed by CWM to member churches in Africa Region and discuss a way forward.
At the meeting it was pleasing to me just to sit in a meeting where CWM member churches in the Africa Region were calling one another to account to what has been entrusted to them. It was not a meeting where we came to ask for funds or help from someone outside ourselves, i.e., from London. It was a meeting to listen to one another and try to come up with solutions for our own problems as we together affirm our membership to CWM Global.
I was, however, uncomfortable with the fact that it was CWM officials from London that seemed to control the meeting as it was even them who decided who should chair the round table meeting and when, in most cases saying what cannot be done. In the main it was an exciting experience for me to learn that member churches in Africa Region really take CWM seriously and understand the importance of using the funds received according to the original proposal submitted.
by Rev Dr O.I. Gasenewe
TIM, as the programme is commonly known is summarized by Wellington Sibanda, a previous participant, as a unique youth programme which is meant to equip young people in training, leadership development and youth empowerment skills for mission. This it does through interaction on the concept of mission and exchanging experiences and ideas.
TIM is primarily a journey with God. A journey where faith is cultivated. A journey where young people gain the opportunity to experience personal and spiritual growth through placement and exposure. Previous TIM participants have gone back home and shared their experiences with their church and some have ended up in work which relates closely with Mission in Church and Society. Let’s catch up with the ’08 team and hear what it means to be in the TIM Programme in Johannesburg, South Africa.
"I am hoping to be a better person and increase my understanding of mission."
(Steven from United Church of Zambia)
"I enjoy being here and I have learnt many good things, devotion time is special.. We discuss just about everything." (Uni from Churches of Christ in Madagascar)
"South Africa has got both rich and poor. There seems to be a lot of poverty , though. The infrastructure is the same as in Europe." (Petra from CEEVA, an ecumenical partner)
"I would like to learn more about myself and South Africa. I want to live up to Gods calling." (Shermaine from the United Church of Jamaica and the Caymen Islands).