Andrew Suderman's blog

Next to the biblical nativity stories, Dr. Seuss’ story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the most popular stories during Christmas time. This story has been one of my favorites, and it is one that we read, along with the biblical nativity stories, as a family on Christmas Eve.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…” 1 Cor. 1:27

One of the most important formation experiences in my life has been growing up in places where I have had to witness and wrestle with the reality that many in our world live in poverty. Living 10 years in Latin America, where one inevitably encounters poverty and is therefore affected by it, has shaped my life, my priorities, and my thinking. What’s more is that I was lucky enough not to live at arms length from those who were poor. Our family and the work my parents did had us building relationships with those who were poor.

Being different

The other day we held one of our regular Anabaptist Network in South Africa (ANiSA) discussion groups. We began to tackle the book entitled Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing written by the co-directors of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke University, Chris Rice and Emmanuel Katongole.

We began to talk about the title of the book. What is reconciliation? Do we need to reconcile all things? Is this realistic within the South African context? Is it realistic in general?

I recently attended a conference held at the University of Pretoria that focused on the theme Violence in the Democratic South Africa: A Challenge to the Church and its Theology. It was a wonderful time to engage others, both theologians and practitioners, about violence within the South African context. I learnt a lot, especially about the South African context and the very real challenges that face the Church as it seeks to respond to violence.

“At the forefront of our minds, the obvious signals of violence are acts of crime and terror, civil unrest, international conflict. But we should learn to step back, to disentangle ourselves from the fascinating lure of this directly visible ‘subjective’ violence, violence performed by a clearly identifiable agent. We need to perceive the contours of the background which generates such outbursts.”

This past week Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu explained further her proposal to introduce voluntary national service into the military as a way to instill patriotism and discipline in young “angry” youth who, Sisulu alleges, are behind the service-delivery protests within South Africa. Sisulu stated that “The unemployed [have] no hope, no prospects that their lives will get any better.

In many parts of the world, the church in all its forms, traditions, and denominations is coming to grips with, what for some, is an uncomfortable reality – that those who continue to attend church are those who are voluntarily deciding to do so. We are entering what some are calling “post-Christendom.”

What does it mean to be part of the church? What are some of the implications of deciding to be part of the church? What role should the church play in today’s society?