SASDA 2001 Conference Report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date:

9 – 11 March 2001

Venue:

Bloemfontein SDA Union Building

Attendance:

+/- 20 Registered and +/- 30 day visitors

Author:

Pitso Tsibolane

 

 

 

 

 

Table Of Contents

 

  1. Introduction
  2. Program
  3. SASDA day by day
  4. Final Words

 

 

 

 

 

1.Introduction

 

The weekend 9th –11th of March will remain in the hearts and minds of a group of Adventist ‘cyber-friends’ who met in Bloemfontein to celebrate the commonality they shared and praise their God.

 

The conference, titled SASDA 2001 not only afforded Sasdites with an opportunity to put faces behind the e-mails but it also helped this believers to set their mission in focus and iron out issues which are pertinent to the existence of their ministry. Organised by the chief-moderator, Mashudu Rhavhengani and Ps. Jongimpi Papu, this eventful weekend was attended by friends from all the corners of South Africa and all who attended alluded to one fact at the conclusion of this historical meeting that: “God has an urgent mission for his people”.

 

2. The program

 

The weekend program was as follows:

 

Friday 9/03/2001

Arrival & Welcome:                                       Pastor J Papu

 

Sabbath 10/03/2001

07:00 Morning Manna                                  Pastor S Allen

08:00 Breakfast

09:30 Sabbath School Program                   “The Urgency of the Mission”

                                                                        Brother Matodzi, Brother Pitso,

Brother Andrew, Brother Sporo

 

09:45 Lesson Study                                       Brother Andrew

 

11:00 Good News                                          Pastor J Papu

 

12:00 Lunch

 

Afternoon

14:00 Music                                                    Brother Sporo

14:30 Presentation & discussions                  “MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? Challenges and Opportunities of the Church in Today’s World”

                                                                        Brother Alvin

15:30 Presentation & discussions                  “The challenges facing the SDA church in Southern Africa”

                                                                        Pastor Baxen (SAU Secretary)

16:30 Presentation & discussions                  “The relevance and future of SDA higher education”

                                                                        Pastor D Allen  (Helderberg Rector)

17:30 Break

 

18:00 Vesper                                                   Pastor Golelelwang (local Pastor)

 

 

18:30 Supper

 

 

20:00 SA-SDA in focus                                  Brother Mashudu

21:00 SDA Professional body                       Brother Mashudu

 

21:30 Good-nite

 

Sunday

 

07:30 Morning Manna and Farewell           Pastor J Papu

08:30 Breakfast

10:00 Farewell till we meet online

 

3.Sasda day by day.

 

 

The beautiful lodges were opened and each member was allocated their bedrooms. Bro. Mkhize, faithfully spent a sleepless night ushering those in attendance to their respective rooms.

 

 

Imagine the feeling when the Rhavhengani’s woke up to find out that Alvin Masarira was their neighbour for the weekend!!;-)

 A couple of families were in attendance,

 

-         Modise Sedupane and family(which is called by his name). In fact they set a new record for bringing the youngest Sasdite ever to the conference, their toddler energetic son who never missed a service) ,

-         Dave Allen and wife (God bless the Allen’s for their dedication).

-         Mdu Dlamini (better known as Fairbridge Dlamini) and his young beautiful wife.

-          Matodzi Ratshimbilane(a man of GOD) and his lovely soft spoken wife, 

-         Andrew Modise and his lovely wife

-         Mashudu and his ever-smiling wife.

 

The morning manna was offered by Shirley Allen who encouraged believers to learn to wait upon the Lord who will renew their strength. A beautiful presentation indeed.

 

Then a delicious breakfast was served by the union staff. God bless the hands which prepared that food!

 

Sabbath school was even more inspiring with bro. Matodzi encouraging everyone to break the rules of conformity when it comes to evangelism  if the gains outweigh the loss. A timely radical message from the lawyer. Bro Pitso awakened the sense of urgency of the mission and bro Sporo forcefully drove the point home with a rendition of a prose “What time is it”. Then Bro Modise eloquently summed it up. The lesson study was thought provoking with Bro. Andrew Modise leading it.

 

The “Confused Sporo” led the song service. So much energy and oomf(to put it in his words) from a man who had a ‘two minute’ sleep before the service. We all wonder how much more majestic it would have been if he had a proper sleep? You can’t beat ‘the confused’.

 

Then came the darling of our church, Ps. Papu. One can only ask themselves which sort of prayer does Ps Papu make before he preaches. This man must be walking with God. His message challenged the congregation and dispelled some long held myths about some stories in the bible. The gist of the sermon was that the reward of being involved in the mission is in being part of it! It is not what you do but what you become from mission that matters.What a relevant message for all who tend to think that heaven is the reward for faithfulness. The blessed lives we live in communion with Christ down here is the reward that some are waiting to receive when we get to heaven.

 

Then everyone feasted on a fresh vegetarian lunch that was served. What a delicacy it was !! Then the locals who had been present for the morning service also joined the afternoon discussions. Amongst the locals who came was the current SDASA president bro. Dodo, Ps. Seleseng, Ps Golelelwang and family and many other well-known locals.

 

Then the afternoon program kicked off with Bro Mkhize and Mashudu leading out. First on the hot podium was Ps Baxen (SAU Secretary) who talked about the challenges facing our church. He tabled some of the challenges with an amazing frankness and did not try to offer simple solutions. Some of the challenges he cited are: Structural problems and lack of growth in some sections of the church. He allowed Sasdites to give their opinions which they did emphatically. 

     

Second was Dr. Alvin Masarira who talked about the challenges of mission and he also put some suggestions on how to approach mission in the 21st century. He claimed to be an engineer rather than a missiologist but his presentation and his “skills(or lack thereof)” with the overhead projector suggested otherwise.

 

Then came Ps Dave Allen (Helderberg College) with his presentation on education. He emphasised the importance of christian education and its relevance today.

 

Just before Sabbath closure, a quartet of local ladies blessed us with a beautiful rendition of a musical item. Then Ps Golelelwang took on the pulpit with an urgent call to revisit our lives and really ask ourselves whether this is the time to be busy doing what we are involved in or rather time to invest our lives in the mission. His topic was “ A proffesional in the making who lost it”.

 

Then a quick break was followed by a late night discussion of “internal issues”. Ps Alan Parker joined the Sasdites for this session. The first issue discussed was SASDA in focus. The following issues came up:

 

SA-SDA in focus     by: Bro Mashudu

 

•              A need was echoed for SASDA to be more of an outreach programme. Sasdites will have to look into ways that will make this ministry a vehicle to win souls for Christ.

•              In an attempt to define its mission and identity the following names were suggested:

•              Online Family

•              e-Fellowship

•              Networking

•              Open Discussion

•              Issues Forum

•              Positive and Church Friendly Forum

•              Southern Africa based

 

•      The suggested mission statement is as follows:

 

“To facilitate positive open discussion of  issues relevant to the SDA church members in SA and thereby creating  e-fellowship”.

•              Jerry and Alvin will compile a list of rules (do’s and don’ts of SASDA) that will be e-mailed to all members once in a while.

•              SASDA will put a recommendation to the Union (ministerial department) to have a pastors forum

•              Pitso has been appointed the new SASDA Webmaster. He has to communicate with fellow Sasdites for their input as to how the site can be improved.

•              Members were also encouraged to use the website as a resource (www.masabatha.org) for research.

•              It was also emphasized that one of the objectives of SASDA is not to make conclusions and spiritual rules for everyone but to discuss issues and let individuals to make their own conclusions. This was after there was a concern that some issues are being left without any conclusion whatsoever.

•              Sasda will appoint five moderators who will keep an eye on the flow of discussions (e.g. Unanswered questions, rude responses etc.). Three people volunteered: Pitso, Otsile ‘Bizza’ Sedupane and Mashudu. The remaining two posts to will be advertised online.

•              Bro. Andrew Modise was reminded to finish up the un-subscription form that will try to assess reasons why some people are leaving SASDA.

•              SASDA needs to find a way of getting non-participating members to at least explain why they have been quite for so long.

•              Everyone is encouraged to send his or her messages (sermons) that will be published on a weekly basis through the Good-News forum. Good-News will be back in action in no time.

 

SDA professional body

 

     There was brief discussion on the issue of a SDA Professional Body but the participants soon realized that there was need for a broader and maybe nationwide discussion between those interested. The general conclusion was that Adventist professionals (wherever they may be) should look at coming together and see how they can use their skills and abilities for service in the church. The technicalities of the formation of such a body should be left to the collective wisdom of these professionals.  

A quick post-mortem.

 

 

Benefits

Concerns

 

1.      Face to face contact

2.      Accommodation facilities were superb

3.      The food was excellent

4.      Spiritual enrichment

5.      Topics were enriching and informative

6.      Well within the budget (R63 excess)

7.      Encouragement to recommit to SASDA

8.      Mission statement was a great step.

9.      All in all the company was enjoyable, the event worth the effort and everyone felt that we need to make timely arrangements for the next one.

10.  No casualties reported.

 

 

1.      The outing was too short. Maybe we should do it over a long weekend.

2.      No name tags as promised? This was due to late registrations.

3.      People attending should be encouraged       to camp/lodge instead of people coming during the day only.

4.      Attendance could have been better.

5.      Early arrangements should be done ie. Date announced earlier to encourage more attendance.

6.      Programs should be distributed earlier

7.      People should not drive too late to the conference

q       Prior arrangements like taking leave a day before the conference

 

 

 

Sunday

 

Ps. Papu closed the conference with a farewell message about how God wishes us to be like Him. God has great plans for each one of His children. Thereafter was a quick photo session and we hope some of the photos will find their way to the forum. Then it was time to find our  ways home.

 

Final Words

 

This will remain a memorable weekend. One person in attendance said this about the conference: “ This is how to spend your money and your weekend”. God was definitely present in Bloemfontein this past weekend.