Celebrating diversity. 

This weekend i spent time with some young adults from across the St. Johns parish of six churches that i am part of and some others who were from outside of that as well. It was inspiring, fun, challenging, cold, enlightening and just really an amazing weekend. It was diverse in so many ways which was an absolute highlight.

The Davidses

The weekend was hosted by a friend of mine, Keegan Davids, who i am also studying the Leadership in Urban Transformation course with. i have kinda known Keegs for the longest time but i consider it the most amazing privilege to be getting opportunities to hang out with him, see him in action and know him better now.

He preached a kick ass sermon at Christ Church Kenilworth last Sunday which i’m hoping will be available to listen to here very soon.

And this weekend, watching him lead on camp, was just phenomenal – he has a gentle but super passionate spirit and is such a gifted leader, especially at drawing different people together around a single cause.

His wife Lindsay is also just such an inspirational woman [well, maybe not also, cos Keegan is not an inspirational woman] and i really enjoyed spending some time with her this weekend. As a team they are such a powerful force of goodness, inspiration and kingdom possibility and i look forward to watch them grow and dominate in the years to come.

The Visagies

Ashley Visagie is another friend of mine who is continuously inspiring me and challenging me both on social media and in the way that he and his wife Helene live their lives and their faith, especially in the serving of others is truly inspirational. It was great getting to spend some time with them on camp this weekend and just hearing the wisdom in both of their voices – especially during Saturday night’s group activity – was another highlight.

Ashley wrote up some post camp thoughts on two of the other speakers i wanted to mention so i am going to share his Facebook status words here, but firstly i will start with one of his thoughts from the weekend which hit straight between the eyes:

The cold spoke the loudest…I have no clue what it must be like to live in a shack when the winter rain floods the inside of your home. I have no idea what the smell of the damp must be like. In all likelihood, with my chronic rhinitis and asthma, I probably would not make it through the winter. 

We slept inside, on beds, with blankets and sleeping bags…in a brick structure, with electricity. 

It’s ungodly to be okay with anyone having to brave this winter in a shack. Ashley Visagie

Peter Cornelius and Sikelelwa Dlanga

Peter spoke on the Saturday morning about Discipleship in a post-apartheid South Africa and it was truly inspiring and i loved this challenge that he brought:

Possibly the most revolutionary act one could do is to move into the community of the poor (or put your child into a school on the Cape Flats?) – We’re not talking about gentrification, we’re talking about a counterscript to the story many White people are told (stay away from places like that…) and the story many Black & Coloured people have internalised (success is to get out/escape and stay out). Jesus would be moving in, not moving out – via Peter Cornelius

Siki spoke about Living between the Lines and helped paint a picture of people forced to navigate the way they live and speak and look as they move into different spaces and this is just one of the challenges she suggested:

Why are we accepted for our ‘whiteness’…when we go to a school and learn to speak/act a certain way…we are valued more because we are able to behave in a certain manner.

What if the church read through the laws of Apartheid and repented of them? Perhaps this would lead us to a greater degree of awareness of the ongoing trauma of our past and inspire us to exercise our imaginations in terms of what God requires of us to do. – via Sikelelwa Siki-First Dlanga

Call out the voices

The Justice Conference was probably the first occasion in South Africa where we got to see this – at least in the church – operated on such a huge scale. Out of 60 plus contributors who spoke individually, as pairs, or on panels throughout the two day conference, the amount of white voices could be counted in single digits.

i absolutely hate the terminology of “giving someone a voice” or even “speaking for the voiceless” because of the assumption that it brings that someone doesn’t have a voice. Everyone has a voice. But some are just ignored, silenced, mocked or twisted. We can’t ever give someone a voice, but we can give someone a platform. We can hand someone a mic. We can SHUT UP ourselves in a group conversation so that someone else’s voice can be heard. And we can call forth and invite and make space for and welcome and celebrate other voices, especially those that will bring something different – perhaps a fresh perspective or another angle or the experience of a contrasting background or culture – to sweeten and deepen and take the conversation to a whole new level.

My friend Mahlatse Mashua dropped all sorts of mics in the closing session of the Justice Conference when he gave this powerful talk slash multilingual spoken word humour-filled powerhouse of a talk which you should totally listen to if you haven’t yet.

People other than white people are being given the microphones and the pulpits and the leadership spaces and things are just growing from strength to strength. i think the Justice Conference of South Africa helped a lot of people in the audience to discover some of the incredible voices in our country [and beyond] that exist in people who are not white. And that excites me so much.

As a white male, to champion the voices of women and people who are from other races means that perhaps there will be less opportunities for me to speak. That is not an attractive thought to someone who really likes to speak and thinks that part of his gifting lies there. It’s really not. But when it is the Keegans and the Ashleys, the Lindsays and the Lisa Sharon Harpers, when it is the Austin Channings and the Nkosivumiles and the  Mahlatse and Lusanda Mashuas of this world, it becomes a whole lot easier, because they are so passionate and gifted that it is a privilege to sit at their feet and soak it all up.

i honestly never want to attend a conference or camp again where the speakers are all white and male. i think we are missing out when that is the case. i would also hate to be in a church where all of the voices or leadership were white and male. That ship should long have sailed.

How about you? Are you inviting diverse speakers into your spaces? How about around your dinner table? Are you calling the leaders of your churches and organisations to do the same? They are out there. And they are good! 

i long for the day when Americaland and England and Australia are importing South African speakers to come and headline their conferences because they recognise the Spirit of God that is speaking forth from some of our upcoming leaders and it has been amazing to watch reports of Nkosi’s first trip to Americaland so maybe he is paving the way for so many more to follow!