One of the key elements of this year’s Lambeth Conference is, of course the Indaba groups. The way it works is this: We all meet in small Bible Study groups of around eight people after Breakfast each morning, to study the ”˜I ams’ of St John’s Gospel. This is proving a most productive experience. Perhaps bishops do not get the opportunity often enough to have fellowship in Bible Study groups!
Then, after coffee, five of the Bible Study groups come together to make up one Indaba group. Indaba is, we are told, a Zulu word for a gathering for purposeful discussion, used often when there is a difficult issue to be faced. ”˜It is’ says the opening section introducing the concept, ”˜both a process and method of engagement as we listen to one another concerning challenges that face our community and by extension the Anglican Communion’. It appears that part of the genius of Indaba is being aware of the issues without trying to resolve them immediately: certainly a very Anglican way! There are to be no hidden agendas, we are to think in terms of ”˜both-and’, rather than ”˜either-or’, and to trust our leadership. So far, so good, and the little tasks we have been asked to do on ”˜The Bishop and Anglican Identity’ and ”˜The Bishop and Evangelism’ have been relatively enjoyable – the kind of things you would do at a Youth Fellowship Weekend – but I share a growing uncertainty about where the process is going. The next stage, apparently, is to elect a ”˜listener’ to gather the ideas and take them to the next level, and then there will be various ‘hearings’, but no resolutions.
Correct link below.
[url=http://www.downanddromore.org/index.cfm?do=news&newsid=591]Read it all[/url]
[blockquote]So far, so good, and the little tasks we have been asked to do on ‘The Bishop and Anglican Identity’ and ‘The Bishop and Evangelism’ have been relatively enjoyable – the kind of things you would do at a Youth Fellowship Weekend – but I share a growing uncertainty about where the process is going. The next stage, apparently, is to elect a ‘listener’ to gather the ideas and take them to the next level, and then there will be various ‘hearings’, but no resolutions.[/blockquote]
I’m sure an accurate assessmen– but isn’t it enough then, when reflecting on our dismal retention rates, to finally cause us to reconsider the kind of things we do at Youth Fellowship Weekends?
It must be clear now to everyone that this indaba silliness has little or nothing to do with the practice in Africa What we are looking at is simply another small group discussion, arranged in a vertical hierarchy. In short, a commonplace arrangement that is wholly western. So “indaba” is yet another meaningless spin to give certain “flavor,” a new level of cool, a mere atmospheric, an ambience, a….well, something else, I forget what. This is juvenile and the Africans ought to be really p—d at the arrogance, the condescension in hijacking this word into meaninglessness. Come on, bishops, grow up. LM
Perhaps the results you have had with youth fellowship are different than the results that Bishop Harold and the Diocese of Down and Dromore have been having. Just as an example there’s [url=http://www.downanddromore.org/index.cfm?do=news&newsid=582] Total Madness! [/url]
But there’s also a lot at individual parish levels.