POLOKO TAU
A SOWETO church led by former director-general in the Presidency Reverend Frank Chikane has unveiled its partnership with the government and other organisations to help the poor.
In his sermon yesterday, in which the concept of a caring church was outlined, Chikane said the Naledi Assembly of the Apostolic Faith Mission of SA had decided to become “outward-looking” as well.
“A church should be like a filling station where people fill up and go out there to make a difference. Our God is a loving and caring God and is not like a man who gives out tenders, who’ll ask you ‘Whose friend are you or who are you connected to?’.
“As a church, we have a responsibility to care and share, but we’ve realised that we can’t do this alone and that’s why we invited government. We want as a church to act as a catalyst that brings resources and services to the people.”
Chikane said his church’s vision was to make sure people had access to facilities, services and government programmes.
He said the church planned to run a career advice information centre in Naledi on Saturdays. “We approached Gauteng education after the stampede at the University of Johannesburg and offered to help the government. The department welcomed our initiative and appointed an official to work with us on career information programmes in Soweto,” Chikane said.
The church would invite high school pupils to attend a career expo on May 19. Chikane said this would involve “career guidance sessions and advisory services from institutions of higher learning about what they offer, and encourage students to apply to these institutions on time to avoid incidents.
The church’s plan was also to “go out into the community and engage people about challenges affecting them, and hear about what they think would resolve these challenges”.
The community would also be invited to donate items.