About a month before Christmas, the Central Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town, unfurled an enormous banner on its property. In the name of Jesus, it declared “there is no room for the poor in the city”.
When the missionaries came to South Africa they built churches, schools, training colleges and hospitals.
These charitable activities and humanitarian gifts represented acts of religious obligation and induced a striving for blessedness (contentment). Christians believe that in the heart of pain and powerlessness, the community of the resurrection begins.
Clearly there is work to be done if we wish to address the sizeable problem of poverty in this country. If, in the lyrics of Freddie Mercury “We want to break free”, we need to earn the right to be heard and lead by example.
When we listen to the cries of those trapped in poverty and “the skin of the soul is rubbed raw”, real ministry begins.
Maybe it’s time for the church to sell all its property and start all over again. The son of man “who had nowhere to lay his head to rest” has become one of the biggest property owners in the country.