Stephen Hayes's Blog, page 94

Free the monks

When my mother died in November 1983, we went to Zululand Hardware in Melmoth and asked for a coffin. They took us into the yard at the back of the shop, and there was a plain and simple pine one on a shelf under a corrugated iron roof. It was a bit mouldy from exposure to the wind and the rain, but quite serviceable. It cost R40.00. With inflation being what it is, I'd expect it to cost about R400.00 at today's prices. It had no handles, so we went into the shop and bought six handles which ...

Spiritual warfare and humility

A few years ago a group of us had a synchroblog on spiritual warfare. My contribution is at Notes from underground: Thoughts on Spiritual Warfare (synchroblog). We blogged on the same topic on the same day, and linked to each other's posts, so that we could get a variety of views on the same topic.

One thing that struck me about the synchroblog was that so few of the links still worked, and that in three years I've lost touch with most of the people who joined in the synchroblog. How...

The loss of civil society

I came across this paragraph in an article in a rather surprising source that seems to sum up much of the malaise in modern society The American Conservative — Shattered Society:

The loss of our culture is best understood as the disappearance of civil society. Only two powers remain: the state and the market. We no longer have, in any effective independent way, local government, churches, trade unions, cooperative societies, or civic organizations that operate on the basis of more than single...

No, no Rica, not that again!

Foot soldier for freedom by Rica Hodgson

No, this isn't a review yet, because I haven't read the book. It's only just been published , and what I caught was an interview with the author Rica Hodgson on the radio.

Karabo Kgoleng was interviewing Rica Hodgson on , which was appropriate because tomorrow is Women's Day, which celebrates women's resistance to apartheid, and Rita Hodgson was undoubtedly one of those women who resisted, and I've put her book on my "to read" list.

It's...

No, no Rita, not that again!

Foot soldier for freedom by Rita Hodgson

No, this isn't a review yet, because I haven't read the book. It's only just been published , and what I caught was an interview with the author Rita Hodgson on the radko.

Karabo Kgoleng was interviewing Rita Hodgson on , which was appropriate because tomorrow is Women's Day, which celebrates women's resistance to apartheid, and Rita Hodgson was undoubtedly one of those women who resisted, and I've put her book on my "to read" list.

It's...

Christians and Muslims in Africa

Ralph Peters, a columnist for the New York Post, foresees a Christianist backlash against Islamist violence against Christians in Africa, and notes that Christianity is growing faster than Islam in Africa. Christian backlash brews in Africa against Islamists–Ralph Peters – NYPOST.com:

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the old mysticism of folk religion glides easily into charismatic Christianity, but collides head-on with the intolerance of Wahhabism.

When I reached West Africa in later travels...

Internet mission and evangelism

I've read lots of articles about how the church should use the Internet for mission and evangelism, and ways in which electronic communications can make life easier, or urging us to change the way we think to adapt to new media. But many of these articles are quite shallow.

Twenty years ago I was trying to convince people that using BBS networks could be an aid to communication, and one leader of a well-known evangelistic organisation had a problem with this. He couldn't type. He could not...

Sermon for 1 August – 10th Sunday after Pentecost

10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 1. Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Lifegiving Cross of the Lord (First of the three "Feasts of the Savior" in August). Holy Seven Maccabean Martyrs: Abimus, Antoninus, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusabonus, Alimus, and Marcellus, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher, Eleazar (166 B.C.). The Holy Martyrs of Perge in Pamphylia: Leontius, Attius, Alexander, Cindeus, Minsitheus (Mnesitheus), Cyriacus, Mineon (Menæus), Catanus, and Eucleus (3rd c.).

SERMON – 1...

Church growth — and shrinkage

Urban Ministry Live And Unplugged: Church Growth:

Generally speaking, in the West, the Church is 'holding' or in decline. In South Africa, while statistics are patchy, those that one can come by show that the Church scene is volatile, and that there is, in many areas, rampant growth.

This comparison of the 1996 and 2001 censuses is quite interesting:

South African church membership - growth and decline

I'm not qure quite how comparable the two censuses are, because of different methods of...

Lib-Con coalitions to spread to Africa?

The Tory-Lib-Dem coalition in the UK seems to have inspired a similar movement in South Africa, as the following story suggests.

News – Politics: Helen can afford to buy ring, jokes De Lille:

ID leader Patricia De Lille addressed the congress, dangling an engagement ring as a symbol of a pending marriage of opposition parties.

'I don't know where we are in the process of courting and dating. I don't know who is going to buy the engagement ring, but I think Helen can afford to buy the ring,' she...