R&J Hall's Durban Mission -- UCCSA Assembly

The reason for our trip to Namibia was to attend the biennial Assembly of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, held for the first time in Windhoek, hosted by its Namibia Synod. We attended as delegates from the KwaZulu-Natal Region.

We knew a bit about the UCCSA before the Assembly, but it is quite an education to see and hear it in person. The UCCSA is composed of Congregational churches in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The churches have their origins in the missionary efforts of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions from the 1840's onwards (the KZN Zulu churches are of this origin, and the Mozambican churches derive from them, we're told), and those of the London Missionary Society (David Livingstone's outfit), with some combination efforts (in the gold fields of the old Transvaal, for example) between the two; along with churches founded by white settlers. In KZN, the denomination has white and coloured community churches, but is predominantly Zulu. Overall, however, the church in South Africa (and Namibia) is strongest in the Coloured community, and this has an interesting effect -- that the most common language spoken in the denomination is Afrikaans.

The Assembly was largely conducted in English, but especially prayers, and hymns, and the wonderful intervening choruses, proceeded in Zulu and Xhosa and Tswana and Ndebele and Pedi/Sotho and Chitwa and Nama and Matabele and more and more languages, but especially the Afrikaans of our hosts, the Namibia Synod. Fascinating.

This was a church assembly, so it had its share of unmitigated boredom, droned reports on this and that, too long statements on things of absolutely no significance, and so on. But there were many magical moments, including the worship services and, especially and again and again, the singing. We will long remember this week, and treasure the opportunity to take part. We will most especially be thankful for the chance to get to know so many wonderfully different people, all dedicated to the work through this church body. It has been a real privilege this year to be a small part, of a small part, of this overall body.