Tag: corona pandemic

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Authority – Kingdom Leading in an Uncertain World

These notes are the basis of Alexander’s presentation to the Australian Vineyard National Leadership Conference, 30 October 2020. You can view the teaching: https://youtu.be/6J3YAorIjmI


Hello, my name is Alexander Venter, and I’m a recovering sinner-pastor.
My life’s work is to understand, live and teach the teachings of Jesus.
That, for me, is essentially learning to live a life of love, just as Jesus loved us.


My Prayer for you: (from Dallas Willard)

I pray that you will have a rich life of joy and power, abundant in supernatural results, with a constant and clear vision of never-ending life in God’s world before you, and of everlasting significance in your work day by day as servant leaders – a radiant life and a radiant death.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen!


My Text: Matthew 28:16-20  (my biblical quotes are from the NIV)

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

My focus is on the authority Jesus was given by the Father, and then given to his disciples, commissioning/authorising them to go and make apprentices of him from people of all nations. We are mandated in God’s co-mission (Missio Dei) to make disciples of Jesus, not of ourselves or our church. We can only make disciples of Jesus to the degree we ourselves are his apprentices – then God’s authority operates through us in real terms.

Therefore, leadership in God’s Kingdom, in Jesus’ effective authority, is largely determined by the degree of our personal apprenticeship to him. An apprentice is a person who commits to live with, to learn from, to become like their teacher/master. The Great Omission in the Great Commission – the elephant in the room of the church – is that we make converts, church members, but not apprentices of Jesus. That is the reason why Christians and the Church are so powerless to effect change in our world. We are more a copy of the world, of prevailing culture and ideology, than a model of God’s Kingdom come.

The context into which Jesus was born and did his ministry has similarities with the context in our world today. It was a time of pressure and extremity under Roman rule, with psycho-spiritual-emotional reactions, and socio-political responses from leaders and people. Jesus offered The Kingdom of God as the answer, discipleship to him in his community, in contrast to what the other groups/parties in Judaism were teaching in response to the times (Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Zealots, Essenes, Chief Priest and Elders, and ‘the sinners’). We are first followers and apprentices in Jesus’ Way of the Kingdom, then we pastor and lead in that Way. What does it mean to exercise ‘Kingdom leading’ in God’s authority, just as Jesus did, in our uncertain world? I will comment on our changed world context and post-lockdown church, then define authority, power and leading, in Daniel and in Matthew.


Our Changing Context:

The corona pandemic, among other factors, has forever changed the world we live in, the uncertain context in which we now pastor/lead. Awareness of these signs of the times will help us exercise our authority in Kingdom leading, with wisdom, compassion and fortitude.

Signs of heightened stress in times of extremity (from clinical & social psychologists):

  • Fear & anxiety – confusion & uncertainty.
  • Grief & sadness – mortality & mourning.
  • Loneliness & depression – mental health issues come to the fore.
  • Numbing the pain, escape into addictions and self-created reality and fantasies.
  • Relational stress & breakdown – marriage, family, domestic abuse, GBV.
  • Economic recession, widespread social protests/unrest, challenge of social conscience, pull back to political populist nationalism and conservative protectionism, geo-political power-plays, increased inequality, human rights violations, environmental challenges.
  • Loss of personal and social security – more crime & violence.
  • Dooms-day syndrome, end of the world prophecies, fanciful Bible interpretations.
  • Ideological clash and deception, conspiracy theories, lies and fake news.
  • The need for a savior, for metaphysical answers, seeking spirituality, return to religion.

A prophetic perspective sees it as God’s shaking, of realignment and ascendency of spiritual powers. This crisis is a kairos moment, a time of disaster/judgement and God-opportunity for Kingdom breakthrough and change – for revival. The “signs of the times” (Matthew 16:1-4) must be interpreted in light of Hebrews 12:26-29. The Lord of the heavens and the earth is shaking all things, our nations and churches, and the powers over them, that what cannot be shaken, his eternal Kingdom, may emerge for all to see. We are being tested as to how much of our lives, ministries and churches are truly built on the unshakable rock of the King, on the “gold, silver and precious stones” of living and teaching the Kingdom Jesus lived and taught, or on the “wood, hay and straw” of lip-service to the Kingdom (Matthew 7:24-27; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15).


Leading Post-Lockdown Kingdom Church:

What is the ‘new norm’ after lockdown, post-corona? Here are some of my observations that will introduce my discussion on leading in Kingdom authority from Daniel and Matthew:

  • No longer Sunday dependent church with all its performance. Don’t go back to “Sunday as usual” too quickly. Rethink how to do church differently in this changed context.
  • No longer building and office centred, no longer program driven.
  • No longer centralised preacher/pastor dependent – yet we must lead more effectively.
  • The failure of megachurch and the man of God/celebrity leadership syndrome. The average church is 70 people. That’s the reality we must work with.
  • We’ve learnt to do online church (favourite new phrase, “unmute yourself”!). It has been a necessary surrogate tool. However, the danger is that technology forms us in its image; it is not a neutral tool. List the negatives and positives of online church. Some folk will be forever lost in its convenience and smorgasbord offerings. Don’t abandon it, but balance forms of online church by using technology wisely for clear purposes.
  • BUT what is now clear:
    1) the need for community, as in face-family home churches of high touch and care, within larger congregational gatherings that meet in different ways at different times – all with corona safety protocols for love of neighbour.
    2) The need for pastoral care, intentional relational engagement, healing ministry.
    3) Continue outward missional community service, as most engaged in under lockdown.
    4) Devolve leadership by purposeful discipleship/formation to release more people and leaders to ‘go do’ ministry and mission ‘out there’, to start/lead small groups to disciple others (Vineyard ‘mantra’ IRTDM: identify, recruit, train, deploy, monitor).

All this means: it is a time to revisit and clarify our philosophy of ministry, to reflect on our mission and vision, what is of core value and priority, with greater flexibility on how it’s contextually expressed, being far more fluid and organic than programmatic. Defined by ‘doing the Kingdom main and plain’, not ‘the excellent’, ‘the experimental’, ‘the exotic’. This essentially means making apprentices of Jesus in the four irreducible dimensions of God’s unshakable Kingdom, the four Kingdom missional implications that define church:

Power Encounter: discipling our people in the ministry & power of the Spirit
Personal transformation: discipling them in character formation to Christlikeness
Social transformation: discipling them in wholistic social engagement
World mission: discipling in evangelism and church planting – a world vision


Kingdom Leading and Authority

Leadership in God’s Kingdom – leading God’s Kingdom people – starts with Jesus: his vision, theology and praxis of the Kingdom, with a focus on his understanding and use of authority. When it comes to exousia (authority), the book of Daniel is clearly Jesus’ primary source – discussed below. But, let me first define authority (exousia) and power (dymamis), and their necessary inter-relationship.

Power is the ability to do something, the innate capacity (strength) of someone or something to act with the energy/force/resource needed to make it happen (i.e. empowering).

Authority is the right to do that something, the right of action by appointment, commission, mandate (i.e. authorization – the authority to act and do certain things).

Authority is always person related whereas power can be person or otherwise related. For example, nature has innate power/energy, or spirit, which is personal power/energy. The human body is potential power activated by spirit – either human, God, or evil spirit. 

Biblically, all authority is from God, the Creator-Ruler-King. Thus, all authority is derived, given, delegated, and ultimately represents God’s authority, for better or for worse. Authority is the right of action linked to a commission, mandate or appointment, to be used or exercised in keeping with – in the spirit, boundaries and limits of – the purpose for which it is given. I.e. authority is the right to use  and  the right use of  the power/resources available to us. Thus, all authority (and power) is ultimately dependent on and accountable to God. Misuse of power is abuse of authority (authoritarianism), no longer a ‘domain/dominion’ directly under God, but a ‘domination’ of/by evil working against God. In short, authority is given and can be exercised, or neglected, or assumed, taken, usurped, resisted, abused, etc. BUT, we must be clear: all authority and its use will be held accountable by God.


Daniel, Authority and the Son of Man

The Greek Septuagint (LXX) translates the Hebrew memsalah (dominion/kingdom/authority) and the Aramaic soltana (domain/rule) as exousia in Daniel. Authority is a domain, a rule, a kingdom. As in our personal kingdom, and human national kingdoms (empires), and God’s kingdom. Therefore, ‘kingdom’ can be defined as the effective range of our will, the authority we have in real terms to make things happen, for our will to be done. Where God’s will is done, his Kingdom has come!  In summary, exousia is used in Daniel of:

  • God (Yahweh) whose rule/kingdom/dominion is eternal (Dan 4:3, 34-35; 6:26)
  • God rules over all earthly kingdoms: “the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes” (Dan 4:32).
  • All authority of human-earthly rulers derives from the spiritual realm. Ultimately from God, either directly or via angelic authorities in obedience to their divine commission; or (mostly) via spiritual powers that are fallen/evil in denial of their divine commission (Dan 10:13, 20-22; Psalm 82). Thus, the character of any visible national government represents the spiritual formation of the (corrupted) invisible authority behind it.
  • God installs and removes kings (Dan 2:21; 4:17,31; 5:20) and the spiritual powers behind them, taking away their exousia (Dan 4:35, 7:12, 10:13,20): “God does as he pleases with the powers of the heavens and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him ‘what have you done?’” (4:35).

Daniel describes four empires/kingdoms (“beasts”) that arise on earth with the spirit-powers behind them, perpetrating injustice and evil (ch 2, 7). In contrast, God’s Kingdom is “power and wisdom” (Dan 2:20), “rescues and saves, performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth” (Dan 6:27 cf. 4:2-3). In the days of the fourth beast (the Roman Empire), the most brutal cumulation of all other kingdoms, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever… the rock cut out of a mountain, not by human hands” (Dan 2:44-45).

This is how it happens (Dan7:9-27). The Ancient of Days takes his throne/seat in the heavenly court and rules against that culmination of evil embodied in the fourth empire. Then “one like a son of man” (a human) comes on a cloud into his presence and is given all authority and power:  all peoples, nations and languages worship him (a human being! v.14). They no longer worship other human rulers and the powers behind. The “son of man” represents the saints of the Most High who refuse to worship the rulers and their empowering spiritual authorities (their ideologies and idols). This mysterious human-divine figure ascends from suffering with/for the saints under the empire’s oppression (vv.21,25), and is enthroned in the heavens so that “the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven (i.e. ALL exousia) will be handed over to the saints” (v.27). The people of the Most High receive God’s Kingdom-authority of “power and wisdom” that “rescues and saves, performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.” So, the Son of Man embodies the new humanity with authority restored to rule the earth (vv.18,22,26-27 cf. Gen 1:28).


Matthew’s Son of Man, Authority and Leadership in the Kingdom

Jesus based his theology and praxis of Kingdom authority and leadership on THIS prophetic worldview, believing he was Daniel’s Son of Man (his self-designation, occurring 81 times in the Gospels). Coming out of suffering and death, through resurrection and ascension, Jesus says, “All authority in the heavens and the earth has been given to me”. He is quoting Dan 7:9-27; i.e. Matthew’s Great Commission literally fulfils Daniel 7.

Jesus gives the saints, the new humanity who will rule the earth, that authority. NOT to go and take over and dominate people and nations, as the four beasts and “the rulers of the Gentiles” do in their idolatrous worship of spiritual powers (Matt 20:25). Rather, commissioned to go and make apprentices of Jesus in his Kingdom from people from all nations. Jesus: the quintessential human being, the new humanity at God’s right hand. We live King Jesus’ heavenly rule on earth, doing his will as in heaven. Indeed, we are in training for reigning in this life and the life to come on the new earth. And we lead by lived example in this great Kingdom enterprise.

The nature and exercise of this Kingdom-Authority expounded by Matthew:

Earthly confrontation after birth: Herod, puppet king of the Romans, the fourth beast, authorises the killing of Jesus – all boys two years and under are killed (Matt 2:16).

Spiritual confrontation at start of ministry: The devil himself tempts Jesus in the desert. Each time Jesus overcomes by using the authority of God’s Word (Matt 4:4,7,10).

Teaching with authority: The people recognise that Jesus taught with divine authority in contrast to the teachers of Torah who quote rabbis as their authority (Matt 7:28-29, 9:6,8).

Miracles by Kingdom exousia: Matthew 8 & 9 narrates ten miracles that introduce Jesus’ teaching, and sending the twelve on the mission of the Kingdom in chapter 10. Jesus is the new Moses (Deut 18:17-19) leading a new Exodus through ten miracles that defeat the oppressive spiritual powers which keep Israel in exile from God. In Matt 8:5-13, the second miracle, a Roman Centurion asks Jesus to exercise his authority to rescue and heal his servant. This military representative of Daniel’s brutal fourth beast (the most evil exousia, Jesus’ enemy) sees and confesses God’s exousia in the Son of Man – echoing confessions by Gentile rulers in Daniel 3:28-29, 4:34-35; 6:26-27. Because the centurion is under authority, he exercises authority to order his soldiers to dominate/enforce the will of Rome, coercing Jews into submission. He recognises Jesus has spiritual authority because Jesus evidently operates under God, using his authority as merciful power to serve and save those exiled from God, liberating them from evil dominion to do God’s will by free choice. “Speak the word and my servant will be healed.” Amazed at such understanding and consequent faith, Jesus says, “I have not found such great faith” in all the supposed people of God. The centurion has structural authority with the resources/power of the Empire to back him up. He knew Jesus has spiritual authority because God backs him up with heavenly resources/power. This exousia is clearly the basis of all Jesus’ gospel miracles that defeated the powers and freed people from enslavement.

Exousia to forgive sins: In healing the paralytic (Matt 9:1-8), Jesus quotes Dan 7:13, “the Son of Man has authority on earth”, and specifies it, “to forgive sins” – because he spoke forgiveness to the man. That causes consternation. To prove he has authority to forgive sins, he commands the paralytic to “get up and walk!” And it happens! So, evidently, his sins are forgiven. The crowd is in awe that God “has given such exousia to men.”

Exousia given for Kingdom co-mission: After modelling Kingdom authority by speaking the word in humble service, Jesus gives his apprentices “exousia to drive out evil spirits and heal every disease and sickness… freely you have received, freely give” (Matt 10:1,7). He warns them that exercising such servant authority will incur opposition and suffering.

The keys of the Kingdom: Jesus reveals his identity, the Son of Man, to his apprentices (Matt 16:13-20). Peter sees and confesses Jesus for who he is: God’s Messiah/King (only after the centurion and spiritual powers [demons, Matt 8:29] recognise Jesus for who he really is). Jesus gives Peter, thus the church, “the keys of the Kingdom”: authority to open and close, for people to enter or not, to “bind” and “loose”. Jesus had modelled using “the keys”. I think of it as having the keys to a powerful motor vehicle. We enter, activate and work with a power way beyond our own. We are transported and empowered to do God’s will. J.P Meier (Historical Jesus scholar) defines the Kingdom as a power-zone, a force-field, that Jesus lived in and operated through. If we do not drive the car responsibly, selfishly misusing the authority and power given to us, we cause harm to ourselves and others. A driver’s license (preparation and authorisation) is needed, but that does not guarantee responsible usage of the authority and power – trusted character does.

Exousia to lead in the Kingdom: For the disciples, exousia in God’s Kingdom is “being the greatest” (Matt 18:1; 20:26), “first”, “master/leader”, requesting to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand (Matt 20:20-28).
First, Jesus is shocked at such grasping presumption. He says that authority to lead/rule means immersion/fellowship in his suffering, drinking his cup: the suffering love which forms the character that can be trusted to responsibly handle such authority, to fulfil the purpose for which it is given.
Second, Jesus has “all authority”, yet he knows its limits: only the Father gives those places to whom the Father is preparing, training with the formation fit for such authority.
Third, Jesus exposes the mindset of all his apostles: the ten are angry because they too want to sit on those thrones next to Jesus – “the thrones set in place” in Dan 7:9f, the thrones Jesus had earlier spoken of to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28). That reveals their dominant consciousness of exousia as position, power, prestige, title and turf. Jesus responds: The Gentile rulers and officials use authority to “lord it over” people, to enforce, control, dominate, in order for their will to be done. To make their kingdom great again! “NOT SO with you! Instead, whoever wants to be great among you, must be your servant (diakonos), and whoever wants to be first must be your slave (doulos, a stronger word) – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”

Here Jesus joins Daniel’s Son of Man and Isaiah’s Suffering Servant, embracing both as his identity-destiny in his co-mission with the Father, forming his life to fulfil both. I.e. the authority to lead and be great in the Kingdom is spiritual influence and power based on self-sacrificing service, not structural position and coercion based on being served. God gives authority in real terms to those who serve, as they suffer in love of those they serve, to free them from slavery to sin, sickness, demons, death, injustice, ideology, poverty (Luke 4:18). God backs them up with heavenly grace, the resources and power they need when they need it. Even if they are crucified at the hands of earthly and spiritual powers, God will vindicate them by the ultimate power: Resurrection. In short, Jesus’ exousia is the freedom to serve by laying down his life in suffering love, and to take it up again (John 10:18). As Martin Luther said, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” 

The authority that Jesus exercises is clearly from God (Matt 21:23-27): The Jewish leaders eventually come to see and recognise this in Jesus’ final week of confrontation with the powers. Unlike the people, centurion, demons, and Peter, they refuse to acknowledge and confess it. Rather, they decide to kill him. Though they think they are “the saints, the people of the Most High”, they are the real pagans serving Daniel’s fourth beast, the brutal Roman authorities. They bow the knee to and are instruments of the evil powers, the idols of Compromise and Corruption, of Temple, of Torah, of Land, of Jewishness.


That brings us back to The Great Commission: After this tour of authority and power in Daniel and Matthew, here are the summary points of what it means (from Matt 28:16-20):

Visionary Worship: Authority begins with seeing Jesus for who he really is. When they saw him, the Risen King, they bowed down and worshipped him, though some doubted (I love Matthew’s realism of the “not yet” in the brightest “already” of the Kingdom!) It is the first time in Matthew that Jews worship a human being. But this is Dan 7:14. Our only adequate response to the coming of the Son of Man, to his self-revelation, is worship. All authority and its exercise is born in vision and worship, in surrender to the authority of the Risen King.

Collaborating Co-Mission: All the authority in the heavens and the earth given to the Son of Man is given to us, the new humanity. The authority is linked to The Great Commission: go and make apprentices of Jesus from all kinds of people in all the nations. Exousia is collaboration with The King in his servant mission to the ends of the earth.

Participating Baptism: We enter and exercise collaborative authority by participation and immersion in the death and resurrection of the Son of Man, by which we die to our sin and rise to life in The Trinity. Baptism is initiation of apprentices of Jesus on confession of faith into (The Eternal Trinitarian) community. We teach/train them to daily live the meaning of their baptism – it is not a once-off ticket to get into heaven! That’s making converts, not disciples. Baptism in “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit” is plunging apprentices into the nature and character of the Trinitarian Reality:  The Life and Love of the Father and the Son by the Spirit. Learning to live eternal life (of the Trinitarian kind and quality) on earth is to do God’s will as it is in heaven. That is authority in real terms.

Transforming Character: “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Participating baptism leads to transforming character. This is the challenge of leadership authority in the Kingdom: train apprentices of Jesus to obey everything he commanded (“teaching” was formational training). We cannot obey what he commanded simply by trying. But by training, through the Kingdom practices of Jesus, we become the kind of person who predictably obeys God when we need to. “Train yourself (and others) to be godly” (1 Tim 4:7), having the spiritual fitness to naturally and easily do what Jesus would do if he were you, in any given situation at any given time. That is transformation into the character of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). We become like Jesus, who obeyed all his Father commanded for love of the Father (John 15:9-10), doing his will on earth as it is in heaven. Thus, God consistently backed up Jesus’ authority with heavenly power. Among Jesus’ commands is love of God and neighbour (Matt 22:34-39) and “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons” – do the works of the Kingdom (Matt 10:7-8).

Empowering Presence: “And I will be with you, in you by my Spirit, till the job is done.” The job is to make apprentices of Jesus from people of all nations, who do God’s will for love of God and people. Jesus’ abiding presence is the power of his Spirit, the charismata – enabling grace-gifts – that back up our exercise of authority. What he authorises us to do, he empowers with the resources of his Spirit. Till we complete the job (Matt 24:14)! Then the Son of Man will return on the clouds of glory to rule and reign with us at his side!

Therefore, the process of “Authority – Kingdom Leading in a World of Uncertainty” is:
From visionary worship of the Son of Man, Risen Ruling King;
To collaborating authority in his co-mission of making apprentices by lived example;
To participating baptism in his death and resurrection, living in/from the Trinitarian Reality;
To the transforming character and empowering charisma of Christ… in real terms… till our job is done!

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Corona Relief and Corruption

Off-loading my heavy heart as lamenting to God before our nation in the Hebrew prophetic tradition:

Responding to this article, I believe Ace Magashule is beyond embarrassment, incapable of shame. He should start with himself and his sons – all accused of gross corruption – before talking about corruption in the ANC (African National Congress, the ruling party in South Africa).

What an utter disaster: The corruption of the ANC knows no end. It is truly endemic. Seemingly beyond cure. Worse than the corona pandemic itself, which officials exploit (the billions set aside for corona relief for the needy) in their own corrupt greed, further bleeding the nation to death.

Not even our President, Cyril Ramaphosa, seems to be able to stem the tide of corruption. He seems lame. We all had hoped and prayed for something decisively different, something better after the seriously corrupt Zuma rule that brought our country to its knees. I still pray for that decisive difference.

After millions spent on the Zondo commission to uncover and account for state capture, for the missing billions, no significant high profile arrests, no convictions, no judgment, no imprisonment. Eskom paid over R38 bn in inflated contracts. ONLY NOW is Eskom and SIU (Special Investigating Unity) seeking to find out how it can possibly recover R3.8 bn from former executives and the Guptas.

ANC and other officials have systemically stolen from the poor & needy, let alone raped the economy. And it continues under corona, when our nation/economy is at its absolute weakest. Utter and total shame on them. God sees it all, every little last deed of corruption. God will judge. On that day, God help the corrupt.

And God help us all, because the not-corrupt will suffer (are already suffering) under the coming judgement: Look at the long darkening road of corruption, human rights violations, bloodshed, dictatorship, that has destroyed our northern neighbour, Zimbabwe. That nation is at its absolute worst right now under Mnangagwa, after he was joyfully welcomed as a liberation hero in November 2017 liberating the nation in a ‘quiet coup’ from the liberation hero, dictator Robert Mugabe.

How can a man, Mugabe’s young general, who presided over the massacre of 20 000 Ndebele a fews years after independence, liberate and lead the nation into a new era of restored justice, peace & prosperity? Those Zimbabweans who naively danced in the streets in November 2017 soon returned to weeping and wailing when Mnangagwa proved true to character – though he claimed a ‘Christian conversion’ – evidently fake by its distinct lack of righteous fruit (no ‘coming clean’ as in publicly confessing his part in the Gukurahundi of the mid 1980s, and offering himself for trial before a court of law – means nothing changed in the man). Zimbabwe is a prophetic warning to us, to South Africa, in our shameless corruption, of what God’s judgement looks like through such corrupt leaders, who reduced the (supposed) bread basket of Africa to the basket case of Africa. The prophetic warning is LOUD & CLEAR, it’s on our doorstep. Let those who have ears to hear, hear and repent, pray and act to eradicate corruption in all its forms.

In your judgements, O Lord, remember mercy! (Habakkuk 3:2)

There’s a video clip doing the rounds of Utata Mandela speaking during the transition in 1993, saying that “the corruption of the Apartheid Nationalist government was endemic”, and the ANC would “stop THAT GRAVY TRAIN”. The ANC government would be very different, would “change the culture to live within the means of their community”, taking salary cuts to help the poor & needy. Utata Mandela is now spinning at high speed in his grave at the ANC gravy train taking our nation to destruction.

All the public promises of Ramaphosa on national TV, of Mboweni and others, are empty and meaningless until we see action, arrests, prosecutions, imprisonments, recovery of (at least some of) the stolen millions & billions of rands. Is there the moral political will and strength of ethical conviction to fearlessly confront and prosecute and defeat this corruption? I pray that there is, or that it comes to those who wield the power. God knows, I pray for our President in this regard. With God all things are possible! BUT we all have to pray up, stand up, speak up, and act up against this evil, to empower the will of the few good leaders that are there, that can make the decisive different we so desperately need in our nation at this kairos moment.

The ANC has deployed, and continues to deploy officials and leaders who have little or no CHARACTER… known bullies, arrogant liars, corrupt cheaters, blatant stealers, record criminals, etc. Management and leadership at any level in society, in business, in government, is about CHARACTER, CHARACTER, CHARACTER.

Leadership is about TRUSTWORTHINESS, HONESTY, TRUTHFULNESS, INTEGRITY, DILIGENCE, DELIVERY, RELIABILITY, etc. Don’t vote for, or support, any leaders who have corrupt character. Pray and vote them out of power. Confront, expose and report their corrupt dealings. Resist them with truth and integrity, with everything in you, with God’s help. It is a life and death battle in our country.

May God give us leaders of moral character who have the ethical conviction to courageously act for the good of the nation.
May God root out leaders and officials of corrupt character at all levels of management and leadership.
May God have mercy on the poor & needy.
Please Lord, we cry out to you, hear our prayer.

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Churches to Meet or Not to Meet?

The South African government’s allowance of church gatherings (of up to 50 people) to resume at level 3,  next week Monday 1 June 2020, is exposing a divided church and society… once again! As usual, socio-ethical issues and considerations become divisive, even acrimonious. It shouldn’t be! The church ought lead the way as servant in society, and particularly in this instance. 

SOME political parties, Christian organisations and SOME denominations have been lobbying the government for opening of church meetings at level 3. And SOME argue on the basis of ‘religious rights’. The government has yielded to their request. This is not advisable. It’s based on wrong thinking, as the push back from many other church leaders and people in our society has shown. 

If we were ‘shut down’ for reasons of persecution, of faith, of conscience, etc, it would be a different matter. But, in this case, it’s a matter of health for the good of the nation. Here is the issue: If the curve had peaked and was decisively going down, it is then a consideration – as is now the case in many European nations. We have yet to see the painful peak in South Africa. Winter is here – June and July could be the worst months. To gather together now, despite all the sanitisation and distancing precautions in place, would be foolish, in my view.

Gatherings of up to 50 people, no matter where, at this point, can become places of contamination. If restaurants and cinemas and other such places are not allowed to open at level 3, why churches? Restarting businesses is a different matter: It is so the economy does not collapse and people don’t starve, though work too comes with the health risks. In our disparate societal context, suburban churches have the resources to implement all the required safety measures (which are not in themselves a guarantee of ‘safety proof’). The majority of churches, however, do not have the same luxury (in townships, informal settlements, rural areas). God forbid that church meetings become an epicentre of spreading this virulent virus.  

We can continue to BE church in the home and in society without having to go TO church in a building. Gathering together in a facility for public worship is only A PART of being church, it’s not THE part. So, we can continue to find creative ways to be and do church without having to go to church at this time, for the health and good of our nation, as servant and example.

In conclusion: ‘to meet or not to meet?’. We must go slow. We could…

A) Continue the faithful social service engagement, relational pastoral care and online church, as has been the priority throughout lockdown;

B) Resume small home groups in a lounge – like visiting a few friends – with the necessary precautions in place (masks, washing hands, social distance). This is controversial as one source says house visiting is allowed at level 3 and another says not. If it is not, then we continue online small groups.

C) Relocate the recordings and live-streaming of Sunday and other services to the church facility (if there is one), but with up to 10 people present, such as helpers, worship team, preacher, etc. This is far more controllable than 50 people (in any case, how can we control who comes and who doesn’t come? And turn away people after 50 have arrived?)

D) And to encourage the vulnerable (elderly, sickly, etc) to stay home, and to continue to care for them in the current context.

Often socio-ethical decisions involves the choice of ‘the lesser of evils’. The ‘good’ or ‘best’ for us as church is not always for the good of society. Let us be patient, bide our time, and use it in service of the nation’s greater good, for health sake. This virus is vicious and highly contagious. May we, as Church, set the example and not be part of the pandemic problem! God have mercy on us! N’kosi Sikelela iAfrika!

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Guidance in Leading A Kingdom Response to Corona

A full solar eclipse

I was asked this week to share thoughts on giving leadership in response to the corona pandemic. Pastors and spiritual leaders carry a particular responsibility before God to guide churches, and society in general, with a godly response. How do we think about this crisis, and what do we do? Note that this is from a South African context in response to developments here. But it has application globally.

Biblical thinking, theology, does matter! It leads to right or wrong attitudes and practices, depending on our underlying beliefs. How do we respond to God in faith at this time, and not react in fear to the situation? We’re living in unprecedented times: a micro-virus holds the whole world to ransom, to a lockdown not seen in our life time, with all the socio-economic-political implications. It is very serious. Our lives have changed. Globally, as I write, there are 468,644 infected & 21,191 deaths (see live tally, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/). It’s a kairos moment, a time of threat AND opportunity, of disaster AND of God’s Kingdom breaking through like we’ve not seen before. How do we maximise a ‘Kingdom response’ that is life-changing at this critical time?

Kingdom-Prophetic Perspective:  How do we think biblically about this pandemic?

‘Corona’ means crown. The scientists who, in 1968 came up with the term coronavirus, noted that the virus they were looking at under the microscope resembled a solar corona, the bright crown-like ring of gasses around the sun, visible in a solar eclipse. However, corona is not king!

Jesus is King! He is the Son that shines so bright with his crown of thorns, from his throne of the cross, that his beautiful light is blinding darkness. The darkness of human sin & sickness, suffering & death – of hell itself – that he took into his own body, to overcome evil and free humanity from its power. In his death AND resurrection, Jesus is victorious and rules over evil powers, all pandemics, all catastrophes. Not in arrogant triumphalism! But in humble compassion, because he suffered, and suffers, with and for all who suffer. Mercy is the mode and manner of his majestic reign that gives light and life to all who turn to him. This is the message we seek to live and preach, of the King to whom all other crowns (coronas) must bow, the King who is the hope of the world.  

What on earth is God doing at this time?  God is shaking all things, all the kingdoms of the earth, so that what is unshakable may emerge for all to see and receive: God’s Kingdom (Hebrews 12:26-28) in his Suffering Servant, by whose wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). The entire biblical message is simply: God is King… God will become King. While God is – and always will be – sovereign over all reality, including our lives, something serious went wrong after creation and turned against God. So, God will become King by defeating that evil rebellion, putting everything to right.

How then do we view pandemics and natural disasters?  They are due to the fall of humanity into sin and death, part of the chaotic rule of ha satan – Hebrew for the opposer of God, his purposes and his people. Humanity in Adam and Eve lost their God-given authority – their kingdom – to the devil, who is now “the god of this age who blinds the minds of those who do not believe” (2 Cor 4:4). Satan is the perpetrator of all that works against God and God’s purpose of Shalom-Good for humanity, of all created reality.

So, has God lost control?  No! God is King, sovereign over all. God has no equal opposite. Satanand his kingdom of evil spirits are created fallen beings. The Hebrew Testament shows that God can even use ha satan as an instrument/servant of judgement. It also means that no matter what evil does, God can ultimately use it to fulfil his purpose. More so, no matter what happens, God works in it for our good, for those who love him and are called as per his purpose (Romans 8:28). This requires faith to see what God is doing in each kairos moment. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8) – in all things – where God is present & active, to work with God!

What is God’s answer to corona?  The Messiah. God will become King. God becomes King in two accumulative historical steps: Jesus inaugurated God’s Kingdom 2000 years ago, in principle and power, and will consummate the Kingdom when he returns, in fullness and finality. This is to defeat and “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and free humanity and creation into the fullness of God’s Shalom Kingdom. Paul uses three tenses for this mystery of salvation: “God has delivered us (past)… will deliver us (future)… and will continue to deliver us (present)” (2 Corinthians 1:10). Evil has been defeated at the nailed-pierced hands of Jesus, is being defeated at the prayerful hands of the Church, will be defeated at the Second Coming. In other words, we’re in a war that we cannot lose, a life and death battle with evil in all its forms, including coronavirus.

Practical-Responsible Perspective:  How do we give leadership, what do we do?

We teach our people the Kingdom has come, meaning, we engage with conviction and courage as a time of great Kingdom opportunity to work with God (listed below). We also teach that the Kingdom is yet to come, meaning, we wait in prayerful hope for God’s breakthrough, facing reality head on, being honest about where we are at, and reaching out to others in need.

Our people must avoid two extremes: an overemphasis of Kingdom now that is presumptuous and arrogant, denying reality due to “faith in the blood of Jesus”, “corona is hyped/fake news”, “we can meet, touch each other”, “we’re immune to COVID-19 because of PSALM-91”. That’s presumption, not faith. The devil tempted Jesus with this, quoting Psalm 91; but Jesus said, “don’t put God to the test” (Matthew 4:5-7). Or, an overemphasis of Kingdom not yet that is faithless and fearful, succumbing to reality in doom and gloom, escaping into “it’s judgement, it’s the end”, “hoard stacks of food and withdraw”, “save yourself”, “the rapture can happen any moment”.

Therefore, the radical middle we lead and teach our people is…

  • As citizens of heaven PRAY ceaselessly, “May your Kingdom come and defeat this pandemic… have mercy, O God.” Pray continually for miraculous breakthrough.

  • As citizens of our nation, PRAY for the President and government as they lead us in this difficult time (1 Timothy 2:1). Pray for all health workers who put their lives at risk. Pray for all who are vulnerable, sick and dying. Pray for the poor & unemployed, for business & the economy.

  • It also means supporting and upholding the government requirements of “social distancing”, sanitization and lockdown. Distribute the list of requirements during isolation to all church members, that they may be good citizens as per Titus 3:1-2, “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always be gentle to everyone.”

  • “Social distancing” is better reworded as “physical distancing AND social solidarity”. Keep bodily distance (1.5m) but socially engage via all the technological means available to us, for love and care of our families, friends and people in need.  LOVE = physical distancing + social solidarity. NB: think about what this (LOVE) means for so many poor and unemployed people living in townships, informal settlements, rural areas, for whom hand sanitization, running water, storing up food, working from home, social distancing, drawing on savings, means little or nothing. If we are willing, God will show us how we can do something to help those within reach. The Church can be the nail-pierced hands of Jesus to them – a shining witness of love.  

  • Make arrangements to pastorally care for your people through increased ‘high (tech) touch’ by video and audio calls, pastoral letters, Whatsapp groups, pastoral visits with bodily distancing, live-stream teachings, video recordings, getting food and medicine to those in need. Ask God to show you how to do church, and leadership, creatively different at this changing context.

  • Have special sensitivity for the elderly, singles, for those vulnerable to mental health issues, depression, loneliness, dysfunctional marriages and potential domestic abuse in the ‘pressure cooker’ of the home in weeks of lockdown.

  • Finally, the lockdown means we now have the space and time to do three things:

    a) Deepen our discipleship to Jesus by engaging more in spiritual practices like extended solitude, learning silence, hearing God, meditation & prayer, fasting, good spiritual reading & study, among other exercises. (My two books are available as a resource, Praying the Psalms, a 12 week program of meditative prayer in 12 psalms; and Doing Spirituality, where I discuss all 24 classic spiritual practices in the Christian tradition).

    b) Deepen our relationships with our closest others we live with, learning to listen and love, resolve differences & conflicts, play games together, read a book together, etc. The lockdown will test us and our relationships in new ways. Use it for personal and relational growth.

    c) Deepen our social solidarity with others in need – commented on above.  

God bless you with the grace and wisdom, the love and faith that you need at this difficult time to lead your people as Jesus would if he were you! I pray that over you in the Name of Jesus!      

I close with an honest, biblical, prophetic and practical quote from Martin Luther in giving advice to Lutheran pastors in a letter in 1527 when Wittenberg was overrun by the plague. When asked what he would do, this was his answer: 

“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbour needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

(Luther’s Works Volume 43, pg 132, the letter “Whether one may flee from a Deadly Plague” written to Rev. Dr. John Hess).