These are turbulent times in which communities of people, facing crises themselves and overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness, turn inwards, increasingly focussing on their immediate needs and interests. Under these conditions much of the injustice occurring across the world goes unnoticed. Solidarity has never been more needed, but it is increasingly hard to find.

Informed by the voice and experience of organisers on the frontlines, the Solidarity Hub will examine what ‘practical solidarity’ might mean for social justice struggles in Southern Africa. Through a deep engagement with our individual practice as organisers and activists, we will work together to give life and meaning to the idea of practical solidarity by reflecting on the questions: How would I like to experience solidarity during times of crisis? What can I offer to those experiencing crises? How do we collectively work to prevent crises?

You can apply here to participate in the 2025 Solidarity Hub taking place in Johannesburg 13-16 October. Unfortunately there is limited space and resources, and we will review all applications based on geography, gender and age demographics, and a balance between new and previous participants. Participants from beyond Southern Africa are welcome to apply if they are prepared to cover their own costs.

The deadline for applications is 12h00 SA time on Thursday 31 July 2025.

The first post-Covid meeting of the Southern African Regional Forum (SARF) comprising members of the ACT Alliance took place in Johannesburg in June. More than forty representatives of faith-based organisations and churches deliberated on the challenges facing the region, and resolved to increase collaboration in response to climate change, gender violence, and the assault on poor and marginal communities. The representatives from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, and Malawi, were joined by partners from Germany and Norway, and together they engaged with the organisation’s General Secretary and the Africa Representative on how to strengthen the Alliance. A new committee was selected to guide the work of the Alliance and to take forward resolutions of the meeting. You can access pictures for the event here.

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We were privileged to visit new partners in the Western Cape in June to get to know the impactful work being done.
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Gogo’s Community Kitchen

Gogo’s Community Kitchen looks at food/livelihoods, gender-based violence (GBV), and after-school care. They have an effective network of service provision by leveraging individual members’ skills, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Chronicles of Refugees and Immigrants

Chronicles of Refugees and Immigrants  focuses on challenges faced by refugees and immigrants in South Africa, specifically in the Western Cape. Our collaboration with them will be about farmworkers’ rights through dialogues, and establishing referral mechanisms
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NOAH

NOAH serves the community of elders by offering residential spaces, healthcare services, and social opportunities for a minimal fee, with opportunities for dignified living through work in their coffee shops, second-hand clothing store, or clinic.
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Vula Youth Development

Vula Youth Development works to make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fun through peer-led education and creative engagement, carried out through workshops led by alumni and in collaboration with thought leaders.
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Being prophetic involves reading the signs of the times and offering a social critique and response that is inspired and guided by scripture and the principles of the Kingdom of God. In the OT, the prophet acted as a mouthpiece for God. They would receive a message from God and proclaim it no matter the discomfort it brought. The prophet had the role of forth telling and foretelling.

In the New Testament, prophetic ministry becomes one of the functions of the early Christian Church. The word “church” is a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which is defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones.” The church is KURIAKON which means belonging to God, it is not a human creation. The Church is therefore a God created assembly of people called out for a particular purpose and that purpose we learn in scripture is to spread the gospel and make disciples so that all may be saved. The church is called out of the world and back into the world.

Church As Herald

According to Avery Dulles, the Church as herald is best described as “the one who receives an official message with the commission to pass it on.” The central image is that of a royal herald who comes to the public square to proclaim a royal decree. The church is called to proclaim the good news that Christ has come so that we may have life and have it abundantly. This abundance is not a distant utopian promise reserved for the afterlife—it is for the here and now, for the entire created order. It crosses socio-political, socioeconomic, and ecological lines in its pursuit of wholeness.

It is in the DNA of the Church to respond to the cries of creation—because the parent of the Church is God who hears and responds. A Church that does not respond to contextual suffering is irrelevant; it becomes nothing more than a glorified institution.

The Church in Acts responded to the needs of its community and became a refuge. In following Christ—who is the criterion for the Church—we learn the importance of both vertical (God- human) and horizontal (human-human and creation) relationships. These move us from pious religion to a liberating one. Being prophetic involves listening to and attending to the cries of the oppressed.

Being prophetic involves words and actions of inclusivity, acceptance, going the extra mile. It is the opening of doors to those from different economic and social groups, age groups, sexual orientations, races and cultural groups. I concur with Desmond Tutu when he says, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” That time is now. With urgency we need to be a visible Church, present at the Centre of people’s suffering, pain and struggles.

Bruggeman argues that a prophetic ministry is not limited to addressing a particular public issue or crises but in and out of season it calls on the prophet to respond to the dominant and resilient crises of the co-option and domestication of Christianity so that it is no longer an alternative vocation nor is counter cultural but sounds, looks, acts and smells like those aspects of society, culture, tradition, politics and economics that we first sought out to convert.

The church is at risk of becoming domesticated. We need a reminder to us and about us that we come from a lineage that once boldly addressed societal issues such as poverty, oppression, political injustice, and slavery—concrete expressions of the Church’s kerygma.

All these were concrete expressions the prophetic nature of the Church and so we cannot be comfortable with the state of our nation because we have a prophetic calling and role.

As we consider our prophetic role, I leave you with the following thoughts:

1. First one is from William Temple: “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”
2. The second one is Simangaliso Kumalo: “The church has no alternative but to be involved in the processes of transformation taking place within society. To do otherwise would be detrimental to its mission in the world, and in effect the church would become an irrelevant institution.”

Prophetic Role of the Church

• It has been the tradition of the Church to stand for truth and align herself with the poor and marginalized.
• It has been the tradition of the church to de-legitimize oppressive, corrupt and unfair political systems that are resultant to injustice, inequality and marginalization.
• Traditionally, the South African Church rallied together in the fight against apartheid, a political system of oppression that was unjust. The Church stood for truth and spoke against such oppression thus playing an important role in bringing about a democratic South Africa.

• According to De Gruchy, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in particular took her political stance and stood for truth in as early as 1948 (De Gruchy 1986) “The Methodist Conference that same month (1948) stated that no persons of any race should be deprived of constitutional rights or privileges merely on the grounds of race.”(Page 54), a decade later, the MCSA declared its conviction that the Methodist people should be one and undivided.

Though nationally and ecumenically, the Church remained divided during the apartheid era between the mainly Afrikaner church propagating apartheid through its theology and the English Church either silent or fighting for the liberation of the oppressed, and the black Church suffering it out in the Bantustans and forming its own black liberation theologies.

• It is evident that in this era and throughout history, the faith community has had to have a relationship with justice and injustice in either providing theological rationale for injustice or maintaining its conscience and moral voice in the South African context, and that to me is truth.
• With reference to the South African context over the past decades, the church provided chaplaincy to political prisoners, it is the church that was called upon as peacemaker in the turbulent years of apartheid, in the 1^st democratic elections of South Africa-where ministers of the Church were called upon to be part of the electoral commission as observers and vote counters,
• When the painful realities caused by the apartheid regime came to the fore through the truth and reconciliation commission-it was again the church that through the Archbishop Emeritus Demsond Tutu, that played a crucial role in the process, as the nation continues to face the plight of GBV, it is the church that has taken upon itself to through its project and mission groups to provide places of safety for women and children

In the face of COVID-19, it is the Church that continues to play a role in opening its doors as vaccination centers and furthermore demystify the myths around the vaccines

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We were privileged to visit new partners in the Western Cape in June to get to know the impactful work being done.
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[av_toggle title=’Gogo’s Community Kitchen’ tags=” custom_id=” av_uid=’av-mcblosf7′ sc_version=’1.0′]
Gogo’s Community Kitchen looks at food/livelihoods, gender-based violence (GBV), and after-school care. They have an effective network of service provision by leveraging individual members’ skills, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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[av_toggle title=’Chronicles of Refugees and Immigrants ‘ tags=” custom_id=” av_uid=’av-mcblpa2t’ sc_version=’1.0′]
Chronicles of Refugees and Immigrants  focuses on challenges faced by refugees and immigrants in South Africa, specifically in the Western Cape. Our collaboration with them will be about farmworkers’ rights through dialogues, and establishing referral mechanisms.

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[av_toggle title=’NOAH’ tags=” custom_id=” av_uid=’av-mcbp3mva’ sc_version=’1.0′]
NOAH serves the community of elders by offering residential spaces, healthcare services, and social opportunities for a minimal fee, with opportunities for dignified living through work in their coffee shops, second-hand clothing store, or clinic.

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[av_toggle title=’Vula Youth Development’ tags=” custom_id=” av_uid=’av-mcblpa2t-1′ sc_version=’1.0′]
Vula Youth Development works to make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fun through peer-led education and creative engagement, carried out through workshops led by alumni and in collaboration with thought leaders.

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