New Day in a Beloved Country

Last November, the Christian Science Board of Directors traveled South Africa coast to coast, meeting with individuals, groups, and branch church congregations from the townships of Nyanga and Atteridgeville, as well as urban centers including Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Kloof, and Johannesburg. Johanna Frontczak, The Mother Church's manager of international communications for the Clerk's Office, traveled with Directors Tom Black, Walter Jones, Margaret Rogers, Nate Talbot, and Mary Trammell, and filed this report.

SOUTH AFRICANS OF ALL PEOPLE know what it means to go through profound social and political change. When our flight touched down in Johannesburg on November 8, 2008, the first black president of the United States had been elected only four days earlier, news that prompted Nelson Mandela to say, "No person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream." As visitors, we felt privy to a momentous time not only in our own history, but in South Africa's, as well.

Prior to this trip I knew very little about South Africa's history. So, before we left Boston, I watched several South African movies and documentary films, many of which focused on the apartheid era. Apartheid as a system of racial separation effectively ended with Mr. Mandela's election as South Africa's president in 1994.

But many South Africans still lead fairly segregated lives. Vestiges of apartheid still affect the nation's political and social landscapes, although there is a steadily growing integration in the workplace and in housing, with black people moving from the townships into suburbs that once were whites-only enclaves.

Considering the country's history of racial divisions—and the extensive efforts that have been made toward reconciliation, unifying so many diverse cultures and healing deep-seated grievances—there's much to be grateful for. Church members frequently touched on this fact in our meetings, acknowledging that while differences still exist among the races, they're earnestly seeking spiritual solutions. This search for home-grown solutions goes to the core of what many in South Africa's branch churches are praying about—their love for Christian Science as a healing force in the world is impelling a desire to see these teachings bless people beyond their church walls. And members in historically mostly white churches are working to form bridges with people in neighboring townships.

At issue, then, is how to stay sensitive to the need for spreading the good news beyond existing churches while yet valuing what one has "in the house," to paraphrase Elisha's words (II Kings 4:2). A question posed at the one of the meetings captured this conundrum:

"For want of a better way of describing it, our church services and music still have a white Anglo-Saxon feel to them, and in African terms we are pretty formal. In Africa we dance and sing—in parliament, in the streets, in sad and happy times, whenever we share a message. African gatherings are much more relaxed and boisterous. In the light of the above, how do we make our church services truly multicultural? Or should we even be doing so? Should we wait instead for an 'African version' of a Christian Science church to emerge naturally amongst black people?"

Nate Talbot mentioned that the Directors have been thinking and praying about that very concept, and while they haven't reached any dramatic conclusions, they have talked to members around the world about how they could have services that are warmer and less formal. "Jesus," Nate said, "summarized it this way: 'In my Father's house are many mansions' [John 14:2]. Christian Science is not a denomination to be compared with Lutherans, Catholics, etc. Christian Science is universal, divine Science. There may not be one 'right way' to conduct services.

"In some parts of Africa," Nate continued, "they sing or dance testimonies. The Church Manual doesn't say how to give testimonies, just to give them. Once at a testimony meeting in The Mother Church, a black African woman gave a testimony about how she had sung a treatment to a child, which she then sang in that meeting, and it was very touching. Church is more than us just worshipping together. Make every guest as comfortable as you would in your house. This can bridge gaps. There are lots of ways within the framework of the services to be more open and warmer. People are opening thought to let divine Mind guide them and come up with fresh embracing ideas."

And indeed members in South Africa are coming up with fresh ideas. In the Western Cape Province, for example, Xoliswa April, a Christian Science practitioner and member of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship, has been breaking new ground. Xoliswa lives in the Nyanga township, a 26-kilometer drive from Cape Town. During our stay in Cape Town, we learned that the Western Cape's minister of education had asked religious groups to pray for the school children in the Western Cape, in particular those in the informal settlements and disadvantaged areas where some serious cases of violence had occurred, including several murders.

Local church members offered to sponsor supportive talks at the schools, and the first lecture was given by Xoliswa, who speaks Xhosa, Zulu, English, Afrikaans, and Siswati. She spoke at a high school on the Cape Flats, where one of the murders had occurred, to a gathering of 32 teachers and 600 students. Later on, a teacher at a high school in a squatter camp in the area learned of Xoliswa's lectures and told her school's principal, who invited Xoliswa to give a talk at their "matric" (grade 12) farewell function.

That lecture, we were told, was attended by about 35 teachers and 700 pupils. The only reason the other 800 pupils did not attend was because they could not fit them in.

Four of the senior boys spoke to Xoliswa afterward to ask what they had to do to become Christian Scientists. They said what they had heard was "a totally new concept," explaining that for the first time they heard that God is a God of love, ever caring and meeting every human need. They had begun to understand that there is a God that they can turn to, who doesn't see them as condemned, miserable sinners.

Both pupils and teachers at this school showed a great empathy for Mary Baker Eddy and all the challenges that she had overcome—having her only child taken away from her, being at times penniless and homeless, as well as suffering health struggles. The facts of Mrs. Eddy's life helped eliminate concerns that Christian Science is just another "white man's religion."

After the lecture, the high school's staff and principal were so encouraged by what they had heard, they asked if Xoliswa could give a talk at school every month, plus a talk to the teachers only. The students at this school are mostly from rural areas and have always generally been well-behaved. Recently, however, drugs and other troubles have created behavioral and discipline problems. Imagine the leavening of thought that's going on as staff and students learn of God as Love and divine Principle.

Another very special moment occurred when members from First Church, Kloof, drove the Directors to meet with members of a small evangelical church located in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, in KwaZulu-Natal province. Interest in Christian Science started here when a member from First Church, Kloof, gave a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel to one of the evangelical church's members at a flea market. While the group continues to worship locally with their pastor, interest in Christian Science has nevertheless taken root and members were quite happy to have the Board visit them. Afterward, one of the accompanying Kloof members, Val Sperryn, posted the following message in the "Church Unconfined" forum on TMCYouth.com:

"I had to share what has been one of the most meaningful days of my life. Today, seven of our members, the five Board members, and two Mother Church workers went into a very rural, wild valley in our area called the Valley of a Thousand Hills, to meet a small group of Zulus from another Christian denomination, who have become good friends with two of our members. We wound down a very steep road overlooking spectacular views of huts and small houses, green valleys and hills, and a beautiful dam that snakes along a valley for many miles."

Val noted that when we arrived in the Ncgolosi area, members of the congregation were literally building a new church, the women digging foundations and the men and teenagers making concrete blocks. They warmly welcomed us and brought plastic chairs for us to sit on. We had an impromptu "service" with the reading of a Bible story in that week's Christian Science Bible Lesson, which was then read in Zulu.

The Zulu congregation then invited someone from our party "to preach." Tom Black spoke briefly, offering thoughts on the Bible story that had just been read, and his comments also were translated into Zulu. The congregation then sang two hymns a cappella. Val described the sound of their rich voices, singing unaccompanied, surrounded by stunning scenery, as one of the most moving things she has ever experienced. "I was in awe of the simple grace and spirituality of the local people, and the humility and love expressed by our Mother Church visitors. This was church for real—'church unconfined'—no pomp, no ceremony, just heart meeting heart across language, race, and distance barriers. I keep thinking of another sermon on a hillside 2,000 years ago and of the world being forever embraced in Christly love and affection."

One of our final visits to Christian Scientists in a township took us to Atteridgeville, just west of Pretoria, where we met with the Atteridgeville Society and the group in Soshanguve. Everyone sat in a circle in the Zulu classroom where they hold their services. The Directors asked each person to tell what had brought them into Christian Science. The accounts of healing went on for quite some time as members shared some very personal and remarkable experiences of God's healing power. For most of the women, the healings revolved around children and childbirth, while the men's experiences were more varied.

One man explained that he'd been in and out of prison for much of his adult life. He had a brother and sister-in-law who had tried to get him interested in Christian Science. At one point, he said, he found himself back in prison, and while there bought some marijuana, which was wrapped in a page torn from a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel. With a lot of time on his hands, he read that page over and over until something finally clicked for him. He said he knew he needed to learn more. His story had everyone laughing, and yet you couldn't help feeling grateful for how God met this man's need, in a tangible way, at a low point in his life.

The members asked about using more African-style music for services, as well as the possibility of Zulu translations. The discussion of music prompted one member to give a comical interpretation of how Western Protestant hymn-singing sounds to African ears. The Directors' response? They said, "Go for it!" Sing hymns in the way that's natural to you.

Our journey ended where it began, in Johannesburg. "Joburg," as South Africans call it, is the country's business and financial capital and one of the world's 40 largest metropolitan areas. Explore the city on a business day, as a colleague and I did, and it strikes you as a place where people from various ethnicities go about their daily business with little or no thought concerning their backgrounds or differences. Christian Science has been in Joburg since the very early days of the movement, with the first church established there in 1904. We visited First Church and Third Church.

Arriving on a Sunday morning at First Church, Johannesburg, we were welcomed by a sea of shining, joyful young faces milling around the church yard before the service. The youngsters showered hugs and warm "hellos" on each of us, and after chatting for a bit, members led us to the back of their century-old church to see the Sunday School. Best described as a "one-room schoolhouse," it was filled with about 50 children of all ages waiting for classes to begin.

At First Church, Sunday School students well outnumber the members, due to the efforts of several dedicated members including Kahnyi Motsa and Sunday School Superintendent Mpho Lekabe. Kahnyi runs a local shelter for AIDS orphans, and goes out of her way to ensure that the children have transportation to church. Just the day before, she had made a mighty effort to get a large group of students to a Youth Meeting with the Directors at Third Church, Johannesburg.

Suddenly, after 17 days of constant travel and meetings, it was time to go home. As I sat on the airplane during the long journey back, the entire experience washed over me, all the special moments with our South African church family. Their love and bighearted hospitality, the sounds of their singing and laughter, the thoughtful questions they asked, and their country's extraordinary landscape—this experience touched our hearts and broadened our appreciation for this part of the world. And as we've heard since, the events of those days also touched the hearts of many we met with, as well.

Inspired by that view of the world from 35,000 feet, I couldn't help rejoicing in how the one God unites us all in His/Her love. And how divine Love impels healing works in every land, opening hearts and minds to the majesty of Christian Science.