Christian Community Development Association - South Africa

Many of you have heard how we ended up in Pen Lucy in Baltimore - through God's use of the book With Justice for All by John Perkins. Maybe some of you remember that we visited Voice of Calvary in Jackson, Mississippi twice in the mid-80s to learn about Christian Community Development. We also attended one of the first Christian Community Development Association's (CCDA) conferences (it was either the first or second but it was 20 years ago). Then, last October, we attended another CCDA conference.

It was at this conference that we met Pastor John Aidoo. Pastor Aidoo is the pastor of LifeChanging Ministries in Roodepoort, South Africa. I believe we have written about some workshops we did with his church. One of the other things we talked about at the CCDA conference was the forming of CCDASA - the Christian Community Development Association of South Africa. Just this week, we finally completed the constitution in order to be registered as a not-for-profit organization here in South Africa. This is the first step to a CCDA organization in South Africa.

Lord willing, there will be the first CCDA conference in South Africa next year. In the meantime, Pastor Aidoo, Nancy and I, and about 4 other pastors will be busy telling others about CCDA. Please pray about this and the many other organizational details we have yet to do.


We are excited to be connected to CCDA and their guiding principles of Reconciliation, Redistribution, and Relocation. These principles have been around for a long time and remain a good start to getting involved in Christian community development. Perhaps, I'll write more on them later.

Blessings,
Bert