General Assembly

A General Assembly of the CCAP (Central Church Africa, Presbyterian) was scheduled to begin on Saturday here in Blantyre. This would have involved all 5 of the synods of the CCAP -  Blantyre, Livingstonia, Nkhoma, Zambia and Zimbabwe – but it is not going to happen For the fourth time in as many years, the meeting has been canceled because the participants could not agree on the agenda. Actually, two of the five would not agree, Livingstonia and Nkhoma. The two synods are in a dispute about the border between the synods and each encroaching into the other’s territory in planting prayer houses and new churches. This is not a new dispute. It has been brewing since 1924, if the issue is traced far enough. It has heated up in the last few years and the encroachment has escalated on both sides.

The rhetoric and public arguments have quieted down in the last months. Parties from the other synods had visited both of the disputing parties and each had agreed to participate in the General Assemble. We were all hopeful. Plans were made and everything was coming in place. Accommodations were reserved. The meeting place was prepared. Subcommittee meetings were scheduled. Tuesday there was an air of anticipation that this was finally the time to put the differences of the past in the past and to move forward, politely agreeing to disagree on some points but working to preserve the unity of the church by meeting together. Then Tuesday evening the meeting was canceled. The issue was the agenda. Livingstonia wanted the border issue on the agenda and Nkhoma refused. There was no giving on either side. They were right back at the same impasse, over the same issue. It was as if all the negotiating of the last months had not happened. All arrangements were canceled.

This is a disturbing development for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot sit together and work out our differences. Yes, there is record of disputes happening even in the New Testament, but they were worked out by meeting and reasoning together. If we don’t meet, we can’t reason together. Second is the waste of resources - time and money - that has been spent on something that is now not going to happen. In a land where resources are so scarce, it is really a sin to waste them in this way. But even more serious is the message that this sends to the non-Christian world. It says we can’t practice what we preach about peace and love. We are damaging our witness to the world and thereby tarnishing the name of Christ. This grieves my heart. I can only imagine what it must do to God’s heart.

But before I become too quick to point fingers of shame, I need to look more closely at my relationships. It is so easy to see others’ errors, especially institutions, because they tend to be nameless and faceless. But when they are brothers and sisters in the faith, it is different. It is harder to point at those we know and like, on both sides of a dispute. Pointing becomes inappropriate. That is not our place. The only thing to do, with integrity, is to uphold all parties concerned in prayer. Only God can change hearts and resolve differences. This must continue to be an issue of prayer. That is true for all the church disputes in all our denominations because the truth is that we all have them. The issues are different. The names and faces are different, but the disputes are there. I am convinced that the only alternative is prayer from and for all parties involved. Only God can truly make peace.