By The Rev. Solomon Nxumalo (Retired Presiding Elder) – 18th District Reporter
The 18th Episcopal District Midyear conference held on 30 April 2022 was a groundbreaking new model for efficiency in ministry. Using the technology developed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the District was able to gather for a one-day meeting held across borders in virtual hubs in Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, and S. Mozambique. The conference was well organized, with all reports submitted in advance and printed in the 18thDistrict Midyear Guide. Within six hours (which included a 1-hour lunch break), we received clear teaching, exciting auxiliary reports, and powerful preaching by Bishop Frederick Wright Sr., the Presiding Prelate of the 20th Episcopal District. All messaging throughout the Conference lifted our theme: God our Healer: Healthy Church-Healthy Community [Jeremiah 33:6, St Luke 8:42-48].
Bishop Brookins and Supervisor Burnett introduced a small grant opportunity during the Planning meeting for Farm & Garden ministries. During the Midyear Meeting, the Rev. Carolyn Cavaness, the Farm & Garden coordinator for the International Health Commission, outlined the vision, goals, and steps for developing sustainable food security networks. Thereafter, first lady Tsakasile Ndlangamandla, the first grant recipient, gave a tutorial on how she developed their proposal for the new mushroom shed at Paul Quinn Chapel at the Eswatini Annual Conference. We celebrated the progress they had made. This session ended with Bishop Brookins leading us in a prayer and consecration litany for all the new District farm and garden projects.
During our second healing and empowerment session, the Rev. Dr. Ammie Davis, President/Dean of Turner Theological Seminary, introduced the new Certificate of Theology program at Turner and the scholarship for 18 students from the 18th District to participate. Bishop Brookins emphasized that while ordination is important, additional education and training to go with the ordination will be a blessing for those who participate.
The third session was a town hall conversation where Bishop Wright provided updates on District projects, problems, and possibilities. Having received all reports in writing, the District discussed the decision-making process on recommendations from each report. Bishop Brookins introduced two new ministries: the Sons of Allen (SOA) and the Criminal Justice Initiative of the Council of Bishops. We celebrated that in such a short time, Bro. Edwin Lehasa, the new District SOA President, had been able to mobilize the District, and each Annual Conference now has a representative to begin the work.
Each component uniformly presented reports in five minutes or less, and we ended the meeting with the Word powerfully preached from John 5:1-10 entitled “The Paralysis of the Church.” Bishop Wright exhorted each of us to take up our mats and allow God to do a new thing with each and all of us. Under Bishop Brookins’s leadership and Supervisor Burnett’s leadership, the 18th Episcopal District is truly doing a new thing!
