The LUCSA Department of mission and Diakonia recently conducted a follow-up mentorship in mainstreaming for the LCSA from the 15th to 19th March in Piet Retief, South Africa

The 34 Participants (15 Female and 19 Male) were the clergy and lay leaders  drawn from all the four dioceses of the LCSA in South Africa, namely Gauteng, Kwa Zulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and North West. The church gave the church hall as avenue for the workshop at no cost as their contribution to the workshop.

The aim of the workshop was to assess the progress which the LCSA has made in internal and external mainstreaming as well as raise awareness on current and topical issues including the COVID-19 and Local Resource Mobilisation.

It was evident that the COVID 19 lockdown restrictions had slowed down the church’s progress but we were encouraged by the fact that this was the first time that the church had all the dioceses represented at this type of training and with a high attendance number. The Bishop of the church, Bishop Maragelo, joined the last two days of the workshop as he had other engagements,

It came to light that:-

  • The church is yet to establish a coordinated youth programme as none was existent at the moment.
  • The church is yet to establish a workplace for the employees to respond to the issue ‘who will care for the carer’

In a discussion that ensued it emerged that the majority of the employees present were convinced about the need for a workplace programme as some of them had experienced difficulties during their time of need.

Some of the resolutions from the workshop included the following:

  • Establishment of a resource mobilisation strategy for the church.
  • All dioceses to reorganise the youth league and come up with a coordinated programme by June 2021.
  • A committee to look into the structure of the workplace programme.

LUCSA will continue to accompany the church as they implement the mainstreaming.