CYM Chairperson’s Address to the CMM General Synod Congress

This is a speech rendered by CYM Central Executive Committee chairperson, Brother Nkosana Mabuza, to the third General Congress of the Christian Men's Ministry [CMM] – held in Akasia (Pretoria) from 07/07/2016 to 10/07/2016.

The executive committee of CMM, delegates from congregations and presbyteries, members of the moderamen who are present, representatives of other ministries – I greet you all in the name of Jesus Chris, our Rock and Salvation.

I am honoured today to be able to bring you fraternal greetings from the youth of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa [URCSA]. As the Christian Youth Ministry [CYM] we are committed to serving our heavenly Father by shaping the young leaders of our beloved church to make a positive and enduring contribution to our church and the South African society in general.

We do this as URCSA members and in agreement with the church rules and policies. Our church is a uniting church; we are building the unity of people who have been kept apart by many years of a deliberate separation of God's children. This separation has not only resulted in us not knowing each other across racial lines, but even within congregations we started to form different groupings. Members would not work together and tried to build their own little kingdoms in a congregation. This was not good for the church; and in the URCSA we tried to move away from these different groupings by creating ministries. This allowed us all to work inside congregations – making contributions according to our interests and the different gifts that we have received from God.

It is for this reason that both CYM and CMM fall under the authority of the local church council and the Congregational Ministry at higher levels. Although we are different ministries, we still have a common purpose – to unite our congregants and our church around programmes of action within the church and our communities.

It is important to understand that CYM is not competing with any other ministry for members. We are, therefore, committed to working with CMM in congregations, because the same men who make their contribution in CMM, can also make a contribution in CYM. The same applies the other way around. Each member of a congregation must make his/her contribution in a ministry that s/he feels most comfortable in. We should therefore not look at membership as the defining factor, but the gifts and contribution that we can make.

We therefore pray that this gathering of CMM will produce policies and programmes of action that will not only focus on the men who are "members", but all men in every congregation. As CYM, we are also constantly working on making our activities as inclusive as possible.

I wish you all of the very best during your meeting, and pray for God's blessings in all that you will do here.