Hunter, The Bible and the quest for Developmental Justicecampaigns, will have convincing effects. Empty repetition of what is fair,
just, and good governance with repetition from text verses from the
Bible will not work. Church people must come with information and
strategies from the brunt of reality, so much so that Government would
find it unfair that they are so convincing that they cannot be denied in
their requests. This does not mean that we must write a new Bible, but
our church leaders, who include the normal pastor in a congregation
somewhere in rural areas must be empowered to get the message over.
While pastors are preaching and bringing the message of the Bible every
day by repeating biblical values through normal interpretations and
dogmatic repetition, the country of Namibia is in a deteriorating process.
The Church in Namibia is the only organisation well dug into reality,
with its tentacles in every little village, place, town, or city in Namibia.
The Church is the only organisation with the potential to know where
every orphan or child lives in Namibia. The Church finds its basic ethical
principles from a sound book from a different era but the church has to
translate those principles into a canon for action.
Every theological training seminary or school in Southern Africa should
include, to my mind, a proper course on Advocacy. It is time that pastors
spend less time on digging themselves into the details of Dogmatics,
Missiology or Church History (from which a lot can be learnt) and more
on Advocacy. It is time to fight the social problems within the nations in
Southern Africa because problems are already far beyond the means of
other bodies. The Church is still in a position to fulfill a most important
role but may lose that role to other organisations which fulfill this with
great vigour. These other organisations do not necessarily take their
inspiration from the Bible. There is enough of a biblical mandate to see
children as most important in our society but in the Namibian society
enough is not done and it is time that the church should fulfill this most
important role to fight for the children of Namibia.
Furthermore, it is important for pastors to know how government sys-
tems work and to know whom to approach when there are problems in
society. For this reason it might even be important for pastors to follow a
basic course in government studies to make sure that they approach the
right people through the correct channels.
The church is involved in some work, which includes soup kitchens and
counseling, but the Church should play a much more aggressive role in