ALLIANCE-BUILDING

Our work as the Church Alliance for Social Transformation is grounded in the idea of alliance-building. We believe that, in order to see the change we long for, we need a movement of people, sharing a heart and mind, and mutually working towards more of his justice and peace on earth.

Times of gathering are therefore so important for a few reasons:

• For encouragement in our missions and calling
• For renewal and refreshing of our spirits as we gather with people of a similar heart and mind in this work that can be difficult and unrelenting
• For theological and practical input to further the work of social transformation and the peace and justice of the Kingdom.
• For networking and friendship building across lines of difference to catalyse further Kingdom impact

IMBIZOS

Much of our work in this area takes place through our quarterly imbizos. This is a half-day event open to anyone passionate about seeing God’s peace and justice at work in the world – if this is your heart (or are interested in learning more) then we are excited to welcome you into our Alliance! Each one of these gatherings will have a specific focus and theme which will help us dive deeper into an area of our work. Save these dates as they’ll be so helpful for our work together.  For past two years, these times were focused on some of the vision and theology that the alliance is built on.

IBANDLA MALIVUKE

This is our annual “Church Arise” conference: a time of renewal, refreshing, envisioning and equipping for all of those passionate about local missions, community transformation and seeing His Kingdom come “on earth as it is in Heaven.” The conference takes place over two days, gathering church leaders, NPO leaders, mums, dads, students, community members, business people and the like from across Durban and KZN to spend some time thinking about how our faith interacts with the world around us and the many social issues we witness.

This was the lens through which we considered our role and response as modern-day believers wrestling with living out our faith in our South African reality. Through all of this, we considered what the enduring call of the Kingdom is which echoes throughout the Scriptures, through time and space to us as believers gathered in Durban and how this call changes how we engage with the world around us. Participants describe how hope-filling, inspiring and vision-raising they find this time. The learning that is shared from the front is deep and rich and leaves all of us moved in profound ways.

Another great outcome from our Ibandla Malivuke Conference is the forging of new friendships and alliance-building with a broader network of churches and organisations.

Read more about our last Ibandla Malivuke Conference and watch recordings of our plenary sessions.

Please also save the dates for our next upcoming alliance-building moments of 2025:

Saturday 31 May – Imbizo
Friday 15 & Saturday 16 August – Ibandla Malivuke Conference 2025
Saturday 25 October – Imbizo