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Cape Town Transformation is Focus of Ministry
SANTA BARBARA, CA (November 27, 2002) - A California Evangelical Covenant Church
minister and his family are headed to South Africa this winter to run a
ministry aimed at
community transformation in a neighborhood in Cape Town.
Pastor Dennis and Susan Wadley and their three children - Tasha, 11, Addie,
9, and Elijah, 6 - will leave California in February to run Bridges of
Hope, which was borne out of the mission efforts of Community Covenant
Church in Goleta. The church has given monetary and prayer support and
Wadley plans on raising additional funding through various churches and
individuals.
According to Wadley, the community transformation effort of Bridges of Hope
will be aimed at decreasing the AIDS pandemic through holistic development.
"The AIDS issue is a multifaceted task," Wadley said. "The needs, as a
result of AIDS, are not merely physical. They are social, economic,
educational and spiritual.
"Originally, we had intended to set it (Bridges of Hope) up here and the
church had offered to free me up for a couple of months each year to go
over and set it up," he continued. "But we realized this summer that to get
this off and running we needed to be over there."
When the Wadleys arrive in South Africa, they will work with leaders from
various churches and train pastors in the western portion of the
metropolitan area. The initial training sessions will be part of an effort
between the Wadleys and the Anglican Church. More training will follow with
other denominations and community leaders.
"The task is to unite the spiritual with the other issues they're facing,"
he said. "The church in Africa has grown rapidly, but discipleship is
lacking; some pastors have had only a couple of months of training, so
there's a hunger for theological and ministerial training."
Community Covenant's ministry to those in South Africa began in September
2001. The Wadleys took their first trip with two others from the church and
a pastor from another Covenant congregation.
Ironically, their flight to South Africa was delayed in Atlanta by the
September 11 terrorist attacks. They were fortunate to get out of Atlanta
more quickly than anyone else - theirs was the first flight to be released
after receiving clearance from Atlanta and the lone flight from Atlanta on
September 13, 2001. "That news reassured us that God wanted us in South
Africa," Wadley said.
Last summer, Dennis and Susan Wadley spent three weeks in Cape Town, a city
of four million located at the southern point of Africa. Others from
Community Covenant stayed for two months. After returning from their summer
trip, Wadley met with Evangelical Covenant Church President Glenn R.
Palmberg and Jim Sundholm, director of Covenant World Relief.
Wadley hopes that Bridges of Hope can be a launching point for future
Covenant ministries to South Africa, along with a ministry occurring at
South Africa Chinese Covenant Church in Johannesburg. Along with offering a
place to do ministry, Bridges of Hope is attempting to set up a viable
training site to equip future missionaries to other regions that are
struggling with similar issues.
"There are 'first world' skyscrapers with great beauty in Cape Town and
then you drive out to the Cape flats and people live in abject poverty,"
Wadley said. "There are shacks and some block houses and in the Cape flats
unemployment is running at about 90 percent. That's why the issue of AIDS
is not merely a matter of getting drugs to curtail the disease. Even if
they had the anti-retrovirul drugs, you have to take them with food and
food is inconsistent in its availability."
In February 2001, Wadley read a Time magazine article about the AIDS
epidemic that piqued his interest. Further research makes him even more
keenly aware that an AIDS ministry is necessary, in South Africa and
worldwide.
"More people die of AIDS every day - three times the amount - than those
who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11," Wadley said. "If people don't
respond to the AIDS pandemic, it will be like telling children why we
didn't respond to the Holocaust."
For more information, call Wadley at 805-455-5085 or email him at
dennis@bridges-of-hope.org. The organization's website is
www.bridges-of-hope.org.
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