FOCCISA Annual General Meeting Communique

We, representatives of the Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Southern Africa (FOCCISA) wish to affirm "fellowship" as our guiding principle in our region. To this end, we wish to commit ourselves to the theme of our meeting "journeying together in the next century and millennium", a theme which, according to the keynote speaker, Prof. Paul John Isaak, depicts a "'walk"' with "Jesus Christ" and with "each other". Furthermore, we endorse Prof. Isaak's challenge to us that we should not look to the next century and millennium with fear and despair, but rather with boldness and hope.

In the same breath, we fully endorse the challenge by the FOCCISA out-going Chairperson, Rev. Violet Sampa-Bredt, that as we enter the new millennium our fellowship compels us to look beyond the region we want and focus our attention on the FOCCISA we want.

Having had an opportunity at this AGM to consider, among other things, the need for self-sustainability, the need for inter-faith and other co-operation, the need for greater ecumenical involvement in the conflicts in our sub-region and the related need for greater ecumenical participation in the ministry with uprooted people, we hereby:

• resolve that our Fellowship must commit itself to seriously look at possible ways of fund-raising to ensure a sound base for self-sustainability. To this end, we undertake to contribute towards costs of holding our Annual General Meetings, apart from committing ourselves to paying all outstanding subscriptions to EDICISA as a symbolic reaffirmation of our fellowship.
• resolve to critically analyse the theological and other foundations of the United Religious Initiative before committing ourselves to any working relationships with them. While we appreciate the notion of inter-faith co-operation, we still remind ourselves of the need to uphold our traditions and view any such co-operation in the light of those traditions. At the same time, we wish to affirm, by our own conviction, the importance of starting our own inter-faith initiatives which we can set forth at any such fora as our own.
• resolve, with regard to ecumenical co-operation with other church-based bodies, to welcome into our Fellowship the Association of Christian Lay Centres in Africa (ACLCA) as an associate member.
• resolve that, in an attempt at further identifying ourselves and clarifying the nature of our Fellowship, FOCCISA should use the imminent evaluation as an opportunity for self-appraisal and introspection in order to face up to the challenges ahead with courage and hope.
• resolve, in collaboration with the AACC and the Forum of Churches and Councils in the Great Lakes and the Hone of Africa, to commit ourselves to greater ecumenical engagement in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. To this end, we here establish a 5-person Ecumenical Committee of Eminent Persons, whose membership and other details will be finally worked out by the FOCCISA Executive Committee, to represent our Fellowship in peace initiatives.
• resolve, finally, to renew our commitment to our participation in the ministry with uprooted people. To this end, we affirm our commitment to hosting at our NCCs the Co-ordination Office of the Ministry, fully aware of our Christian responsibility to the "church of the stranger".

This AGM has further elected Botswana as the new Chairperson of FOCCISA, Zambia as the Vice-Chairperson, with Namibia, Malawi and Lesotho as new Executive Committee members.

The next AGM is planned for Botswana from 9-11 May, 2000.