They couldn’t have come from backgrounds more starkly different. The one, a child with rights who attended a well resourced upper-class suburban white school and was born into a family with a good income, and future opportunies. The other, a child of apartheid-era segregation who was responsible for getting up very early to tender sugarcane before going to the extremely under-resourced black school, with little hope of any post-secondary education. Both experienced the dismantling of apartheid and the new opportunities for the people and country of South Africa. In unique ways, they were each called and gifted by God to build his church.

I’m talking about Gareth Bowley and Robert Sibongiseni Dlamini, the two pastors at Oasis Church. Both are good friends of mine, both are good friends of each other. The bringing together of their stories – and ours – is a miracle only God could have brought about. Who would have thought that a Canadian (me), a Zimbabwean (Kerry) and 2 South Africans of different races would be living in the same small town in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. I love how God has a way of intersecting lives. In a previous blog I reflected on how my friendship with Sibongiseni has now developed into working alongside him at Oasis church when last year he was hired as the other half of the pastoral team at Oasis. It has been such a blessing to have both Gareth and Robert contributing their gifts at our church. We feel abundantly thankful for them both and all that they bring.

Oasis Church is a community of people that acknowledges that racial reconciliation, in a country marred by decades of legislated racial separation, doesn’t happen by accident. The church intentionally chooses to have a multicultural worship expression. People speaking English learn to sing in Zulu and vice versa. As part of the worship teams, I challenge myself to include multicultural songs. I have learned to lead singing in Zulu! Often prayers can be heard in many different languages. The church has a dream to be where white and the black hands meet in love and reconciliation. Even more, an increasing desire has bubbled up that our relationships with each other would move from “Handshakes to Hugs.” We have been seeking to be in each others lives in a way where we know each other on deeper levels and we seek to understand our different cultural backgrounds. When we greet each other we love to greet with a hug.
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I’m proud to be a part of what Oasis Church is doing to build a non-racial, multi-cultural, class-crossing church as well as extending the message of reconciliation in all relationships (God, self, others, and creation) to as many people as possible in this part of South Africa.  It was incredibly exciting when Centre Street Church in Calgary, which has partnered itself with Oasis in extending its influence, invited Gareth and Robert to share the Oasis story with their congregation. In February this year, Gareth and Robert to Calgary spoke at the Central Campus of Centre Street Church in Calgary about racial reconciliation in a sermon called, “Handshakes to Hugs.” It was a message birthed from what God has been doing at Oasis. While referring to the challenges (and opportunities) in South Africa, the message was geared to a Canadian audience. Kerry and I experienced the message live via internet streaming and we felt like we part of a sacred moment… people, countries and cultures meeting for the advancement of God’s kingdom. The message is available online beginning with an original video challenging our stereotypes. If you would like to be part of the same experience, you can view it here. I know you will be inspired by this message to become a catalyst for multiculturalism in your sphere of influence.

DW