The world after September 11, 2001: Challenges to the churches, and their leaders

Abstract

Bishop Mvume Dandala, presiding bishop of the Methodist Church in South Africa and extra-ordinary professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, was asked to lead an international delegation of Church leaders to the USA in the wake of September 11, 2001. In his article he tells about the experience of church leaders from a number of countries that suffered trauma and violence in the past, pastoring to leaders and congregant’s in the USA, after the tragic events that shook the American nation. He reflects on the different challenges to Churches and their leaders, that await us in a time of trouble and tribulation: (i) to strive for universal peace; (ii) for churches to find a common voice in their struggle against injustices; and (iii) to communicate the imperatives of the gospel meaningfully to the people of the world.