Pastor Boichwarelo Mashishi, Trans-Orange Conference Director: Meals on Wheels Corrected Transcript Let me take this time to greet the church of God in the wonderful name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The voice and the face that you are seeing belongs to Pastor Boichwarelo Mashishi, and I am the Meals on Wheels Area Director in the TOC. And I am hoping that we will have a great time together as we try to navigate through this digital world, where we do things online, making sure that our churches receive the necessary equipment and tools for us to do our departmental training together. I also want to thank the conference for giving us such platforms so that we can tell and inform the church about what we are doing and what we are about. And as you may see on your screen, it says Call to Serve. I think this is one of the pillars or one of the main cores of our existence. And this we also see from Christ — before the cross, or before he ascended — where he broke the bread and had wine with the disciples, and he did this to show them and to tell them that they need to continue serving one another and continue to be good examples to one another. So we are called to serve at Meals on Wheels. It is the same thing also, and this is our mandate — to align ourselves also with the church. So we are called to serve, and service is what we render to the public, to our churches, and to the environment itself. We get straight into our business and we talk about corporate social investment — CSI — which is our socioeconomic, ethical, and moral responsibility of corporates. This is what companies and our big corporates have the responsibility to do, and so should we also as a church — the responsibility to go into our communities and see what impact they can make, or how they can help. So each and every company has this, and so does our church. And our Christian social responsibility — we are getting to that now, into the gist of why do we exist? What is our code as a church? And I need to outline it right there and then, and say our Christian responsibility is to make sure that we cater for the social ills that we have around us — the things that we might deem not to be well, or the injustices that are happening in our communities. As a church, we need to be the voice to the voiceless. We need to be the hand that feeds, the hand that guides, the hand that makes sure that people around us are well taken care of. And this is our mission. I must also say this is our mission — as a church, as a community. And what is that social responsibility? It is a moral and internal concern with injustice in the society. Like I said, it includes poverty, discrimination, segregation, and oppression. Such concern is followed by external action in the form of social assistance or social services. That is what we need to do as a church. That is what we need to do as a people. What do we do? We take care of the injustices that are happening around us and we make sure that we do good and that everything runs accordingly. What does the church say in this regard, or in this term — social responsibility? The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that actions to reduce poverty and its attendant injustices are an important part of our Christian responsibility. That is what we exist for. That is what we are here for as Meals on Wheels — to cater for the injustices that are happening in our community. And the Bible is clear. It reveals God's special interest in the poor, and how he deals with his people or his followers, and how we should respond also as his followers — those who are able and who have care for themselves — in caring for those who are around us. Working to reduce poverty and hunger means more than showing sympathy to the poor. It means sponsoring or participating in programmes that address the causes of poverty and hunger, helping people to build sustainable lives. One always says, the need for the church will always be there for as long as the poor are there. For as long as the poor are there, it is our mandate also as a church to exist. And what does God say? There is a well-known text that we like sharing at Meals on Wheels, and it is found in the book of Leviticus 23, verse 22, and it says: When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God. What does gleaning mean? — which is the old tradition that the Jewish community used to do. When they harvested their fields, they would not harvest everything. They would leave a certain portion which is on the edges, and you will take note — it is on the edges, where people when they walk by or pass by, it is easier for them to reach. It is easier for them to take that which you have left for them. It was a custom that is well known, and we are encouraged also as a church to follow suit, to do the same. As we continue — Desire of Ages, page 369. It reads as follows, and it is a well-known quotation also: Christ received from the Father. He imparted to the disciples. They imparted to the multitude, and the people to each one another. So all who are united in Christ will receive from him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart to others. It is our mandate. The Spirit of Prophecy also declares that our mandate is to make sure that whatever that we have received, we impart. Ministry of Healing, page 143 — which is a well-known quotation also that we love, that I have personally fallen in love with in the way that we do — and it is: Christ's method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. Look, we need to mingle with men — not for the sake of programmes, not for the sake of passing time, but for the sake of desiring their good. The main purpose of us doing this is to desire people's good. He showed his sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then he bade them, Follow me. So it does not go the other way around, where we come to people and tell them they must follow us. We need to — I think in psychology we call it — we need to build rapport, where somebody needs to trust you, somebody needs to believe in you, somebody needs to know that whatever that you are doing towards them is for their good. The sole purpose of this is to make sure that you cater for people's goodness. You want to see them good. You desire it — it is your desire. And ministering to their needs — you desire for them to be good, you minister to their needs. Before you mingle with them, there needs to be an action that is required from your side. You go to them. You want to know who they are. You want to know how you can make their lives better. After you minister to their needs, of course with sympathetic views and sympathetic connotations, then you win their confidence. After winning their confidence, the Lord always says the rest is history — then you bid them, follow me, or join us. We have about 18 Sustainable Development Goals that we as a country need to attain, need to adhere to. And I will just mention maybe the top five that somehow speak also to assessments. Number one is poverty alleviation. Number two is zero hunger. Number three is good health and wellbeing. Number four, quality education. Number five, gender equality. Like I said in the beginning, we do not segregate, we do not discriminate, we do not make the next person feel less of a human being. It is our social responsibility and it is what we do. And maybe we should add the sixth one — which is clean water and sanitation — which is something that we have been struggling with of late. It is our responsibility to make sure that these top six, at least, are something that as a church we are tied to. South Africa has been hit recently also by a number of things and I need to bring this to the attention of the church. We have been experiencing strikes or protests, COVID hit us, state capture — we are looking for jobs, recession is on its way. We are just going through a lot as a country and as the church, and we need to be relevant to all these things as a church. And this is how we are going to do it. We are presenting this to you as a church — that Meals on Wheels, or the departments of the church, or the church itself rather, should be the answer to these programmes and should be the solution to these problems. One might ask: how does Meals on Wheels feature in all of this? I am sure we are aware there are about three vehicles which are in the humanitarian space, and I am going to mention them quickly. We are aware of them. One might ask how do they intertwine or how do they work together? We have Adventist Community Services, which is your Dorcas, which is the services that the conference renders. And you will hear more, maybe in other presentations, where the director of ACS gets to tell us what they do. But we complement each other because we are in the humanitarian space. There is Meals on Wheels, which we are here for today, which is something we will be talking more about. Then we have ADRA. ADRA also works — ADRA talks to the disaster relief of the country. And by the way, we need to disclose also — ADRA is national, ADRA is worldwide. Meals on Wheels is not. ACS also is worldwide, and you find this also in our Church Manuals. But you will not find Meals on Wheels in your Church Manual. But we will deal with this as we go. And maybe by the end of this programme, we will know what we are about. About 60 odd years ago, a pastor by the name of Dennis Bird started this vehicle that we will be talking about as Meals on Wheels. It started in East London, where he was catering for and taking care of the elderly in East London. There were fewer than 20 that he was taking care of, and he saw a vision. He saw a bigger picture
