The discontent of the Church needs attention.

God's relationship with man is one of the most complex in the history of humanity. This relationship has been nurtured, cultivated, or curated by the institution of the Church. In the Kingdom of God, the Church is the city, village, commune, township, or organised community with its laws, bureaucracy, and authority with which human souls are marshalled to salvation. It operates as an institutional firmament under which human arrangements govern each other with the purpose of preparing for the afterlife by living the present in a way that guarantees a possible ticket to a promised heaven. 

What keeps members of the church together as an institution is their membership in the enterprise of seeking life with God. The pursuit of eternal life holds the church together. The sanity of society comes with the connections between natural and supernatural orders society subjects itself. The goodness of the church, and whence its eternal appeal to humanity, is its enduring capability to watch over the integrity of nature, reason, natural law, and morality. 

The church is the thread that connects the qualitative aspects of man's temporal and spiritual lives to the rest of life. It establishes the basis of legitimate authority on earth by becoming the embodiment of how such authority relates to that of God over the affairs of man. It presides over justice, love, and Christian revelation on earth. Operating as part of the worldly governance system, it curates the truthfulness of human dignity, social justice, equality (before the laws of God), and the promise of freedom on earth according to God. 

Because the church operates with the souls of man through its assigned authority of interpreting the word of God, it has become one of the safest chambers where the rhythm of human life is curated from the cradle to the grave. In the Church, we formally receive most of those affiliated; we induct them through dedication to God and a life of, with, and through God. We process them in the institution through membership rituals such as baptism, confirmation, blessing, constant prayer, and ultimately seeing them out through praying for a safe journey to the afterlife. Christians find meaningfulness in what the church does at every phase of their lives. The church is, therefore, the sanctuary of man as part of the human collective.

Being a human construct, the church cannot be insulated from the conflicting interests of society. Given that human interests embody diversity, social conditions, and opinion, the church, as a conglomeration of these congregated interests, will always have the revolutionary ferment it brings to the world. To this end, the church has been at the crossroads of transforming social living conditions, creating a context of prosperity through institutional feeding of the spiritual hunger of humanity, peace, and happiness. It is an important social institution.

In the absence of government, the church has been the institution with which humanity has established a semblance of authority if traditional systems fail to close the gap. This has made the natural necessity of the state to humanity somewhat dependent on collaboration with the church as the largest custodian of humans seeking the face of God. The state's attractiveness to the wealthy and powerful is the reason the church must be at the centre of humanity to regulate the appetites that power and wealth generate in humanity, such as war and corruption of the mind. 

In South Africa, the church has had relationships with society that only its endurance has been able to save. The facts are that the majority of South Africans, 85%, are Christians. This makes Christianity the dominant religion, thus the substrate of social mores defining South Africa. The Christian Church commands the most worship institutions in the country. It convenes South Africans into its many social spaces than no other religion. The church is always at the coalface of human sorrow and healing before all others arrive. It captures the imagination of peace and serenity better than any resourced institution. 

It is, therefore, inconceivable why South Africa has, in recent history, not cultivated its relationship with the church as a partner to resolve social challenges. There have been incidents in South Africa that position the church as not an institution of first instance in matters that it has demonstrated unquestionable capability and credibility. One of these instances was when the country faced the COVID-19 Pandemic. In wars, disasters, and other moments of calamity, the institution of the church is always known to be the first point of sanctuary.

Despite the public policy onslaught at some of the things which are fundamental to the Christian faith, which is a majority religion in South Africa, such as restriction of worship opportunities where most humans are in custody, the reaction of the state to the COVID-19 Pandemic has decimated the institution of the Church. Church closures did not only impact the attendance cadence but starved society of the spiritual interventions it needed when it was faced with pandemic consequences of death and counselling.

 

The state has not returned to the church with any relief or otherwise to indicate its acknowledgement of how it participated in the reversal of membership and other faith gains that the church has made. This is the area of great discontent in the church, save for it being compounded by the policy onslaughts. The church will be asking for answers from the state on why religious education is banned in schools, why the curriculum is built as an anti-Christianity statement by the national education system, why the institution of marriage is under such pressure to recognise orientations antithetical to the teachings of the Christian Faith, and many other questions.

The time for the church to get answers has arrived. The majority status we command in this democracy obliges us to demand answers. Otherwise, we would be colluding with the systematic onslaught of the faith. CUT!!