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Love Wins
Our world is in desperate need of LOVE. February invites us to celebrate and express our love in a secret or bold manner to that special person(s) in our lives.
Our faith’s message is rooted in love – love for God, love for others and love for oneself. We have been given the mandate to embody this unconditional love. May we be present to seize the opportunities that come our way to demonstrate love, in making our world, wherever we find ourselves, a better place. I invite you to make the circle of love bigger this month.
Love always wins!
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Ecclesia de Lange
Director, IAM
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Journeying together towards empowerment as queer people of faith
Each year IAM holds a Journey of Hope workshop as part of our work to support the empowerment of strong, mature LGBTQIA+ people with well-integrated spirituality and sexuality. Thuli Mjwara reflects on this year’s workshop and the continuing need for these open, safe spaces for discussion that help to dismantle, reimagine and reshape the religious narrative to be more inclusive of a variety of voices and bodies.
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IAM Staff Profile: Marlow Newman-Valentine
Marlow Newman-Valentine joined IAM as Regional Coordinator in October 2019. His professional journey has been varied, moving from banking to inclusive church leadership to community development, yet throughout it all has run a thread of his passion and drive to end the othering of bodies and be a catalyst for social transformation. Read more about Marlow’s journey in this monthly series where we hand over the blog platform to IAM’s staff to share their stories and insights in their own words.
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Reclaiming humanity through acceptance: Meet Bonga Mbenenge
Bonganjalo (“Bonga”) Mbenenge studied theology at Stellenbosch University and took part in a number of IAM trainings and sessions, including the 2017 Queer Think Tank. In this three-part series, Bonga shares his journey to acceptance and inclusion of LGBTI people, how he is working to integrate his journey into his traditional congregation, and the importance of addressing issues of tradition and culture in our work with congregations and communities.
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Reclaiming humanity through acceptance: bringing the message home
This is part two of a three-part series in which Bonganjalo (“Bonga”) Mbenenge shares his journey to acceptance and inclusion of LGBTI people, how he is working to integrate his journey into his traditional congregation, and the importance of addressing issues of tradition and culture in our work with congregations and communities.
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#LoveisLove
In honour of February, the month of love, the IAM team came together to reflect on what love means to us and how it manifests in our lives.
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Cape Town Pride / 14-29 Feb 2020 / more info here
- Pride Bookcase 1 / 17 Feb 2020 / 18:00 / Zer021 Social Club
- Pride Bookcase 2 / 24 Feb 2020 / 18:00 / Zer021 Social CLub
- Pride Poetry Night / 26 Feb 2020 / 18:30 / The Social Bar
- Pride Shabbat / 28 Feb 2020 / 18:00-19:00 / Temple Israel, Greenpoint
- Pride Service / 1 March / 18:00 / Unitarian Church, 64 Hout Street / IAM's own Ecclesia de Lange will be preaching
Sexuality and Gender Diversity Workshop / UKZN / 25-28 February 2020
Sexuality and Gender Diversity Workshop / University of Stellenbosch MDiv Programme / 16-18 March 2020
Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa (URCSA) SKLAS Conference: Church and Gender with a Focus on Sexuality / 10-11 February 2020 / Goedgedacht Estate, Malmsbury Held in partnership with the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology at the University of Stellenbosch. Registration for the 11 Feb event is closed, but please email info@iam.org.za to be informed of upcoming URCSA conferences.
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At IAM we are continually striving to create a sense of belonging in a country which has great love and potential but is often characterised by harsh divisions. We are creating safe spaces for dialogue where the marginalised can finally have a voice. But, we can't do it alone.
We ask that you, our IAM friends, consider supporting us financially in our ongoing transformative work throughout Africa. With your help, we can build on the accomplishments of the past 25 years and continue on for many years to come.
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