Unminded of Differences and Limitations
By Mangaliso Mzamo Ndlangamandla, 3rd Vice President, Connectional YPD
As a Connectional Church, we are inevitably portioned and organized into various districts for the overall efficient running of our church. It may be questioned as to what aspects are referred to when determining each Episcopal district. It could easily be based on geographical contexts or how close countries are to each other; but from empirical views, this is not always the case. Could it be similarities in the economy that affect countries’ allocations? If so, it seems rather rational financially and may form mutual conventions in the given district.
The only question we can at least try to answer is whether or not we are affected by cultural differences or how cultural relativism plays a huge role in our organized districts. I will take the 18th Episcopal District, my district, as an example. It is comprised of Eswatini, North and East Lesotho, and Botswana.
Cultural differences and conventions definitely exist in our district as we come from rather different cultures and national backgrounds. This is found especially in the Eswatini Conference with the rest of the countries of the district. Lesotho and Botswana have slightly different cultures that are of the same origin. So, there is a lot of cultural relativism and mutuality as opposed to the Eswatini Conference, which is almost completely different; yet, holding the same ground with Zulus which are in the 19th Episcopal District. Mind you, both geographic and cultural contexts are considered here. Besides all this, this has created more open-mindedness in the YPD of the 18th Episcopal District as we are coming from such different walks of life. This has also resulted in higher cultural empathy and YPDers taking an interest in learning more about our different cultures including languages. Cultural differences have not led to cultural indifferences in our District; rather, they have created awareness of the different conventions present. This is very important because our cultures and conventions influence everything we do and form who we are. Since we will be interacting, brainstorming, growing (in Christ and all relevant aspects), and continuing the legacy together, we need to have an understanding of how our ethics formed within our different cultural contexts come to play and how we can fuse them together resulting in the best blend suitable for the YPD
