“On our faces before God and the nation” THE STORY How did MRM

							                            “On our faces before God and the nation”


THE STORY

How did MRM originate?

On 18 September 2002 a six year old girl was savagely raped in Alexandra township, in
Johannesburg, South Africa. She was torn open from her vagina to her anus. Partially
disemboweled with her intestines hanging out, she was left for dead. But mercifully she was found
and taken to hospital. The nurses gave her the name Lerato (“Love” in SeSotho). Professor Peter
Beale was on duty when Lerato was brought in. He said it was the most horrendous case of child
rape he had ever seen in his 30 years of medical practice. She survived. But the pain of all the
multiple operations of reconstructive surgery to get her back to reasonable normality is a mere
shadow of the deep inner trauma and scars that she will carry for the rest of her life.

When they heard of this horror, some men were so outraged that they organized a Men’s
Repentance March. This was a public repentance march before God and the Alexandra community
for what Reuben did to little Lerato (he was convicted for the crime), and for what men do to
women and children in South Africa. About 350 men put on sackcloth and ashes, wrote the sins of
males on cardboards and nailed them to wooden crosses. Then holding them up before God and the
community they marched in silent repentance through Alexandra to the spot where Lerato was
raped. There they bent their knees, and on their faces before God they confessed the sin of Reuben
and the sins of men, repenting before God and the women and children, asking all concerned for
mercy and forgiveness. They prayed for God to deliver and heal men from their sinfulness and
brokenness, and to transform our nation. This is the passion, the seed, of the Men’s Repentance
Movement that was sown on that sad but memorable day.


THE MISSION

What is MRM? What is its reason for existence?

MRM is a movement of men repenting for the sins of males against women and children, for the
healing and transformation of our nation.

Embodied in the MRM logo: On our faces before God and the nation.


THE VISION

What are the key elements of MRM? What does it want to achieve?

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   1. For men to take responsibility: to help men stand up and take responsibility for broken
      masculinity, within themselves and within society; especially with regard to men’s sinful
      attitudes and actions against women and children.

   2. For men to repent: to help men change their thinking (the Greek word for repent, metanoia,
      means a change of mentality and direction). We want to help me do a 180 degree about-turn
      from their sinful attitudes and actions, to discover a new understanding of what it means to
      be a real man, thus redefining (authentic) manhood and (godly) masculinity in our society.

   3. To repent before God: to help men see that ultimately only God can help us and our nation;
      to stand before God in confession, repentance and intercession for God’s mercy and
      forgiveness for men, and for women and children. Our “before God” focus is for the
      conversion and transformation of men, and of our society.

   4. To repent publicly: to do our “repentance before God” publicly in the market place (not
      only “in church”), so that other men can see our contrition and changed thinking and thus be
      called into a process of transformation. This means social engagement and action, not just
      conceptual teachings and inactive private faith.

   5. To be a movement of “repenting men”—a MRM: to be catalytic in mobilizing men
      wherever they are willing in an ever-growing “God-movement” of social transformation.
      MRM is not an institutional process of organizational growth, positioning and pleasing
      leaders, etc. It’s a process of challenging, conscientizing and firing up men, through public
      events, teachings, tracts, men’s groups, etc; for them to take the initiative in standing and
      speaking up publicly for women and children, and taking responsibility for the social evils
      in our nation.


THE VALUES

Why are we doing this? What is the rationale behind the MRM?

   1. Because of the silence of Adam: (Gen 3:1-9, esp v6) Adam was present with Eve when
      Satan tempted her, but he kept silent and sinned with her by not reminding her of God’s
      word to not eat of the tree. This plunged the world into depravity and death. The Hebrew for
      “male” means “the one who reminds, who remembers” (in Gen 1:27). The essence of being
      male is to remember God’s word and remind the world to do what God says, or else
      humanity falls for the temptation to be “god”, to seek a “knowledge” of good and evil that
      leads to deception and destruction. We cannot remain silent and allow evil to spread its reign
      of rape. The “Last Adam”, Jesus of Nazareth, stood up and spoke God’s truth. It cost him
      his life, but it reversed Adam’s sin, broke the curse and redeemed humanity. We were all
      born of the First Adam and continue his sin of silence. We must be born again of the Last
      Adam to fulfill our true nature as males: To remember and remind other men, and the
      nation, of God’s word—the truth that sets us free from our slavery to our corrupt nature as
      men, to our broken masculinity (Jn 8:31-47 cf. 14:6).

   2. Because our current social context demands it: Every 26 seconds a woman or child is
      raped and/or sexually and violently abused at the hands of so-called “men” in SA. The
      profound level of broken masculinity is being expressed in the most horrific form of
      criminal violence and sexual abuse. We are sitting on a ticking time-bomb with our extreme
      loss of moral fibre and social restraint—the God who judged Sodom and Gomorrah is the

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       same God who will judge South Africa for our obsessive materialism, arrogant violence and
       sexual permissiveness (Ezek 16:49-50). Just think of what men are responsible for in this
       nation, and in the global village, from all the wars in human history to the abuse of women
       and children. The crisis in South Africa at root is a crisis of male character and sin, which
       has to be addressed or else we will all perish. We believe that there will be no real MRM (a
       Moral Regeneration Movement, initiated by the South African government) until there is a
       true MRM initiated by the Church—a Men’s Repentance Movement as described in this
       document. We unapologetically use the language of “sin”, “confession”, and “repentance”,
       as these words, more than any others, most accurately describe both our condition and our
       cure.

   3. Because God acts when we humble ourselves, confess and repent: God assures us that
      whenever we humble ourselves, confess our sin and change our ways, he will take note and
      act against evil to save and heal (e.g. 2Chron 7:14). History confirms this—the miracle of
      relative peaceful change in South Africa in 1994 was partly due to Christians repenting,
      praying and intervening in the national crisis. We believe in taking upon ourselves public
      symbols of judgment and death, like sackcloth and ashes (as the prophets of old did), as
      signs of humiliation, confession and repentance, lest God pours out his judgment on us (see
      2Sam 3:31; 1Kings 21:27, Joel 1:13, Dan 9:3, Jonah 3:3-10). We believe in corporate guilt
      before God, and that Christians, like Daniel (in chapter 9), ought to confess the sins of their
      people to God. As males, whether we like it or not, we are party to the sinful attitudes and
      actions of men against women and children in South Africa—it affects us all. We must take
      responsibility for that as men, and call all men into a process of confession, repentance,
      healing and transformation.

   4. Because men are called to intercede and intervene for God’s sake: in keeping with what
      it means to be “male”, Paul says “I want the men everywhere to pray, without anger or
      disputing” (1Tim 2:8). The context (vv1-7) calls for intercession for presidents, leaders and
      all in authority, so that people may live in peace and come to know God’s Mediator-
      Messiah, Jesus Christ. This responsibility rests primarily with men. By our very nature—to
      remember and remind—we are called to intercede before God and to intervene in all
      unrighteous situations, for the sake of the victims of injustice, for the sake of women and
      children, for the poor and the oppressed. As Moses and Aaron intervened in God’s judgment
      by “standing between the dead and the living”, stopping the plague and saving Israel (Num
      16:42-50), so we too must “stand in the gap” before God, between the dead and the living,
      and turn the tide of the plague that is consuming South Africa (see Is 59:14-20, especially
      verse 16; Ezek 22:23-31, especially verse 30).


THE STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE

Who leads MRM? How does it exist? What does it do?

Alexander Venter initiated the first men’s repentance march with his colleagues at Valley Vineyard
Christian Fellowship. He, together with Moss Ntlha (General Secretary of The Evangelical Alliance
of South Africa), have drawn together a team of men to organise repentance marches and other
events, and to help other men in other places who want to initiate similar repentance activities. They
do not “own” MRM as in institutional control, and neither is it a Vineyard thing. I.e. we see MRM
existing informally as a “vision-led and values-driven” movement: The vision and values as birthed
in the first repentance march; and as stated in this document; and as implemented in whatever
events and processes that may emerge. The whole idea is to conscientize men, to start fires and give
it away, all with a view to radical social transformation. The team is available to speak to churches,

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men’s groups and any organisation that may want to address these issues. They are available to
advise men in regard to starting men’s groups, doing men’s breakfasts, leading retreats, conducting
seminars and conferences—all with a view to healing broken masculinity and empowering men to
become real men in South Africa today. Other resources as in a DVD of the first repentance march,
and any written materials, are available at the Valley Vineyard office: Phone +27-11-795-4067; Fax
+27-11-795-2780; and Email: office@valleyvcf.org.za


THE DREAM

What are MRM’s hopes, dreams and prayers?

We dream of a spontaneous “God-movement” of repenting men in South Africa and beyond (the
global scale of sexual abuse, trafficking in women and girls, child slave labour, and child drug
exploitation, cries out for a response from men in the global village, in the Church of Jesus Christ).

We dream of men pouring out onto the streets in public repentance, speaking up and taking action
in all places and positions in society whenever women and children are violated, wherever social
evil is perpetrated.

We dream of men gathering in homes, halls, boardrooms, and public places for friendship and
prayer, for teaching and healing in terms of male brokenness—to restore men to authentic
masculinity.

We dream of a growing army of godly men taking responsibility for the social evils in our society,
reversing the tide of decay and destruction in our cities, in our nation.

We dream of this movement burning like a purging fire—lit on 18 September 2002—sparking fires
of repentance, healing and social transformation, wherever men humbly and boldly take initiative
through all sorts of processes and events.

We dream of working with God wherever he is stirring the hearts of men, to bless and encourage
those who are willing and available, and to leave the outworking and outcome in the hands of the
Almighty!



(Written by Alexander Venter, Sept 2006. MRM contact details: ph +27-11-795-4067, email: office@valleyvcf.org.za)




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