South African Partnership
A Partnership with the Cape of Good Hope District in South Africa and the York and Hull District was signed on 24th, May, 2003, during the celebration of John Wesley's 300th. birthday.
As a part of that partnership, Central is exploring links with the Central Methodist Mission in Cape Town, a church in many ways very similar to our own.
Central Methodist Mission during a recent visit by York and Hull District
Stan Abrahams, who had lived in District Six (District Six museum right), came to talk to us and it gave us the opportunity to learn more about what it was like. 
Rev. Themba Mntambo (Minister of Central mission)
This is an extract from an article written by Rev Alan Bannister, the minister ofAbbots Langley Methodist Church following a recent visit to Cape Town.
Our tickets took us home via South Africa . Although NZ, Australia (and the UK of course) have their mix of well-to-do and run down areas, it is nothing compared to the contrasts of the middle class residential areas and the shanty towns we saw around the Cape; great wealth and poverty side by side. Our Sunday service was in the middle of Cape Town at the Central Methodist Church – just a few paces from our hotel.
We had been into the church during the week and seen the way they supported the homeless and hungry ('give sandwiches not money' was their advice to everyone).
The Sunday Service was special as it was the 19th anniversary of the merging of two 'white' and 'black' Methodist churches. At the time this brought them into direct conflict with the authorities, created hate mail and even death threats.
A plaque under a wooden cross in the foyer reads
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Eph 2:24
This cross was formed from wood taken from the pews of the Metropolitan and Buitekant Street churches to mark the amalgamation of the two congregations into the Central Methodist Mission on January 31 st 1988. This amalgamation signified the end of more than 150 years of racial separation in the Methodist Church in Cape Town and restored the church to the unity it had enjoyed during the first 30 years of its existence."
The bravery and commitment of a church founded under such circumstances has to be a example to us all. I wonder how we would react if faced with such a situation.
The sermon was shared between the Minister, his two teenage daughters, and a member who was just starting out as a local preacher. The Amnesty International candle was central to the girl's talk as it referred back to the history of their church.
Wherever in the world we join in Christian Worship, we are struck not by the differences, but by the similarities that bring us together. It really doesn't matter a jot if you kneel, sit, or stand – it's the prayer you say that matters