In Cape Town, South Africa, the 3rd and 4th cohorts of the Global Reformed Advocacy Platforms for Engagement (GRAPE) gathered for the annual in-person training workshop. Held from April 20 to 24, this intensive workshop equips participants with tools to drive social change and amplify justice-driven advocacy within the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) member churches and grassroots communities.
WCRC’s advocacy tradition is deeply rooted in social justice, with churches, especially in the global South, at the forefront of social justice movements, having bled, prayed, and marched for freedom. The GRAPE program was created as an intentional approach to accompany member churches in fighting for social justice while also building on this legacy, equipping church leaders and civil society actors with the capacity to be effective advocates for peace and justice. Implemented in Kenya and South Africa, GRAPE is a five-year initiative designed by WCRC in partnership with the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI). Rooted in the theological commitments of the Accra Confession, the programme addresses the interlocking injustices of race, gender, class, and climate that continue to force millions into poverty and precarity.
A key element of the training is the Local to Global to Local (L2G2L) approach—an interconnected advocacy model that recognises issues such as poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation require multilevel engagement. From local grassroots movements to global policy dialogues, GRAPE’s training fosters sustainable and impactful advocacy strategies while maintaining a strong commitment to local agency. The GRAPE cohorts in South Africa are advocating for a Universal Basic Income Guarantee (UBIG), while in Kenya, in response to severe droughts, floods, and critical water scarcity arising from the climate crisis, the GRAPE team has chosen to advocate for the universal right to water.
In her opening statement, Muna Nassar, WCRC’s executive secretary for mission and advocacy, said, “GRAPE exists because names matter. You are here because you refused to let those names be forgotten. But we also carry gifts. Every region, every church, every one of us brings something: a testimony of perseverance, a gift of resilience, a cry for justice that will not be silenced. Our witness is born of suffering and hope—faith and commitment together, as one woven cord. The question before us is not whether we have something to offer. The question is: how do we offer it in a world actively trying to make us silent?”
The guiding theme for this week’s GRAPE workshop was “Positive Tipping Points for Social Justice.” This theme of hope and forward momentum guided participants as they visited historic sites, including the Belhar Church. The guiding theme of this year’s workshop was “Positive Tipping Points for Social Justice.” To breathe life into that theme, participants walked the sacred ground of history, including a visit to Belhar Church to mark the 40th anniversary of the powerful Belhar Confession. There, they were joined by the Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, whose voice has long been a trumpet against tyranny.
Rev. Dr. Boesak did not offer comfortable platitudes. Instead, he reminded the cohort that anger, when rooted in God’s love for justice, is not a sin—it is a sacred fuel. Drawing from his own experience and theological convictions, he declared, “Anger becomes energy for change, and that is the gift of the Spirit to those who refuse to bow before injustice. The Belhar Confession teaches us that unity is not a smooth surface—it is a battlefield where reconciliation is won through confrontation with evil. The church does not steer change by keeping peace with power. The church steers change by disturbing the peace of the Powerful.”
“Belhar was not written to be admired. It was written to be lived. And living it means you will make enemies—but you will also make history.”
The GRAPE cohort was also honoured by a stirring address from the Rev. Daniël Kuys of URCSA, which guided them through the sacred and arduous history of the Belhar Confession’s writing—unfolding not merely a chronicle of the past, but a living truth whose resonance has not faded, whose witness endures, and whose call to justice speaks with undiminished urgency to this very day. The conversation returned again and again to the local: How do congregations become tipping points? How do liturgies become acts of resistance? How does the Lord’s Supper become a foretaste of redistributed land and restored dignity?
The 2026 GRAPE workshop will conclude on Friday, April 24, with a graduation ceremony for the 2025-2026 Cohort and a farewell dinner for all participants. This milestone underscores the ongoing journey and collective dedication to advancing social justice advocacy in the years ahead.
