Current Events
May 2012:
The Times of Swaziland dated May 3, 2012 carried this headline. The Council of Brothers will be hosting an Abstinence Talk for Christian boys and young men in Manzini Swaziland. The motivation of this campaign is born out of an observation that the church is awash with sexual activities and as a council we believe there should be no engagement in sexual activity before marriage especially amongst Christian brothers. The council’s approach is skewed towards teaching brothers what to do, rather than narrowing our focus on what they shouldn’t do. This is done by creating a healthy balance between do’s and don’ts – we don’t exclude those brothers who might have already started being actively sexually. We believe iron sharpens iron.
The talk will be held on May 5, 2012 at the Jamming House at the Christian Media Centre starting from 10AM to 1PM. Our guest speaker is Pastor Jeff Bhutana Cele from let’s Go To Glory Worship Centre.
The Year 2011:continues to be an interesting year in my ministry. We have been able to host two (2) Praise Explosions in a short space of time. The first one was held at Christian Family Centre International (CFCI) in Manzini and the second one at United Pentecostal Church in Mbabane (UPCM). These events literally raised the bar in terms of praise & worship because of the approach the team uses. Our focus to praise and worship is not limited to the songs we sing, but we seek for the experience of God whilst at it. We have had a tremendous response from those who attended the events. One of the most interesting comments I received after the Mbabane event was a congregant who said, “this took me back to the heart of God and reminded me of a season I had in my life.” We thank God for allowing the Praise Explosion Team the opportunity to draw people to the mountain of our God. I am really grateful to God for my brother Minister Thembinkosi Dlamini for his commitment to training our vocals and song arrangement. I will not forget Pastor Gcina Sukati of UPCM and Reverend Nkosenhle Nxumalo of CFCI for trusting the team to use their sanctuaries and more than anything trusting us to feed the flock of Jesus Christ.
| Event | Date & Time | Venue |
| UPCM Men’s Meeting | October 22, 2011 (10AM) | UPC Mbabane, Swaziland |
| Where Are the Good Men? Men as Leaders Gathering | October 29, 2011 (12 – 8PM) | UPC Mbabane, Swaziland |
| Youth Conference | November, 11-13, 2011 | Hossana Outreach Church (Siteki, Swaziland) |
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Council of Brothers is on fire. After launching the concept at the University of Swaziland Luyengo Campus, the word spread like wild fire, thus Friday March 25, 2011, through word of mouth we held an all boys session at the University of Swaziland Kwaluseni Campus. This was big. As part of our team we had Pastors Thethe & Emmas Dlamini join myself and Minister Bongani Langa in addressing the concerns of christian young men who are at tertiary level. The participants in the meeting were very participatory and engaged the team in interesting discussions.
Friday April 1, 2011 we shall be doing another meeting at the Luyengo Campus of the University where we expect God to do the same and more, this is a closed meeting for boys only as you know that we are the Council of Brothers.
This generation of men will not be the same. As we continue with this forum we asking ourselves; Where are the God Men?
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Council of Brothers – 20 November 2010
From the 2nd meeting by the Council of Brothers – it was a blast – and here are the comments from the two founders;
Council of Brothers is back with a bang!!! Thanks to the brothers who joined us for the 1st time last Saturday and to those who’ve been with us since conception. Special thanks to Pastor Bakhe who despite being on duty at church came, shared his victories of the year and went back to work. Clay, Gagu, Sipho, Vimbai, Sabelo and I were privileged to listen to him while the rest of you guys were on the way (hint hint- come on time next time!!!)
Gentlemen, the Council needs to evolve and grow. We are a movement of brothers determined to live with a purpose and to influence a generation which has lost hope in the notion of GOOD men. For too many women and children, (some of them adult ‘children’ now) the history of abuse, neglect, manipulation, violence, rape, abandonment, drunkenness, humiliating maintenance court appearances, marital infidelity, family meetings, all night prayers for change and protection and denied justice in patriarchal court has made it impossible for them to use the words ‘good’ and ‘man’ in one sentence. Council of brothers aims to reverse this notion by creating an enabling environment where good men can be nurtured, supported and mentored so that we become a ‘common occurrence’.
I need to ask you guys to come up with topics you’d like to see addressed in our coming Council meetings. Gagu has made his submission and I’m waiting to hear from the rest of you fellas. ANY subject you believe would be of benefit to the brothers.
Over the December break friends of mine who are marketing and branding guys will be sharing ideas with Clay and myself on how to give the movement an appropriate and attractive image. We will present these to you when we’ve done the spade work. Emmanuel and I are yet to get together to discuss a way to keep us communicating- we will get back to you guys on that one SOON!!
We appreciate you guys and the world is yet to be impacted by your excellence and productivity! Counsel of Brothers for LIFE and LEGACY!!!!
“Bongani Langa – Council of Brothers Founder ”
Anyways, thanks again for allowing us into you humble abode on the weekend, you were a great host. In terms of my thinking about 2011, I have had a couple of pastors interested in the Council, but then challenge we have is most of them are out of town, especially this one in Mhlosheni who is interested in the empowerment component of the Council. You know that the talk is “around volunteerism” with total disregard of the costs associated with travel and all. That’s why I am thinking we should be thinking around conducting some formal events, like seminars as an addition to our informal gatherings. Like Pastor Bakhe mentioned that it is nice to come to an environment where you can be yourself with the boys without any strict guidelines of neck ties, where we are informal and sharing jokes. But at the end of the day, our audience goes beyond informal settings to touching the businessman, the middle income earner, to the man on the street. Obviously our target is to unravel the good men out there and bring out to a society that frown at a man in general because of preconceived ideologies. We need a platform and as you said Saturday, we need structure.
Otherwise, let’s keep thinking about it, not rush it to scare people away especially those who were appreciating the informal setting. But at the end of the day we need to think outside the box…or rather pretend there is no box.
Otherwise, gents, let’s do this!!
“Clement N. Dlamini – Council of Brothers Founder”
