wfn.org | Methodism marks 100 years in Zimbabwe

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 508 by UMNS on Dec. 15, 1997 at 16:57 Eastern (6937 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green				 696(10-31-71B){508}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615)742-5470	 Dec. 15, 1997

NOTE: Photos forthcoming.

Zimbabwean United Methodists
celebrate centennial 

by Linda Green*

	OLD MUTARE, Zimbabwe -- More than 3,500 Zimbabweans gathered here Dec. 12 to
celebrate 100 years of Methodism in their country.
	The seeds of Methodism were planted in 1897 by U.S. Bishop Joseph Crane
Hartzell who preached here to 35 people.  Today, in what is known as the
Zimbabwe Annual Conference, there are more than 100,000 members, and the
church is continuing to grow.
A parade of celebrants was led by a motorcade that included Zimbabwe Bishop
Christopher Jokomo, Bishop Felton E. May of the Washington Area, and retired
Zimbabwean Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa.  Wearing clothes adorned with the
denomination’s cross and flame logo, celebrants marched two miles to the site
where Harzell preached.
Marchers held a worship service and unveiled a monument commemorating the
occasion and the founder. The parade then continued to Old Mutare, the mission
center founded by Hartzell in 1898.
     Other American bishops attending the celebration were Ralph E. Dodge,
W.T. Handy and James K. Mathews.
	Playing principal roles in the centennial celebrations were May, who preached
the centennial sermon, and the Rev. Joseph Daniels, pastor of Emery United
Methodist Church, Washington, who delivered the commemoration message. 
Daniels urged the Zimbabweans to continue telling the story of Jesus because
there is someone out there who needs to hear it for salvation.
	He told the gathering that he and 41 other members of the
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference came to Mutate "to tell you that the
seed that began here spread 10,000 miles away. God brought us back to tell you
that he is a loving God."
	The celebration was an opportunity to thank Hartzell for creating the United
Methodist Church in Mutare, said Ruth Tyola of Zambia. "Because of his prayer
and commitment, we want to emulate him and bring people who are lost to Jesus
Christ."
	At Old Mutare, Marshall W. Murphree, a product of the mission center and
chairman of the World Conservation Unit, expressed his delight and humility at
giving the centennial lecture for United Methodism in Zimbabwe.
	In his speech, "The Heritage of our History: The Challenge of Our Future,"
Murphree reflected on the church’s past and looked ahead to provide a vision
for United Methodism in Zimbabwe as it faces the challenges of the 21st
century.
	The Methodist movement within Christianity was only a little over 100 years
old when it reached Zimbabwe in 1897, Murphree told his audience of about
3,000. The church’s Zimbabwe centennial closely follows Methodism’s
bicentennial in Britain, he noted.
     The United Methodist heritage in Zimbabwe, he said, traces its lineage
back through North America, which has more Methodists than any other
continent. The African continent ranks second in the number of Methodists.
     "African Methodism has come of age," Murphree said. "We have the rights
and responsibilities of mature members of the worldwide Methodist communion." 
	The pioneers of the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe made a leap of faith
and staked their lives on Christ, laying the foundation stones of the church,
he said. For the church to continue, he said, "we must from generation to
generation continue to raise up those who make that leap of faith for
themselves."
	From its start, United Methodism in Zimbabwe has been involved in improving
the economic livelihood of the people, said Murphree, whose family has served
the church in Zimbabwe for 78 years. He gave an historical overview of United
Methodist involvement in hospitals, education and nationalism.
	During 100 years, Christianity changed from  "a foreign import to an
indigenous institution, from a mission to a church and became a church of the
soil," he said.
	The challenge for the future lies in responding to the church’s changing
constituency, he said.
	The issue of constituency he said, has "always been an institutional problem
for the church -- the paradox of a universal gospel embracing the
particularisms of race, of gender, of class and of culture."
     United Methodism came to Zimbabwe in a "train of colonialism," he said.
But unlike other churches, it did not come with a constituency of white
colonialism. Instead, it was a "mission" to blacks, to the politically and
economically dispossessed subsistence farmers of what were then called "native
reserves."
     The focus was rural and "was skewed racially, culturally, politically and
by class," he said. 
     The results of this colonizing, Murphree said, have had positive and
negative effects. 
Positively, he said, the mission arrangement gave the infant churches a formal
status from which they could receive assistance from the government. They also
provided sites for hospitals and schools.
Negatively, he said, the church leadership was placed in the hands of the
professionals who staffed the mission. "This made the mission ill-prepared to
respond to the geographic mobility of our membership." The mission station
also created the temptation to "shift our image of what the church is from
substance to symbol."
Murphree said the mission station is a legacy from the first century that
should be closely examined. He did not suggest that it be abandoned. However,
he said priorities should be reordered to use the stations to meet changing
needs. Those changes involve:
· demography, with more of Zimbabwe’s population living in towns and cities;
· geographic mobility, with United Methodists no longer confined to a specific
area but spread throughout the country;
· social mobility, with United Methodists no longer exclusively being the
laborers and farmers but also including the civil servants, business people,
professionals, politicians and people from other walks of life;
· secularism and materialism; and
· governmental initiatives, as leaders accept  responsibility for providing
health and education to all people as a political necessity.
	These changes, Murphree said, call for strategies responsive to the gospel’s
new constituency.
     In the area of social service, Murphree said the church must be a pioneer
and innovator and teach others to replicate its work.
	"The challenge for us to innovate are there in abundance. New needs and new
technologies await us."
	Over the years, he said, United Methodism has shaped and reshaped its vessels
for tapping into the sources of God’s power. These vessels were forged from
basic Christian beliefs but shaped to match the shifting aspects of the
culture.
	"The challenge of our future is to keep this heritage alive in a moving
amalgam of faith and experience, in what we maintain and what we change.
					# # #
     *Green is the News Director of the Nashville, Tenn., office of United
Methodist News Service.
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