Zambezia (1992), XIX (i).ESSAY REVIEWA CENTURY OF METHODISM IN ZIMBABWEA Century of Methodism in Zimbabwe is a welcome addition to our somewhatslow-growing literature on the church in Zimbabwe.1 It aims at documenting'the contribution of the Methodist Church to the spiritual and the materialdevelopment of the people of God in Zimbabwe' (p. vii) and opens with abrief but well-thought-out introduction by one of Zimbabwe's Vice-Presidents, Joshua Nkomo. Short as it is, this history of the MethodistChurch in Zimbabwe covers a wide range of topics including the church'sconfrontation with Ndebele and Shona traditional culture, its leadingpersonalities from the missionary era to the present, its efforts at educatingAfricans, some of its dilemmas during the turmoil of the liberation struggle,its theology, and its vision for the future.One of the most interesting features of this book, and one of itsgreatest strengths, is the fact that, with the exception of Zvobgo's chapterwhich is exclusively based on archival research, the chapters are writtenby Methodists who draw freely upon their personal experiences and onoral interviews as well as upon written (both published and unpublished)sources. Furthermore, although it is intended as a commemoration of thehundredth anniversary of Methodism in Zimbabwe, it is far from being amere eulogy of the Methodist Church and its achievements. The chaptersby Banana, Manyoba and Chirisa are very critical of the cultural andpolitical policies of the Methodist Missionary Church. Indeed, the criticismsamount to telling the church why it was not as successful as it should havebeen. They also indicate that some of the errors committed by themissionaries and other church leaders have not yet been amended andthat they require urgent attention if the Methodist Church is to make anyprogress in an independent Zimbabwe.A detailed examination of the contributions by Zvobgo, Manyoba,Banana and Chirisa, which are the most interesting chapters and whichform the core of the book, will illustrate these points. In addition, thelimitations of these chapters reflect the limitations of the book as a whole.Zvobgo's contribution is the product of meticulous research by anacknowledged authority on the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. Hischapter, by far the longest in the book, is elegantly constructed out ofmaterial extracted from the minutes, reports, and official correspondenceof the church's governing bodies. Not only is the account delightful reading,but it highlights the major issues in the development of the MethodistChurch in this country.Zvobgo begins with a brief narrative of the coming of the Methodistmissionaries to Africa and then to Zimbabwe. He then briefly describesthe missionaries' efforts to commend the Word of God to the Shona bytranslating the Bible and the Methodist Hymn Book into their language.1 C. S. Banana, A Century of Methodism in Zimbabwe, 1891-1991 (Harare, The MethodistChurch, 1991), xii, 234 pp., Z$27,00.6566 A CENTURY OF METHODISM IN ZIMBABWEThe healing mission of the church is also considered, particularly thetraining of African nurses and the building of a modern hospital atWaddilove Mission. The main focus of the chapter is, however, on whatZvobgo considers to be the greatest contribution of the Methodists to thiscountry's development: the education of Africans.The history of the Methodist educational programme is traced throughthe century, focusing on Waddilove Mission in Mashonaland and TegwaniMission in Matabeleland. Waddilove began very humbly in 1900 offeringlessons in scripture, agriculture and building to six students but by 1948 ithad 340 boarders, 20 theological students, and 300 day-scholars in itsprimary schools. Although the theological college was moved to Epworthin 1953, as was the domestic-science course for girls, this loss was morethan compensated for by the expansion of the agricultural trainingprogramme. When teacher training was phased out in 1979 the dominantpreoccupation of the mission became secondary education for both sightedand blind students. Similar developments took place at Tegwani, which,like Waddilove, laid an emphasis on education in the domestic sciencesfor girls and on academic subjects and teacher training for men. As far assecondary education was concerned, in 1951 Tegwani became the secondschool after the Seventh-day Adventist mission at Solusi to admit studentsfor the Junior Certificate. Development at Tegwani was uninterrupted, itsenrolment steadily increased and its examination results remained excellentuntil the Mission was forced to close down as a result of forcible recruitment(including abduction) of schoolchildren by ZIPRA forces.Although he is very impressed by the Methodists' record in the fieldof education, Zvobgo does not completely lose sight of the purely religiousactivities of the Methodist Church, singling out the following topics forbrief scrutiny: the rules and regulations governing church members; thetraining of ministers; and various church organizations and movements.The statistical data with which Zvobgo illustrates the growing size of thechurch's responsibilities over the years adds greatly to the authority ofhis narrative. However, Zvobgo treats these very important issues, issueswhich I believe had the greatest religious and intellectual impact on thechurch and its mission among the Ndebele and the Shona, only from theviewpoint of the church leaders. While I acknowledge that this is inevitablegiven the nature of his sources, it would have been more interesting if theRuwadzano/Manyano women, members of the Men's Christian Union andof the youth movements had been allowed a voice in this account, to tellus what it was (and still is) like to live under the strict church regulationsagainst polygamy, lobola, beer-drinking, burial customs and so on. Suchinformation would provide us with concrete evidence of some of theecclesiastical policies and practices which have served to hinder theprogress of the church in this country. In addition, Zvobgo's accountleaves us with more questions than answers; for example, he informs usthat the Methodists provided their women students with an educationbased on domestic training. At a time when gender issues are topical, itwould certainly have been interesting to learn a little more about parentaland societal reaction to the education of females, as well as whatemployment opportunities were available to women.N. BHEBE 67Manyoba and Banana's chapters explore the Methodist Church'sconfrontation with the rich traditional culture of the Ndebele and theShona, the church's role in the politics of colonial Zimbabwe, and itsdifficulties during the liberation struggle. As both authors have theadvantage of a long and intimate association with the Methodist Churchthey are able to rely on personal experience in addition to oral and writtensources.Manyoba examines how the Methodist missionaries Š who wereclosely associated with the British settlers but who thought of themselvesas having a special call to win the souls of Africans for the Kingdom of GodŠ confused their evangelical work with European cultural imperialism.For example, the missionaries seemed to accept the colonial policy ofsegregation as the natural order of things; even in the urban areas whereAfricans and Europeans lived side-by-side the Methodist Church providedseparate ministers Š who studiously refrained from exchanging pulpitsŠ for each community, separate ministerial training programmes, separatehealth facilities and separate schools. Similarly, cultural imperialism wasexpressed quite clearly in missionary attitudes towards African marriagecustoms, beer-drinking and entertainments as well as religious beliefs andcustoms: they were all condemned as being unchristian and churchmembers were debarred from participating in them. The burden of theseregulations fell disproportionately heavily on women members, many ofwhom were wives of polygamists or were married to non-Christians andwere required to brew the beer for, and to participate in, African religiousceremonies. Aware of the impossibility of shielding their flock completelyfrom unchristian influences, the missionaries encouraged church membersto live on mission farms where 'heathen' practices were discouraged. Thisproved to be a disaster as African families came to live on the farms lessfor reasons of religious conviction than for material benefit.Another mistake made by the missionaries, Manyoba asserts, wasthat they made no serious attempt to understand African religious beliefsand practices, especially those related to illness, death and funeral andmemorial ceremonies but simply condemned and outlawed them. As aresult many African Christians oscillated between the two religious systems.This problem is still with the church and has assumed serious proportionswith the resurgence of traditional religion after Independence. Manyobadraws our attention to the legacy of colonial Christianity with which thechurch in Independent Zimbabwe must come to terms if it is to surviveand grow.Banana also regrets that the missionaries did not take into accountAfrican cultural, political and religious systems but simply brushed themaside as unchristian and by so doing missed an invaluable opportunity tobuild the Methodist Church on a solid foundation. Banana's account,however, deals rather with the role of the Methodist Church in the UDIperiod. The White Methodist missionaries did not condemn the UnilateralDeclaration of Independence in 1965, while their Black colleagues seethedwith anger at what they thought to be the church's compromise with theWhite government. Feeling on both sides ran high after the decision by theWorld Council of Churches (supported by the Methodist Church of the68 A CENTURY OF METHODISM IN ZIMBABWEUnited Kingdom) to support financially the humanitarian programmes ofthe ZAPU and ZANU forces. White Methodist ministers in Zimbabweprotested vehemently against this decision while at the same timeclamouring for the appointment of chaplains to the Rhodesian SecurityForces. Caught between these diametrically opposed views and intent onmaintaining church unity, perhaps at all costs, Revd Andrew Ndhlela, thefirst African Chairman of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, resorted tofence-sitting, which was severely deplored by the radical African ministersas a compromise. As Banana points out, the liberation struggle exposeddeep-seated racial divisions in the church, and attempts to 'paper over thecracks' by compromise did not help the situation. The Methodist Churchwas plunged into worse difficulties when Banana and many lay peopledecided to disassociate themselves from the prevaricating leadership andthrew their support behind the liberation forces.One of the strengths of Banana's contribution is the detailed research,much of which was undertaken in the Methodist Archives in London,underpinning his statements. This research invalidates the accusationthat in this work Banana has simply poured out his bitterness at beingforced to resign his ministry. It is also a good example of how soundhistory can be written by a participant using both subjective and objectiveevidence.My major criticism of Banana's chapter is that it reaches no definiteconclusion. Even though he mentions the attitude of the Methodist Churchto ZANU(PF) and its support of the ZAPU-ZANU unity negotiations, we aretold next to nothing about how the Methodist Church pulled itself out ofthe mess created as a result of the liberation struggle. My experience inthe Evangelical Lutheran Church leads me to believe that the damageinflicted by the liberation struggle and the civil war in Matabeleland on thephysical infrastructure, the moral integrity, the credibility and the unity ofthe Methodist Church cannot be easily and quickly repaired. Moreover, adiscussion of post-war repair and healing would have served as a neat andappropriate transition to Chirisa's chapter which deals with futureprogrammes in church leadership training, formal education, health,stewardship, church autonomy and evangelical work.Chirisa's main concern is that the Methodist Church must recognizeits past errors and seek to correct them in its future operations. Ofparticular interest in his contribution is the brief section on evangelismand 'church planting', which involved an eight-year plan (1983-1991) underwhich church leaders and some lay people were given intensive training inevangelism and pastoral care. They were then to return to their preachingstations to pass on their newly-acquired skills. A second, ten-year, planwas due to be inaugurated in 1991 and was supposed to move away 'fromlarge evangelistic missions to personal witnessing' so that every Methodistwould 'become a personal witnesser' (p. 185). This plan also envisagedthat the number of preaching stations would be increased from 1 300 to2 000, the ultimate intention being to build a network of churchesthroughout the country so that members would not have to walk longdistances to gather together for worship. The church was confident that itcould mobilize the manpower and other resources necessary for this task.N. BHEBE 69These plans sound very interesting and the activities most praiseworthy;however, since Chirisa has not attempted an evaluation of the plans, or ananalysis of the success (or otherwise) of the eight-year plan, one is leftwith no option but to describe them as noble dreams.This book contains a tremendous amount of information on theMethodist Church's official policies regarding the provision of educationand health services to the African population of Zimbabwe, its view ofAfrican culture, its organizations and evangelist movements, its role incolonial politics and in the liberation struggle, its future programmes, andso on. It is, therefore, essential reading for both Methodist Church leadersand lay people as they seek to understand their past and plan their future.In addition, this book has lessons not only for the Methodists, but for allChristian denominations in this country. Its main limitation, as I statedbefore, is that it is written 'from above' and does not include the grassrootspoint of view.University of Zimbabwe N. BHEBE