In November 2023, Laurence Graham (WMP General Secretary) visited the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. Here, Laurence reflects on the challenges facing Zimbabwean ministers in rural circuits.

World Mission Partnership regularly share joyful accounts of churches thriving and growing. However, that is only one side of the story. On a recent visit to Zimbabwe, alongside examples of church growth and development, I saw struggle, pain and hardship. I met people like Reverend Mufaro, the Superintendent minister of the Matjinge Circuit in the south of Zimbabwe, close to the borders with Botswana and South Africa.

This faithful servant of God covers a Circuit of 19 Societies spread over a wide area in a dry and barren region, with bad roads. He has no vehicle and, on some Sundays, has to leave his house at 3:00am walking four or five hours to take a service. Of the 19 Societies on the Circuit, only 2 have buildings and only one of these is fully completed. The rest meet in schools or under a tree. The Circuit is comprised of 360 members, 27 men and 252 (mostly older) women. This is because most people of working age have travelled across the border to South Africa in search of informal, and often dangerous, employment.

If this wasn't hard enough, Rev Mufaro has not received his stipend for months because the members of his congregations have little or no money. He has tried to raise some poultry at the back of his manse, but this failed because there was no proper fence to protect the birds. Yet, as I spent time with him and his colleagues in the Methodist school next door, the predominant expression on their faces was a smile!

Another smiling face I met a few days later was Rev. Tinashe, a pre-collegiate probationary Minister in sole charge of the Membesi Circuit. His circuit is comprised of 7 Societies, only 2 of which have a building. His manse has been under construction for years, and during that time he has been living in just one room. Like Mufaro, Tinashe has not received his stipend for months. He mostly survives on the dried vegetables and any other foodstuffs which congregation members bring him when they can.

 He too has long walks for church services and pastoral visits. He told me of one recent occasion where he walked for 10 kilometres to visit a congregation member. During the walk, he said to himself “this lady does the same walk every week to come to services, so why would I not walk to visit her!”

 Notwithstanding this hardship, I saw in Tinashe a young man full of faith and joy. He told me that the Sunday worship services on the circuit are very powerful, and the sincere worship of his congregants keeps him going because he finds himself renewed after a tough week. By the time of writing, he will have entered Ministerial college for training and he told me that he remains convinced of his call to Ministry, believing that this time of testing has been strengthening. Indeed, he said to me that overall he has “loved” being stationed on the Membesi Circuit!

 Life for ministers on rural circuits in southern Zimbabwe is unimaginably tough. The urban circuits, where there is a little more cash, are doing all they can to offer support but it's not enough. It seems the only way forward is to find ways of generating income on each Circuit or for the whole District.

Irish Methodist World Mission Partnership are in the early stages of a conversation with the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, about how we might partner together to create income generation projects that would support the work on rural circuits in southern Zimbabwe. As the Connexional Mission Director Rev. Kudakawashe commented to me, “partnership is simply sharing." So please pray for these conversations and ‘watch this space’ as we explore what we can do together.