Africanising the Four-self-leadership Formula in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (COCZ) has adopted Western philosophies of Euro-American cultures originating from the Victorian age during the Restoration Movement (RM) of the American Second Great Awakening (SGA). This exclusive, divisive and oppressive culture denied women, the poor, and the young, the opportunity to lead. The RM emphasised going back to the founding charism of the New Testament Church, with Christian unity and ecumenism as central elements. Its doctrines became rigid, denying female leadership, constitutions, central headquarters, and further ministerial formation as worldly. This study raises these aspects as indispensable to the contextualising, inculturating and incarnating framework of the gospel in an African context. This reflection takes account of the four-self-leadership formula, as inspired by Magwidi’s PhD study (2015–2021), as well as other sources like the minutes of church board meetings and contextual writings by COCZ’s local clergy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews that were collated with written sources and heuristically interpreted by the African Cultural Hermeneutics Approach (ACHA) (Kanyoro 2002; 2001). A synthesis of missionary ideology with African narratives of the Christian faith (using ACHA) interpreted the data to understand the “how” of contextual, cultural and religious transformation in the COCZ. The study recommends new, inclusive and transformative modes of leadership empowerment for an authentic African Church.

Critical Entitlement Theory on post-missionary paternalism in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe

“…It generates themes that are elaborated and briefly commented on in the section 'Paternalism and the constitution in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe'. They relate to the purpose of the church in society, criticising personalised and unaccountable family ministries (Masengwe & Magwidi 2021). Use of CET here does not prescribe or proscribe how to assess the canonical doctrines of property ownership in the COCZ, but to disprove foundations of austere doctrines of colonial missions.…”

“…Firstly, entitlement uses 'power, privilege and position' by elites because mission entities are family enterprises (Masengwe & Magwidi 2021). This negates the assertion that the COCZ is not a denomination, requiring us to use critical denominational studies (CDS) to expose narrative instruments used on their entitlements.…”

“…Thoughts and feelings of elimination interestingly are pampered by both mission administrators and ordinary Christians (Masengwe & Magwidi 2021). The contemporary status of mission stations using missionary paternalism help us to understand how entitlement contributed to historical divisions of mission societies such as the American and the New Zealander Missionary groups (Dadaya) and the subgroups within the American group of instrumental (Mashoko) and non-instrumental (Nhowe) churches.…”

“…Equality in structural power demands plurality towards paternally constructed issues faced by religious institutions in contemporary Africa. Confrontation must be done mindful of paternalism, classicism, elitism and ageism traps tied to conceptualisations of postmodernist human relations (Masengwe & Chimhanda 2020;Masengwe & Magwidi 2021). Paternalism brings stability in human relations henceforth it needs to be approached conscious of its effects on boys and girls in the construction of their worlds as argued in the next section of this article.…”

“…https://theologiaviatorum.org Open Access discourses that refuse to account for the inhuman treatment of local people by missionaries (Masengwe & Magwidi 2021). Proxies who took over from missionaries were groomed to perpetuate the missionary attitude to local people.…”