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October 2001
Mutarara Elder Training Report
Tete Province, Mozambique
8-13 October 2001
My first trip without having Bill Warlick accompany me was the
Elders Seminar at Mutarara, a place that is known for the flooding
of the mighty Zambezi River as it makes its way to the sea. Tented
camps, aid workers along with their many vehicles, seed and food
distribution centers, bombed-out buildings from 20-some years
of war, grass and bamboo churches, animals of all descriptions,
bicycles, grass huts and people, many and poor, are what greets
the visitor to this rural, relatively flat district called Mutarara.
Many of the areas that are usually dry this time of year are still
filled with water, so even in the presence of rebuilding there
is the sense of foreboding of "this year’s floods"
as the rains begin next month.
Building relationships with Nedson Zulu, our project director,
Orlando Ngovene, pastor of Tete City church, and Candido Macuacua,
pastor of Zobue church, was the most important part of the trip.
Communication was best with Nedson, less with Orlando and least
with Candido. My ministry of encouragement was effective through
my presence much more than through what I was able to say.
Seeing the area as we drove four to five hundred kilometers
on dirt roads and foot paths and visiting a dozen churches, helped
me grasp the immensity of the opportunity in Mutarara. Only one
of these small churches was made of bricks and mortar, the rest
were poles, bamboo and grass. Participating in the seminar and
watching the elders work on issues in small groups was a great
encouragement to me.
Most insightful was watching Nedson do his job as he applied
the teachings of Christ and His Church to the African culture.
Allow me to give some background here. First of all, the male
leader, father, chief, headman or pastor, is always in charge
and deserves respect from all. He is seen as a kind of benevolent
dictator and as such deserves to benefit from his position. People
live from hand to mouth and make a profit through an informal
barter system. They take what little they have and trade it for
something more valuable, and then trade again for something better,
and so on. Each time a "profit" is gained the trade
is seen as a success. This system permeates the
culture so much so that it carries over to the work of the church.
Couple this with the fact that aid workers’ contributions
have propagated a sense of dependency and a sense that "I
deserve everything for free without having to work for it,"
and you have real problems trying to do the work of the Church.
For Nedson, these are not problems, but opportunities for the
gospel. He teaches that the Presbyterian system of elders gives
freedom to all the members because decisions are made by a group
of elders and not by one
man. Further he teaches, as we do, that the elder is ordained
to service and not to privilege. Practically speaking, this means
that the elder is called to serve the church and not to profit
from it. This flies in the face of the culture. Nedson affirms
that Christ’s way sets us free from being enslaved to our
culture. Whether it was the idea that the self-declared, untrained,
"pastor" gets to keep the Sunday morning offering, or
that the leaders should turn a profit on the funds given by the
PC(USA) to help build the church, he met each person
in the most gentle-firm Christ-like way. He makes clear that a
thoughtful choice, based on the Scriptures, not just on cultural
norms, is needed by all who claim the name of Christ.
I have come away from this trip with an even greater sense that
the work in Tete province, Mozambique, must continue to be of
highest priority in the efforts of Presbyterian Evangelism and
Church Growth in Southern Africa.
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,
just as in fact you are doing" (I Thessalonians 5:11).
Grace, Mercy and Peace,
Bob Snyder
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