mgpcpastor's blog

We took some of the team who have organised our visit to Zimbabwe out for lunch today.
This gave us a way to show our appreciation to these folk for the time they’re taking to make us welcome, as well as the hard work they’re doing.
Over lunch, one of the local leaders asked me what I thought of Zimbabwe. Mentioning I’d only been here for twenty four hours, I recounted some of what I posted earlier today about our walk around the city center of Harare this morning.
He mentioned that there was some improvement in the overall economy, and that societal conditions should further stabilise in the short term future.
The fundamentals are there, so the people are optimistic, though realistic about the challenges ahead.
There isn’t really a middle class in Zimbabwe, only the few very well of ‘haves’ and the rest who are ‘have nots’.
For the church, this situation creates some problems.
The political situation, where the church may have done more, but didn’t take a prophetic voice for fear of what usually happens to prophets. Even now it is still only developing a voice, and that after having been silent when it really mattered.
The spiritual situation where lots of people in poverty are easy pickings for prosperity Gospel style teaching. It’s hard for the Biblical teaching of steady faith and growth to compete with the promise of a new car, if only you pray hard enough. Such teaching inoculates people against the Gospel by hardening them against it when the false version they’re hearing lets them down.
The missiological situation where various people groups have simply been ignored in favour serving those who have already heard the Gospel. Isaac Pandasvika has a vital interest in missiology, pursuing both historical and biblical studies at a high level in order to discern lessons which can be learnt for present day evangelism among his fellow countrymen and women.

For all that, our new Zimbabwean friend offered his sympathies to our situation of gospelling in a community where 30% profess no religion, in a society where people think they’re too well off to need God.

Tomorrow Jeroen, myself, the Chiodzes and the Pandasvikas are heading to Victoria Falls. We’re going by bus, which will be a seven hour trip each way. It will be a wonderful opportunity to get to know them better.