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By Dean Snyder
Special to the UMConnection

More than 300 pastors traveled hours, some days, to attend the annual pastors? school sponsored by the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area and the Baltimore-Washington Conference at Africa University June 11-14.

Pastor Oswell Kaseke, who serves the 350-member Mutoko Circuit in the West Zimbabwe Conference, caught a bus in Harare, the nation?s capitol, at 7 a.m., June 11, and arrived in Mutare about 2 p.m. His congregation took a special offering to raise the 250,000 Zim dollars he needed for bus fare. He came for the fellowship, he said, but also to learn. 'This is a mind-expanding program,' he added. 'I can go home to share what I heard with the congregation.'

The Rev. Pamela Maochi, a member of the Zimbabwe East Conference who serves Makoni Central Circuit in Rusape, rode a public bus for four hours with her young daughter Tawananya to attend the school. A 10-year veteran of local church ministry serving in her third appointment, Maochi said learning is important to her. 'We have a lot of problems,' she said, 'We need to be fully equipped in the current run-up of the church.'

A team of pastors who organized the school in Zimbabwe and the clergy team from the Baltimore-Washington Conference discussed possible topics for the pastors? school in advance by e-mail.

Themes included theological topics, such as the implications of the Christian understanding of the Trinity for ministry, and practical topics, such as Shalom Zone ministry and how to lead Bible study. Some pastors reported that, while they are comfortable preaching, they had tended to avoid convening Bible studies because they felt unsure how to lead them.

Pastor Sandra Manjeya, who serves a rural circuit with 264 members, said that the training in Shalom Zone ministry was 'very important.'

Most of the members of her circuit in the Honde Valley, which includes one congregation and two additional preaching points, have no source of income and no money to buy food, especially the women, she said. 'It is very difficult to minister to the hungry, to the poor,' she added. She hopes the training will help her answer the call she hears from God 'to go and feed my people.'

The basic costs of the pastors? school, including room and board at Africa University, are paid by the Baltimore-Washington Conference as part of its partnership with the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, but pastors have to raise the money for transportation to get to Africa University and home again.

Some pastors managed to raise the money to get to the school, but did not have enough money to pay bus fares home, according to the Rev. Sophrinia Sign, a district program director and pastor who was one of the school?s key organizers. They have to borrow from others to get back home, she said.

The school is particularly important because many United Methodist pastors in Zimbabwe have no formal preparation for ministry, Sign said.

Combined, the two Zimbabwe conferences have 130 elders, 47 probationers, and 124 lay pastors. Lay pastors are recruited by district superintendents, given a one-week 'crash course' in ministry and a mentor, and then immediately begin serving circuits, Sign said.

Most pastors don?t have a problem with preaching, she said, but they need help with administration, Christian education, teaching the Bible and counseling skills. The demand for counseling is almost overwhelming, she added. 'People are grieving, facing marital issues, illness, divorce, squabbles going on in the family, youth facing a lot of problems,' she said.

Lectures were presented by Zimbabwean pastors and professors as well as by members of the team from the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Zimbabwean pastors taught on such topics as ministry with those living with HIV/AIDS and the special challenges facing lay pastors.

The Rev. Archford Balance, chair of the Zimbabwe Area Board of Pensions, facilitated a discussion about the precarious status of the pension fund in an economy where the inflation rate has been as high as 3,600 percent a year.

Discipleship was the focus of presentations by the Revs. Herb Watson, Vicky Starnes, and Ernest Lyles; the Revs. Robert Slade and Kendrick Weaver taught on leading Bible study; the Rev. Ianther Mills discussed christology and liberation theology; and Elizabeth Brisbane and Bishop John Schol led Shalom training.

The Zimbabwe annual conferences also include pastors serving in Botswana, Malawi and Zambia. Sign said some of these pastors traveled by train for two or more days to attend the school.

At the conclusion of the school, before he began his eight-hour journey back to Harare, Kaseke said the pastors? school ought to be held twice a year. The school helps

pastors understand The United Methodist Church?s mission so that pastors can work for a common purpose, he said. 'It is a very inspiring program.'