The team found the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe both thriving and struggling. The church is thriving in its primary task of making disciples for Jesus Christ. Not only are new disciples being formed through the ministry of the United Methodist Church, but new churches are being formed through a basic application of Wesleyan principles in which congregations keep giving birth to new congregations. The church is struggling in that poverty is pervasive, unemployment is at 80%, inflation in the month of July was reported by the government (who notoriously underestimates) at 7635%, and supplies for building new church facilities are either in short supply or too costly for churches to be able to afford.

Still, church members and pastors are actively seeking to continue the development of the church through continuous evangelism, small group discipleship, faithful stewardship, and sacrificial service. A District Superintendent has been serving a geographical area approximately 150 kilometers by 200 kilometers for four years without an automobile. He has been known to borrow bicycles and motorcycles in order to get to Charge Conference meetings when he has been unable to hitch a ride from the truck drivers who drive the main road in his district.

In one mission where we visited, local church members had made 28,000 bricks to be used in renovating a medical mission building that the government had condemned in order for it to be re-opened. The amazing thing is that the mission was so far out in the rural area that the government notice that closed the mission was delivered to the District Superintendent’s office but the official copy of the letter to the medical mission itself had not been received at the mission and so the nursing staff was continuing to see patients in the condemned building.

The people in the church in Zimbabwe are not as concerned with what they “don’t” have as they are with being faithful with what they “do” have. This spirit of optimism and faithfulness was both an inspiration to the team and a challenge to the mentality of the church in North Alabama.

A partnership in mission and ministry with the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe could increase our effectiveness in the North Alabama Conference in fulfilling our Conference Priorities. Specifically, a partnership that emphasizes connectionalism at every level of the church could strengthen the church in North Alabama in areas of current vulnerability, that is, in small membership churches and in African-American churches. Therefore, the following proposal is presented to the Cabinet of the North Alabama Conference.

Re-Connecting: A Plan for Mission Partnership between the North Alabama Conference of the UMC and the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church*

Overview: Partnering specific congregations in North Alabama with specific congregations in Zimbabwe could challenge and broaden the scope of ministry and mission within the North Alabama churches and provide needed resources to the churches in Zimbabwe.

The Process: Two areas of vulnerability in the North Alabama Conference would be identified and targeted to participate in this partnership; however, this program would be open to any congregation desiring to take part. The two areas of vulnerability are small membership churches and African-American churches. Historically, many of these churches continue to struggle with an outward focus in evangelism and mission as well as with the concept of connectionalism. On the one hand, small membership churches tend to view themselves as isolated and therefore less connectional . Creating a new understanding and experience of connection could impact the vitality of these two areas of vulnerability and thereby help us in fulfilling the conference vision.

The Plan: A strategy for each of the vulnerable areas would be implemented with the following guidelines.

Small Membership Churches

Churches served by Full-Time Local Pastors and Part-Time Local Pastors would be the primary target. A competent, winsome, effective Full-Time Local Pastor and Part-Time Local Pastor would be recruited in each of the eight Districts to serve as the partnership coordinator. We would coordinate with these two pastors to determine how best to implant the strategy in their district that would help churches accomplish the following benchmarks of “re-connecting.”

1. Each church will have at least one Bible study offered to the congregation each week preferably led by a lay person.
2. Each church will partner with another United Methodist church in their area for a monthly mission project that serves their respective communities.
3. Each church will participate fully in any Cluster or District events scheduled by the District Superintendent or District Leadership.
4. Each church that is not paying 100% of Conference apportionments will be given assistance in developing a plan for achieving this benchmark and guidance in monitoring their progress.
5. Each church will be challenged to raise a minimum of $1,000 each year for the new church development work in the Conference beyond their apportionments. This will be fostered through education and vision-casting around outward focus and impacting the world beyond their community.
6. Each church will be assigned a partnership with a church in Zimbabwe that shares similar characteristics to theirs. They will receive information and photos about that church and names and addresses of the pastor and other leadership in the church to correspond with them about each of their situations. An educational component will also be a part of this step in which general information about Zimbabwe will be shared. (Please note that more than one church from North Alabama will be partnered with a church in Zimbabwe.)
7. Each church will be challenged to raise a minimum of $1,000 every year for the work of their partner church in Zimbabwe.
8. Each church will be challenged to send their youngest adult leader to Zimbabwe to visit their partner church within the next five years and to pay their entire expense for the trip.

African-American Churches

In addition to entering into the above partnership with a church in Zimbabwe, we will target the pastoral leadership of our African-American churches for the purpose of expanding their own experience of ministry in limited and difficult circumstances. We will work with all our African-American clergy through Ethnic Ministries; however, any ethnic pastor may participate in this program.

1. Develop a specific partnership between each North Alabama African-American Pastor and an effective pastor of a similar church in Zimbabwe for the purpose of working side-by-side for an extended period of time both in the U.S. and in Zimbabwe.
2. Each African-American congregation will be challenged to assist in raising funds to bring a pastor from Zimbabwe to work alongside their pastor for two to three months (depending on the situation) here in North Alabama. Opportunity for continuing education is very limited to pastors in Zimbabwe so special attention would need to be given to provide continuing education events during their stay in the U.S. The primary purpose of their stay would be to see the work and ministry of pastors in North Alabama.
3. Each African-American congregation will be challenged to assist in raising funds for their pastor to make a visit to Zimbabwe for a two-to-three month stay working alongside the same pastor that came to the U.S. to be with them. The primary purpose of this visit would be to expand the North Alabama pastor’s vision for ministry in limited and difficult circumstances. The church in Zimbabwe is fraught with hardship and yet it continues to thrive and leaders are positive and energetic about their work. North Alabama pastors will be challenged to find new energy and new vision for dealing with their own situations. Church growth concepts and church multiplication principles will be learned and North Alabama pastors will be challenged to find ways to contextualize their learning in their own congregations.

*This is a rough draft of a plan that will need a team of people to continue to develop both in planning and funding before it reaches its final form; however, if possible, this plan should be at least partially operating by January 1, 2008. It will also need the endorsement of Bishops Willimon and Nhiwatiwa.