A Humble Tower Rooted in His Indigenous Identity: Public lecture on Prof. Lizo Jafta by Mteteli Caba
(This address was delivered at the Black Methodist Consultation's 2022 Conference in Welkom)
The Connexional Chaiperson of the Black Methodist Consultation, Rev. Nomsa Nomqolo and the members of the Connexional Executive, Distinguished Lay and Clergy Leaders of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, The Annual Consultation of the Black Methodist Consultation, The Celebrant of this Public Lecture, the Reverend Professor Lizo Doda Jafta and his dear wife, My dear Mothers and Fathers, My dear Sisters and Brothers, Ladies and Gentlemen, I greet you warmly in the name of the crucified Messiah, the descended Christ, and the risen and ascended Lord, Amen!
It is almost a tradition that speakers, particularly in important events like this one begin with an expression of a word of gratitude and a feeling of being honored for being chosen amongst many who could have been, for a task like this one. Allow me Programme Director to not follow suite, not only because I am a person who does not like doing things just because they are the norm, but because for me this is no task I feel honored to do. The truth is that I protested and turned down the request, but regrettably here I am. The calm and humble Reverend Professor Lizo Doda Jafta had his way to pull me to be on this podium today. The truth is that I am very much inadequate to present a lecture on a person of the caliber of the Reverend Professor Lizo Doda Jafta. As you can imagine, I am not his contemporary in any kind. He is an elder, an academic theologian, and a supernumerary minister in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, and the Church of Christ. I am just a novice in the theological space who has only one foot into the ministry. If anything, to be asked to speak here today, and in the context in which our church finds herself could be a mouse trap, as such one has to be extremely guarded. There are only two things that connect Reverend Professor Lizo Jafta and I, and they are that both of us are rural boys from Qumbu under the Chieftainship of Chief Ludidi, him being born in Kalankomo though his family later moved to Chulunca, an area of AmaMpondomise, and I kuNonyikila where I still reside. The second is that my aunt, the elder sister to my father is married to his elder brother.
Having explained that, let us begin!
Let us commend the Connexional Executive for carrying on with the tradition of celebrating our own, more so whilst they are with us. This is an important exercise, not only for the sake of celebrating lives well lived, but more importantly for placing on record Black History in the evolution of the Christian Church in Africa. We have for a long time been made to understand that the only authentic Church has its roots and shapers from the East or the West, or even worse, that our own stories and contributions get told through Eastern or Western lenses. The time has long been here for us to write and tell stories about the Church in Africa and those who continue to shape it. The initiative by the Reverend Doctor Wesley Magruder, my former Systematic Theology as well as Church History lecturer at the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary, to encourage seminarians to record our own history in the form of academic assignments must be commended. The consideration by the Centre for Black Thought and African Studies, that these academic essays be collated, polished and published is worth pursuing. Our celebrant here today, himself emphasizes the importance of preserving African and Black History. He asserts that we need to rediscover and appreciate the reality and fact that African civilization happened long before colonization.
Let us commend the Connexional Executive for carrying on with the tradition of celebrating our own, more so whilst they are with us. This is an important exercise, not only for the sake of celebrating lives well lived, but more importantly for placing on record Black History in the evolution of the Christian Church in Africa. We have for a long time been made to understand that the only authentic Church has its roots and shapers from the East or the West, or even worse, that our own stories and contributions get told through Eastern or Western lenses. The time has long been here for us to write and tell stories about the Church in Africa and those who continue to shape it. The initiative by the Reverend Doctor Wesley Magruder, my former Systematic Theology as well as Church History lecturer at the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary, to encourage seminarians to record our own history in the form of academic assignments must be commended. The consideration by the Centre for Black Thought and African Studies, that these academic essays be collated, polished and published is worth pursuing. Our celebrant here today, himself emphasizes the importance of preserving African and Black History. He asserts that we need to rediscover and appreciate the reality and fact that African civilization happened long before colonization.
It is perfectly appropriate, that in the course of recording our own story and appreciating the contribution of Black people in the shaping and development of the Church in Africa, we are gathered today to celebrate a Church historian and cleric in the person of the Reverend Lizo Doda Jafta. In dealing with this great task, I have chosen to title this brief exposition;
“A Humble Tower Rooted in His Indigenous Identity”
In his poem titled “A Humble Man”, Joseph Anderson asks,
Can you find a humble man,
Glad to be on God's green earth?
One who holds no greedy plan,
Knowing wealth has no true worth.
Perhaps, if you search around
You may find the one I seek;
Standing firm on shaky ground
Proud, yet modest, kind, yet meek.
If your search discovers him
Would you for a moment pause,
To lift his precious diadem
And return to me, because
I cannot find the one I seek,
Someone with a gentle plan;
Proud, yet modest, kind, yet meek;
Can you find a humble man?
Lizo Doda Jafta was born 83years ago to Phineas and Edith Jafta. He is born together with seven other siblings, Mabandla, Themba, Thozama, Mjoli, Kholisile, Nombulelo and his twin sister Tozana. He is only survived by Nombulelo – Mrs Shongwe who is present here today, together with her son. He is born into an affluent family, as his parents were both teachers though his mother became a housewife after marriage because of the rules of the time. His father was also a business man who ran a shop upon his return from participating in the last world war. Lizo Jafta went through the prominent Methodist missionary schools of his time, beginning with Shawbury High School in Qumbu, and completing with the Healdtown High School in Fort Beaufort. He claims he was an average student who went on to be fluent in not only his mother tongue of isiXhosa, but also the Queen’s language of English as well as the classical language of Latin. I grew up knowing that not everybody can speak Latin, but this modest average son of the soil does. This average student went further to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Theology form the University of Fort Hare in 1965, after spending a year at the Federal Theological Seminary; went further to complete three Masters degrees, a Master of Divinity as well as a Master of Arts from Boston University, and a Master of Philosophy as well as a Doctor of Philosophy from Drew University. In his quest for knowledge and epistemology, he exiled himself in the United States of America for 10years. It should not be surprising that his tone and texture when speaking the Queen’s language has not changed despite staying in the United States for a decade. It just proves how proud he is about who he is, a truly indigenous African fellow. Kaloku, we Xhosas can easily spend few weeks in Pietermaritzburg or Johannesburg, then when one gets back home kuNonyikila selekhuluma isiZulu or abuwa Sesotho!
Prof Jafta comments on his entry to ministry, particularly his seminary experience that it was good and that he enjoyed being a student among others, particularly in the context of the Federal Theological Seminary where there was an ecumenical approach to theological education and ministerial formation, with students and lecturers being drawn from four denominations. Perhaps we must pause a bit on this point and ask whether or not, amongst other things the FEDSEM arrangement did not directly contribute in the production of ecumenical activists who understood the Church of Christ for what it is, the Universal Body of Christ, instead of denominationalism! Did that arrangement not help in strengthening the ecumenical witness of the Church?
I further pause to note that the good feeling that uXaba had as a student at FEDSEM cannot be said to be the same with what the first women in ministry experienced. In 2021 I had the privilege to interview the Reverend Purity Malinga, our Presiding Bishop. Her narration of her experience and other women at the seminary is heart wrenching and disappointing to say the least. The life at the seminary for her and the four other women at FEDSEM was so terrible that it projected to her another picture of the church that she would never have imagined. She lamented that the men at the seminary treated women like trash they never wanted to associate with. She said most men at FEDSEM would not want to be seen interacting with women in public. Even during lunch time, women would seat by themselves with men keeping their distance. All these were because men at the seminary did not understand what women wanted in a space they felt was their own entitlement. Perhaps, this sense of entitlement that men seemed or seem to have in the ministry stem from the misnomer noted by Mary Daly when she called for a reconsideration of the language used in the calling of the members of the Trinitarian God, because “when God becomes male, the male becomes God” and that the use of the male language and imagery in the representation of the Trinity depicts it as a boys’ club or men’s association (McGrath, 2017:321-322). Hinga (2008:893) is correct in her submission that a patriarchal understanding of [God and] the church undermines the rights of women for self-determination and moral agency, amongst other things.
Another reflection Rev Lizo Jafta raises about his experience at seminary is an observation that some of them (students) might have found themselves at seminary by accident as they did not exhibit any signs of calling to the ministry. We must pause to ask ourselves a question regarding the quality and content of what the church through the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary produces. Is it better or worse than the FEDSEM days in the late 60’s? Further to that, do we as the church have a set of known accepted standards and rubrics through which our formation program is guided and led? Do we know what type of minister we need to produce for what context, or we just trust those we assign with the task of leading the ministerial formation project? Perhaps, even before seminary life, how does congregational life and set up contribute to the formation and equipping of potential candidates for the ministry?
Lizo Jafta’s ministerial journey began in 1960 when the Methodist Conference which sat in Uitenhage accepted his candidacy, and he later got ordained in 1967. He served God through the church in the following circuits and positions;
Cala Circuit 324,
Durban,
Pietermaritzburg,
New York
Ladysmith Circuit 818,
King Williams Town Circuit, now called Zwelitsha Mission Circuit 312,
Nahoon Circuit 316 where he was stationed at St. Nicholas United Church,
He was a Fieldworker in the Christian Education and Youth Department (CEYD),
He was Co-Secretary of the Christian Citizenship Department,
He was Co-Missionary Secretary in the Natal West District,
He was a Lecturer and Chaplain at the Federal Theological Seminary,
His other professional pilgrimage took him to lecturing at Rhodes University, Universities of Venda and South Africa, as well as the Universities of Durban Westille and Fort Hare where he served as an Adjunct Lecturer.
Reverend Lizo Jafta has contributed chapters in five different published books, six journal articles, and eleven unpublished articles. He is currently writing a book which will most possibly be published before the end of the current year. He teaches us that we should not learn just to become consumers of information, or to get certificates and academic or professional titles. Our learning must sharpen us to make a positive contribution in the spaces we live and work in, including contributing in further knowledge development.
When asked about his favourite Methodist doctrine, Xaba responds without hesitation that it is the doctrine on scriptural holiness, particularly the emphasis on inward and outward holiness which leads to social holiness. Storey is correct in his understanding of the doctrine of scriptural holiness or sanctification if you like, when he says it is a doctrine which refuses to just remain just a doctrine, but insists on becoming a discipline; it demands that we are not just believers but behavers; and it requires that holiness does not become a pie in the sky pious hope, but a daily habit of the heart (Storey, 2006:14)4 . These are important aspects that we need to consider as we reflect on our contribution or lack of, as individuals and the corporate body called the Church, in the decaying society we live in. This is so because our collective task as those who claim to be the disciples of Christ is not just to tell the world of the Kingdom of Christ, but have to show the world what it means to be the Kingdom, as Hauerwas puts it (Hauerwas, 1983).
Whenever I reflect and struggle with issues bedeviling our society, I ask myself a question about the role or presence of the church, or lack of, in leading God’s people towards being a better society, what Hauewas terms a peacable kingdom. Be it the daily reports on gender based violence and femicide, the rampant corruption and state of poverty and joblessness in our land, or the recent deaths of 21 teenagers in a tavern in East London as well as the subsequent commentary, mudslinging and finger pointing that ensued on social media, the question that always pre-occupies my mind is where is the church? How is the church shaping and equipping God’s people, the followers of Christ to be the light and salt of the world in this often dark and bitter society we live in? How is the Methodist Church of Southern Africa equipping Wesleyans of our time to be the spreaders of scriptural holiness leading to social holiness?
Forster and Oostenbrink (2015) ask the same question in their paper titled “Where is the church on Monday? Awakening the Church to the Theology and Practice of Ministry and Mission in the Marketplace”. Reading this paper makes one understand in unambiguous terms what the Wesleyan theology and spirituality means when it talks about fusing together the personal and social dimensions of Christian discipleship, as Trevor Hudson puts it.
Madame Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is important that we, as individuals and as the church, concede to the reality that we are failing in our business of doing and being church, primarily because we are comfortable with just seeming to be than being, and as such we are unable to become the mirror image of who Christ is, and the type of world we must become. The sooner the denominational church is awakened to the need that she becomes more strategic in using her members to achieve the objectives and aims of the gospel and the kingdom, and equipping them to that effect, the better! We cannot and should not be consumed and torn apart by who gets what position or station, where and when. We cannot and should not be a church that is quick to communicate on structural matters and yet be thin on dealing with missional strategies and approaches that would help this our church to be the agent of healing and transformation she wishes to be! Our primary task is to equip God’s people to embark on a journey of inward holiness to social holiness, so that the world may believe.
Dealing with the issue of transformation in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, particularly as could be seen to have been ushered in through the Journey to A New Land program, the Reverend Professor Lizo Jafta has a dim view. He submits that this is a journey that never happened except in lips as well as in documents of the church. He argues that it was more of a talk show than a talk and walk. This is evidenced, amongst other things, by the reality that the concept of geographic or integrated circuits has never fully materialized. We are still a one but divided church in many respects. Racism in the church has not been wiped out, and may I add that ethnicity and tribalism are still a factor we seem uncomfortable or unprepared to deal with.
Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen;
We must concede that we have and are not doing well as a church in transforming ourselves to be fully representative at least proportionally of the demographics of who compose the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Jafta is correct that the Journey to the New Land was a noble initiative, but that’s where it ended. So is resolution 368 on the ‘statement on women’ in the miscellaneous resolutions of conference. We are good in making grand statements and resolutions, but fail dismally in their implementation. Even worse, we have a tendency as the church of rushing to take what seems to be popular decisions without carefully scrutinizing what they really mean and would need in practice. A proper reading and understanding of both the Journey to the New Land as well as Resolution 36 is the importance of transforming minds and attitudes in order to facilitate the effective and sustainable transformation of structures, leading towards becoming a representative church at all levels. Failure to decisively implement these has led to the haste of window dressing transformation through setting up quotas for positions. I do want to submit that no effective transformation has happened purely through legislation without a concerted effort to transform minds and attitudes. The Reverend Mantima Thekiso is correct in her observation that such type of legislations have not helped to transform the South African nation, whether you look though employment equity act no 55 of 1998, or the broad-based black economic empowerment act no 53 of 2003. What is clearly evident is that these two acts, and others, promulgated by the South African government to fast track transformation in both the workplace and in the broader economy and society, have clearly opened our nation to deep levels of manipulation, nepotism, patronage, greed and corruption aided by state functionaries, and weakening institutions in order to insulate the beneficiaries of ill-gotten gains, as well as what Mcebisi Jonas terms democratic backsliding10 , all exposed more clearly by the proverbial capture of our democratic state. I do not know what the 2018 Conference legislation as affirmed by the 2019 Conference will do to the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, except for the confusion and abyss it has plunged her into in 2022.
Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Professor Jafta has mainly written on reclaiming and affirming our African Identity and spirituality within the Christian tradition and the evolution of the Church. In his 1984 PhD dissertation, he researched and wrote about “God-Consciousness: Similarities and Differences as reflected in the belief systems of the traditional Zulus of Southern Africa and Friederich Enerst Schleirmacher”. In this paper, Reverend Lizo Jafta did a comparative study of two distinct ecclesiologies, those being the Zulu ecclesiology and the other being that of a German philosopher and theologian Friederich Schleimacher. In his research, he concluded that there are obvious similarities and differences, mainly influenced by the different scenarios and contexts. What he observed as common between the two entities is the centrality of God’s consciousness, the God who is immanent and resides within us. He further observed that the most important feature of the African traditional belief system and that of the German theologian and philosopher, is how people are affected by them. He asserts that the traditional African religion has values and principles that control and direct people’s lives, and thus cannot be denied. The fundamental point raised in this observation, is that of dismissing the veracity of the claim that African people lived a life without values which needed civilization by the colonizers. Jafta submits that what is therefore very close between Schleimacher and the Zulu religiosity is the aspect of not looking up in order to find God, but instead, having to look down and inwards, because God is not up there but where people are.
In his 1992 article in the journal Dialogue and Alliance’, he writes to explain that the Zulu conception of God indicates that the doctrine of Ubuntu is firmly rooted on the understanding of who God is, and that without God there can be no Ubuntu. He explains that according to the Zulu religion, there can be no peace unless God is acknowledged and worshipped. Jafta further opines that there is a continuum between umvelinqangi and the ancestors, as they believe that the departed are nearer to God than the living beings. In this article, Jafta sought to promote peace and affirmation of our diversity through the recognition that God is one yet many, and that is not only premised on the doctrine of the Trinity but is further evidenced by the interrelationship between the divine God and God’s multiplicity extended through God’s creation, and that human beings become the extensions of the divine. Therefore, Jafta concludes that a proper awareness of God’s divinity promotes peace and the sanctity of life.
In his soon to be published book on Dr. Wilson Zamindlela Conco: An Unsung Hero and the First Witness at the Treason Trial, Reverend Professor Lizo Jafta records and affirms a life well lived by a person he regards as an unsung hero. According to Jafta in this book, Dr. Conco was both an accomplished medical doctor and a seasoned politician who at first was the provincial chairperson of the African National Congress Youth League in Natal, and later became the Provincial Secretary of the mother body, the African National Congress. To Professor Jafta, the importance of recording the history of Dr. Conco speaks to the very need of narrating our own history, and he therefore seeks to pull from oblivion the immense contribution not given due recognition in the struggle to dismantle apartheid and the gaining of our freedom. Jafta submits that Conco’s main contribution was his collaboration of the medical practice with social and political activism. He argues that this is important because academic disciplines should not be isolated, but should be part and parcel of social activism.
What this re-emphasizesis that we should not learn just to acquire certificates and accolades, but we should learn in order to be equipped to appropriately respond to contextual problems. Let us not be told by you, or see by your academic or professional titles that you are an educated person, but let what comes out of you, your character as well as contribution for the better good of all speak for you. In fact, as far as I am concerned, there is a stark difference between having certificates and being learned! For example, those of us in the theological space and are either in or venturing into ministry, should not acquire theological qualifications just for the sake of complying with processes, to have qualifications and academic titles, but must learn in order to become theologians who have a contribution to make in the life and witness of the church and her call to become an effective agent of healing and transformation. These must be tools of practice and not just to decorate our homes and give us nice titles. They must be tools through which we engage the real issues of society.
Asked about what it means for him to be a Methodist in the 21st century, Jafta submits that it means deepening his understanding of his sense of being African and his African background, rejecting Westernization, developing African Spirituality, and developing prophetic ministry.
Understanding our sense of being African, embracing our background and heritage, coupled with the rejection of Westernization for Christians in Africa is an urgent call for the deconstruction of Christianity and the entire project of decoloniality. Deconstruction of Christianity would begin with the real appreciation that Christianity was brought into our land by missionaries mainly from the West, who in the case of Methodism were not necessarily and primarily interested in converting Africans, but came to pastor and minister to the colonisers. What they brought and understood was a spirituality embedded in their own cultures, which are not necessarily Christian. The evangelization of the indigenous people was an after-thought, and the presentation of Christianity thereto did not discard the Eurocentric culture but instead presented the entire package as civilization. Deconstructing Christianity, therefore, should begin with accepting that “coloniality is not over, it is all over” as Walter Mignolo puts it, and that includes the Christianity we received.
Maria Lugones submits that through colonization,
“the European bourgeois, colonial, modern man became a subject/agent, fit for rule, and public life and ruling, a being of civilization, heterosexual, Christian, a being of mind and reason” (Lugones, 2010:743).
The reality of the colonizing mission is that it did not only take what we have but further demonized what we knew and how we lived in relation to uQamata or uMvelinqangi, even on aspects that had nothing to do with the essence of Christianity and being Christian, and to some extent replaced them with what is inherently Western and not Christian like individualism as against communality which is both Biblical and Christian. Tarusarira (2017:40515) submits that it is Mignolo’s argument
“that coloniality of knowledge silences and relegates other epistemologies to barbarian margins, a primitive or a communist or a Muslim past”.
Further, Escobar explained that
“the framework of coloniality of knowledge allows us to interrogate how colonial mentality interfered with African modes of knowing, social meaning making, imagining, seeing and knowledge production through Eurocentric epistemologies that assumed the character of objective, scientific, neutral, universal, and only truthful knowledge” (Tarusarira, 2017:405)
Ndlovu-Gatsheni lists six long-term consequences of colonialism observed by the African Scholar Ali Mazrui, and the last of them is that “Africa was dragged into a Euro-North American-centric moral order dominated by Christian thought” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2015:485-486). He therefore submitsthat “Mazrui’s conclusion was, therefore, that “what Africa knows about itself, what different parts of Africa known about each other, have been profoundly influenced by the West”. Williams and Bentley (2020:1)19 are correct in their submission that “being the church in Africa requires a continuous self-assessment by Christian denominations, asking whether it is sufficiently contextualised both in its doctrines and practices”. I submit, therefore, that the time has come for us to unwrap Christianity of the colonial agenda, connect it to who we are as the African people. As we do so, we must be equally mindful that the Bible we use was written in a particular context, for a specific audience, and to communicate a specific contextual message. Mosala recognized and asserted that this compilation of books called the Bible is a complex text which cannot and should not be reduced to a simple socially and ideologically unmediated word of God which mirrors the exact events in Ancient Israel, and is thus itself a site of contending voices, and a tool of imperialism (West, 2016:560-561)20 . West further explains that African Christians must understand that the Bible is a translated text (West, 2016:79)21, and may I add, that it is a translation of stories of stories, of stories of stories. Embracing and using the Bible, which we must, therefore requires the use of hermeneutic tools and lenses that speak to our context and situation so that the Jesus of Nazareth becomes and speaks to the plight of the African people. West (1995)22 thus proposes modes of reading the Bible in the South African Context in his book “Biblical Hermeneutics of Liberation”. That is why the project of the African Bible Commentary that the Black Methodist Consultation once dreamt of still remains crucially important and necessary. It must be a dream deferred or delayed rather than being a dream denied. Prof Jafta is correct in his assertion that many Black South Africans are still mentally and psychologically colonized, and that mental colonization is worse that the physical one. Jafta pointedly argues that we may be physically free, but our actions indicate that we are psychologically, and may I add, spiritually enslaved.
As we get engaged in the project of decoloniality, we must be equally willing to let go of cultural practices like patriarchy and all others that are inconsistent with the essence of being followers of Christ. We must remember and acknowledge that culture is not static and that it does not fall from the air, but that it was and remains a human invention, responding to a particular need and context, and therefore, should evolve with times and contexts. I submit that it is very possible to be an African Christian without becoming Eurocentric in approach and content, and that we must become. For that to be achievable, we would need to locate our wells and drink from them rather that use the Western lenses to evaluate and re-imagine what it means to be a Church in Africa in the 21st century.
If we are to reclaim who we are, it would also be critical to acknowledge the value of our indigenous knowledge systems, a topic also close to the heart of the Reverend Professor Lizo Jafta. He submits that Indigenous Knowledge Systems go along with African and Black History. The value and importance of reclaiming indigenous knowledge lies in also realizing that “Colonial-power-knowledge communicates particular cultural pre- suppositions that elevate Western knowledge as real knowledge while ignoring other knowledge”, as Doxtater (2008:619) correctly observes. He further explains that “colonial-power-knowledge describes human and world development as a static, immobile, and fixed paradigm” (Doxtater, 2008:620). We, the indigenous people of Africa who have been seen and labelled as emotive, reactive and unreasoned by the colonial master must reclaim our indigenous knowledge systems as a way of not only expressing pride in our heritage but to further pursue self-determination. In the context of self-determination, indigenous knowledge and scholarship would and should take the nature of decolonizing literature whilst challenging Western authority to interpret knowledge, argues Doxtater (2008:627-628). It was wisdom what the Reverend John Wesley expressed about his greatest fear regarding the people called Methodists on 04 August 1786 when he said, “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit and discipline which they first set out”.
If these words were to be said by the Reverend Professor Lizo Doda Jafta here today, I guess they would go something like this -
I am not afraid that the Indigenous African people would ever cease to exist. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having no identity and character of their own, as well as an authentically African Christian Spirituality. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both their heritage and Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
Madame Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Commenting on the Black Methodist Consultation, the Reverend Professor Lizo Jafta re-affirms the role of this august movement in the life and witness of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, a movement he joined in 1982. He applauds her strides and contribution in the quest for a transformed African Church. Jafta celebrates the immense contribution that this movement has made in various initiatives of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, including the support to the erstwhile John Wesley College, the Millennium Mission Fund Campaign, and the present Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary. As an educationist, he values, appreciates and celebrates the commitment and contribution of the Black Methodist Consultation to the upskilling of Black clergy persons through higher education funding opportunities. He commends the BMC for her commitment to enlightening the Black majority of the church about their distinct and peculiar role in the life, witness and mission of the MCSA.
However, Professor Jafta notes with disappointment and sadness the declining levels of participation and involvement of old members, particularly those who served in leadership. He observes and suspects that there are some of us who might be in the BMC for their personal selfish interests, and when such have been fulfilled or are not successful then they get off the boat.
Reverend Jafta commends the Black Methodist Consultation for resilience through the difficult times and ages, particularly when opposition rises from within. He remains confident of the need for this movement to exist, but calls for more depth in theological and other relevant contextual debates, becoming a more effective yeast in pursuing the transformation of the church and society through the equipping of both her members and the general membership of the church, as well as speaking less to ourselves by strategically attracting and engaging people and structures of influence, initiating or supporting programs for gender inclusivity and transformation, the dismantling of the otherwise widening gap between the laity and the clergy, addressing the continuing disparities between blacks and whites in the church, as well as re-imagining new ways of being and doing church particularly post the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairperson, my fellow Comrades and Friends, we must as activists of this illustrious movement pause and take stock of who we are and what we exist for, consider if our configuration enables us to fulfill our mandate. If we are honest with ourselves, our voice is no longer as audible as it used to be, and our stature is not as revered as in the past. We cannot and should not rely on our past successes, that is not sustainable. In the life and witness of the MCSA, there is still a lot of work that needs us. However, the question is, are we ready and able to respond to the pressing needs of our time!
Madame Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen;
The prophet Micah in chapter 6 verse 8 has these words, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”.
Reverend Rebecca Mincielli of the John Wesley United Methodist Church, preaching on “Humility,” begins with explaining that its opposite is pride, which in itself is not bad unless its allowed to run rampant, and that sisters to pride are egotism and vanity. She goes further to explain that the Biblical definition of humility as per the Holman Bible dictionary is the, “personal quality in which an individual shows respect (and love) for other persons, and a dependence on God.” Therefore, humility is defined as “a personal quality in which an individual shows respect and love for other persons, and a dependence on God”, argues Mincielli (2020:2). On respect and love for other persons, “humility allows us to see the dignity and worth of all of God's people, draws us to one another, not apart from one another” (Mincielli, 2020:3). On humility as dependence on God, “it means that the humble person knows that the source of all he or she has – health, wealth, skills, family, friends, is all from God, and God alone…” (Mincielli, 2020:4). Clearly, humility is central to Wesleyan theology and spirituality.
According to John Wesley, the revered founding father of Methodism, humility is a product of justification by faith which continues to the purification of the heart, and as the sins get forgiven, the heart purified, what remains pouring out of the heart of the purified thus shaping his or her character, is humility.
In the Rules of A Helper, Wesley wrote, “do not pretend to be of high station. A preacher of the gospel is a servant of all”. Lee-Koo in her PhD thesis argues that humility was a key component of John Wesley’s understanding of a Christian’s spiritual development. The CS Lewis Institute submits that CS Lewis understood “humility not as having a low opinion of one’s talents and character but rather as self-forgetfulness. This entails a radical honesty with ourselves about ourselves that begins to free us from the denials, pretences, and false images with which we deceive ourselves”. It is for that reason that John Wesley, in his sermon on the ‘circumcision of the heart’ could describe humility as “a right judgment of ourselves which cleanses our minds from those high conceits of our own perfections, from the undue opinions of our own abilities and attainments....”
Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen; As Joseph Anderson asked us if we have seen ‘A Humble Man’, when we started, Benjamin Anabaraonye now asks us as we conclude
“Have you seen a humble man?
Let him be applauded and praised
True honor goes to him who is humble
He is clothed with God's grace.
Have you seen a humble man?
Have you seen him stumble?
If he does, he rises again;
While the plans of his foes crumble.
Blessed is the humble man
He is peaceful and patient
Great is the humble man
He is gentle and always content.
Blessed is the humble man
For he shall inherit the land
He shall live long to reap his fruits
While his foes, God reprimands!”
Madame Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen; I humbly answer unequivocally, that Yes, I have seen a humble man, born from the dusty village of Kalankomo, grew up in the dusty village of Chulunca, touched physically, academically and spiritually many women and men, girls and boys, received the best education, got involved in the generation of knowledge as an esteemed academic, yet he remains “A Humble Tower Rooted in His Indegenous Identity”, his name is Lizo Doda Jafta; uXaba, uNonkosi, uNonxa asikhathali, uNomjoli, uLinda, uMwelase, uMlotywa, uShwabada owashwabadel’ iinkomo nempondo zazo, apho kungavalwa kuvalwa ngamakhand’ amadoda, iHlub’ elihle!
Chairperson, Mothers and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, Ladies and Gentlemen;
As Mother Teresa once reminded us, may we be reminded again today, that at the end of our lives, we will not be judged by the degrees or qualifications we have, not according to our possessions and positions in church and or society. We will be judged by the way we have used our power. We will be judged by whether or not in the exercise of the power we were accorded, the gifts God blessed us with, we were able to extend the love of God to others, by loving the neighbor as we love ourselves. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in”. We will be judged by whether or not in our pursuit of life, we acted justly, we loved mercy, and we walked humbly before God.
Wesley reminds us always, to do no harm, to do good, and to stay in love with God. As a response and affirmation to the humble life and contribution of this our dear father and brother in the faith, this gentle giant in the academia, this humble servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, who despite his great achievements in academic life and contributions in the church of Christ, remained “A Humble Tower Rooted in His Indigenous Identity”, we are challenged and encouraged to; Do all the good we can, By all the means we can, In all the ways we can, In all the places we can, At all the times we can, To all the people we can, As long as ever we can!
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