Abstract
In Africa, and in Zimbabwe in particular, education has played a critical role in transforming society through missionaries who brought education as inseparable from Christianity. This article argues that mission school education was a pillar of transformation and that mission schools functioned as centres of integration facilitation where learners discovered how to contribute in the change of their biosphere. It further argues that Zimbabwean mission schools are still bearing fruit in various contexts as seedbeds of social transformation. For Zimbabwe, education was and is still the hub of social transformation. Using a desk research approach of historical analysis and participant observation, this article explores how Zimbabwean Methodism transforms society by remaining within the academic niche that continues to facilitate societal transformation. It also discusses how the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) has influenced universal transformation processes through mission schools. The article concludes that mission schools are positive contributors to social transformation in Zimbabwe today, and that no transformation can be argued to have taken place without them.
Contribution: This study contributes to the ongoing academic niche that facilitates social transformation through mission schools in society. This also feeds into fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of quality education which is contributed by mission schools.
Keywords: church; Methodist; mission; schools; seedbed; social transformation; Zimbabwe.
Introduction
John Wesley is known to be an educator because he was a Methodist clergy and founder.1 Methodists’ contribution in matters of education originates from Wesley’s desire for schooling, which is anchored in his consideration of theology and Christian practice which taught that the ecclesiastical must engage in constant looking for and comprehending the reality. Wesley never sought to generate a different Methodist doctrinal validation for his interpretations on education; instead, his doctrinal discerning education was so indispensably significant to him that it motivated the genesis of the whole operating systems of early Methodism starting from classes and societies. John Wesley took education as a continuous process in life that is shaped by the Holy Spirit to attain personal and social holiness, and became the greatest imaginable means for evangelism, teaching model in godliness and the furtherance of transforming society. This article therefore will explore how Methodism remained with academic function to transform the society. This research discusses how the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) has influenced global transformation processes through mission schools by giving examples of icons from Methodist centres of learning. The research concludes by upholding the notion that mission schools are positive contributors to social transformation in Zimbabwe today without which no transformation can be argued to have taken place.
Methodology and epistemology
This research employs a desk research method. Hakim (1982) postulates that by utilising a desk method, the researcher collects information short of being personally involved in the field. This information when gathered, will be examined to produce evidence that is supplementary to, or diverse from the final account. This method will be used to obtain data from printed sources both electronic and books, articles and journals as well as looking for information from key meetings of the MCZ (Masvotore 2024:2). Using already existing information saves time and financial resources needed to collect data from the field. The researcher, as an insider, had opportunities to observe what transpires at different levels of the MCZ while serving as principal in some of the MCZ mission schools. Therefore, he has observed and witnessed the contribution of mission schools to society at large; hence, the employment of participant observation method. It is worth noting that while the researcher is an insider, he also utilised reflexivity to mitigate biases as an insider (Taylor 2011). By using reflexivity, one can enable the phenomenon to express itself and gather relevant information without compromising its quality (Masvotore 2018:29).
Meaning and background of education and social transformation
The word education is used every day in most circles of life. Education is an important undertaking for people in society. There are a number of definitions of education given by scholars from different perspectives. Dewey (1963:5) describes education as ‘a process of experience’. Given that life is progress, education therefore implies assisting internal development with no limitation because of age. The above-stated explanation shows that education is a process that is acquired gradually and as a growth procedure there are some developmental stages one undergoes through the various phases of life.
Freire2 (1974:3) defines education as ‘a process of revolutionary transformation’. The above definition indicates that schooling is considered to be a progression of the radical change in society. The technique is connected to an entire transformation in the social order. Freire expected that his learning system would make the uneducated individuals drop their laid-back, indifferent besides raw interpretation of their realism as assumed and unchangeable. Freire’s learning system is based on the ideas of conscientisation. Taylor (1993:52) elucidates that ‘Conscientization is a process of developing consciousness, nonetheless consciousness that is understood to have the power to transform reality’. It can be understood, consequently, that Freire’s major contribution to education and growth is his philosophy of conscientisation. Therefore, a working definition for education for this research is a process of developing consciousness of the mind to transform society.
Social transformation has been explained by Castle (1966) as a concept that points to the transformation of humanity’s total appearance. This includes the transformation of prevailing limits of a community organisation, inclusive of technical, financial, partisan and social reorganisation. From this definition, one can conclude that where there is education, transformation takes place be it technologically, economically, politically and even culturally. Khumalo (2005:2) contends that the ecclesiastical has no other way except to embrace and participate in transformational activities that happen in the community. To resist these changes and do the opposite would be disadvantageous to its task in the biosphere, and will be deemed an inappropriate organisation.
Be that as it may, the education started by John Wesley centuries ago is a true replica of transformation as reflected in mission schools established by the Wesleyan MCZ. Mission education in Africa is a product of the missionaries; however, Africans have always been educated in their own way. As alluded by Freire (1973:3), ‘if education alone cannot transform society, without which society cannot change either’. This is also theologically argued in the Bible in that the purpose of teaching is to obtain the training of knowledge, fairness, judgement and impartiality; to give subtlety to the modest, to the young man acquaintance and discretion (Pr 1:3–4). This entails that education should aim to equip and prepare the learner wholistically as advocated by the Zimbabwean education philosophy of Education 5.0, which has a thrust on teaching, research, community engagement, innovation and industrialisation.
The philosophy of education in Zimbabwe
In contemporary Zimbabwe, the education philosophy is aimed at an educational product that exemplifies national thinking and endorses people’s moral ethics, customs and principles. This has drawn fascinating energies, obligations and financial resources from countries throughout the world. An instructive programme that does not embrace these essential keystones is deemed immaterial and a waste of the state’s vital financial resources (Mbizvo 2009). Manandlar and Sthapit (2012) contend that education is the primary tool to advance an accountable person. The learner should gain great ethics, principles, standards, patterns of behaviour, technical knowledge and understanding. As Barker (1989) further claims, education is not about getting certificates to be considered an educated person. Rather, one should possess a comprehensive, dependable and straight integrity and character. Arguably this research demonstrates that the seed of education that was planted and germinated in Methodist mission schools in Zimbabwe taught values, norms and beliefs based on the philosophy of hunhu/ubuntu. Today the plant is bearing fruits in the social transformation of different societies in Zimbabwe. This is clearly shown through a number of legends who are products of mission schools the likes of Solomon Guramatunhu and others as elaborated in the published sources (see Machakaire 2023; Tshili, Chronicles 18 March 2020).
The principles of African philosophies of education were developed by African academics as fundamentals of education that are shaped and found in the philosophy of hunhu/ubuntu. These philosophies are holistic theory, humanitarianism, essentialism, socialism, functionalism and preparationism (Hapanyengwi 2013:9). It is a fact that hunhu/ubuntu regulates the objectives, subject material and approaches of African teaching. Castle (1966) avers that:
It is, therefore, critical to know what it is, what it has accomplished, how much of it remains relevant to the circumstances now obtaining in Zimbabwe with an education system that ‘dangerously emphasises literacy and technical instruction to the neglect of education for life’. (p. 39)
It is from this understanding that this study reflects and digs deeper into the aspect of hunhu/ubuntu to show how the Methodist mission schools laid the foundation of education based on ubuntuism philosophy blended with Christian values and demonstrate that they indeed were the seedbed of social transformation in the society using African teacher-evangelist approach.
The roots and expansion of Methodist Church in Zimbabwe mission schools
It is critical to note that education played a major central role in Wesley’s theological understanding. The religiousness of the Methodist members who trailed the practice initiated by Wesley is noticeable by a continuous connection between two opposites that are arbitrated through education (Pace 1980; Rack 1992). The strain between process and religiousness directed Wesley to start communal and enlightening ventures in which concepts were set into practice. Wesley detected with curiosity the practices of Moravian societies at Herrnhut who gathered in small groups (which he later called class meetings) to receive gospel teachings in addition to the pietistic custom at the University of Halle, and at that point applied their model at Oxford. He focussed on the matter of education in his discourse On the Education of Children (Wesley 1989). According to Masvotore (2018):
John Wesley categorically started a school as part of his mission endeavours. It was based on his dogmatic and educational replications that he originated the Kingswood School in 1748 to assist the families of deprived mineworkers. The condition in England regarding education was reserved for the fortunate. (p. 52)
Williams (1993) had this to say about what Wesley said:
In what way has preaching been there for almost twenty years around Pembrokeshire! Without producing systematic civilizations, public order, no functional connexion; and the worst scenario is that nine in ten of the once roused are now docile and sleeping than ever before. (p. 67)
The enterprise at Kingswood, Epworth, and others turns out to be an expanded work of the infant organisation that makes provision for other important subjects such as arithmetic, reading, writing and art, over and above church learning. These institutes became a celebrated method for the furtherance of more institutions starting from the Global North and spreading throughout the world (Ives 1970). The educational seeds established by Wesley in England went to other settings the world over as initiated missionary endeavours.
In the African continent, some of the examples to pick are South Africa, where a local Methodist school was founded at Qunu in Healdtown in 1845 and later became known as the place where the iconic man who is at the centre of transformation in South Africa Nelson Mandela was educated. He was given the name Nelson as his Christian name by his teacher. He later attended Clarkebury Methodist High School and later a Methodist college in Fort Beaufort (Wyk 1995). The same seed of education as a process of evangelisation was planted in many African countries including Zimbabwe.
Gondongwe (2011) demonstrated that after:
[T]he arrival of European settlers in 1890, missionaries found it easier to spread their influence among the indigenous people. Mission schools were the source of formal education for Africans, with the government providing education primarily to white children. The new exchange economy introduced by the settlers created increasing demand for education among Africans. As demand for more education among Africans was increasing, the colonial government stepped in to control the provision of education and ensure that missionaries would not ‘overeducate’ them. (p. 24)
The expatriate overseers were serious about the kind of education that the missionaries administered to the aboriginals. They insisted that the natives were to be taught practical-related subjects such as agriculture and industry to equip them to become cheap labourers, who were not competent to Europeans (Atkinson 1972; Dorsey 1975).
The origins of the MCZ mission schools can be reflected in tracing back to posterity, particularly in 1891, when missionaries from Republic of South Africa arrived in Zimbabwe to spread the gospel. Around 18 May 1899, Shimmin declared that it ‘is with the children that our main, and indeed our sole hope of building a Christian community in this country rests and from the beginning it is our aim to endeavour to provide them with Christian education’ (Zvobgo 1991:16).
Furthermore, Shimmin (1892) attested that the beginning of learning at Epworth Institute in 1902 was aimed at ‘the training of evangelists and teachers for the native work’. This same view was a replica of the formation of other learning institutions that were initiated by Methodist missionaries. In this situation, education was envisioned as a passport to an enthusiastic end (Samudzimu 1991:83).
In the process, it was a win-win situation where the expatriate missionaries and Africans benefited equally; and for the Africans, transformation took place. This is further affirmed by Gondongwe (2011:25) when he argues that in ‘more than one instance at places where we have had established churches, we have seen that failure to provide a school has meant that the church has practically disappeared’. In their mode of operation, they made sure that education and evangelism were inseparable as articulated by the 1939 Report of the MCZ that clearly stated that there:
[I]s always the danger in our work of making a distinct division between evangelism in winning converts for Christ and what is sometimes regarded as the work of education. But the division is not as distinct as some think. The noblest kraal school in the hands of a Christian teacher is an opportunity for presenting the Gospel story in many ways. (Zvobgo 1991:87)
The African Education Policy of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Southern Rhodesia shows that the focus of education was to ‘help create an atmosphere in which the heart of the youth will turn naturally towards God’ (African Education Policy of the Wesleyan Methodist Church [Carter 1946:2]). The Policy further stressed that:
Christian education aimed at teaching Christian truths as well as the acceptance of Christian faith as a personal faith. So, for the Wesleyan Methodist missionaries, their main concern for the indigenous Africans was their conversion, in the first instance to Christianity, and then to Methodism and the adoption of Christian moral values that embodies hunhu/ubuntu. (Samudzimu 1991:81)
The role of African evangelists could not be underestimated in the success story of the missionaries’ evangelistic thrust through the education method. This is the reason why meaningful discussion of Christian missionaries’ work in Zimbabwe cannot leave out the critical role played by African evangelists. It has to be noted that because missionaries were uninformed of the beliefs and backgrounds of the Africans among whom they stood to labour, the support of the local evangelists was necessary. On the coming of eight teacher-evangelists from South Africa in 1892, Shimmin accredited that:
Africa is to be saved by Africans themselves is a favourite theory of most Christian workers out here and in this new mission we are proceeding on these lines. Under the careful and consistent supervision of the minister, the native evangelist can become the greatest real proselytizer, and particularly in a nation like Zimbabwe. (White 1899:29)
Morley-Wright saw Native teacher-evangelists to be the ‘important agent’ in the learning process of their fellow Africans (Zvobgo 1991:27). In 1923 MCZ Mission account outlines that:
Our missionaries in Rhodesia tell us that they find that the most effective method of presenting the Gospel is by Africans witnessing to Africans. The European can never get at the back of the native mind. (White 1923:12)
In recognition of the call for local Evangelists, the MCZ transported in numerous teacher-evangelists inclusive of:
Modumedi Moleli, Joseph Ramushu, Mutsualo, Tutani, Mutyuali, Fokasi, Shuku and James Anta from South Africa who later could be assisted by locally trained African evangelists. The relations between missionaries and African evangelists though largely based on collaboration in educating fellow Africans were in some instances strained by racism. These foreign and local Africans, in addition to preaching and teaching, laying the foundations of African education, played an important role in another aspect of missionary activities that facilitated the provision of education to Africans. (Samudzimu 1991:84)
From the localised evangelists:
Simon Jonas Chihota, the first Zimbabwean black evangelist, took upon himself to help the missionary Reverend John White in translating the New Testament into vernacular language. (Masvotore 2018:57)
At the same time, he also helped Reverend Avon Walton to organise and translate the Methodist Shona Hymnals (Zvobgo 1991:40). This was the genesis of translating the Scriptures into local dialects. The translation of the Scriptures into vernacular assisted African Christians to adore God in their individual dialects and to continue entrenched in their particular ethos.
Social responsibility of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe mission schools to the emancipation of societies in Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe, MCZ mission schools became the torch bearers of education namely:
Waddilove that started in 1892, Kwenda in 1892, followed by Marshal Hartley established in 1894, as well followed by Thekwane in 1897, Chemhanza was founded in 1912, Sandringham came in 1913, and Pakame in 1920, Moleli was the last to be established in 1962. (Gondongwe 2011:68)
There is no narrative history of education that will be comprehensive short of citing the role played by all of the above-mentioned MCZ institutions. Masvotore (2018) reiterated that:
This all emanated from elementary Sunday school lessons by recital of the Bible stanzas, developing into reading and writing. These elementary school programs and class meetings were the beginning of formation of recognized schools today. Undeniably, it is an input of a main Christian church to the expansion and liberation of the nation. The MCZ seized a cautious strategy to elevate aboriginal individuals through education. (p. 61)
Samudzimu (1991) argues that:
[T]he Church has built schools only for blacks. In so doing the church incurred the odium of the European community. Some of them saw education as adding arrogance to the black man’s ignorance. (p. 79)
He additionally thinks:
[T]he Church proceeded to transform the quality of education from the level where ‘a Standard 4 teacher was quiet a person’ to the stage where several Methodist schools were preparing students for undergraduate studies to supply the country with doctors, engineers, accountants, theologians, economists and other specialists. (Samudzimu 1991:104–105)
Furthermore:
It is the MCZ that provided the native people with massive skills that demonstrated and treasured in generating consciousness to the individuals to understand themselves as one country, through Caanan Banana a Methodist minister who spearheaded the National Unity Accord of 1987. Additionally, the MCZ equipped the native persons for successive positions of accountability by exposing them to delicate management systems in institutions and church businesses. Through some values and instances the MCZ trained their followers to express their views on contemporary matters, such as legislature disturbing the edification of people. Members of the MCZ are influential in delivery of valuable systems that benefit the society. (Masvotore 2018:61)
Samudzimu (1991) argues that:
Fred Rea, Herbert Carter and Mr Manfred Hudson all former Principals and teachers of Methodist mission schools who were behind the moves to found the University of Zimbabwe. It was Rev Rea who started the Council on Christian Education that pressed for the proper teaching of Religious Education in schools and was also instrumental in the founding of the Department of Theology at the University as well as Diploma of Theology in Africa. For all these and many other contributions he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law by the University of Zimbabwe in 1978. (p. 105)
It remains valuable to observe that the fight for liberation was organised by influential people who were educated at mission schools. Gondongwe (2011) buttresses this by stating that it is:
[S]ignificant to note that most of the leading nationalists in Zimbabwe had Christian backgrounds. James Chikerema, Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole and others had attended mission schools and they identified with Christianity. Christianity was the religion of modernity and upward social mobility. Banana’s background within the church had prepared him for the political role he assumed. (p. 310)
For Banana (1991):
At independence the entire Zimbabwean cabinet inclusive of ministers, Nathan Shamuyarira, Sydney Sekeramai and Edson Zvobgo had gone through Methodist institutions. In addition to this, the first Black President (Rev Canaan Sodindo Banana), the first Black Chief Justice appointed in 1982 (Enoch Dumbutshena), President of ZAPU (Joshua Nkomo), the Head of ZANU guerrilla (Tongogara), Stanlake Samukange, Dr Hebert Ushewokunze, and others in high places in commerce and industry had a Methodist background. There are others like Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole, to name but a few, who are also products of mission schools of other denominations. (p. 106)
The MCZ mission schools are growing from strength to strength under the guidance of principals and headmasters who are committed to their administrative work. The spiritual mentoring of students is guided by the Chaplain who is the spiritual mother or father of the mission. There are also advisors who are selected from teaching and non-teaching staff members who also offer their expertise in guiding the students in behaviour and character moulding which is all about hunhuism (Hapanyengwi 2013). The Christian environment also helps the students to stay focussed with their studies. They have time for church services on Sundays and during assembly days.
This incredible effort in mission institutes is concise in the words uttered by Ndabaningi Sithole3, while giving honour to missionaries:
The Christian church has created in Africa a strong Christian consciousness that transcends the usual barriers of race and colour, and this Christian consciousness is based on the love of God and the love of our fellow man. It is based on a strong sense of human justice. The story of African nationalism would be incomplete if this Christian awareness was regarded in one sense as its spiritual fathers and in another sense as its guardian angel, whether or not the church recognizes these roles. The Christian church by sending religious educational and industrial missionaries to Africa broadened the outlook of many Africans. It provided opportunities for many Africans to develop their latent qualities’ it has discouraged tribal hatred and encouraged universal brotherhood instead…. The present enlightened political leadership would be next to impossible but for the Christian church that spread literacy to many parts of Africa. (Rose 1951:56)
In sum, mission schools contributed immensely to the transformation of societies without which Zimbabwe could have been in its doldrums without the complementary effort exerted and continuously put in by mission schools.
Conclusion
The study aimed to show that mission schools were the seedbed that laid the foundation and continue to be the pillar of transformation in society through a holistic approach to education. This was demonstrated through the MCZ mission schools, which have produced icons of industry in various sectors. Those who helped in the liberation struggle for the emancipation of Zimbabweans were also products of mission schools. Indeed, mission schools are the seedbed that nurtured education, watering it until it germinated in the minds of Africans and continue to foster growth for the transformation of societies and nations at large.
Acknowledgements
This article is partially based on the author’s thesis of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Systematic Theology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, with supervisor Dr Sakuba and co-supervisor Prof Hewitt, received June 2018, available here: https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/b2626670-675d-4ab9-890f-49cb7663d046/content.
Competing interests
The author declares that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
Author’s contributions
P.M. declares that they are the sole author of this research article.
Ethical considerations
This article does not contain any studies involving human participants performed by any of the authors.
Funding information
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data availability
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are the product of professional research. The article does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The author is responsible for this article’s results, findings and content.
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Footnotes
1. See Masvotore (2018:50–63) for a detailed background which cannot be covered in this article because of space and word limitations. It can be accessed on https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/items/c454d662-9f4a-4e02-a815-5bf94d29aa49.
2. Paulo Freire is a Brazilian educator and philosopher who is best known for his literacy method based on conscientisation and dialogue. He has been called ‘the greatest living educator, a master and a teacher’ (Taylor 1993:1).
3. ‘Rev Ndabaningi Sithole is the founder of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) a militant organisation that opposed government of Rhodesia. He wrote the book African Nationalism. Former student at Waddilove and taught at Tegwani training institution’ (Masvotore 2018:63).
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