Ukama - Africa

Ukama Corner

With great sadness we report the death of our friend, Balance Chibangwa. Balance had visited Exeter twice with the Ukama project. He died in January 2010 in a bus accident in Zimbabwe. He leaves behind a wife and two small children. Please contact Rev. Kim McKerley for address information.

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Dear Brethren at Exeter Church,

Our first letter to you of this beautiful year 2010. “A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL”, belated though. We are once again glad to have been given a chance of sharing in the glories that God is going to shower on his people this year.

We were very happy to receive a letter from you. Everyone was eager to read the letter and it did the rounds among the members.

I noted that God’s Church has been part of the Exeter people for over 370 years now since 1638. This long period has indeed enabled you to develop from stage to stage, refining your Christian practice in the process. Our people have been in Christianity only since 1895 when the first word was proclaimed here. It would really seem we have quite a lot to share among ourselves.

Pfidza Church has existed on its own as a church for only 9 years now. So you see we are still an infant trying to walk too early. Since the 1900s we were one Chikore Church but in 2001 it was decided that Pfidza stand alone under another minister.

We are made up of five preaching points that are far apart. Members at each preaching point attend church services every Sunday and run their own local affairs. But we meet together as a church on Big Sunday at the beginning of each month or more if there is a need. We gather at a day school called Chinaa High where there us a hall big enough to accommodate us. Our local primary school buildings serve as churches for the preaching points. The preaching points are located in Pfidza (the biggest), Rebai, Shekwa, Musirizwi, and Nyamuvava. The last two are outside of the Chikore farm.

We walk long distances to services on Sundays but no distance is too long to be together to share our experience of God’s presence in our family lives.

You mentioned your ministers Nancy Rockwell and Rushan Sinnaduray. I confess it’s the first time I have heard the name of the second minister. I am tempted to tell you the names of our church executives charged with the every day running of the church. They are:

Mrs. Chipo Ndana – High Deaconess Mr. Frank Sigauke – Vice High Deaconess

Mr. Fred O.S. Bandama – Secretary Mr. Samson Sithole – Treasurer

Mrs. Christine Magwaba – Asst. Teasurer Mrs. Gertrude Sigauke – Ruwadzano leader

Mrs. Ammie Bandama – Sunday School Jealous Gwegweni –Youth Fellowship

Deacons from 5 preaching points are ex-officio members.

Women occupy most of the leadership positions. I can’t say that we are being deliberately gender sensitive but time has proved that they are best qualified to lead with their soft approach to issues.

The UCCZ has done a lot of work to destroy some of our people’s undesirable cultural practices that run contrary to Christian practices. The two could just not co-exist. The Church for quite some time enforced loyalty to church practices in all of our institutions until the people identified with the UCCZ. Even today, the heads of our schools, hospitals, and farms are full members and we have many schools, so it has been really effective. In this community even those who do no go to church just follow our guidelines in their everyday lives. Christianity has become the life here among our people.

Member of our Christian Youth Fellowship (C.Y.F.) are young boys and girls and indeed some men and women who would love to have counterparts from your church communicate with individuals. Very soon, I will list them with their details and send them so that your people may have their pick.

You talked about freezing temperatures. Down here in the tropics, we only see anything freezing in the fridges. So, today my wife and I were glad to walk to away from the intense and scorching heat of our summer.

Wonderful greetings to you all..

Yours in Christ,

Fred O.S. Bandama

(Church Secretary)

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The NHConference  may send a delegation to Zimbabwe in August, 2010.  This would be a wonderful opportunity to meet our new partners!  Today, we are very happy to receive news from Zimbabwe from our new partner, the Pfidza Church. They wrote us a letter that I received just before Christmas, reprinted below.  If you would like to communicate with the Pfidza Church, please contact Erik Hobbie or Rebekah Bergeron directly or through the church office.    -Erik Hobbie-

 February 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

It is our pleasure to write to you for the first time, and a much bigger pleasure for us especially when we realize that we are strangers who have suddenly been friends through the grace of God. We are very grateful to you for choosing us to be your partners. We have always admired our sister churches who were already partnered with congregations in NH and enjoying sharings of different forms. The long awaited time had come our way and it has caused a lot of anxiety on all Pfidza church members.

Pfidza church is in Chikore mission farm and there two UCC churches in the farm who are Pfidza and Chikore churches, and Chikore is the mother church from where Pfidza came from. Most of the church members for the two churches live on the mission farm with a small number coming outside the farm. The members were allocated some pieces of land by the church (at maximum 3 hectors) and this was answering the UCC holistic approach to ministry.

Our membership 400+ with mostly women. The number of youth members is also very high and very active. We do not have a church building and a parsonage of our own but we are using Chinaa High school buildings which is a UCC school for the moment. Our postal address is-

PFIDZA UCCZ

PO BOX 37

CHIPINGE

ZIMBABWE.

You can also use the Conference Superintendent's email address and he will print it for us.

Right now it is summer for us and people are busy working on their pieces of land in growing food for themselves. We have just closed our schools and we are going to open early January 2010.

For the past 4 years we were happily under pastorship of lady minister Rev Christian Maposa. She was an able minister who was taking us all equal. She was married this year and she will join her husband in Chipinge Town .She will be serving a UCCZ congregation in town while the husband will be serving UMCZ in the same town.

Best wishes for your Christmas times and a happy New Year.

Yours faithfully Fred OS Bandama(church secretary)

Rev Christian Ndembera(Maposa) local minister, Chipo Nduna (high Deaconess)