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Christianity Today, July (Web-Only), 2008 |

Speaking Out

Habakkuk in Zimbabwe

We're hungry, angry, and depending on a sovereign God.

By a Zimbabwean pastor-scholar | posted 7/24/2008 08:24AM

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Pastors are preaching a lot about the sovereignty of God as they try to help their members make sense of the economic and political crisis. The failure of the people's vote to bring about change has helped the church to strongly believe that the sovereign Lord is the only one who can bring change. It's our duty to, among other things, pray as he works.

We are very hopeful that the mediation efforts of the African Union and the Southern African Development Community will yield a positive result. The church is praying for a process that will bring together all the key players, not only political parties but also the church and civic society.

The Zimbabwean church needs to play the prophetic, priestly, and kingly role with both wisdom and gentleness. A divided church is no good when it comes to speaking against injustices and corruption. We need a united voice that upholds God's standard of peace and justice. The church in Zimbabwe must come out of this crisis with its faith intact, purified, and reflecting the glory of Christ Jesus. It will very unfortunate if the church in Zimbabwe comes out of this crisis not believing better, not deeper in theological reflection, and not sharpened for service in any way.

The author is a pastor and a scholar living in Zimbabwe. To protect him, we have withheld his name.

Related Elsewhere:

Our previous coverage of Zimbabwe is available online.

The New York Times , BBC, and other news organizations have profiles of Zimbabwe and the latest news.

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July (Web-Only) 2008, Vol. 52

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Maurice

Posted: July 25, 2008 11:23 AM

I wept as I read this very moving sermon. I have never been to Zimbabwe but my heart has been there often through the people I have known and worked with. Our gas has gotten expense and we almost grieve over what is is costing us. How little our cost is compared to that of the people of Zimbabwe. How can I as a concerned Christian stand with my brothers and sisters who are being so ravished by a political system and by a leader, who knows the better way, yet has yielded himself to the powers of evil? I resolved today to pray more for these people. I will also explore ways Christian aid is getting to the people and will give as I can where it will help. May God grant relief, very soon, to the people of Zimbabwe.

John	Posted: July 25, 2008 7:45 AM

At some point you have to get past the "sovereign God" is going to help me or get these bad guys in the end and ACT! If you're mantra is "what would Jesus do?" Jesus did not sit around and watch represssion and say, Gee, my Father will take care of this in the end, he acted over and over again. And the history of Christianity is filled with folks like William Wilburforce or the Quakers who pointed out injustice and eventually got action. Zimbabwe (and Sudan and other parts of Africa) need prayers but they also need bullets and bombs from Western and pro-Western African nations to depose their thug leaders and bring order and stability to their countries. And we need to hear the cry from the Christians in those countries that that is what is needed. "Gentleness" is the last thing the kleptocracies that run these countries need!

Spencer

Posted: July 24, 2008 10:54 PM

I am a South African. I see the reluts of land reform in Zimbabwe and wonder and am painfully aware that more than 80% of the land (South Africa) is in the hands of maybe 5% of the minority white. A Zimbabwe about to happen. Unless Jesus intervenes in a big way, having the same mindset as the author will lead to the same situation in Zimbabwe. How can I say that? Taking the land away from families some who have been living in the area for 200 years just to undo injustice that was perpretated 100 years ago will bring forth double injustice. Injustice cannot be fixed by injustice! So many productive farms given back have already litterally died. Keep this up and there too soon will be no food left in South Africa. There's got to be a different way. Please help us figure it out before it is too late!!!

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