Special to United Methodist Insight
Allow me space to comment on the recent publication of “Africa’s Great Betrayal: a Harvest of Thorns” by Lloyd T. Nyarota in the United Methodist Insight Magazine of June 21, 2019. I am a three-time General Conference delegate who also attended both the 2016 GC and the special session of the General Conference in St Louis. I really feel that Rev Nyarota’s commentary cannot go unchallenged as it appears to paint the wrong picture of African delegates.
Going through the document by Rev. Nyarota, all I saw was anger and bitterness. You can easily tell that our dear friend, and many others, I guess, still cannot accept the reality that the One Church Plan could not get the majority vote at St Louis. I think this poor friend of ours must have over promised his progressive friends that he would get them hundreds of Africans to vote for the One Church Plan and unfortunately he got the harvest of thorns. I
f you listen carefully to Nyarota’s document you will realize that he is actually sowing seeds of hate and separation. He does not seem to understand the dynamics of synergy and lobbying when it comes to matters of this nature. To think that African and other Central Conference delegates were pawns for the advancement of American Traditionalists agenda is an insult to say the least. The evidence that Rev. Nyarota tries to use to support his allegations is baseless and lack facts.
Let me remind Rev. Nyarota that the General Conference is the only body that officially speaks for our beloved denomination. The General Conference spoke at St Louis and the General Conference will speak again in Minneapolis. Rev. Nyarota still thinks that he can define what Africa wants and where to get it from. Africans know exactly what they want and is all enshrined in the Traditional Plan (in relation to the human sexuality debate). It is common knowledge that the Traditional Plan had some technical issues and all coming from the fact that the plan never got the time and consideration that the other two plans got. What is of paramount importance is the fact that it tells the world the direction the majority of United Methodists want the church to go.
I wonder who can buy into such cheap and shallow politicking. For anyone who could follow the proceedings on prioritization of petitions, it was simple to discern that the Wespath petition had support from all the different groups, whether progressive, centrist or traditional. Rev. Nyarota struggles to support his allegation that all Africans voted for the pensions petition. This allegation is totally baseless and I don’t think there is anyone who can quite tell how Africans voted on this issue.
At some point I almost got convinced that the writer totally lacks an understanding and appreciation of the Traditional Plan and what Africans believe and stand for. After reading his commentary again I am now convinced that this gentleman is simply trying to shift our attention from the preparations and focus on the upcoming General Conference. His critique is so empty and does not warrant any serious debate. I was there on the conference floor in St Louis and can tell you that all these arguments and allegations are hogwash. On the contrary, other Central Conferences having realized the importance of what Africans were driving at and standing for they offered to join hands and work together for a common good and it paid off.
During the run-up to the Special General Conference letters and emails exchanged hands across the global connection as both progressives and traditionalists tried to lobby for support. This brought together people of the same mind and they agreed to work together. There has been nothing sinister about this whole process. If anything, we were being told and threatened that if we did not support the One Church Plan, it would be the end of funding for ministry programs and projects in Africa. The principled African delegates could not be moved an inch by all these shenanigans.
Who does not know the floor tactics of our progressive and centrist friends to keep on pushing all sorts of motions in a futile effort to stop the final vote for the Traditional Plan? Referring the Traditional Plan to the Judicial Council for a third time was obviously a desperate way of trying to overturn the decision of General Conference. I actually say “hats off“ to all the supporters of the Traditional Plan for remaining so calm and composed throughout the Special General Conference session. That’s the level of maturity and respect that some of us are desperately looking for.
I call upon all Traditionalists to simply ignore this commentary and focus on more important things ahead. The Traditional Plan is the only plan that fosters real unity for the church undergirded by scripture. As an African delegate I will not vote changing our definition of marriage, ordination standards, marriage and sexual ethics. Such efforts have been consistently rejected at every General Conference since 1972. This is basically what the Traditional Plan stands for. I sincerely hope my dear friend Rev.Nyarota will wake up and smell the coffee. We will continue to pray for General Conference 2020 and continue to remind each other that confrontations and false allegations will result in nothing but more hurts and suffering.
Simon Mafunda serves as the lay leader of the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference.