I am part of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. There is
a black caucus within my church called The Black Methodist Consultation, which has
just met in Johannesburg. These are some of my random thoughts about an
organization that has nothing to do with me, but at the same time has
everything to do with my church. Its 2015 programme notes that the “BMC exists for the Transformation of the
MCSA into a truly African Church (in character, doctrine, ethos, identity and
practice) by challenging and equipping Black Methodists to contribute
meaningfully, actively and intelligently in the MCSA given the context of
Africans”.[1]
The BMC was founded in September 1975 in response to a Methodist
Church that “was a mirror image of the
apartheid society in which it laboured”.[2]
Despite a black majority of members, the MCSA was dominated by a white clergy,
white administrators and white financial muscle. In the words of the BMC: “The BMC then had to deal with issues that
negatively affected the majority of the people called Methodists”.[3]
This year it celebrates 40 years of a history that has succeeded in ensuring
that the MCSA now has a majority black leadership: the MCSA has a black Presiding
Bishop, black General Treasurer, black Lay Leader, and a majority of black Bishops,
Superintendent Ministers and Circuit/Society Stewards. It must be acknowledged
that the BMC has succeeded spectacularly in transforming the MCSA from a white
led church to a black led church.
I do not for one minute think that this is the end of the
road. There is still much work to be done in transforming our theological reflection
and practice to represent an African context. The MCSA is captive in many parts
to a western, materialist theology that is driven by wealth and glamour: we
honour those ministers who are good fundraisers; we choose to hold our
conferences and conventions in places of glitz and glamour; and we want to see
our leaders dressed in the garments of the powerful. We also betray our own African
roots by so easily singing songs written in other parts of the world, while
ignoring our African rhythms and idiom. We still need to engage the split spiritual
personality of our members who are Methodist by day, and African Initiated Church
by night. This includes the way we use traditional cultural practices at home, but
hide them from our Methodist community as if being African was not acceptable
in the Methodist Church. This practice also
leads us to adopt anything from our culture into our spiritual practice without
thorough theological interrogation – precisely because we do not allow the MCSA
into this part of our lives. So I look to the BMC to help us to reflect on how
we become a “truly African Church”.
That said – I am wondering if the BMC has been too successful
in the work it has already done. What I am seeing emerge is not a black-led
church. I am seeing a black Methodist Church. White members of the MCSA are a
dying breed – literally! We are getting older and greyer, with our younger
white membership dwindling to insignificance. Some of this attrition is a
reflection of the general ageing of Christian Churches in our country: in
general we as the MCSA are becoming older. But in addition to this, younger
white members are leaving – some to other churches, and some to no church at
all. Simply put: white people do not feel like they belong. They feel excluded
from the MCSA, because the ethos of the MCSA has become black. It does so by
using uniforms, rigid collective organisation, black caucuses, and
organisational conventions. This is essential to black spirituality, but means
nothing to white identity. So I am experiencing ‘white flight’ from my church: some
white colleagues have joined other churches, and some are leaving for other
countries. Those who stay have disinvested from Synods and Conference: they
choose not to engage in debate, but instead grumble together on their own google
websites. White members have withdrawn into white local church, and leave the
national church to the black majority. So we struggle to get any white members
to leave their local church meetings and go to Synod or Conference. And we have
no white candidates for the ministry. In fact we have had no white candidates
for the past three years.
Now this is perfectly acceptable if we have decided that the
MCSA is to be a black church. In some ways it feels like we have done so. The
Presiding Bishop and the General Secretary of the MCSA have just visited the
BMC as if it is an official gathering of the MCSA. This is the non-statutory caucus
that makes decisions for our church. What puzzles me is why the black voices –
who dominate the church – need the BMC to help them to be heard in the church.
The annual Conference of the MCSA is a black majority voice! It is not necessary
to mobilise against white oppression, because the whites are leaving. I predict
that within 20 years the existing loyal white members will have died, and the
next generation will have moved elsewhere because they find no space in the
MCSA. In my experience black Methodists do not care whether we lose all our
white members or not. And why should they? For 140 years black members were oppressed
by white members before we had our first black President of Conference. I have
sympathy for the fact that the black agenda right now is about occupying
positions of power and influence in the MCSA. I am tempted to adapt Steve Biko’s
famous phrase and hear the new slogan: “White man you are on your own”.
So should I dream of finding ways to help white people find a
home in this church? Should I form a White Methodist Consultation to help us
find identity? Because our culture and race really do affect the way we think
and behave, and those who make the claim “I am not racist” are often the most
racist of all! It is only in acknowledging my race/culture/history that I can
authentically engage people who are not like me. But a caucus of ‘white
Methodists’ fills me with horror, because I cannot bear those insensitive,
self-righteous white members of my church who demand that the MCSA must run
according to ‘their’ norms. I cannot stomach the white members who use their
wealth to patronise poor black churches; and I hate the way my white colleagues
make absolutely no effort to understand their black colleagues – or to support
them in their work. I want no truck with those white members who whine about ‘the
good old days’ and complain about their loss of privilege. I abhor those white
people who sneer at the way black people practice their faith, and who keep
telling our black leadership how to do things.
What I am reaching for is how to define my church. I embrace
the fact that I live in a black majority country in a black majority church. However,
when I encourage young white people to enter the ministry of the MCSA, do I
tell the prospective candidates that they must learn how to ‘do church’ like a
black person – or find another denomination. I cannot help thinking of the way St Paul
dreamed of a church where in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slave nor free…….
And dare I say it: neither black nor white? I am reminded of the John 17 prayer of Jesus that
his disciples should be one. Should we as the MCSA not be an example to our
country of a “one and undivided” people? Surely one contribution we can make to
bring healing to our land is for us to model a community who respects, cares
about and loves one another – irrespective of race and culture?
