MISSION MONTH July 2021
MESSAGE FROM THE MISSION DIRECTOR
Sisters and Brothers I greet you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
About fifteen years ago, Methodist church in Zimbabwe gave birth to a program called “Mission Month”, celebrated in the month of July from the 1st to the 31st. It was given birth at a time when the church was running with two distinct programs:-
1 Men to Church program.
2 Heifers project.
The moral of Mission Month was by then growing the church numerically, spiritually and resourcing the church for sustainability.
In other words Mission Month is a time when the church demonstrates its commitment to fulfilling the tasks Christ ordained his church to accomplish. The Church’s first priority is to love God and we demonstrate this love by worshipping Him. Some may argue that it is difficult to practice Mission Month when churches are closed due to the surge in COVID 19 positive cases. It doesn’t matter if we are by ourselves, with a small group or with a large number of people. When we express our love to God, we are worshipping. It is expected that in this lockdown the people called Methodist are busy worshipping God in their homes. We glorify the name of God and magnify the name of God in our families. “Mwari vanogara murumbidzo dzevana vavo.”
The second priority is to love our neighbour. This is what we call Ministry. The church exists to minister to people. We minister to people by meeting their daily needs. Their daily needs includes:- spiritual, emotional, relational and physical. COVID 19 has destroyed livelihoods and many of the families in our midst are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Mission Month was given birth to remind us that we should love our neighbour as we love ourselves. Neighbour is any person who is in need. Most of the time we spend a lot of time in meetings rather than doing ministry. Faithfulness to God should not be defined by attending church and meetings but by the service we offer in communities we live in.
As we help those in need we are actually doing Evangelism and fulfilling the great commandment:- “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations”.
Right now in our generation there is enormous interest in spiritual matters due to the massive changes in our world that are making people frightened and unsettled. COVID 19 is one monster among many. The pandemic can draw people closer to God or drive them away depending on their interpretation. Those who have gone before us used to call for prayer meetings whenever they face ominous moments. Consider the king of Nineveh, consider Esther and Mordecai, consider King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30. This is the time for the Church to call for prayer meetings. Mission Office is therefore encouraging all Methodists to consider every Wednesday as a day of fasting as we together cry to God to forgive us and heal us. Evangelism desk will lead us on our social pages as regards the fast.
Isn’t this the time to seek God more than before, to cry for mercy and God’s intervention. In the midst of this global concern is the profound realisation that we are in this together and that we are a people together. We should not be crying to have space for meetings but space for service. This is the time to pray and help each other.
May God bless us all. May God bless the activities of our Mission Month.
Rev Blessmore Chinhara
Mission Director