Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Mahamba Methodist Church has withdrawn its affiliation with the Methodist Church of Southern Africa due to financial disputes within the church, among other grievances.
The affected members have since formed a new church styled the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Eswatini, located in Nhlangano.
Mahamba Methodist Church, the oldest church in Eswatini built in 1912, was declared a national monument in 2016 by His Majesty King Mswati III. It is located west of Nhlangano in the Shiselweni region
The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is a multi-national church that operates in six countries within the Southern African sub-region.
The MCSA is accused of maladministration in particular when dealing with disputes and other matters relating to the allocation of finances.
Chairperson of the breakaway Wesleyan Methodist Church of Eswatini, Party Shongwe, said after a long process of introspection and evaluation, they had resolved to terminate their membership from the MCSA because the affiliation levy was a burden on its own.
According to Shongwe, among the reasons they decided to resign from the church mother body was because of issues relating to how finances were allocated yet they paid a monthly levy to the mother body in South Africa.
The monthly fees are said to come targets, which if not met, it takes a long time for the resident preacher to receive his/her stipend.
Efforts
Shongwe said they tried to engage the Benoni District but their efforts were in vain as they were allegedly ignored.
Shongwe said the ownership of various church structures was another reason they exited.
“Church members in Eswatini incurred costs when procuring these structures, yet the very same structures were said to be belonging to the South Africa-based mother body.”
He said this was their decision as the Mahamba Circuit and had not called upon other branches to follow suit.
“We did not engage members circuit by circuit to recruit people, we as Mahamba wrote to the presiding bishop and to the Benoni District, informing them that we wanted to form the new church,” said Shongwe.
According to insiders, another long standing issue that contributed in the decision by the Mahamba church to stand alone was that members of the Eswatini Methodist Church do not agree with the church mother body when it comes to embracing same sex marriages.
Shift
Shongwe said the South African Constitution has occasioned a drastic shift in the church doctrine in embracing same-sex marriages, yet the local church’s Constitution and culture have no room for that, and when raising this concern, they claimed to have been ignored.
MCSA Presiding Bishop Purity Malinga said they had no intention of establishing an independent Methodist Church in Eswatini.
The bishop, in a statement released by the MCSA, said they were aware of a number of members, who had tendered their resignations from the MCSA.
The bishop noted that what was of importance was understanding that all Methodist Church ministers were under the discipline of the MCSA, in which they personally made an annual undertaking and convent.
The convent in part states; “Should I leave the ministry of this church for any reason, I shall not conduct any ministry in the circuit or area to which I was appointed; should I leave this church, I will not encourage any member or adherent of the church to follow me.”
Encouragement
The convent further states that “any act or participation or encouragement of a Methodist Church minister or supernumerary minister, which gives birth to the establishment of any independent Methodist Church of Eswatini, is mischievous and creates dissention, which shall be treated with the seriousness it deserves.”
The Council of Swaziland Churches to which the MCSA is affiliated to distanced itself from the matter. Chairma Bhekindlela Magongo said as a council, they do not interfere with issues that they had not been engaged on.
“We respect the autonomy of each member church and, therefore, we cannot interfere in cases like this one.”
He went on to state that it was unfortunate that they do not know about this issue and could not mediate between the two parties.
“As a Christian and a leader, I do not encourage the breaking away of churches,” Magongo said.
He said it would have been better if things had escalated to this point but both parties had reached common ground.
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