ELCZ – Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe Pictures: Agneta Jürisoo and Mats Lagergren ……………………….. Partner Church in Zimbabwe

ELCZ’s head office in Bulawayo. The Lutheran church has members distributed amongst 3 dioceses, 70 deanerys and 350 parishes. There are are also a number of “preaching points”, places where activities are run and which might become parishes in the future.

In the Lutheran church there are 60 priests and 10 of these are women. Pamela Simari is parish priest in Bulawayo West.

Vashandiri women are always present in the worship life of the church, as cantors, readers and intercessors. In addition they also carry out the majority of the church’s diaconal work.

To be a vashandiri is an honorary task which is preceeded by training and then a ceremony. A Mushandiri should be a woman of good reputation.

Young people often participate in and are given significant space in the services of worship. Here is a young preacher.

Most people, both young and old, bring their bible with them to the service and read along with the bible readings.

Song and dance are natural elements and sometimes the service completely explodes.

A very young Lutheran. Children really are part of most events.

The children take part in the service or go to Sunday school. You can’t fail to be impressed by their patience when the service is over three hours long.

But even Zimbabwean children can need a sweet to get through the whole service.

And a mug of water in the church, which is filled with warmth in many ways.

Two women eat lunch after the service.

The men outside the church eat lunch and sadza and goat are on the menu.

Mashaba parish celebrates the opening of new buildings next to the church, a kitchen and toilets.

The priest Makulubane in Manama on his motorbike with the church council. The motorbike is a necessity to be able to get around between the different parishes.

A typical home – many still live in traditional huts. It is however now common that the round hut is complemented by a rectangular house. The huts are often arranged in a group with a kitchen hut, sleeping hut and sometimes other huts.

The church has four hospitals in Manama Mnene, Musume and Masase and it is there that the vaccination programme, amongst other things, is carried out.

The Lutheran church has 18 schools for children and young people aged 6 to 18.

Pupils have school uniforms, each school has its own colours.

Within LDS – Lutheran Development Service – a considerable amount of diaconal work is carried out, including education, micro credits, well drilling and self-sustainability projects.

Mr Mthunzi is the director for the LDS training centre in Masase. Some of the courses are held here, but just as often the training is held locally in the villages in the area.

At infohut in Bulawayo high-level education is offered in computer and life knowledge. The project has been running for three years and after one term the students are practically guaranteed a job.