The Sunday News
YESTERDAY we celebrated Zimbabwe’s 35th anniversary of Independence and I trust that you took some reflective moments to see how far the Lord has led us in our walk as Zimbabweans. We celebrated this day with a very painful backdrop of the merciless killing of fellow blacks in neighbouring South Africa. This anger is being exposed in a “free and democratic” country and the proponents of democracy among us and elsewhere are deafening in their silence. I have been discussing on this column issues pertaining to our creeds as Christians and chose today to take a glance at our birthday as a nation.
Allow me to begin by quoting the speech by His Excellency President Robert Mugabe then Prime Minister designate in 1980 on the eve of our independence day. “Tomorrow is thus our birthday, the birth of a great Zimbabwe, and the birth of its nation. Tomorrow we shall cease to be men and women of the past and become men and women of the future” My thoughts go to the words that say we become persons of the future. Today we are in that future and some of us have contributed to make that future a good one for some.
While at a function on this past week thinking on the independence celebration week a young executive approached me and took me to task. His main thesis in our discussion was, “Mrevu Zimbabwe is a nation of old people who are not giving space to us the young people. We do not want to take over but we want to be there as part of the decision making process that will build our nation and move us to the future and innovation we need to be!” I felt the challenge and asked myself a number of questions that brought me to the conclusion that for most of us in the faith we do not link our Uhuru with our faith. There is a lot that is taken for granted.
To a large extent our faith centres do not seem to be centres of the young and this is not in chronological age per se but in our activity. The people who are committing the acts of xenophobia in South Africa are the youth. The victims of the Garissa University massacre were youths as well so are the many targets and perpetrators of other atrocities be they religious or political. I see the future in our youth and that is where there ought to be an investment of our faith to ascertain the legacy of a future generation of Christians.
Our challenge in the churches and centres of faith around the country is that we are dealing with these young people as mere members of our congregation with little or no recognition of their role in the future or in shaping the future. I see the future panning out a need for more religious tolerance. But this can only be realised when we train the current youth to understand the faith and credo within the base or grazing ground of his or her Africanness. This is why I have a problem with the peddling of the democracy gospel that does not take into account the belief systems of the African who they say needs democracy.
There is a need to look at what we need to teach our youths about the faith. Uhuru demands that the future of the youth embraces a theology that will handle the problems and challenges of Africa with a strength that will lift the African to a higher level. What have you preached as a preacher this Sunday morning that will help the youth deal with xenophobia in a manner that bolsters his or her faith and that of the victim? That to me is what is important for the youth as we walk the credo of Christianity with them. The problems of the young people are part of the macro problem that Africa has to deal with and we need to make them ready for them as a matter of urgency. The pulpits we have today will sooner rather than later be their pulpits and we cannot avoid that. Instead if the truth be told we are seeing them as a problem and a challenge and not the solution to the future. That has to change. It can only change when you and I as adult Christians take them closer to us and equip them line upon line; precept upon precept, here a little and there a little! Be patient with the youth and their sometimes rude rebellion to the faith. It is just a ploy by the enemy to derail you. Keep at it and be focused. In their madness always seek to find the sometimes elusive logic in that madness. It is there and it will help you to find and capitalise on it. It is all about the future of the faith.
There is need to take the understanding of the role of our freedom(s) in the propagation of the faith that is critical. You cannot avoid letting them realise that there is more to Uhuru than just the song. There are certain responsibilities that are important to all of us. The future will not be a safe place for us if we do not take the responsibilities of equipping the youth in our churches with life skills, education and entrepreneurial skills that lift them to the next level of practical faith. To me Uhuru is critical only as far as it helps develop in the youth a capacity to take the faith, the church and the nation to the future.
We are men and women of the future! Just as the Apostle Paul took time to make a man out of Timothy, let us also make women and men out of these youths in our midst! Happy Birthday Zimbabwe! Our liberty our faith our future is key! Shalom!
