125th Jubilee Celebration IPM

Jubilee Celebration Sat-Sun 14-15th July. The formal synod meeting ended and therefore today saw the special jubilee celebration start. Bus and car loads of people arrived from all over Mozambique across dust and potholed tracks. Merchandise of jubilee tea shirts fabrics and hats dominated dress. Maputo contingent had not arrived so the 9am bible study took the form of hymn practice. Then breakfast while we still waited arrivals. Breakfast was traumatic as Didier’s translator collapsed and received emergency medical aid before being to hospital where we later heard he was improving.

The jubilee consisted of each presbytery and group in IPM offering a choir contribution with much dancing. These ranged from traditional to highbrow to rap. There was a choir from the Swiss Mission Church who were in attendance and they offered several contributions during the celebration which were well received. There were three lectures scheduled for during the day but the timetable got further and further behind. The first by Reinaldo from Ricatla explored the historical identity of IPM. He used the image of a snake shedding its skin as an image of IPM becoming a church in its own right with the departure of the Swiss and how it needs to do so again now to move forward and transform Mozambique in the name of Christ. The other two lectures were not audible and certainly not translatable and most people slept or talked through them on account of this. One was on IPM’s contribution to the nation and one to society in general.

Special guests were fed in a hospitality tent with buffet normally of chicken and rice or maize plus fish or another meat. All cooking was done on open fires by an army of women. Water was manually pumped up by people by rotating a ‘roundabout’ manually and brought in by lorry. Hundreds of others were fed with a main meal each day – an incredible operation. There was a festive air with people sleeping in tents, cars, buses, on the ground and groups singing and dancing whatever they were doing. For some the event carried on all night but we went off at about 9pm to get some sleep and rest taking Christine from Switzerland with us.

Sunday saw great anticipation as the President of Mozambique was coming. The Presbyterian Church of South Africa had provided gowns and preaching scarves for each pastor of IPM and there was a grand procession of them all to start the day’s proceedings. Then we sang to welcome President Guebuza, who unveiled a plaque that was only completed on Friday, planted a tree and renamed the school. The President joined us for worship which was brilliant. It included the ordination of six new pastors that Rowena along with all pastors present was invited to share in the laying on of hands for. This was very moving.

The president of the United Presbyterian Church of South Africa (EPCSA) peached and one of his colleagues translated for us. He was very challenging talking of God’s nature being that of spirit and truth (John 4v 24) and Jesus having been anointed in the Spirit being given a job description found in Luke 4 – to bring sight to the blind, liberation to captives etc. This is our job description now as we follow Christ’s job description. As the church cannot be made without this Spirit and job description being followed neither can good government. It was good and challenging for a sermon in front of the nation’s president. Various presentations were made to the nation's president and some choirs sang before he responded. By then our translator had departed but folk said afterwards that it was full and comprehensive indicating IPM’s contribution in the history of Mozambique and today.

Special guests then had lunch in the presence of President Guebuza although he left soon to travel on. The huge cakes remained uncut. We then returned to the jubilee celebration for further presentations from the Swiss but time ran out and at 1pm Ernesto declared the jubilee celebration at an end. Bart then drove us back to Maputo and we stopped at a women’s project at Minchot on route. They are building a new prayer station church, conference centre and accommodation. It is not yet up to the roof.

We arrived in Maputo about 5.30 to find no rooms in the guest house and so ended up in a seafront hotel for the night. This was very relaxing after the basic accommodation at Antioch. Poor Bart had still to take others to a hotel after dropping us off and then take them to the airport for 5am on Monday. The jubilee celebration especially the worship on the Sunday was great and moving to share in. The whole atmosphere was vibrant and full of hope for the future of IPM.

Synod meeting 13th July

We overslept but still managed to be ready for a 6.30 pick-up and 7am bible study. The theme for the Jubilee synod was based on Luke 4v16-18/Isaiah 61 was ‘125th jubilee year transforming life in Jesus Christ’. Then we had breakfast before synod sessions. The section report for the activists was received with acclaim, that is with song and dance. This section of young couples brought forward new by-laws / constitution for their work. There remains confusion between legal state marriage and church marriage in Mozambique and they want to encourage couples to make sure they are married in both ways as government clarifies and simplifies the process. Currently obtaining state marriage can be costly and involve travel and therefore is prohibitive. This group also want to continue to expand their work with HIV/AIDS projects and education.

Then special guests were welcomed and made presentations. Doug Tilton from the Presbyterian Church (USA) but based in South Africa told of a dispute that went to law between a presbytery and the wider church. He used this illustration to stress the importance of good governance and management. Rowena offered greetings from the URC and presented a communion chalice and plate that had been used at the URC General Assembly until this year when a new set for the 40th anniversary were dedicated. Didier Crouzet of the Reformed Church of France presented a picture of their logo of a cross with the dove of the Holy Spirit below and talked of the significance of resistance in his church's history and for the IPM’s identity. The son of a missionary pastor who was born in the 1980’s in the now derelict house at Antioch and lived there until he was seven and his daughter Nicole also made a presentation. Northern Synod was acknowledged when the sewing project, that we raised funds for, presented a communion cloth that had been embroidered by them.

A competition had been held for the best hymn based on the history of IPM and the jubilee theme. Before lunch we learnt one of the runners up. The winning hymn which was great and learnt later was sung in front of the country’s president during the jubilee. Rather than stave music IPM use ‘do re me’ notation so everything is taught by cantor.

After lunch the synod executive report was presented. The two students with scholarships for a Brazilian theological college are now not going until 2013. This gives us in Northern synod a bit longer to raise funds for one of their flights. Do consider this in your churches – it would be good to have the £3000 by the end of this year. Meg’s visit with Rosa and her return visit as a pastor’s exchange was also mentioned.

There was a discussion on which languages should be used with a request for local languages to prevail. But the executive resisted this out of concern for not having adequate skills and resources to translate everything. Some said that the evangelists could be used more but then there is anxiety about the quality of their Portuguese. This is already a concern and the pedants in synod were quick to correct Portuguese grammar. In Mozambique there is an even more pronounced North / South divide than in England. A pastors' refresher course had been held in the South and there is a strong desire to hold one further North. But finance and transport costs are a real issue. Although there was a suggestion for regional or clusters of presbyteries we are not sure this issue was resolved. IPM would like partners like us to fund a gathering for Northern pastors and presbytery officers. However this probably needs much more thought first.

There was then a debate on a single development plan for the buildings of IMP and a proposal that all new building projects should in future be agreed by synod (assembly). Both of these proposals were rejected. However it was agreed that presbyteries and parishes’ should inform the synod of any building developments taking place. It was anticipated that the synod meeting would finish its business at 6.30pm but guests were given a tea break at 5.30pm and when we returned there was the most heated debate yet. It was gone 9pm when we got to dinner.

So what was the debate that caused this? IPM is concerned to improve governance and transparency and have therefore set up in the last year a verification committee and its work is now impacting on the presbyteries. Their report led to protracted and heated debate. Before closure for the night the Mozambique Christian Council (ecumenical body) whose general secretary is an IMP minister shared a poem written for the occasion. There was also a presentation from pastors asking for a living salary and to be assured of payment. They asked for a commission to be set up but others felt that finances were simply not available. This is an on-going concern for IPM. It was gone 10.30 pm when we returned to our guest house and tackled getting the door opened due to a temperamental lock.

Travel and first day of arrival 12th July

Travelling to Mozambique. The flight to Heathrow was delayed in part due to rain and in part to technical problems at air traffic control in Swindon. We missed our Heathrow connection and ended up travelling via Lagos in Nigeria. This was a longer flight with an additional change and thus we arrived 30 plus hours later than anticipated.

Moving through Lagos airport was an experience. The military took our passports and escorted us to baggage collection. Mine seemed to take for ages to arrive on the conveyor. Perhaps it was still in Heathrow somewhere and the communion ware bought for the parishes here from various closed churches would never see the light of day again. Then we were frog marched, through a crowded airport and through security so we departed from the airport and then along the front of the airport to arrivals, in African heat and bustle. All the time the military guy holding our, by then the group's, 14 passports. We were processed through departures and through security. Then we received our passports back. Johannesburg would have been much easier.

We were met at Mozambique airport and driven straight to Antioch a 2.5 hour drive where the 125th meeting of the synod was already in full swing. After lunch with huge chunks of special birthday cake for IPM we joined the sessions even though tired.

Note on Antioch: The Swiss Mission Church planted their first station on this hill and therefore this special synod was held here. The first mission church burnt down. Other buildings are now derelict following the confiscation of much property by the government in the civil war and due to lack of resources for rebuilding the infrastructure from that time. However in the last year much work has been done on this significant piece of land. New accommodation has been built including the white house built especially for the President of Mozambique’s visit so that he can use the facilities. Synod agreed further finance to restore a derelict large house. It is hoped that the hospital built for the synod can be sustained. The largest project though has been putting electricity in – although its reliability was proven to be patchy over the synod meeting.

Synod Meeting: This equivalent of the URC General Assembly took place from Tues-Fri and we were only part of the last two and bit days. It took place in Portuguese rather than Shanghana, the local language as that is the only language in common across the country as a former Portuguese colony. The North of Mozambique uses a different local language. Translation was patchy and therefore it is difficult to fully aware of the subtleties of what was being discussed. There was an emotive discussion about alcohol and drug abuse and recognition that it is difficult for the church to challenge people of this when pastors are often drinkers. Someone proposed that pastors who drank should be suspended and lay people disciplined. I wondered what the reaction to this debate might have been if it had happened on the floor of the URC Assembly as the issue is similar. In the end this was left to Presbyteries (our synods) to decide.

As with the URC finance is a big issue for the IPM. They currently have no accountant and this is a concern. There is also a massive deficit on the equivalent to the M&M fund. This means that central staff and pastors in poor areas have not been paid for several months. At this point we were exhausted having been travelling all night and the electricity failed so that IPM were concerned about us coping with finding our accommodation so we left without knowing the outcome.

Accommodation for synod and jubilee: We were taken to a guest house but the assumption was we were married so there was not enough space unless we shared a room. So we were driven to the local pastor’s house and a key for another place was found. This has two rooms and was ours on our own until Christine from the Swiss Mission church joined us for the final night. It was basic, no flushing toilet and only a cold shower that at best trickled. But the mosquitoes were not rampant thankfully. For neighbours we had chickens and very loud early morning music from the shack next door.