The Swedish Archbishops visit to Zimbabwe

The archbishop of Sweden, Anders Wejryd came to Zimbabwe on the 8th of August to visit the Evangelican Lutheran Church of Zimbabwe(ELCZ) and to sign a ‘Letter of understanding’ with them.

The archbishop and his delegation arrived at Bulawayo airport and was met by the Swedish ambassador Sten Rylander and the ELCZ director general, Bishop Dube. A lunch was held at the ELCZ guesthouse before the departure to Chegato mission, three hours east of Bulawayo. Chegato had its yearly national revival meeting, where members had gathered for an eventful weekend. The Sunday service at Chegato was held outside as the sun cast its warming rays on the 2000 people who had gathered. The service lasted for four hours and showed the strong Swedish influence on the church, the service was structured much like the church services in Sweden before the 1960s. People had gathered from across the whole of Zimbabwe. Choirs were asked onto the stage to represent their respective churches. The archbishop was gave the closing prayer.

The Lutheran church in Zimbabwe was established in 1903 by Swedish missionaries. The Swedish church has since the ELCZ:s independence in 1962 had a very close relationship with them. ELCZ operate many schools and hospitals throughout Zimbabwe. Since 1980 the church runs the Lutheran Development Service which was registered as an NGO in 2003.

After the Sunday service the signing of the ‘Letter of Understanding’ between the Evangelican Lutheran Church and the Swedish Church took place. Representing the Evangelican Lutheran Church of Zimbabwe was Bishop Naison Shava. The ‘Letter of Understanding’ is a document which confirms the change of relationship between the two churches, into a mutual relationship, were both churches stand as equal partners. The document was signed in Uppsala in 2007, but should, as it states, be signed in both churche's respective countries. The letter of understanding emphasised the mutual cooperation and how the two churches shall work together in the future, aspects such youth exchanges, cooperation with theological education and development work etc. Anders Wejryd spoke of the importance of the friendship between the churches, how they need each other for inspiration and encouragement. Naison Shava said “We are inseparable, united in the name of Jesus Christ. This friendship must prolong!”.

The Swedish ambassador Sten Rylander held a speech (see whole speech below) about the churches role in the current political situation and how they can act as an inspiration.

The archbishop and his delegation continued their trip from Chegato to Mnene mission where they stayed for two nights. Menene mission was built in 1903 and the Mnene mission hospital was open in 1928 and still operates today. The mission also runs a nursing school. Due to the recent economic constraints in Zimbabwe the hospital has been forced to reduce its capacity and has especially during the latest year seen a large decline in the number of patients. Of the 218 beds, only about 20 of them were occupied, the countries economic declined has prohibited people from visiting the hospital as they have no means of paying for the service. The mission is run by Zimbabweans, and there are currently no missionaries living or working there. A water project has been initiated this year to ensure the effectiveness of water supplies to the hospital. Funding for the project comes from the Swedish church.

The archbishop arrived in Harare on Tuesday and visited the embassy on Wednesday for a briefing about Zimbabwe and the political situation. In the evening the ambassador had arranged for a ecumenical dinner at the residence. Invited to the dinner were representatives from various churches in Zimbabwe: Catholic church, Anglican church, Christian Alliance and Lutheran Church. It was an inspirational gathering. Throughout the dinner each church representative was asked to talk about which role they thought the church should take in the constitutional process and the national reconciliation phase. There were mixed opinions on the issue, but the one view which all church leaders seemed to have in common was that the church does have a lot of authority and influence in Zimbabwe and should use this in assisting the Politian’s in informing and reaching out to the Zimbabwean population about the issue.

Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCZ): National Revival in Chegato Mission 9 August 2009: Speech by H E Sten Rylander, Ambassador of Sweden

All protocol observed

Dear Friends and Members of ELCZ,

I am here today to convey warm greetings to all of you from the Embassy of Sweden in Harare. As Ambassador of Sweden I am a very happy man right now. I came down yesterday from Harare to receive the Swedish Archbishop and his delegation in Bulawayo and to escort them from there to Chegato Mission. They come from Uppsala, which is not only the centre in Sweden for the Swedish Church but also my own home town. I have stayed close to the Church of Sweden during my time as Ambassador in Zimbabwe, not least during times of difficulty.

I am happy to see and experience the good spirit and very good atmosphere characterizing this National Revival exercise. In fact, I am totally impressed to see how well you have managed to organise this event with more than 2000 participants. I am also pleased that you decided to do it here in Chegato; a place I have wanted to visit for a long time, mainly because of the work done here by Tore Bergman. He was not only a legendary Swedish missionary and the first Headmaster in Chegato from 1957 and 10 years down the line; but he also played an important role in the build up of Swedish support for the liberation of this country.

Your National Revival is taking place at a time when Zimbabwe is changing; when it is turning a corner and moving to something better and something else than last year. Zimbabwe is coming together again as a nation. --- We in the international community support the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the new inclusive Government. It is not an easy process. As most of you know some are not very happy with the GPA and are even trying to put spanners in the wheel and to sabotage it. But in spite of that things are slowly moving in the right direction.

I am convinced that almost all Zimbabweans would like to see this important process succeed. You do not want to go back to the violence, the terror and the fear that we saw last year in so many places. You now want to go for national healing and to free and fair elections a couple of years from now on the basis of a new Constitution.

Sweden now holds the Presidency of the European Union. It means that we are now in the lead in the contacts and negotiations that are taking place between the EU and Zimbabwe on how to normalise our relations. An excellent start of this resumed dialogue – in accordance with the Cotonou Agreement – was made in Brussels on 18 June, when Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was visiting Europe with some other Ministers, including the Foreign Minister Simbarasche Mumengegwi. Please pray for us that this dialogue will succeed and that we will be able to reach positive and constructive results as soon as possible!

The GPA needs to be implemented. So far we have seen a lot of progress on the economic and social side; but more needs to be done when it comes to governance, the rule of law side, respect for human rights and media reform.

Dear Friends,

We need a strong ELCZ and also a strong ecumenical church movement in Zimbabwe. It is my hope that you can pray, inspire and encourage all stakeholders on all sides of the political equation to assist in the implementation of the GPA, so that things can continue to move in a positive direction.

Finally, it my pleasure to hand over to ELCZ through Bishop Shava fresh information material about what we are doing – through the Embassy of Sweden – to support development efforts in Zimbabwe. Sometimes you hear questions about what these donors are doing in the country anyway. Hear you can read – and discover the open secret: we are only doing good things and we do it as good friends of Zimbabwe!

Tatenda, Siyabonga, Twalumba – I thank you

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