A critique of ministers’ welfare policy in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Abstract

This study uses a post-colonial theory to critique the welfare policy of ministers in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA)’s Presbytery of Zimbabwe. The UPCSA traces its origins to the Scottish missionaries and the missionary activity that coincided with the colonial activity in Southern Africa. The UPCSA uses a congregational stipendiary system in which a minister is paid at the local congregation where he/she is attached. This system leaves some ministers vulnerable as they are placed in congregations that cannot pay their remuneration. The study therefore sought to answer the question: How contextually relevant and progressive is the UPCSA ministers’ welfare policy to the ministers as the intended beneficiaries of the policy? Previous work has highlighted the challenges that ministers face when perform their duties however this study discusses the policy in place to enhance the welfare of ministers in the UPCSA. The policy was enacted in a segregated context whereby the minority white people were economically empowered and could easily pay the ministers appointed in their congregations who also happened to be white. The black congregations became dependant on the subsidies of the white congregations. However, with the demise of colonial governments, the UPCSA has remained stuck with the same policy and has failed to remunerate its ministers. This study was a qualitative empirical research and used in-depth interviews with selected UPCSA ministers and UPCSA to generate data. The study found that the UPCSA policy on the welfare of ministers is static and ambiguous. The existence of two types of congregations-one that can call a minister because of the financial muscle and the other that has a minister appointed to them because of the lack of finances puts ministers at a different footing. The study concludes by proposing that the UPCSA must draw from the Christian tradition of koinonia, the ubuntu philosophy and training ministers differently as ways of enhancing the welfare of ministers