New churches good, but . . .

organisations. History has it that mission schools have grown into becoming centres of educational and training excellence before and after independence that not only laid a good foundation of Zimbabwe’s indigenous people’s literacy journey.
The majority of leaders in Zimbabwe’s working class are products of these schools.
After independence in 1980, there was massive investment in the sector resulting in the country becoming the undisputed educational hub of the region.
This also propelled Zimbabwe to the summit of literacy on the continent and a place on the world educational calendar.
Though the relationship between Government and mission church organisations is well-documented, the same cannot be said about the newly-founded independent African churches.
These new local churches have been the missing link in the country’s education sector.
This has seen a lull in the development of education infrastructure in the past decade, an era that coincided with the mushrooming of local churches.
While the entry of local churches is a step in the right direction in the liberation and ideological empowerment of indigenous Zimbabweans, it is critical to note their failure to invest in educational infrastructure.
Their inaction on education infrastructure has thus resulted in increased pressure on the existing educational institutions. This current decline of investment in secondary and primary educational thus calls the entry on non-traditional players, chief among them the local church.
The boom in the country’s population calls for continued social investment in areas such as education and health, a situation that requires the entry and participation of these local churches.
The colonial period saw the increase in the construction and founding of schools by the mission church and that did well in enabling the training of Zimbabweans who took over in the running of the country at independence. When the time for independence came that was a nucleus upon which the country did built its massive successes.
Educationists say it is time these local churches spearhead development of educational infrastructure something that used to be a preserve of mission churches.
Lack of direct investment of the indigenous church into the education system has meant all expansion programmes in the sector are left in the hands of the cash strapped Government and church mission already operating in Zimbabwe.
The unbalanced ratio between demand and availability has thus promoted the mushrooming of private colleges and backyard schools, who are operating without proper monitoring.
Church run schools are well known for the production of the bulk of the country’s elite politicians, academics and business executives showing the importance of religious organisations on the development of the sector.
The church related schools also helped in instilling the much needed discipline in the country elites hence the will to struggle for the betterment of the people something that is lacking among the recent latest graduates.
The media is currently awash with a number of unethical endeavors by those young people entrusted to lead the country forwarding. The mounting problem can only be addressed by the return to the increased participation of the local independent churches in education and training.
As such the involvement of the church should never be seen as a dying relic of the past but an integral part of national development.
As Bishop Donal McKeown, Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor puts it, education is not targeted only on training people for employment but on the formation of the whole person. He argues that the school helps the child grow as a social being, not just prepare them for work.
It is therefore prudent that the local church participates in the promotion of “common good of a society”.
An active participation will ensure that they will not blame for the social decay that is currently bedeviling our country.
With the country struggling from the effects of illegal sanctions, the role of improving and erecting new infrastructure cannot be left to Government alone. This is where our new local churches, that are making so much in tithes and offerings, start shaping the future Zimbabwe with pride.
With this in mind, the entry of local churches cannot be over emphasised, as it ensures children of people congregating in those churches have a place to learn.
This would also guarantee the moral development of their children and that of the nation.
It is disheartening that apart from a few local churches, a majority of the emerging churches are focusing on the construction of churches and purchase of homes, and cars for their leadership, the leaving critical area of educating the nation to Government and missionary churches.
Unfortunately, most members in these churches are young and in need of educational centres to train their children.
This means the local churches are leaving the development of their children in the hands of the missionary churches they broke away from to join these indigenous organisations.
It means their children are being taught Catholicism, Methodism, and Salvation Armism among other ideas. This has often led to confusion among children who spend the bulk of their time at mission schools.
Only the participation of local churches will reduce pressure on the existing infrastructure that is also in need of revamping to meet the modern demands of the educational system.
Analysts say with the money being generated and young executives frequenting these churches, there is no reason why local churches fail to construct their own schools and hospitals.
This will help remove the unfortunate tag that they exist to make money from unsuspecting followers.
The cars, homes, businesses being owned by the leadership in the churches should be comparative with social investments elsewhere.
Leaving such a critical area to others is as good as surrendering their soul to other social players yet they are crying of being sidelined.
Until a time when local churches move into the critical area of educating the young generation, the value in their development of the country will remain peripheral.