Online Reporter
Ranganai Tinashe Dzotizei
THE United Methodist Church family yesterday welcomed home its new Episcopal leader, Bishop Gift Machinga, after his election and consecration at the Africa Central Conference in Johannesburg on Sunday.
On a sun-drenched Monday afternoon in the capital, the UMC membership showed up in numbers at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to welcome Bishop Machinga.
He was in the company of his predecessor Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa.
They arrived just before lunch time.
The airport terminal was electric with United Methodists breaking into song as the Bishops arrived and where whisked away in dedicated vehicles to the scene of their official welcome – Cranborne United Methodist Church.
The circuit holds symbolic significance for Bishop Machinga, having been the pastor in Charge for seven years from 2015 to 2022.
He returned to familiar holy plains, this time as a Bishop, to a raucous welcome from ecstatic members who had started arriving at the church as early as 10am to wait for the big arrival.
There were speeches from both Bishop Nhiwatiwa and Bishop Machinga who called for unity within the church as it charts a new path in its 128-year history.
Bishop Machinga is Zimbabwe’s fourth black Bishop.
He follows in the footpath of Bishop Abel Tendekai Muzorewa, Bishop Christopher Jokomo and Bishop Nhiwatiwa in leading the Zimbabwean Episcopacy.
The passing of the gavel, a significant event which heralds the passing of the torch, will be held at a date to be advised.
