(Over)Staying (Dis)Gracefully: Dissecting Pastoral transitions in AOG BTG church in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Transfers and retirement of pastors positively and negatively affect their personal, family and congregational spiritual, social and economic lives. In the Zimbabwean context of political and economic volatility, pastoral transitions have been a formidable ‘elephant’ in most classical Pentecostal denominations for a number of decades. Whenever anybody triggers its discussion, some parishioners hesitantly disengage in fear of provoking and hurting each other. Against her procedural stipulation that pastoral deployments should be reviewed annually, to effect exchange of ministerial gifts and balanced edification of the Church, leaders predominantly transfer junior pastors, while most seniors usually object and only move in circumstances beyond their powers, such as when ill or dead. Consequently, juniors remain gracefully while seniors overstay disgracefully. A lot has been published on leadership successions, but attention on pastoral shifts remain passive in Zimbabwe. Thus, this paper unravels some problems and panaceas of pastoral transfers and retirement. Using qualitative grounded theory and participative observations, it discerned that contradictory theological conceptualizations, unclear constitutional and procedural provisions, policy gaps, economic instability, personal and family disruptions, insecurities and other factors problematize pastoral transitions. Conclusively, concerted efforts should be redoubled to rebuild the governance and economy of the church to mitigate disruptions, sustain, secure and create a conducive environment for smooth pastoral reshufflings. This paper addresses problematic pastoral transitions, interfaces African ecclesiology and leadership with pastoral theology from the Zimbabwean context.