The Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. It is affiliated with the

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the largest international Baptist organization with an estimated 51 million people in 2022 with 246 member bodies in 128 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA account ...

and the

Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

. The headquarters is in

Gweru Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Northern Ndebele people, Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high ...

History

The Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe has its origins in an American mission of the

International Mission Board The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a Christian missionary society affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The headquarters is in Richmond, Virginia, United States. History Thousands ...

in 1950. This was at a time when the FMB had decided to start denominational work in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

(modern day

). The IMB appointed Clyde Dotson and his wife Hattie Dotson who were already serving in the country as independent missionaries to be the first missionary representatives of the IMB in Southern Rhodesia. In 1951 during an SBC annual conference Dotson urged the FMB to send more missionaries and resources to support missions work towards blacks in Rhodesia. He mentioned there were only 4 Baptist churches mainly targeting whites. Church work started in Rimuka Township and Ngezi Township respectively. In 1952 a school was opened at

Sanyati Sanyati is a town in Zimbabwe. Location The town is located in Kadoma District, in Mashonaland West Province, in northern central Zimbabwe. This location is about , by road, northwest of the city of Kadoma, where the district headquarters a ...

where Dotson had negotiated for land from the Rhodesian Government following a resettlement that had happened. A baptismal pool was dug from the ground and was plastered with cement and this is where Rev Dotson baptized the converts. The FMB sent another missionary couple Ralph and Betty Bawlin who served at the primary school and Dotson began traveling to and from cities across Zimbabwe starting churches. He was assisted by Rev J Nyathi, a teacher who had gone to South Africa for theological training and teacher Ndebele who served in Kadoma. The first churches to be built were Sakubva Baptist Church (

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 ...

), Harare Baptist Church (

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

), Monomotapa Baptist Church (

) and Sanyati Baptist Church (Sanyati) which was built in 1956. Villagers kept on asking for medicine from Mrs Dotson and they decided to set up a clinic at Sanyati Mission station. Other clinics were started in the

Gokwe The Gokwe Region consists of the land in the area around Gokwe centre that was formerly under the control of the hangweanguage people, a Shona-speaking group, which lay in the northern part of the Midlands province of northwestern Zimbabwe, and i ...

area and these include the clinics at Ganyungu, Mutange, Chinyenyetu, Manyoni, Sasame, Masakadza, Chireya, Denda, Goredema and Nenyunga. The Dotson's opened a clinic that they staffed themselves. The

Sanyati Baptist Hospital Sanyati is a town in Zimbabwe. Location The town is located in Kadoma District, in Mashonaland West Province, in northern central Zimbabwe. This location is about , by road, northwest of the city of Kadoma, where the district headquarters a ...

was officially opened in 1953 by Drs. Giles and Wana Ann Fort the first physicians, three nurses(Monda Maria, Betty Bowlin, Margaret from Mhondoro, a nurses aid Janie Christmas and her spouse Father Christmas(painter), and a lab tech Dorothy Katz. The Rhodesian Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention was then established in the following years. The growth of the Baptist work in Zimbabwe stimulated a number of many young black Rhodesians and they felt called to serve the Lord as pastors and evangelists. It became a custom that on yearly basis two pastors would attend an annual meeting of the FMB as delegates. Many of these pastors and evangelists started wanting to get involved in the governance of the church. In 1961 African pastors started asking for a full delegation status and the right to attend all meeting sessions. This led to tensions between missionaries and the African pastors. The rising tensions gave birth to a Baptist Convention in 1963. The Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe was then officially founded in 1963 and the first President was Rev Abel Nziramasanga. According to a denomination census released in 2020, it claimed 423 churches and 45,300 members. Baptist World Alliance
Members
baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved December 5, 2020

Organisation

Local member churches form the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe, but these local churches can also be classified into different associations and different associations form regions.

Affiliate groups

There are different affiliate groups within the convention and these promote missions growth and evangelism as well as targeting the special needs of each group . These include * Baptist Men's Fellowship - BMF * Women's Missionary Union - WMU * Baptist Haven of Hope - a group for Single parents * Baptist Youth Student Department - BYSD * Baptist Young Men's Fellowship - BMF * Young Women Association - WMU * Girls Auxiliary - GA, WMU * Royal Ambassadors- RA, BMF * Little Helpers - WMU

Governance

The Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe is governed by an executive committee composed of eleven members. The executive committee is responsible for directing the affairs and business of the convention.

References

{{Baptist World Alliance Members Baptist denominations in Africa Baptist Christianity in Zimbabwe