By Daniel Itai.
(News of The South) – After centuries of patriarchal rule, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa has finally inaugurated a female Bishop.
Ever since she joined the Methodist Church in 1981, Purity Malinga has had to watch countless numbers of men being ordained as Bishops.
However, Sunday the 17th of November 2019, was her day of finally taking the prestigious reins as well as opening up the doors for other women.
In her inaugural speech, Malinga bemoaned the oppressive systems in the Church, “when He created men and women in God’s image, God had envisioned a humanity holding hands, doing and fulfilling God’s wishes.
However, the people of the Church and world have disobeyed God and patriarchy has become the system, a system that excludes, oppresses, and ignores those of the female gender, so for me, today is the fulfillment of the will of God.
I stand here not as a tool or a sign to absolve the prevailing sexism that exists in the church. We still need to work hard on that.
I stand here as a sign from many who are Methodist people who have agreed and are committing themselves to eradicate gender discrimination.”
Reverend Frank Chikane, from the South African Council of Churches commended the appointment of Malinga, “to have a woman as the presiding Bishop for the first time, it’s an extraordinary thing.”
Malinga said, this is just the beginning and looks forward to more women in leadership positions in the church.
The Methodist Church has a following of over 3 million congregates in six southern African countries.
Comments
About Author
