By Staff Reporter
The United Methodist Church held a demonstration on Thursday against homosexuality and same-sex marriage laws within the international church.
This comes after the church’s general conference in the United States made a decision to allow same-sex relationships, where 692 national denominations voted in favor, while only 521 voted against.
The Zimbabwean delegation was among the 52 that voted against the decision.
Protesters held placards with inscriptions such as “Homosexuality is a threat to our culture,” “No to homosexuality,” “Africa is not for sale,” and “Regionalism is colonialism.”
They also chanted gospel songs denouncing homosexuality.
Speaking during the protest, one of the congregants, Ngonidzashe Mudede, said they cannot allow same-sex marriages in their church simply because it is coming from the USA.
“Pastors are now allowed to bless same-sex marriages or be in same-sex marriages, but we are saying no to that. We cannot allow that simply because it’s in America.
“We cannot conform to this simply because we want donations from America. We are not accepting the stance taken by the general conference, nor are we accepting dirty donations from America. We cannot allow this to happen.”
The protestors also petitioned their Bishop, Eben Nhiwatiwa, demanding a conference to address their concerns.
“We, therefore, as the laity of the United Methodist Church Zimbabwe Episcopal Area, hereby petition Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa, together with his cabinet, to call for a series of special sessions of Annual Conferences by July 30th, 2024, at the very latest.
“This will allow the bona fide delegates to the Annual Conferences, who rightly represent their respective congregations, to deliberate on these serious matters and come up with a way forward for the Episcopal Area or at least our respective conferences.
“As the laity of the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area, we strongly feel that this is an urgent matter given the intricate nature of our denomination and thereby makes us (by association), rebellious to the word of God,” their petition reads.