A missional study of the United Methodist Church and the education system of Mozambique (1929-1992)

Abstract

The present dissertation is a missionary study of the United Methodist Church and the education system of Mozambique (1929-1992). It arises from an exploration of literature relating to the mission of Protestant churches in the development of education; first at a time when education for indigenous populations in Mozambique was restricted to areas where there were official schools run by the Catholic Church where the end product of the educational system was not to train professionals but to educate the Mozambican people to be obedient to the colonial authorities. The focus period is from 1929 to 1974 when education reinforced the oppressive ideology. At this time the Protestant churches were firm in their promotion of an education that defended Mozambicans, an education that had the purpose of raising the conscience of the town, the nationalist and revolutionary spirit of Mozambicans. This had implications that culminated in the persecution of the Protestant churches that even before this period were considered to be harmful sects within the colonial system as well as the mission of the Catholic Church. The study affirms the mission of the United Methodist Church in promoting education even in the most difficult situation in the southern region of the country which was the political bastion of the colonial system. In the province of Inhambane under an evangelisation permit, the United Methodist Church adopted a strategy to educate the natives using huts as places for clandestine educational development. The church with this noble attitude was doing its best in persuading the colonial authorities which culminated in authorising the United Methodist Church to open educational establishments from pre-primary to three elementary classes, which once again was indicative of the United Methodist Church's dynamism in the formation of Mozambicans in many areas of knowledge. The United Methodist Church through its teaching awakened the nationalist and revolutionary spirit of the youth. In the patrol groups the young people were inspired by the freedom and the awakening of the conscience of Mozambicans. The United Methodist Church facilitated young people to join the liberation movement that had been formed as "FRELIMO" in Tanzania. The second phase of the study discusses educational policies in the postindependence period from 1975 to 1992. During this stage we saw that the churches were forbidden from carrying out any activity in the productive units, that is, in the communal villages under the pretext that they were aligned with the colonial system and the state did not want interference of religion in the affairs of the state. We see that the nation had nationalised the key sectors of education and health. All infrastructures of the church in the areas of education and health were nationalised and, with the nationalisation, the church could not continue to manage the education and health sector. The implication of this led to the loss of educational centres that are still in the hands of the state.