Vhumani Magezi

• Professor
• Professor (Full) at North-West University South Africa

The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encapsulate the idea of ‘leaving no one behind’ in development. Religion plays a crucial role in these development efforts. The promise and call to leave no one behind brings hope to previously marginalised and discriminated people, particularly those living with visible disabilities. The question in th...

Background: The existing literature often oversimplifies the complex relationship between religion and Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health (AYSRH), particularly regarding church-based interventions. This study aimed to investigate the nature and implementation strategies of church AYSRH programmes within their belief systems to info...

A comprehensive understanding of the church’s dual nature is essential for effective governance and management. Traditionally, the church has been viewed through dichotomous lenses as either a purely spiritual organism or a physical organisation, often leading to gaps in management practices. This article addresses the critical question: how can th...

The rapid recognition of the contributions of theology in public spaces in Africa is a positive development. It is understood that theology can only be impactful if it engages public issues in their context. However, the understanding of the public in public theology is blurry because its precise meaning remains debatable. The construct ‘publics’ i...

The Christian faith must move beyond private belief and engage more actively in public issues to promote societal well-being. Churches, as key actors in the public sphere alongside for-profit institutions and political bodies, have the potential to contribute to the common good. This involves contestation, dialogue, and collaboration with other sec...

The rise of public theology has resulted in a challenge for pastoral care to consider public issues. Therefore, the need for pastoral care to be public has given birth to the notion of public pastoral care. With pastoral care as a Christian religious practice, its biblical and theological basis must be established. This article poses the question:...

Post-colonial Africa and its attendant challenges, including disillusionment during democratic dispensation and racial tensions among black and white people, constitute a problem that calls for interventions from all social actors. Theology, especially pastoral care, is challenged to broaden its vision and focus on health, healing, and human flouri...

The burgeoning field of public theology has garnered significant scholarly attention. Amidst its multifaceted discussions, a recurring theme asserts that theology plays a vital and irreplaceable role in public discourse. This perspective contends that engaging with matters of public concern from a theological standpoint not only contributes meaning...

The significance of leadership in ensuring the efficient operation of any given entity cannot be overstated. The acquisition of leadership skills is an essential component for the success and accomplishment of an organisation’s objectives and goals. The church is commonly regarded as an institution and, as such, effective leadership is deemed essen...

The significance of leadership in ensuring the efficient operation of any given entity cannot be overstated. The acquisition of leadership skills is an essential component for the success and accomplishment of an organisation’s objectives and goals. The church is commonly regarded as an institution and, as such, effective leadership is deemed essen...

This study explores the relationship between character formation and leadership development. It focuses on three research questions: Firstly, why is character formation an important dimension in leader development? Secondly, how is leader development related to character formation in the practice of theological education? Thirdly, what model of the...

Effective leadership plays a crucial role in the sustainability of any institution, including religious organisations such as the church. Although this assertion may be widely recognised, the difficulty lies in identifying the appropriate leadership to effectively guide the organisation. What instrument could be employed to aid in the identificatio...

Character formation is a mandatory requirement for all theological leaders and students. The purpose of this empirical and field research is to understand the perceptions of theological leaders and students regarding the role of theological education in ministerial character formation. The study seeks to discover the difficulty that theological ins...

Rolf Zerfass’s operational scientific model for correcting Christian-ecclesiological praxis has been utilised in practical theological research for a considerable time at the North-West University. However, this situation changed with the adoption of Richard Osmer’s four practical theology tasks of descriptive, interpretive, normative, and pragmati...

This article considers the notion of lived religion conceived from African religious practices and experience, social transformation, and public practical theology as practical theology praxis. These elements are influenced by the contextual understanding of religion as a shared communal phenomenon, post-colonial conversations and pressing social,...

The pursuit of a fulfilling existence is a common goal among all human beings. As a result, promoting and sustaining quality humanhood or personhood (quality life) is the ultimate goal that international institutions, continental and regional bodies, and nations strive for. From a religious standpoint, theology and Christian religion need to contri...

The high poverty levels in Malawi are a cause of concern resulting in many questions being asked. Among these questions is what role the faith communities can play to meaningfully contribute towards addressing this. Importantly, these high poverty levels challenge the church to reflect on the following questions: Beyond the clerical paradigm, what...

Discussions on development have been ongoing for many decades. Within these discussions, approaches such as human and community-focused development have gained prominence in recent years. Churches are acknowledged as critical actors and vehicles that foster human development. However, locating development within church discussions raises the questi...

This article argues that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which emerged in 2019, has had a negative impact on all institutions and spheres of life, including churches. Scholars and religious practitioners concur that the pandemic has negatively affected the church in various ways such as in church worship, fellowship, finance, interrelation...

The design of church migrant ministries remains suppressed by the limitation of churches that include limited resources and ability to conceptualise ministerial designs. The situation is compounded by compassion global fatigue. Thus, as a holistic ministry, approach, the application and practice of a migrant ministry remain a conceptual challenge d...

Because of the disconnect within the curriculum and the lack of contextual relevance, African theological education is still searching for appropriate approaches to ministerial training. Integrative theological education refers to systematic attempts to connect major learning experiences appropriate to the education and formation of ministers. It i...

The notion of ubuntu as a moral theory in the South African and African contexts presents attractive norms of an African worldview that can be articulated and applied to contemporary Christian ethics. The proponents of ubuntu perceive it as an African philosophy based on the maxim, “a person is a person through other persons”, whereby the community...

The notion of ubuntu as a moral theory in the South African and African contexts presents attractive norms of an African worldview that can be articulated and applied to contemporary Christian ethics. The proponents of ubuntu perceive it as an African philosophy based on the maxim, “a person is a person through other persons”, whereby the community...

The notion woman were created ‘inferior’ and its interplay with the negative cultural perceptions of women by Christian men arguably act as an accessory to gender-based violence (GBV) in the church. Hence, there is a need for the church to rethinks and continually discerns the implications of the creation of man and woman in Genesis 1:26–27 and 2:1...

This chapter locates the need for churches to engage with public issues as a critical church and society process. The human heart (mind) influences our disposition to transformation. To steer people’s thinking and hearts to practical action (transformation of church and society), this chapter contributes to A battle for the heart. How (not) to tran...

The COVID-19 global pandemic negatively transformed social, religious and economic life globally. Countries implemented national lockdowns among other measures to mitigate against the spread of the pandemic. Zimbabwe is among the countries that pronounced a national lockdown. The national lockdown accelerated the already existing gender-based viole...

Christian practical ministry should be driven by a thorough theological framework. Theological theory informs ministerial practices. To understand some theology driven (theologies driving) actions, it is imperative to conduct empirical studies to discern some grassroots theologies held by church leaders on the frontline of ministry. With migration...

Migration is posing a huge challenge globally. Within this context, one of the challenges of theology is to develop theological approaches that respond to the situation in meaningful ways. There is increasing scepticism about some theological frameworks that attempt to consider the Bible and theology as a unified whole to provide coherence. In the...

Pastoral care is an intervention that relies on good and quality relationships between the caregiver and the cared individual, if effective and positive outcomes are to be realised. With increased intermixing of people due to migration, globalisation and other technological advances, caregivers find themselves in complex and awkward situations when...

Understanding and perceiving God in situations such as migration and times of pain is a challenge for theology and practical ministry. The following question is inevitable: where is God in all this? In this context, the challenge for theology is to develop a theological theory that provides a constructive perspective that leads to coping. The suffe...

African communities face various challenges that require different sectors’ interventions to be effectively addressed. Churches as key community structures in Africa along with people experience these life challenges. The situation prompts churches to continually re-examine their role in communities to develop relevant responses that are deeply roo...

The practice of pastoral care (cura animarum) over the ages has been informed and influenced by the need to develop creative ways (interventions) to respond to people’s contextual challenges. These approaches have been well documented. However, the history, developments and emerging pastoral care practices in Africa have not been documented. This a...

Gender-based Violence (GBV) is a huge concern in many African countries such as Zimbabwe despite the preventative and mitigatory interventions that have been proposed and implemented by various stakeholders. The interventions applied range from policies and programmes that are government initiated as well as those interventions by social actors suc...

Migration is one of the greatest challenges in recent times. Churches, like other sectors of society, are expected to contribute. Pastoral care as a frontline ministry that forms a link with society is expected to develop strategies for effective pastoral caregiving. Understanding the challenges of migrants to appropriately intervene requires a rel...

Practical Theology’s situation in Sub-Saharan Africa is not well documented except in South Africa, despite a strong theological focus on practical ministry across the continent and considerable discussion of African contextual theologies, including African theology, Black theology, reconstruction theology and women’s theology. The article sketches...

The concept "integral mission" denotes the contribution of churches in helping people and communities with material resources. It remains unclear as to how this widely held theological concept is done practically. At a theological level, there has been a general silence on reflection regarding how organisations can practically do integral mission....

African people and their families find themselves in a situation of tension because of their transition from rural to urban life. This tension has created a third family type, namely emerging families. The emerging families are characterised by a sense of life being under a constant strain to meet individual needs and at the same time the expected...

The years 2015 and 2016 were marked by violent protests at South African universities. While the focus of many of the protests was on access to university education, an equally major theme was the decolonisation of universities. University statues, such as that of Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town and many others, were pulled down or...

The contributory role Pastoral Letters play in Malawi’s democracy cannot be underestimated. Historically, Pastoral Letters have been the voice of the Malawian people, and these have forced authorities to accommodate social and political reforms. From colonialism, federations and independence to the birth and consolidation of democracy, Pastoral Let...

The discussion on decolonisation of universities that started in 2015 has been raging in different spaces within South Africa and other parts of the world. The question of the relevance of the curriculum in universities, which is a curriculum that is responsive to South African and African issues, has come to the forefront. The discipline of Theolo...

The role of churches in primary health care delivery in Africa’s poor contexts is widely acknowledged. Discussion of churches’ work in health largely focuses on the spiritual side and tends to downplay (or overlook) the practical side. A clear challenge and gap in the role of churches in primary health delivery is the lack of clear models and appro...

This article identifies a need to develop an operational theology that responds to migrants in a real and constructive way. It discusses Daniel Groody’s image of God prism in migration theology in order to develop an integrated understanding of the image of God. It argues that Groody’s image of God prism in migration theology is assumed rather than...

Migration has become a major global challenge in recent years. Host countries' responses to migrants are varied - some accommodate and integrate migrants, others are apathetic, and migrants face exclusion and violent rejection. This suggests that host countries have developed mechanisms to cope with the challenges posed by migrants. Migrants have a...

There is a conflict over whether Christian ministry and theological education should be pursued with an expectation for economic survival. The rise of Christian ministry practice emphasising wealth and prosperity has heightened commodification of the Christian ministry. Church ministry and theological education are being used as instruments for eco...

Background: In Southern Africa, groups of mothers living with HIV successfully provide peer psychosocial support during pregnancy and early childhood. We report patterns of attendance at Mother Support Groups (MSGs) sessions among women and mothers living with HIV in rural Zimbabwe. Methods: In the Elimination of Pediatric AIDS cluster-randomized...

Background: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission elimination goals are hampered by low rates of retention in care. The Eliminating Paediatric AIDS in Zimbabwe project assessed whether mother support groups (MSGs) improve rates of retention in care of HIV-exposed infants and their HIV-positive mothers, and maternal and infant outcomes. Method...

This article argues that there is a form of Christian syncretism operating in African Christians� use of traditional African powers to address their spiritual insecurity challenges that arises from their former traditional African worldview of spiritual powers. It provides an overview description of the nature of the spiritual insecurity which stil...

The dawn of democracy at the end of colonial rule brought much hope and promise to Africans. With Ubuntu as a distinctive African feature, hopes for collective good and life improvement were expected. However, these hopes are being increasingly dashed by corruption, oppression and schemes that put the individual first at the expense of others. Thes...

Spiritual insecurity among African Christians is a huge challenge. The insecurity among other things arises from African people’s former traditional African ancestral world view of ancestral veneration. The ancestors promote or hinder African Christians’ reliance on Christ because they have presupposedly acquired the supernatural power that enables...

How can we make Christological sense of the Zimbabwean Pentecostal prophets’ mediatory role? This article analyses the domineering and mediatory role of the Pentecostal prophets from a Christological perspective. The mediatory role of the Pentecostal prophets is riddled with competition against the mediatory role of Christ between God and humanity...

The critical role played by communities in development initiatives is globally acknowledged. Churches are key community institutions that play a crucial role in community development, yet their role is not well understood from an empirical perspective. A cross-sectional study of a church-driven community development initiative that was implemented...

The perceived foreignness of Christ in African Christianity is an ongoing challenge that is captured in various pieces of African theological literature. This problem partly arises from some early Western missionaries� presentation of the gospel to Africans from a predominantly Western perspective, which caused many Africans to perceive Christ as a...

Globalisation has facilitated exposure to the outside world and easy movement of people across countries. Through these movements, people are landing in countries that are unfamiliar. The people become trapped in an ‘in between’ situation where they are away from their country of origin but their desire is to be with their families and communities...

Poverty levels in Kenya, as in many other parts of the world, are still unacceptably high. Various responses against poverty since independence, by the government and non-governmental agencies, especially churches, have not succeeded in eradicating the scourge. A closer look at Black theology demonstrates its emphases on the conflict between the op...

Many African Christian thinkers and writers are responding to the foreignness of Christ in African Christianity by treating Christ under the traditional African ancestral category. However, it is our contention that the designation of the ancestral category to Christ has a tendency of diminishing the actuality of Christ as God incarnate and encoura...

The article explores the link between trauma and spirituality, and investigates whether and how spirituality can be used as a resource to address the needs of people in traumatic situations. The authors address the following questions: Why is it that spirituality and God himself may seem to make little or no sense to people who are experiencing tra...

Adolescents and youth in South Africa comprise about 30% of the total population. This phenomenon is referred to as a youth bubble. Research shows that 52% of young people have had full penetrative sex by age 17, and yet 35% of teenagers who have sex say they only sometimes wear a condom, while 32% who have sex say they never wear a condom. Further...

This article argues that the challenge and need for relevant ministry models is critical for effective Christian ministry and pastoral ministry as practical life ministry. It establishes an Adamic Christological model as a paradigm that provides a practical effective ministerial approach in Africa, particularly within the context of pastoral care a...

Pastoral care takes different forms in responding to people’s needs in their context. Accordingly, over the centuries it has evolved in response to emerging needs. Historical developments in pastoral care are well-documented. However, pastoral care in Africa has a short and unsystematically documented history. Scholarly discussions on pastoral care...

This article argues that the transcendence and immanence of God amplified in Christ should influence African believers� private and public ethics. It accomplishes this by engaging transcendence and immanence of God in the traditional African worldview. The African traditional worldview in many respects believes the transcendent God whose immanence...

Many African scholars such as Bolaji Idowu, Mbiti, Bediako and others have posed a question about the interrelationship between traditional African religion and Christianity. Some scholars tend to exalt traditional African religion at the expense of the biblical meaning of salvation, as well as undermining the value of traditional African religion....

Preaching on prosperity and health has significantly increased in Zimbabwe. Yet, poverty and suffering are also increasing, which is a contradiction. The preaching gives ‘hope’ of prosperity, wealth, health and success to its followers. The emerging question, however, is the following: What kind of hope is given? This article considers the Zimbabwe...

A framework for guiding churches to effectively work in communities to respond to HIV, gender based violence (GBV) and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR)

Original research - paper on men's exclusion in HIV and AIDS work

Research Paper of research conducted on household coping mechanisms with HIV

The last decade has seen massive progress in technological advancement in Africa. Many pastors have embraced the use of technology in their religious and ministerial practices. Within such a context, it is necessary to understand the various identities of the African pastor emerging from responses to the use of technology. This article discusses te...

Christianity is mediated through culture and people’s cultural practices. One such cultural practice is African kingship. African kingship conveys on the ruler sovereignty, power, authority and supremacy over people under one’s jurisdiction. Intricately linked to respect for elders and those in power, African church leaders are at an intersection o...

: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) elimination goals are hampered by low rates of retention and antiretroviral treatment adherence. The Eliminating Pediatric AIDS in Zimbabwe (EPAZ) project is assessing whether mother support groups (MSGs) increase rates of retention-in-care of HIV-positive mothers and their exposed infants, incre...

This article formulates a new integrated pastoral care approach to bereavement healing ministry in Africa, termed a circle for pastoral concern. In pursuit of this, the article highlights the pastoral challenge brought about by the occurrence of death and bereavement within the cultural and Christian intermix. Using the example of the Abaluyia of w...

Absence of health, that is, sickness in Africa is viewed in personalistic terms. A disease is explained as effected by 'the active purposeful intervention of an agent, who may be human', non-human (a ghost, an ancestor, an 'evil spirit), or supernatural (a deity or other very powerful being)' (Foster). Illness is thus attributed to breaking of tabo...

Objectives of the presentation Identify ways/approaches of resource mobilisation/fundraising Understand donor retention and management as a foundation for fundraising that achieves results Explore ways of identifying potential donors to pursue for funding Outline and discuss principles of resource mobilisation/fundraising Expose/refreshing on propo...

The HIV and AIDS epidemic is decimating society. It has been established that FBOs, particularly churches, are playing a key role in responding to the epidemic in many poor grassroots communities in South Africa. However, the work is not documented in some instances, while in other cases churches are still not involved. To ascertain churches’ initi...

The role of communities in health care has gained prominence in the last few years. Churches as community structures have been identified as instrumental in health-care delivery. Whilst it is widely acknowledged that churches provide important health services, particularly in countries where there are poorly-developed health sectors, the role of ch...

This article critically examines the development strategy utilized in a men's micro-credit programme that aims to tackle the vicious cycle of poverty and its impacts. The findings highlight the significance of social capital in the mobilization of skills, knowledge, and resources in one local community in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa...

Avenging spirits, commonly known as “ngozi”, are one of the most feared and mysterious spiritual manifestations among African people – particularly the Shona people of Zimbabwe. To address the fears of Christians in such contexts, a contextually relevant pastoral ministry should first of all be designed. Such a ministerial design should proceed fro...

The quest to establish a conceptual background of the fourth gospel has led to converging and diverging opinions. This study reviewed and compared literature on the fourth gospel to establish its most plausible background. In doing so, attention was given to the development of the debate on the religious backgrounds that possibly influenced the aut...

South Africa is a country full of paradoxes and extreme contrasts: members of the billionaire club and the destitute; the employed and the unemployed; human rights and high crime; equal opportunities and inequality; consumerism and poor debt management; much-vaunted democracy and political anxiety (and uncertainty). The situation has, among other t...

This paper looks at the increasing concern over the implications of the current global financial crisis for donor funding, with particular emphasis on NGO beneficiaries. It captures observations and insights by funding experts and humanitarian actors on how the ongoing crunch may affect donor behaviour (multilateral institutions, governments, corpo...

Pastoral counselling: towards a diagnostic and interpreta-tional approach in Africa Effective pastoral counselling is influenced by appropriate pas-toral diagnosis. A pastoral diagnosis or assessment in Africa should focus on socio-cultural systems thinking, which entails an understanding of the people's worldview of distress embed-ded in stories....

The extended family (community) in Africa plays a crucial role in the process of healing. However, while the role of the community is invaluable, many scholars overlook its other side. This article argues for a critical consideration of the healing role of the community in Africa and offers a critique of African community healing in the light of pa...

Poverty and HIV/AIDS interplay to cause intense pain and suffering to families especially within the context of Sub-Saharan poverty and limited medical resources. Hence, to respond meaningfully to the situation, pastoral ministry should be holistic (i.e. focus on both poverty and HIV/AIDS). This article argues that congregational home-based pastora...

The basic premise of this study is that the congregation is the key to providing homebased pastoral care support to HIV-positive people in poor contexts. In so doing, the church does not only perform a social function to poor HIV/AIDS-affected families, but it also acts in accordance with the calling of mediating God’s Kingdom (diakonia), thus spre...