The Presbytery of Zimbabwe is faced with a very serious challenge of Tribalism/Racism and this is affecting the general membership. This research seeks to call for a paradigm shift in interpreting the gospel by a way of embracing everyone as equal partners. The dividing walls in terms of tribe/race have been in existence for too long and they must be pulled down. The church must be on the fore front in carrying the beacon of hope and to minister effectively to all those who believe. The research exposes the traumatic experiences that are caused by tribalism/racism in the church and how the affected respond as they seek to worship God in a challenging environment. Some of the affected stop coming to church and move their membership to other denominations that are accommodative. Those that remain in the church find it extremely difficult to be actively involved in the life and work of the church. This therefore affects their growth spiritually and worshiping God ends up being meaningless. The thesis explored the Shepherding model by Charles V. Gerkin to be used as a means of offering Pastoral care to the traumatized. In essence the traumatized need healing more than anything so as to restore their ‘dignity’ and ‘worthiness’ in the eyes of both God and the community of believers. The model includes counseling as one seeks to journey closely with the affected as well as the perpetrators. The Bible has been used as the basic book for this discussion as the author sought to show how the church ought to be in terms of existence within the community. The church has to stand up to her true calling of preaching the gospel of reconciliation. The image of the church has been discussed extensively as a way of bringing understanding to what the church represents. If the evil practice of tribalism/racism is to be allowed to continue in the church, ultimately the existence and relevance of the gospel will be questioned. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This dissertation is an attempt to analyse and investigate ways of responding to the poor UPCSA missional approach to Zimbabwean society. The desire to write this dissertation was born out of the experience of working for the past six years as an ordained minister of this denomination in the Presbytery of Zimbabwe, there are six congregations with the right to call a minister, thirty grant receiving and fifteen preaching stations in the whole country which is serviced by thirteen ministers, including probationers. The UPCSA has a total of four thousand five hundred and ninety seven members not counting Sunday school children. The dissertation seeks to survey the history of how the people in the Presbytery of Zimbabwe came to be some of fewer memberships as compared to other denominations in the country. It will focus on colonial and post –colonial events, which led to evangelizing the nation. The spiritual weakness which the people of Presbytery of Zimbabwe (POZ) experience is a product of the evangelism mode of missional approach to society and the failure to contextualize the Good-News. This dissertation considers the possibility of how to correct this state of affairs. Spiritually weak people have been destroyed precisely because they have reduced them to products. How to understand the context and achieve that change is the central issue which the writer addresses in this dissertation. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Church History and Church Policy / unrestricted