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Baptism of the Holy Spirit and signs
The utterance of tongues is taken to be the key evidence that one is baptized by the Holy Spirit. In the AFM in Zimbabwe, women are not excluded from this and participate in various ways, such as for example intercession. Phase Two of the development of the church maintains baptism of the Holy Spirit as a crucial aspect, but differs from Phase One in how the baptism manifests. There should namely be evidence of signs. For the purposes of this study the role of women in this second phase of the development of Pentecostal churches in general and the AFM in Zimbabwe, in particular is of interest.
Those who were baptized by the Holy Spirit gave direction to the church‟s Pentecostal heritage. Most of those who practiced this kind of spirituality were women. Hastings (1994:521) and Sundkler (1976:225) concur that the AFM originated from the earlier influence of Zionist movement. There was a close relationship between Zionism and AFM which helped to pave way for swift development of Pentecostal life of the latter (Maxwell 2006:43). This is because the Zionist movement was African and underpinned by ecstasy (cf Anderson 2000:16). This relationship, one could say, became a catalyst to the founding of other churches. In the AFM in Zimbabwe some women left the church to found their own churches in search of the freedom to serve God as they felt called to do and to no longer be invisible in the church. A good example of women who left the AFM is Pastor Chipo Ravu Bhasera, Florence Kanyati, Patience Itai Hove. In their new ministries, they function as the highest voice of God and authority in the ministry. The resistance of women against their invisibility and limited roles in the AFM in Zimbabwe and their life outside the church has catapulted some women to roles they could not have played in the restrictive church from which they came. Maxwell (2006:43) describes how some used their connection with the AFM to cultivate their own following and found their own church. Once free from masculine supervision and limitations the women would then develop their version of Pentecostalism from a feminist perspective and with the emphasis on the equality of all human beings before God. Women in ordained ministry in AFM had nowhere to go, since they were confined to what was called the „biblical mandate for women‟, which limited their participation in church ministry (Kwaramba 2004:1). Yet, in spite of this, April 1999 saw the ordination of women in ministry within the AFM. They were empowered to work in full-time ministry. This was said to have been done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The ordained women were Scholastic Sekai Kwaramba, Eneah Hove and Pauline Nyembesi.
The power of the Holy Spirit goes beyond baptizing and speaking in tongues. Maxwell (2006:2) points out that a person can speak in tongues, yet be lying against the Holy Spirit. In Azusa Street there were various ecstatic phenomena, such as glossolalia, „holy laughter‟, shaking and prostration under the power of the Spirit, and a public confession of sin. Speaking in tongues alone cannot make a person holy and is not necessarily a sign of high levels of spirituality. It is evidence of having been baptized in the Spirit. Many people who are baptized in the Holy Spirit brand themselves „born-again‟ and differentiate themselves from mainline churches who do not have this baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Kwaramba (2018:68) puts it as follows: „Within Pentecostal church services the minister often encourages the convert to seek spiritual gifts that are said to intensify religious experiences. Some of the favoured Pentecostal spiritual gifts, which are not necessarily prominent within mainstream Christian churches, include “baptism in the Holy Spirit”.‟ This baptism is evidenced in speaking in tongues. In the Pentecostal tradition what is spoken is seen as a language that is only recognized and understood by God (i.e. glossolalia) or, a foreign language, which is not known or understood by the speaker (see 1 Cor 14:4). Men in the AFM in Zimbabwe are baptized by the same Holy Spirit that has baptized the men in AFM of South Africa, who provide space for women to rise to whatever level of leadership they are called to. These are Charismatics and Pentecostals who have the gift of the Holy Spirit and possess the glossolalia, divine healing, prophecy and exorcism (Maxwell 2006:3).
The Holy Spirit and women’s abilities
In Phase Three the baptism of the Spirit is followed by subsequent „baptisms‟ and „fillings‟ of the Spirit for the purposes of fulfilling specific tasks and for special events that believers encounter in their lives. In the Old Testament there are examples of how the Spirit of God provided direction to people. One such example is where Moses facilitates the Spirit coming on the seventy elders who had to help him in the ministering God‟s people (Numbers 11:16-17): And the Lord said unto Moses, gather unto me seventy men of these elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you to carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.
In Joshua 10:5-10, under the influence of the Spirit during a battle with the Amorites, Joshua asked for the sun to stop moving so that he could complete the battle and win a victory (see Scotohu 2008:146). The Spirit gave the army the strength to persevere for longer than would usually have been possible for people. The text speaks of the sun and moon coming to a halt. The description evokes the idea of the mythical mill wheel from Mesopotamian mythology which represents the rotation of the starry sky. Should it come to a standstill, disaster would follow (Kruger 1999:1085). The millwheel is a well-known image also in the Old Testament (see Deut. 24:6, 10-13, 17). What for Joshua and Israel was a divine intervention and miracle would have been disastrous in the Mesopotamian mind-set.
The head covering of women and male headship
The discussion on women and head covering is significant for this study because it brings to surface how women in the AFM in Zimbabwe are sidelined and segregated in places of worship. It is used to keep women in their allocated place especially when they prophesy or minister by the power of the Holy Spirit in the house of God. How the injunction that women should cover their heads has been used in the various traditions and how it forms the basis of social arguments will now be traced. The Pauline letters reflect the culture of the time. How they are used in later church traditions, specifically in the AFM in Zimbabwe for the purposes of this study, and the consequences of this for leadership of the church, will be investigated. The primary texts for this discussion are 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:33-36; 1 Timothy 2:8-15. Head covering, hierarchy and authority are discussed in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16: Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered [them] to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman [is] the man; and the head of Christ [is] God. Every man praying or prophesying, having [his] head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with [her] head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover [his] head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on [her] head because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman [is] of the man, even so [is] the man also by the woman; but all things of God. Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her: for [her] hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
In the Corinthian letters Paul addresses concerns raised by the Corinthian church. Some of his responses are critical and require close attention as they can help to clarify the role of women in the Christian church in general and also today.
Women’s roles in the AFM in Zimbabwe
The beginning of the leadership of women in liturgy in the church in general is difficult to trace, but in the AFM in Zimbabwe records go back to the Azusa Street revival. As AFM in Zimbabwe branched off from the AFM of South Africa, it is also necessary to examine the role of women in that church in order to ascertain how women‟s role in the church‟s liturgy evolved. The word „liturgy‟ derives from the Greek noun leitourgia, which had a background in ancient times of service to the state. In the New Testament it came to mean „service‟ in both the social and religious sense or the word (see Corrie 2007:210). The usage of the term „liturgy‟ in Philippians 2:30 points to „service‟. Paul mentions the man Epaphroditus (in verse 25) who did a service to Paul in his ministry. Later in history, the term has come to mean the form and order of worship. In the liturgy of the AFM in Zimbabwe women function in various roles as leaders or assistants to the leaders. They lead the large constituency of the ruwadzano (women‟s guild). First it is necessary to explain the roles of women in the various church departments which is where women mostly feature and function in several roles.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND FOCAL POINT
1.1 Preamble
1.2 Problem statement
1.3 Literature overview
1.4 Research gap
1.5 Methodology
1.6 Chapter outline
CHAPTER 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN, GENDER AND PENTECOSTALISM IN ZIMBABWE
2.1 Women in the history of Zimbabwe
2.2 Gender roles and challenges
2.3 Women in Zimbabwean Pentecostalism
CHAPTER THREE WOMEN‟S LEADERSHIP ROLES IN THE AFM IN ZIMBABWE
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Women in the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM)
3.3 Social discourse and women‟s roles
3.4 Phase One: Baptism of the Holy Spirit
3.5 Phase Two: Baptism of the Holy Spirit and signs
3.6 Phase Three: The Holy Spirit and women‟s abilities
3.7 The head covering of women and male headship
3.8 Women‟s roles in the AFM in Zimbabwe
3.9 Summary
CHAPTER FOUR ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF THE AFM IN ZIMBABWE
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Definition of leadership
4.3 Criteria for leaders in the AFM in Zimbabwe
4.4 Leadership structure of the AFM in Zimbabwe
4.5 Voting procedure
4.6 Leadership styles in the AFM in Zimbabwe
4.7 Leadership succession in the AFM in Zimbabwe
4.8 Summary
CHAPTER FIVE A PRACTICAL THEOLOGICAL APPRAISAL OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN MINISTRY IN THE AFM IN ZIMBABWE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Historical influences on religious discourse on women
5.2 The ordination of women in the AFM in Zimbabwe
5.3 AFM interpretations of biblical perspectives on women
5.4 The pastors‟ wife and leadership
5.5 Summary
CHAPTER SIX
Findings
Recommendations
Conclusion
Works consulted
