Beware of gifts: Addressing the church leadership dilemma on controversial donations in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Background: While ordinary Zimbabweans struggle to bear the brunt of political and economic crises, one of the incumbent president’s stalwarts has been donating cars and cash to prominent church leaders and other people of influence in Zimbabwe – allegedly buying their support for the ruling party.
Objectives: Most of the targeted church recipients, such as a bishop of the Zion Christian Church, accepted these donations, while only one, so far, the archbishop of the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God in Africa, publicly rejected the gifts. Academic research on this matter is scanty.
Method: By employing a qualitative case study of Bishop Mutendi and Archbishop Guti through digital ethnography and a literature review, this article fills the gap by reviewing Facebook engagements between the benefactors, the beneficiaries and their followers.
Results: The study found that gifts are welcomed when they are meant to promote a selfless mission, and unwelcome if given with selfish motives. In the Zimbabwean situation, the majority of those who accepted the donations are partisan; some previously prophetic recipients turned quietist after receiving gifts, and those who rejected the gifts remained unchanged.
Conclusion: The study concludes that accepting contentious gifts compromises integrity and weakens and silences the church. In contrast, rejecting such gifts can sustain integrity and the prophetic voice.
Contribution: This study contributes to an ongoing public debate in Zimbabwe about whether church leaders should accept or reject gifts from controversial sources.