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Mugabe fired as Zimbabwe Baptist seminary principal
31 Jul 2011 at 16:00hrs | Views
The principal of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe has been fired for refusing to accept changes made to the school's governing documents including adherence to a Southern Baptist Convention faith statement that forbids women from serving as pastors.
Henry Mugabe says he received his termination letter after he concluded a sermon he preached at his church's revival service on Saturday, July 2. According to a series of e-mails and scanned documents forwarded to Associated Baptist Press, the controversy stemmed from conditions for transfer of school property from the SBC International Mission Board to the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe reported Associated Baptist Press.
The official reason for Mugabe's termination is insubordination, based in part on his refusal to meet with a new council formed by the Baptist convention to replace the seminary's board of trustees. Mugabe, who is unrelated to Zimbabwe's strongman president Robert Mugabe, said the dissolved board of trustees, not the convention, were his employers and he was under no obligation to attend a meeting he considered unconstitutional.
After locking Mugabe out of his office and giving him seven days to move from his home, owned by the Baptist Mission of Zimbabwe, convention officials reportedly froze assets for the seminary, blocking Mugabe from paying a 16-member staff and other seminary expenses.
The disciplinary hearings that Mugabe refused to attend centered on his decision to enter into a relationship with the University of Zimbabwe to provide teaching certificates for seminary graduates to help them supplement meager ministerial incomes in the impoverished nation.
Friends of Mugabe say the arrangement was never an issue before, and the real motive was to change the school from an ecumenical seminary with students from a variety of denominations to an institution focused on granting master's and doctor's degrees to Baptist ministers in partnership with an SBC seminary in the United States.
Mugabe, who was first employed by the seminary in 1984 and named president in 1996, accused the convention of unfair labor practices for changing terms of his employment contract unilaterally. The convention president said since the convention elected the old board of trustees, it had a right to dissolve it without his approval. Mugabe's lawyers are appealing the termination to Zimbabwe Labour Court.
Tom Graves, retired president of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, called Mugabe's firing "a tragedy of epic proportions." Mugabe has taught at BTSR as a visiting professor almost since the Virginia seminary's opening in 1991 and stayed as a guest in Graves' home during the month of January many of those years.
Mugabe earned his Ph.D. in theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and has taught at U.S. schools including BTSR, Campbell University Divinity School, McAfee School of Theology and Wake Forest University Divinity School, all theological education partners of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Henry Mugabe says he received his termination letter after he concluded a sermon he preached at his church's revival service on Saturday, July 2. According to a series of e-mails and scanned documents forwarded to Associated Baptist Press, the controversy stemmed from conditions for transfer of school property from the SBC International Mission Board to the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe reported Associated Baptist Press.
The official reason for Mugabe's termination is insubordination, based in part on his refusal to meet with a new council formed by the Baptist convention to replace the seminary's board of trustees. Mugabe, who is unrelated to Zimbabwe's strongman president Robert Mugabe, said the dissolved board of trustees, not the convention, were his employers and he was under no obligation to attend a meeting he considered unconstitutional.
After locking Mugabe out of his office and giving him seven days to move from his home, owned by the Baptist Mission of Zimbabwe, convention officials reportedly froze assets for the seminary, blocking Mugabe from paying a 16-member staff and other seminary expenses.
The disciplinary hearings that Mugabe refused to attend centered on his decision to enter into a relationship with the University of Zimbabwe to provide teaching certificates for seminary graduates to help them supplement meager ministerial incomes in the impoverished nation.
Friends of Mugabe say the arrangement was never an issue before, and the real motive was to change the school from an ecumenical seminary with students from a variety of denominations to an institution focused on granting master's and doctor's degrees to Baptist ministers in partnership with an SBC seminary in the United States.
Mugabe, who was first employed by the seminary in 1984 and named president in 1996, accused the convention of unfair labor practices for changing terms of his employment contract unilaterally. The convention president said since the convention elected the old board of trustees, it had a right to dissolve it without his approval. Mugabe's lawyers are appealing the termination to Zimbabwe Labour Court.
Tom Graves, retired president of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, called Mugabe's firing "a tragedy of epic proportions." Mugabe has taught at BTSR as a visiting professor almost since the Virginia seminary's opening in 1991 and stayed as a guest in Graves' home during the month of January many of those years.
Mugabe earned his Ph.D. in theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and has taught at U.S. schools including BTSR, Campbell University Divinity School, McAfee School of Theology and Wake Forest University Divinity School, all theological education partners of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Source - www.abpnews.com
