News / Religion
Strict laws to govern Zimbabwe pastors crafted
26 Apr 2015 at 09:29hrs | Views
The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe will this week launch a code of ethics and conduct to benchmark behaviour expected of church leaders.
EFZ represents 565 church bodies representing an individual membership of 4,5 million Zimbabweans.
General secretary of EFZ Reverend Lindani Dube said the code of ethics and conduct came in the wake of increased immoral behaviour by some church leaders.
"We believe that self-regulation is very critical. So to add impetus to that, we have come up with a code of conduct which every member was involved in drafting and also in making sure that it comes into being," said Rev Dube.
The code covers personal ethics, relationships and associations, politics, public ethics, accountability, aggression, power abuse and organisational and corporate ethics.
It also encompasses domestic ethics, marriage, ministerial ethics and respect for the Word of God.
Rev Dube said the code formalised already laid out processes in the organisation.
"The Bible is an advocate of justice. We would expect people of conscience to be able to exhaust all channels within the Christian framework before they spill over to the court.
"But given the structures we have in the church as long as there is a will it becomes incomprehensible for people to consider the circular justice system in all cases where there is conflict.
"So the code is giving provisions to a situation where there are structures in the EFZ with various levels where there could be appeals. If people think they cannot solve it, maybe then spill it over the courts," added Rev Dube.
EFZ represents 565 church bodies representing an individual membership of 4,5 million Zimbabweans.
General secretary of EFZ Reverend Lindani Dube said the code of ethics and conduct came in the wake of increased immoral behaviour by some church leaders.
"We believe that self-regulation is very critical. So to add impetus to that, we have come up with a code of conduct which every member was involved in drafting and also in making sure that it comes into being," said Rev Dube.
The code covers personal ethics, relationships and associations, politics, public ethics, accountability, aggression, power abuse and organisational and corporate ethics.
Rev Dube said the code formalised already laid out processes in the organisation.
"The Bible is an advocate of justice. We would expect people of conscience to be able to exhaust all channels within the Christian framework before they spill over to the court.
"But given the structures we have in the church as long as there is a will it becomes incomprehensible for people to consider the circular justice system in all cases where there is conflict.
"So the code is giving provisions to a situation where there are structures in the EFZ with various levels where there could be appeals. If people think they cannot solve it, maybe then spill it over the courts," added Rev Dube.
Source - Byo24News
