Bishop Paul Verryn receives messages of support

Posted by ZDN on February 3, 2010

Messages of support are pouring in for Bishop Paul Verryn who has provided food, shelter and hope to thousands of destitute asylum seekers, most of whom are Zimbabweans, at the Central Methodist Mission in down-town Johannesburg.

Verryn was suspended last week by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and is facing two disciplinary charges.

The first relates to his initiating a court action to have a curator appointed to ensure the best interests of destitute, orphaned children living in the church. The Methodist Church claims he did so without authority.

According to The Mail & Guardian of 22 January, “the application followed ongoing wrangles between the church and the Gauteng government, which accused Verryn of refusing to co-operate with social workers who had wanted to move the Zimbabwean children to proper homes and shelters.”

Verryn had said it was essential that someone with sufficient experience – and an independent – be formally and legally empowered to protect the best interests of the children.

Last year, the SA Council of Churches claimed that the government was the main problem, not Verryn. “These people moved into (the church) because it responded to a humanitarian crisis, to which few other people, including local, provincial and national government, responded.”

The second charge relates to Verryn’s talking to the media, despite being instructed not to do so.

Dr Peter Storey, the former Methodist Bishop of Johannesburg, who worked closely with Verryn in the 1980s and 1990s, described him in an interview in 2005 as “a grass roots activist”.

Storey said that “Paul won the hearts of the Soweto community through his identification with their struggle during the worst years of apartheid.”

Verryn’s involvement with Zimbabwean refugees came to prominence in 2006 as starvation tightened its grip across South Africa’s northern neighbour.

Desperate exiles – including women and young children – were fleeing the country in the hope of finding jobs and security in Johannesburg, but ending up destitute on the inner-city streets.

Appalled to discover increasing numbers of asylum-seekers living rough under dangerous conditions, Bishop Verryn began working tirelessly with volunteers and staff to provide food and shelter in the Central Methodist Mission.

By mid March, more than 200 people were living in the church building. Women and children were sleeping in the sanctuary while men, wrapped in blankets and sleeping head-to-toe were accommodated in the meeting rooms above.

“Inner-city missions like the Central Methodist in Johannesburg are hugely important to meet the needs of the poor, but resources for this ministry are thin,” wrote Dr Martine Stemerick in an article published in News From Africa.

“What we need first of all is funding to get this building into a state of acceptable cleanliness,” Verryn told Stemerick.

“The second would be if we could cook at least one balanced meal at a central spot every day for everybody because people are scrounging all sorts of food from rubbish bins,” he explained. “And once one starts that kind of feeding scheme, it needs to be sustainable.”

As the numbers sheltering at the church grew, Verryn found himself with teachers, accountants, computer technicians, qualified nurses, wire artists, people who could tie trout flies, ballroom dancers and amateur dramatists.

With Verryn’s encouragement, classes were set up, young children were helped with reading and writing and qualified teachers or parents were assigned to read books to them in the evening.

Verryn said he prayed that people would begin to recognise that this is a “God moment” for us in South Africa, and that Zimbabweans from the DRC and other exiles who seek help are a gift, especially to the Christian community.

“It’s an opportunity for us to be… transformation agents and to recognise that the people who come across our borders may be the people who ultimately are the agents of change when they return to their countries.”

“This is an opportunity for us … to inculcate standards of care and humanity that anticipate a changed Africa,” Verryn explained.

In recent months the Central Methodist Mission has been overwhelmed with the volume of destitute immigrants reaching out to the church for help.

In an effort not to turn away those in greatest need, numbers have reached beyond 2 000, which is an impossible number to accommodate in a building where amenities are stretched to the limit – and beyond.

The campaign to support Verryn includes a campaign via Facebook.

“The work that Paul does is remarkable and he has always done it…. He is absolutely driven by God towards love for the poor…”, wrote one supporter.

“He did not turn away those in need. Other doors were closed, while his was open…. He is a liberation theologist in action,” wrote another.

“I am currently on a committee which he chairs (Church Unity Commission Central Committee), and I can personally vouch for him as a man of great integrity, courage, intelligence and godliness,” commented Mark Spyke.