ONE of the best known of the elders in our Church in Zimbabwe who were converted in Rev. J. B. Radasi’s day was John Ndiyamabombo Mpofu. As a young man he was employed as a gardener by the Wesleyan minister in Bulawayo. John had never been to school and so he could neither read nor write, but he was a lively, intelligent young man. It was a rule among missionaries that whoever was employed by them must attend the church services on each Sabbath and the prayer meeting during the week.
One day the minister, passing through the garden with a Bible in his hand, spoke to John and said, “John, this is God’s book. He is speaking to you and telling you that you are a sinner.” John looked up briefly, not comprehending the remark. On another occasion, the minister said to John, “John, this is God’s book,” again pointing to his Bible. “He is speaking to you. He is telling you that you are a sinner, and that there is a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” John began to show interest, and on the next occasion when he saw the minister carrying the Bible he said: “Mfundisi (Minister), I want that book.”
“You cannot read, John. It is no use giving you the Bible,” said the minister.
“But you tell me that God is speaking to me. I want it,” said John.
“Yes, God is speaking to you, but I have only a few Bibles and I must give them to those who can read.”
However, John insisted that he wanted it, and the minister gave it to him.
John told afterwards how he took the Bible to his hut after work, and prayed to God to help him to read. Next morning he got up early and again prayed to God to help him to read. It is not known how long he continued to pray, but eventually he began to make out words, and then to understand what he was reading. One of our missionaries questioned him. “You must have known the letters, John.” “No, I did not.” “Perhaps you knew some of it by heart.” “No, I did not. God taught me to read.” (Often in later years we heard him, when he was conducting services, read the Bible slowly and clearly from the pulpit).
John Mpofu married and came to live at Libeni near Ingwenya. He began to attend the services held by Rev. J. B. Radasi. The preaching of the word was blessed to him and he was converted. As a young warrior John had fought against the British during the Zulu war of 1893, but now he was involved in another war. He began to “fight the good fight of faith”.
In 1923, the year before Mr Radasi’s death, Chief Betestani, who was also under his ministry, was ordered by the Government to move with his people and all their cattle from Induba, near Ingwenya in the Ntabazinduna Reserve to Shangani Reserve, now known as Nkayi, as Ntabazinduna was overstocked with cattle. They had to travel more than eighty miles over rough country and sleep by the way, with the ever-present threat of being attacked by lions and leopards.
Shangani Reserve was thickly forested and undeveloped in any way except where the London Missionary Society had begun work. When the Chief was settled, he sent word to Mr Radasi that he wished to have a preacher and also a teacher for his people. Mr Radasi called his office-bearers, except John Mpofu who was in town, to find out if any of them were willing to go. No one offered to go. When John Mpofu came from town, he heard from Mr Radasi about the meeting. John said he would pray about the matter. After a few days he came back to Mr Radasi and said that he would go to Nkayi to preach. He was accompanied by his son, Alexander, a fine Christian and a teacher who had been trained at Lovedale. After a four-day journey on foot they were welcomed by Chief Betestani, but the people there resented their coming and gave them much trouble, even burning the roof of their house on three occasions. However, after years of discouragement, Alexander wrote to Rev. John Tallach, who was now the missionary at Ingwenya and had encouraged them to persevere: “Not for all the money in the world would I have missed seeing the change that has come over the people here, by means of the Gospel and the school.”
One of those converted under John Mpofu’s teaching of the truths of salvation was Paul Magaya, who was later appointed as an evangelist in the Shangani Mission area. He was most zealous and tireless in the work.
John Mpofu, although a very active and gifted man, was always aware that he needed the Lord’s help in all his work for the cause of Christ. On one occasion, a Baptist minister who visited the Mission at Ingwenya came across John sitting under a tree beside a little table with his Bible open before him. Having been introduced, the minister said, “You are preparing your sermon for tomorrow!” “No,” said John, “I am waiting for it to come from above.”
He was also a discerning man. In the book, James Fraser, by Rev. A. McPherson, there is the account of a camp-fire discussion on the question: “How is it that some professing Christians have all the appearance of true believers, yet have no influence for good on the people among whom they live?” John said, “I have heard Europeans say that there are shops in Bulawayo where stoves and fireplaces are advertised. To make them more attractive, some kind of artificial fire is put in them. These artificial fires seem to glow like real fires, and from a distance one could not tell whether they are real or not. But if you approach such a fireplace you find that it gives out no heat because there is really no fire, just the appearance of it. That is why some professing Christians do no good to themselves or others. They have no fire. When you draw near to them your heart is not warmed because all they have is the appearance of fire.”
From this beginning at Nkayi by John Mpofu and his son Alexander, the Mission extended under the efforts of Rev. John Tallach, Rev. Dr MacDonald, Rev. James Fraser and others. By 1946 there were 13 mission stations in the Nkayi district, and in 1954 Mbuma Mission, which included a teacher training centre, and later a hospital, was founded in the heart of the district.
When John Mpofu was more than 80 years old, he said during a visit to Mbuma, “When I began to descend the Mbuma escarpment and looked down on the Mission buildings spread out below me, I could not help marvelling that the habitation of wild beasts should be chosen by the Lord as a place where his name should be praised. Truly, His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our thoughts. Here at Mbuma the Lord has been pleased to fulfil His word which says, ‘He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water springs’.”
John Mpofu died at the age of 86 and went, we believe, to his everlasting rest. The History of the Free Presbyterian Church states, “The names of both these men [John and Alexander Mpofu] deserve to be recorded and held in honoured remembrance. They laboured in this new sphere in the face of determined opposition and bitter persecution so that for a time their lives were in danger. But they held on, and their work was not in vain in the Lord.”
– J. N.