Inviting, Growing, Serving...since 1638​
UKAMA Partnership
Fern Valley Church
Mutare, Zimbabwe
The heart of the relationship is the love of Christ and the call “That they may all be One”. John 17:21
Mission
The Ukama Mission Group works to further the commitment of the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe and the New Hampshire Conference, UCC to walk together in faith and to serve together in ministry among God’s people. This effort is supported by Common Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ.
History
The United Church of Christ in Hampton, NH has participated in the Ukama Partnership since July of 2011. This is a prayer partnership between local congregations of the New Hampshire Conference of The United Church of Christ (NHCUCC) and congregations of The United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ). The First Congregational Church of Hampton, NH, UCC partners in prayer with the Fern Valley Church in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
The following statements are excerpted from minutes of the UCCZ Minister’s Retreat Sub-committee on Ukama/Partnership held on Thursday, January 29, 1998:
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Ukama embraces friendship with or without material benefits from either party . . . is not conditional . . . has no time limit as long as relatives (hama) are there or alive . . . embraces the joys, the successes, the achievements, the pains, the suffering, the failures, the concerns, the problems of the other.
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Ukama is like the Biblical call of Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens” (Takuriranai Mitoro).
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Ukama can be compared to Koinonia.
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Ukama (“Koinonia”) leads to Christian service (“Daikonia”).
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The basis of our (horizontal) ukama is a vertical relationship with God and Christ.
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The basis of our ukama is rooted in our common congregational heritage – missionaries who came from New England. We are bound together by the similarities in our Christian worship, the Office of Deacons in our churches and the Office of Pastor in congregational churches.