Churches of Christ: Central African Mission
Churches of Christ
Central African Mission
The Central African Mission was originally known as the Mashoko Mission and grew to include stations in Bulawayo, Chidamoyo, Dewure, Fort Victoria, Gwelo, Hippo Valley, Salisbury (Harare), Sinoia, Zambezi and others.
Eventually missions were established on the Hippo Valley Estate near Chiredzi in 1964. Proprietors of the estate invited mission personnel to establish schools and a medical clinic to serve the Zulu and Ndebele workers on its vast sugar plantation. A monthly mission paper, Central Africa Story, was produced for many years to share the story of the incredible work being carried out in Rhodesia.
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- M.Loomis Collection
By 1980, the Mission consisted of one white and eleven Black congregations with a total membership of around 1,200. Seven elementary schools served about five hundred students, and the Mashoko hospital and associated clinics in the region. More than one hundred fifty missionaries had served in the station before independence in a variety of evangelistic, educational, and medical roles.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the work was known as the Mashoko/Hippo Valley Christian Mission. Bob Pemberton and Zebedee Togarepi served as leaders of the mission, including thirty churches, twenty-five schools, and the hospital. The mission constructed two facilities to care for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS pandemic: the Christian Children’s Home and Chiredzi Christian Children’s Village.
Central African Mission is now known as 2nd Mile International.