Methodist Church of Southern Africa

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is a large Wesleyan Methodist denomination, with local churches across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, and a more limited presence in Mozambique.

[6] A notable politician with Methodist roots was Nelson Mandela, who addressed the annual conference in a 1994, praising the work of the church throughout the era of minority-rule.

[11] Currently, “Conference recognises that any decision and subsequent action on the issue of civil unions between same sex partners must await the outcome of the on-going process of engagement as specified by Conference 2005 and, in the interim, expects Methodist Ministers to continue to offer pastoral care to homosexual individuals.

[14] At the Constitutional Court, the Church said that "it tolerates homosexual relationships but requires its ministers not to enter into same-sex marriages.

"[15] Regarding a specific case involving a lesbian minister, the MCSA "allowed her to be in a homosexual relationship whilst being a minister, and allowed her to stay in the Church’s manse with her partner, but drew the line at recognising her same-sex marriage".

[15] In 2016, the Rev Londiwe Zulu, an openly lesbian Methodist pastor, participated in a panel on human sexuality.

Renowned throughout for the futuristic type of youth programs which today is the norm, teaching young people in disadvantaged areas about terms such as organograms, resource, co-ordinator, liaison, scrounger as far back as 1969,[clarification needed] way ahead of its time.

Organisations like sports clubs, Boy Scouts, Ratepayers Associations etc, etc, including of course the Churches and Mosques as the main sources of good influence.

The MCSA operates today across six countries in Southern Africa under the leadership of Rev Pumla Nzimande the presiding Bishop.