“Why can’t we ordain Nellie?”: leadership, faith, and hagiography in the life of Nellie Maduma Mlotshwa, Zimbabwe

The life of Nellie Maduma Mlotshwa—long-serving educator, peacebuilder, and leader in the Brethren in Christ Church (BICC) of Zimbabwe—offers wide thematic scope to her biographer. Some of these themes include gender and leadership, enculturation of Christianity in the context of a specific people, the role of prayer, the tension between spirituality and politics (especially for Anabaptists in colonial and postcolonial Africa), global citizenship in the worldwide Mennonite community, African women theologians, faith-based community service, and the phenomenon of African-generated Christian biography, autobiography, and hagiography. All of these themes are implied but none are fully developed in the following overview of Nellie Mlotshwa’s life (born 1934). The chapter concludes with a discussion of the production of African Christian biographies in the BICC of Zimbabwe.