Bishop Nhanala’s Dedication, Pastors’ Modest Salaries Among African Forum Takeaways

When Wespath hosted the Africa Central Conference Pension Officers forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, attendees learned about sustainable investing and audits, among many other things.

The forum, which took place from October 4-6, 2022, also was a learning experience for the four members of Wespath’s Central Conference Pensions (CCP) team. While the Africa forum was a companion event to the gathering Wespath hosted for European and Asian pension officers in May in Germany, new successes and challenges emerged with the meeting in South Africa.

What follows are the team members’ reflections on the big takeaways from the Africa forum:

Many pension officers made multiple trips to their South African embassies and worked hard to secure travel visas to South Africa.

“There were certainly challenges of getting people there and able to join us,” said Ross Lundstrom, the church relations manager. “For the efforts they put forth, we are very grateful.”

All but four pension officers were able to attend in person, and two of those individuals joined portions of the forum via Zoom.

The forum started on a high note. Bishop Joaquina Nhanala, who oversees the Mozambique Episcopal Area, led the opening worship service and then discussed the state of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in Africa and answered questions. She also was available at breakfast and lunch to talk with attendees.

“Somebody said, ‘Wow! A bishop who is available and who answers questions and will dialogue with us eye-to-eye,’” said Thomas Kemper, a consultant for Wespath’s CCP team.

Pension officers expressed a strong UMC identity during discussions at the forum, according to Dale Jones, Wespath’s managing director for church relations.

In addition to hearing from Wespath and Bishop Nhanala, the pension officers were invited to share best practices and talk with their peers in small-group sessions.

“These were the best sessions, where they shared about best practices, what kind of education they do, what kind of benefit plans (they have) and changes they have made to make it work,” Kemper said. “There was such an eagerness to learn from these sessions.”

Kemper continued: “It’s also more encouraging when you say, ‘Yes, this works in Sierra Leone.’ The (pension officer) is much more excited and ready to try it in the Congo than when you say, ‘Oh, this has worked well in Chicago or in Tennessee.’ If you hear it from your African colleagues, it’s so much more encouraging.”

Kemper said multiple forum attendees have informed the CCP team that they are working to implement things they learned from their colleagues at the forum.

Jones added: “We heard a lot from them as well as them hearing from us. That was, I think, pretty important. There were a few themes that kind of kept coming up that I probably wouldn’t have taken away as strongly as I did if it had mostly just been a download of Wespath information to them.”

Pension officers shared that many pastors are receiving a minimal salary, or even no monetary compensation at all. That makes it difficult for pastors to make pension contributions.

“Across the board, that was what we were hearing,” said Michelle Robinson, a senior church relations specialist. “There are some financial struggles that could be 100% out of their hands. I heard that very loud and clear.”

A pension plan is built upon the assumption that both the employer and the employee will defer current compensation for the future retirement benefit, but that funding foundation crumbles if pastors are not paid.

“That calls for some real strategizing on our parts for how we deal with those kinds of situations or offer ideas to the plans themselves for how to deal,” Jones said.

Photo Credit: Oct. 4 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Yvette Du Toit/Limerence Photography)