Lizwi Mtumtum, President of the Moravian Church in South Africa Photo: LWF/A. Hillert
Lizwi Mtumtum, President of the Moravian Church in South Africa
(LWI) - His name, Lizwi, means ‘Word’ in his native Xhosa language, spoken in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa where he grew up with his mother and four siblings. After school, he received a scholarship to go and study in the United States, where he trained as an accountant, a move which he describes as “a real blessing.”
But after a successful career as an investment banker, Lizwi Mtumtum found himself searching for a sense of purpose and increasingly discovered it in the Moravian Church in South Africa (MSCA). After working in youth ministry and offering his skills to the church’s various finance committee structures, he was elected chairperson of the Synod, then as a vice-president for finance and property in 2021 and finally as president in 2024.
Today, Lizwi sees his task as helping the church to return to its missionary origins, sharing the Word of God in a way that can resonate, especially with young South Africans. As only the second lay person to hold the role of president, he is seeking to focus on a model of servant leadership, helping others to rediscover a sense of purpose and responsibility for the future of their church.
Could you start by telling us something about your family background?
Yes, I come from the small, rural town of Matatiele in the Eastern Cape where I was one of five children. We were raised by my mother as I was only three when my father died. My mother was a teacher, and we moved with her around the former Transkei where she was sent to different schools. From our background, becoming a teacher or a policeman were the only things that I could aspire to, but I knew that I wanted to do something different.
My mother couldn’t afford to pay for me to study, but I gained a scholarship to university in the U.S which was a real blessing for me. Since then, I have always felt that somehow I need to share that blessing with others and find a way to thank God through my service in the church.
Did you grow up in the church as a child?
We didn’t attend Sunday School, but ours was still quite a religious household where we read the Bible and said prayers before going to bed. We went to several different churches as there was not always a Moravian house of worship where we were living. So, for example, I attended a Catholic church and then a Pentecostal one, but I never quite found what I was looking for there.
You studied economics and accountancy, but you also continued to be involved in church work, alongside a career in banking, didn’t you?
Yes, you know the name that my mother gave me means ‘Word’ in our language and, as I said, that really stuck with me. I knew I wanted to share the Word of God and give to others the blessings that I had received. I got involved in youth work and then became national youth president. After that, I could see a role where I could use my skills as treasurer and then finance committee chair, so I grew slowly into these church leadership roles.
Did you do any theological training?
No, I have a deep appreciation for theology and Scripture which really grounds me, but I think people also appreciate the different, practical gifts that I can bring. I suppose I could say my theological training comes from the many ministers whom I have learned from in church over the years.
Were you surprised when you were nominated for church president?
When I heard that my name had been proposed for vice-president and then president, I really prayed hard on both occasions and asked the Lord to direct me. My plans at that time were to leave Johannesburg where I had been working and move back to Matatiele to be nearer my family and work in farming, but instead I moved to Cape Town where our church head office is located. The presidency is a full-time job and a four-year term, so I will finish in 2028 and then go back to my hometown to start what I had planned to do.
What are your priorities for the church over the coming years?
I think we have been going through quite a tough time, so my priority is to try and take the church back to its original direction. We were established as a mission church, but we have become inward looking and seem to have lost that sense of mission. The church was founded by George Schmidt, the first Protestant missionary to South Africa, who arrived in 1737. I want the church to return to that missionary spirit, bringing the Word of God to people and strengthening our diaconal work.
I’m the second lay person to be elected president and I would like us to focus on our understanding of servant leadership, to show that we are here to serve people. Also, I want to build capacity for our leaders, to build up the church. That is my hope and prayer.
What is the current state of the church and the major challenges you face?
Like most other mainline churches, the numbers of congregants are declining. The younger generation is free spirited and less interested in being a part of the church. We are very traditional, so they don’t find anything that resonates with them anymore. I want to focus our energy on youth ministry which has been a bit neglected. We need to listen to them and hear what it means to them to be a Christian.
I would also like to focus on fostering closer relations with other Lutherans in South Africa and with other Christian churches too. We work with the other Lutheran churches through the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA) but I would like to strengthen that through pulpit exchange and other diaconal activities.
Gender justice is another important area of work for you, isn’t it?
Yes, patriarchy continues to shape our society, as I saw in my own experience of home life. When my parents got married, my father told my mother to stop working and stay at home, which she did, even though she was a trained teacher. It was only after he passed on that she was able to go back to work. But we also have a long history of violence from the apartheid era in South Africa and we haven’t unlearned that yet, so it is a very serious problem.
Together with the previous president, Rev. Martin Abrahams, we supported a group of women to start an anti-gender-based violence desk. Our church has a lot of unused properties that could be converted into safe havens for women and children. We have already begun work on two sites where specialized non-governmental organizations want to provide housing and support for abused women and their families. We need to be bold and to remember that we are called as a church to act justly and to uphold the dignity and equality of every individual, created in the likeness of God.
What does it mean for you to be a part of the global communion of churches?
For me, as a representative of my church, it is both a gift and a sacred responsibility, reminding us that the church of Christ is larger than our national boundaries or local histories. Our joys, wounds, and hopes in South Africa are connected to those of sisters and brothers across the world, and this shared identity strengthens our commitment to dignity, justice, and peace.
Belonging to this communion deepens our accountability. We are challenged to reflect critically on our own practices, especially around gender justice and human dignity, and to allow the experiences, theological insights, and prophetic witness of the global church to sharpen our own. We learn from each other's courage and failures, and we bring the South African struggle against patriarchy and inequality into that shared space of mutual transformation.
Being part of the communion also empowers us to advocate more boldly and confront global and local systems of harm. For the MCSA, this means committing ourselves to gender-inclusive leadership, challenging harmful theologies, and ensuring that our witness at home reflects the justice of Christ. Communion is not just belonging, it is a call to act for systemic change, for the healing of communities, and the flourishing of all God’s people.
