I have known for a long time that Jim Wilkie meant a lot to me. He was the Church of Scotland Africa Secretary when our family was venturing to Malawi for the first time in 1988. We could not have had a better guide and mentor. Though always understated and inconspicuous I quickly learned that the still waters ran deep. Many a time I leant on his wisdom.
It was only yesterday, however, that I fully understood how much he meant to the African church leaders with whom he was working during his time in office. Jim died in January, just a month short of his 90th birthday and yesterday the Blantyre and Livingstonia Synods of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian combined to hold a memorial service for him at the historic St Michael and All Angels in Blantyre.
As his African friends spoke about him it became clear that he had connected with them at a human and spiritual level that went far beyond the official relationship that came with their respective offices. He managed to be with them and for them in a way that inspired confidence and generated all kinds of creative initiatives.
Jim belonged to the first generation of Europeans who worked in an African-led church in this part of the world. The colonial period conditioned Europeans to imagine that they should be in charge, even in the life of the Christian missions, and that Africans should be in a subordinate position. It was quite a revolution to turn this arrangement on its head and those who embraced the turnaround needed to have a revolutionary outlook.
The testimony of his friends yesterday demonstrated how far Jim succeeded as a quiet revolutionary. It was not for him to call the shots but through his solidarity and resourcefulness he was an indispensable ally to a generation of African leaders who reshaped both church and state in their countries. He was not the one in the limelight, but he has helped to shape history in ways that make a difference for millions of Africans today.
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