Marcia Ball (1963)
By Mrs. Newell S. Booth ‘24 (CLA), Former Methodist missionary in the Congo
The Reverend Marcia Ball knows how to work well at a variety of jobs and out of them and into others. In the middle of Sakubva township in Umtali, Rhodesia stands the Christian Center building. Upon her arrival as a missionary in 1952 it was there and in the Methodist Church next door that Marcia Ball went to work, and through the years the program has been one of ther great interests.
Marcia was born in Chicago and studied at the American Conservatory of Music in that city. Her major was in piano and minor in organ. She was a church organist and youth director and taught at Halsted Street Institutional Church in Chicago. For two years, 1948-1950, she was a music instructor at Memphis State Teacher’s College. Her new field of work brought many changes. Although the people around her in Rhodesia loved music and had their own smaller instruments, no pianos and organs were waiting at the Christian Center for Marcia’s use. Nevertheless, her skill and training in music were valuable as she made friends and worked among the young folks of the Location. The Location is that section of land set aside for the African people in the city area.
One of the most rewarding parts of a missionary’s life is watching students grow in skill and ability to teach and lead others. Daniel Kasambira was a good worker at the Christian Center. He was a member of the Ambassador Quartet which Miss Ball encouraged and helped train. This quartet came from Rhodesia on a tour to the United States, delighting many in the churches with their songs. The four young men sang at General Conference. Mr. Kasambira was given a scholarship and studied in the United States for seven years receiving a Master’s degree. Now he is the Director of the Christian Center and with his wife lives and works among the people of Umtali. One of their little girls is named Marcia.
Before she went to Rhodesia, Miss Ball studied at Scarritt College in Nashville, taking courses which gave her a wide perspective on the many sided work of a missionary. One of her interests has been literature and the development of reading material both in the Shona language and in English. For a time she was secretary of the Commission on Literature of the Africa Central Conference which coordinates the literature program of five Methodist Annual Conferences in as many countries. At one meeting of the Commission she presented for translation into the languages of those countries a booklet on stewardship which had received first prize in an India-wide competition. It was written by a Rhodesian student, one of Marcia’s protégés who went to India for journalism studies and is now back in Rhodesia carrying on the work in literature that Marcia used to do. And again Marcia has moved on to another job!
During the time that she was directing the program of Christian Literature in the Rhodesia Conference, she participated in the program of studies of the Writing Center at the Ecumenical Center in Kitwe in the neighboring country of Zambia. At present the is the News Editor from the Rhodesia Conference of The Africa Christian Advocate, which serves to give a picture of the work of the six Methodist conferences below the Sahara to the churches in the United States.
But Marcia has not spent all her time in the city nor at the centers where the work was well organized. She was one of a team which travelled out through the Reserves, that is, the parts allotted to the Africans in the rural sections. This team, made up of leaders in Bible study, agriculture, and health, spent time at various churches and schools scattered over the conference. The team worked with the whole family and the whole community. The very genius of the program was to realize the wholeness of the Christian life in the life of the people, but one of the results of Marcia’s work was a stimulation of the participation of women in the ministries of the Church. Marcia’s position as an ordained minister and full member of the Annual Conference was a challenge to the women, and they responded. Marcia is still writing about it as is shown by her article in the recent number of The Africa Christian Advocate. There she tells of the Consultation held at Ranche House College in Salisbury where fifty women gathered to pool their resources and ideas. They considered four major problems facing the Rhodesian church today: marriage problems, early school leavers, alcoholism, and adjustment to new ways of living. These are certainly questions that confront the church in all countries and it is good to know that Marcia is in one of the difficult but important places to help work out answers. In the article she writes:
Even fifty energetic women, however, had to have guidance. This we found in a battery of specialists. . . . They came from the University of Rhodesia, from other churches, and from special lines of work. Our keynote speaker was Mrs. D. Mtimkulu from Zambia.
We spent about 65 hours together, talking, praying, eating, pondering, arguing, listening. The results listed in the recommendations were further combed and polished into final state. It is our hope that these recommendations, as they are passed on to the various committees and boards of our church will enrich it and give it a boost in solving the great problems that lie before us. However, this is not all to come from this very unusual consultation. We have learned a new technique of dealing with problems. And we now know that if a group can get together in a Christian spirit, hear experts on the subject, turn over the problems so that all sides are examined, a solution can be found.
Marcia says little of her own part but an accompanying picture is labeled—Leaders of the Consultation—Rev. Ndelela, Rev. Marcia Ball and Rev. J. Kawadza.
Marcia has always sought full preparation for her work: a Master’s degree in music and high level experience in teaching lies back of her work with the Ambassador Quartet and the other musical services she has rendered. The special training at Scarritt prepared her for the activities at the Center in Sakubva. She followed the Conference Course of Study for her ordination and Conference membership, but she did not consider that enough. In two furloughs she worked out her S.T.B. at Boston University.
She is now in charge of the Central Office at Old Umtali, which is the Conference center for leadership training. In Rhodesia training for the ministry is now ecumenical. It is in two parts. The School of Theology for the preparation of ordained ministers is at Epworth near Salisbury with several denominations cooperating. Similarly, on an ecumenical basis, the Bible School at Old Umtali is preparing the lay ministries: supply pastors, directors of Christian Education, deaconesses and evangelists. Old Umtali also has its full secondary school and its agricultural and rural emphasis.
Marcia is in the midst of all this as she handles the responsibilities of her present job. With the leadership that is developed by her work and that of her colleagues, both missionary and African, the Church goes on in strength and it will continue to go on.