Methodist Itinerant Ministry and Ridiculously Colourful Bishops

[This is the second post in my series on the Itinerant Ministry which I will be blogging on during our move.Visit here for the first, Methodist Itinerant Ministry, Monthly Shopping and Schnorrers]

One of the many advantages of the itinerant ministry is that one gets to encounter different types of bishops in different parts of our connexion. The one thing they have in common is their propensity to be ridiculously brightly coloured at times, while at other times, they are plain and undifferentiated and cannot really be told apart. This need that they have in certain seasons to be seen as different, to stand out boldly, almost as if they are saying: “Look at me” or “Take notice of me” is one which (although in a different context) intrigued Charles Darwin. He was fascinated by the peacock, whose huge and colourful plumage Darwin thought should have been a hindrance to its long-term evolutionary survival because of the hindrance it was when needing to escape predators. And yet it was clear that the survival of ridiculously colourful and overdressed peacocks had somehow been achieved. Southern African bishops have been known to survive as long as 10 years (1). Evolutionarily speaking (whether or not you agree with it) ‘stand out’, ‘notice me’ and ‘look at me’ type individuals should not survive for long, let alone return year after year after year to strut their stuff.

How can a peacock, whose brightly coloured and flowing plumage is a hindrance when trying to escape a predator, survive and in fact flourish? How can a bishop in full ‘look at me’ plumage survive in the wild where they stand out to predators who are lurking everywhere, waiting to rip them to shreds? But survive and prosper they do!

Darwin's realisation was that it is not survival of the fittest but rather reproductive success which is the determinant of long-term survival. How many little me’s I can successfully produce is more important than whether I am the fittest, best qualified, best suited, little sparrow/bishop/peacock in this particular field of lilies, where God has called me into being. (Wow, talk about mixing metaphors!)

The itinerant ministry introduces one to different bishops in different places. Southern Africa has three distinct species of bishop: Red, Golden and Fire-crowned (2). According to distribution maps, the Reds are all over the connexion, Golden's are mainly in the interior parts of our connexion, northern Botswana and Namibia, and the Fire-crowned almost exclusively in parts of the Mozambique District north of the Save River. Wherever I've seen them, bishops have brought me much joy, although in my current district the bishop has been a very elusive creature. Bishops were the first beautiful birds that I ever identified in the wild and in the Free State they were almost two for a penny along the river banks and roadsides of the town where I grew up, lighting up an otherwise drab Free State landscape. Bishops of course cannot be Christians because they are not human and God has in fact given us, ordinary humans, dominion over them (Genesis 1:28), but what joy, beauty and proof of God’s presence in our midst they can be, and have been in my life.

I thank God for ridiculously bright coloured bishops, my favourite small Southern African bird. (My favourite large Southern African bird is the Fish Eagle) The itinerant Methodist ministry has taken me to three distinct bird habitats, the Free State, the KwaZulu Natal Coast and the Western Cape. The Western Cape has by far been the least exciting birding experience, although having the most beautiful places in the country to actually go and look for birds makes up for the lack of birds. Now we prepare to itinerate to Gauteng, the Place of Gold, and a chance to see more of the beautiful, ridiculously bright coloured bishops which have been so elusive here in the Cape.

In season they shout out “Look at me” and look at them I will, and when I do I will most definitely thank God for them as well!



1. A.J.F.K. Craig in The Complete Book of Southern African Birds, 1991 page 669. Published by Struik Winchester.

2. G.L. Maclean in Robert’s Birds of Southern Africa, 1985 page 733-736. Published by the John Voelker Bird Book Fund.