Paul Verryn (born 26 February 1952) is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Known for his anti-apartheid activism, he was Bishop of the church's Central District between 1997 and 2009. During that period, he was a prominent and controversial figure for his activism against xenophobia, and clashed with the South African government over his decision to accommodate hundreds of refugees at his Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg city centre.
Early life
Verryn was born on 26 February 1952 in Pretoria, in what is now the Gauteng province of South Africa, and was schooled at St Stithians College, a private Methodist school in Johannesburg. His mother was of German and Irish descent, and his father, who was a supporter of Jan Smuts and fought in World War II, was of Dutch and French descent; his parents separated while he was a child. Come of age under the apartheid state, he was drafted into compulsory military service in 1970. He began studying theology while in the army and in 1976 completed a Bachelor of Divinity at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape.
Eastern Cape: 1973–1983
While still a university student, Verryn began working (as a junior minister) in the Methodist churches in the Eastern Cape – first in Uitenhage (1973), and then in Southern Transkei (1974–1975) and Grahamstown (1976–1978). In 1978, he was ordained as a minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) in East London, and ministered on the Port Elizabeth circuit from 1979 to 1983. He also chaired Interchurch Aid and the Standards Generating Body for Christian Theology and Ministry, and was involved in the work of the National Cancer Association in the Eastern Cape. He was appointed as MCSA Supervisor of Studies (for student ministers) in 1982, and retained that position until 1997.
Verryn later said that he was "radicalised" during his time in the Eastern Cape, and became involved in anti-apartheid activism: he frequently visited neighbouring townships, sheltered activists from the security police, worked with activist Molly Blackburn, and launched the Port Elizabeth branch of the Detainees Parent Support Committee (DPSC). DPSC primarily assisted the families of activists detained without trial under the Terrorism Act, and Verryn was its Port Elizabeth chair between 1982 and 1983.
Subsequent studies of Verryn's ministry have associated him with liberation theology. He has cited among his influences other progressive South African clergymen with a concern for social justice, such as Beyers Naudé, Peter Storey and Mvume Dandala.
Orlando, Soweto: 1988–1997
In 1984, Verryn returned to his home region, the Transvaal, to serve the Roodepoort circuit. In December 1987, under the direction of his earlier inspiration Bishop Storey, he moved to the Methodist Church in Orlando West, Soweto, outside Johannesburg. Unusually for a white minister in Soweto, Storey lived among his congregation in the church's manse, where he continued to shelter activists and to work with the DPSC. Storey later said that Verryn "won the hearts of the Soweto community through his identification with their struggle". When apartheid ended in 1994, Storey continued his work in Orlando West, and taught divinity at the MCSA seminary, the John Wesley College, from 1994 to 1997.
In 1994 he also assumed the position of: Chair of the South African College for Teacher Education Convenor of the Training Programme (Phase 1) for Methodist ministers Superintendent of the Soweto Community Centre.
Stompie Seipei
In 1989 a media furor erupted following the abduction of four youths and the murder of James Seipei, also known as Stompie Sepei. Verryn had provided accommodation as a place of safety at the Orlando Mission house (Manse) for the four. At the time this was also his residence as the minister for the Soweto Circuit. Verryn was then also prominent as one of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's critics.