The Swiss missionary Father John Groeber arrived at Serima mission in 1948, and was given complete freedom to design a new church, but with an extremely limited budget. He set out to build the church out of local materials and ended up reinvigorating the local wood carving industry.
Groeber’s first step to building the church was to devise a local training program for students that would produce African Christian Art, since the local woodcarving tradition was almost lost.
The students were given free range to express their feeling through these carvings. This led to many different artistic stylings throughout the church, which are all cohesive.
The church is packed with carved figures, masks, Biblical scenes, bright murals, and decorative tiles.
Groeber’s influence extends far beyond Serima mission, some of the most famous Zimbabwean sculptors came from this school.
Father John Groeber’s grave is close to the church, and the church and school still operate to this day, although there is no longer a wood carving school on site.
