The Sunday Mail
The fifth edition conference of the Sophia Women of Jesus Power Christian Ministries (JPCM) was held from November 12-16 at their church (21 Chinhoyi Street) in downtown Harare. The keynote speaker was resident Pastor Mrs Nneka Madusolumuo (Madu). Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM) spoke with Pastor Mrs Madu (NM) about Sophia Women and the importance of women fulfilling God’s purpose in their generation.
TM: When was the Sophia Women in JPCM formed?
NM: We started in 2009 so this is our fifth edition conference.
TM: And the 2014 theme?
NM: This year’s theme, “Created for His purpose” (God’s purpose) was taken from Revelation 4:11, Esther 1:11 and Isaiah 43:7. Women need to know why they were created. The Bible in Hosea 4:6 says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Most women don’t know why they were created.
TM: I searched for the name Sophia in the Bible, and didn’t find it. Where does the name come from?
NM: You can only locate it in the Hebrew Bible. The name Sophia means divine wisdom. It came from the womb of the Holy Ghost. We inquired of the Lord and said we want a name that will impact lives. The first scripture that came when we were inquiring was Proverbs 14:1. That’s how God gave us that name so that as we gather together as women, we build. Women are builders: building lives, building marriages, building missions, etc.
TM: Let’s now turn to your theme and message.
NM: Each year, when the year is coming to an end, we go to God to ask which direction we should take as women. There is a saying that once you train one woman, you have already gotten to a nation. So, to train a woman is very important. That is why we always go back to God to inquire. So, God will always give us a theme like He gave us “Created for His own purpose”.
TM: And, why is that so?
NM: Most women see themselves as just women. No! It’s much more than that. God created us for His own glory. The purpose for God bringing us here, you and me as women is that we will return glory to God, that our lives will bring glory to God. God is expected to be honoured inside your marriage; whether you’re a career woman, God is waiting to see glory from your life, no matter the area. And, we highlighted that the only thing that will make a woman to be able is when she starts with the Lord Jesus, by receiving Him as Lord and her personal Saviour. That’s the starting point.
The Bible makes it clear that we cannot do anything without Him. Once the woman is born again, that’s when she will be able to locate and know why she was created – to serve God, to bring glory to God no matter where she is. There is a reason why God allows a person to be wherever they are. if you don’t know, you will just live anyhow.
TM: How should women then locate their purpose in God after they are born again?
NM: The Bible in Matthew 6:33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added. God again in Jeremiah 29:11 says, I alone, I know the purpose I have for you. So, if you go to Him and begin to relate to Him by reading the word of God, searching scriptures, praying, by making time to stay with Him, He will begin to direct you and show you as His daughter why He created you.
TM: Notwithstanding, women will say they have many chores, especially if you are married – you have a home to look after, maybe you are also a career woman with a demanding job, so there is very little time to read and meditate on the word of God. There are too many distractions. How are they supposed to fulfil God’s purpose?
NM: We need the grace of God. During the course of the conference, we highlighted on how to balance – be it as career women or mothers. The starting point should be the foundation. If the foundation is not correct, whatever you are building will collapse. I remember saying that the foundation layer is your relation with God first.
Then, as a married woman, your relationship with your husband – that’s the second layer, then with your children and then your service to God in your career. When these foundations are well laid, that’s what we call grace. And, God will uphold you. There are also people that know how to kill time. As a woman, you also need to be mindful of them.
TM: Pastor, I hear you making lots of reference to married women. Is Sophia Women just for married women?
NM: NO! It’s for every woman: married, unmarried, widows, single mothers – every woman!
TM: You spoke about women liberators. There are a number of churches where women seek to stand and express their rights in the church. Is that wrong or right?
NM: Remember, we’re talking about the word of God here! The word of God is very clear. The Bible records that in the beginning, God created Adam first. Eventually, God realised that Adam needed a helper. He made him to sleep and took out his rib, and that’s how Eve came to be. And, when Apostle Paul was talking to the Ephesian church, he laid down the duties and roles of women. So, God commanded that women should be under men. He is not belittling us. We are not into slavery, no! It’s for order to prevail in the home. Remember also that Adam was the one that God gave the vision. Eve was not there.
The Bible also says the man is the head and the woman, the neck. If God had wanted the woman to be the head, he would have done it like that. Our God is an all wise, all knowing God. The fact that God created the man first and not the wife, means that they were not created in order to compete.
TM: But some women in church argue that they are the neck, and if the neck does not want to move, then the head will do nothing . . .
NM: This is meant to show that the neck carries the head, and the head is where all the reasoning and ideas are, and also to show that the man is the vision career, and the neck is what carries it for support. So, God brought us to support and not to be in front.
TM: Still, women can argue that as the neck, they can refuse to move, so that the head does not move.
NM: They are contradicting the word of God and also disobeying the word of God. God commanded that we should submit, because when the neck refuses to move, there will be problems.
I have told women that when they submit, they are the ones in charge. Once the woman submits, she will be carrying the heart of that man here (in her palm). Why, because there is an ego that God put inside a man. No man wants his ego touched.
TM: A number of women served God’s purpose in their generation, which should be an inspiration to today’s woman. Can you highlight on those?
NM: I remember mentioning Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. I told women that there are so many churches in Israel, but an angel was sent to a particular church in Nazareth. I said, let’s assume that as a young girl, Mary could have gone to Tel Aviv, but God had told the angel to go to a church in Nazareth because that is where He had located the Messiah’s mother. Mary would have missed it. That is the only purpose why Mary was created.
What are we learning from there? At times, without discerning, we miss the purpose of God for our lives.
I also said something about Ruth. The Bible tells us that she came from the land of Moab, the land that would never appear before God up to the third generation. And when God is talking about the third generation, it’s forever. But because Naomi, a Jewish woman was a foolish woman, and the reason why I say she was a foolish woman is because the Bible records that she came from Bethlehem, the land of bread, but she left a land of bread to go to a cursed land. She wasn’t discerning. The Bible records in Ruth chapter 1 that when they got to Moab, the men she went with died, showing us also that the land of Moab, is the land that eats men. That shows that Naomi never inquired from God. Although the Bible never recorded it, because of that, the heavens changed her destiny. And, Ruth took over.
Remember, God is looking for availability. Ruth was available, and willing. Once you are available and willing, God will take you to any height that you cannot imagine. That’s how Ruth came into Jesus Christ’s lineage – a Moabitess, overtaking a Jewish woman!
TM: And Lot’s wife?
NM: She missed the purpose of God for her life. The Bible records in Genesis 19 that she looked back. Why? Because she was tied to the things in Sodom and Gomorrah like some of us are tied to worldly things, and we don’t have time for God.
TM: Then there is Lydia?
NM: Lydia was a beautiful woman. The Bible records in Acts 16 that when Apostle Paul got to that place, they looked for a place of prayer. When they got to that place, there were so many women, and only one has a name – Lydia. All the others are nameless. The Bible also records that when the Word was preached, Lydia opened her heart and received it. She didn’t stop there like most of us believers who don’t take the Word to our families. She went home and the entire household received Jesus. She fulfilled her destiny. She was the gate that God used to enter her family.
TM: Maybe you can also say something about Priscilla and Aquila.
NM: Priscilla and Aquila were partners in the Lord’s work with Apostle Paul. When the Bible records them, the woman’s name comes first showing us that the call of God is upon the woman. I remember saying that if God has given you the vision as a woman, don’t ever forget that you are still a wife, a helpmate. Don’t ever brag.
Why do I say so? From Priscilla and Aquila, you will see that the two are walking together showing that wherever you want to go, even if you are opening ministries all over the world, you need to present it to the man. The only thing you need is for him to say it’s okay, God bless you.
TM: Briefly tell us about JPCM and your work in the ministry. What are you saying to women not only Sophia women?
NM: To all the women out there, I remember saying that we are born female first. Women are not born. We are born female just like babies. Then, you begin to grow and mature and become a woman. But what will make us mature and be women is when we submit to God and He will mould us through His word. It’s from a woman that you will get a wife. There are so many women that have not matured and have not allowed God to make them into women so that from there, they become wives. So, I encourage every woman that once they are born again, they should submit to God. Once we submit to Him, He knows what to do. Why do I say so? Remember, God is the one who brought up the first woman to allow Him to make us that thing that He wants us to become. God is expecting to see Godly, great and good women, but this cannot come without surrendering to Him.
TM: And, who is Pastor Mrs Madu?
NM: I am Nneka Madusolumuo, a wife to Apostle Daniel, the ministry’s vision career. We have been in Zimbabwe for 20 years, and the ministry started from a small fellowship group, and in 2002 it was fully instituted.
Apostle Madu is a full time worker (an architect), and I am a full time pastor. So, by the grace of God, we are called to contribute our own in the kingdom of God, this 21st century in the area of deliverance and to raise total men and women that will stand and declare that God is good no matter where they find themselves. I am from Nigeria, but since we are talking about purpose, God brought us here for a purpose. So, I am a Nigerian-Zimbabwean.
