The Sunday Mail
THOUSANDS of people are expected to throng Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family International Church’s 10th anniversary celebrations which will see various preachers and musicians gracing the event.
UFIC spokesman Pastor Prime Kufa said the church will celebrate the milestone with a conference and dinner.
The anniversary will be held under the theme, ‘‘UFIC @ 10’’ at the church’s Chitungwiza Basilica between August 24 and 26 2018.
Pst Kufa recently told journalists that, “We are expecting a bumper crowd just like we always experience at our conferences where there will be a feast of teaching, music and dance. It will be something out of this world. There will certainly be thousands of international visitors, which in part is a contribution towards religious tourism.”
The UFIC spokesman said since August 2008, the church continued to grow with Sunday and Tuesday services attended by multitudes of Christians seeking the face of God.
He narrated, “Our tremendous journey began on 17 August 2008, when we had our first service at the Anglican Cathedral in the (Harare) central business district. We only managed to hold two services and we were oversubscribed. There was no space. We were thrown out of the venue and we move to the state lottery hall where we held our Sunday and Tuesday services.
“We had our first conference at the City Sports Centre in 2009 and it was packed. The venue had been abandoned and we cleaned it. The church grew rapidly until we bought tents from China. UFIC has grown to become one of the biggest churches and now hosts three services on Sundays — couples, Shona and youth services — to accommodate the huge numbers.
“The secret of UFIC’s success is our leaders Prophet Makandiwa and Prophetess Ruth; everything hinges on leadership because if they are not upright then the church cannot stand.”
The church has branches across the country and in other jurisdictions such as Botswana, South Africa, United Kingdom, Australia and Zambia.
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Pst Kufa revealed some of the challenges the church was facing.
“We have challenges in accessing land to build churches, especially in towns and cities except for Bulawayo and Mutare. Rural areas are relatively easier to get land,” he said.
“There has been tremendous progress in the construction of our Chitungwiza church, it’s about 80 percent complete. The Chitungwiza Basilica was delayed by at least two years due to some technicalities. Prophet Makandiwa and his wife Prophetess Ruth are paying from their resources for the construction of the church. UFIC will then fund the building of the main church in Mt Hampden.”
In its 10-year journey, UFIC has assisted thousands of people through free medical services, payment of school fees to orphans under the charity arm — Agape.
Prophet Makandiwa has also ministered healing to the sick as well as several prophecies.
