The Sunday Mail
Tendai Manzvanzvike Divine Appointments —
GHANAIAN Evangelist Dag Heward-Mills and his team have been in Zimbabwe for more than 19 days now, holding the month-long, nationwide outreach programme known as the Healing Jesus Campaign, which he established in 2004.
Since his arrival on November 9, he has held open air crusades in Kadoma, Kwekwe, Gweru, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Gwanda and Zvishavane.
Today, they are in Masvingo before he comes to Chitungwiza, Harare, Bindura, Marondera and Mutare.
Tendai Manzvanzvike spoke with the International Campaign Director, Pastor Ebo Schwarts Ankrah about the objective of holding the crusades nationwide – 14 cities and towns, how long it took them to organise for the massive year-end event, who they are working with locally, what to expect from the campaigns, and above all, who Evangelist Heward-Mills is.
Below is part of what Pastor Ankrah shared:
“Evangelist Heward-Mills arrived on November 9 and held a press conference at a Harare hotel, which was attended by Harare Metropolitan Province Minister Miriam Chikukwa and church leaders from across denominations.
“The government of Ghana sees Evangelist Heward-Mills as a national asset, a religious ambassador. Since Ghana is a champion of regional integration, it promotes what he does.
“Through the Healing Jesus Campaign, we go from country to country, not only preaching the gospel, but also doing humanitarian and medical outreaches, which put the name of Ghana in the limelight, and unites it with all the countries we go to. So, the government of Ghana actually supports, and goes everywhere we go.”
When Zimbabwe beckoned!
“We have so far done 132 campaigns worldwide, and it is not by accident that we are here. God had planned it that at such a time as this in the history of Zimbabwe, we should be here.
“We were working towards Namibia and Evangelist Heward-Mills called me one morning and said, ‘God says, Zimbabwe now.’
“Usually, it takes about a year and six months to set up these crusades, but with this one, we just came in and started because he said it’s time, and we are believing God that after these 14 campaigns, there will be transformation.
“The first stop before we leave Ghana is the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Through the presidency, they instruct the host country, our high commission in the host country, about our arrival.
“So, what the embassy did before we came to Zimbabwe was to write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Africa Desk, informing them about the Ghanaian government’s involvement with this programme in the country.
“So, everywhere we went, we went with the consular from the Ghanaian embassy. After that, we started meeting with the pastors. We are working with all local churches and Christian organisations, where the crusade goes.
They include Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Union for Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe (UDACIZA), Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference and Heads of Denominations.
We are also working with Government, not only here, but all over the country. So, it’s a partnership of Government and the church.
What is Healing Jesus Campaign
“Healing Jesus Campaign is a non-denominational, evangelistic outreach ministry that we take from country to country, city to city and town to town.
“We do not go anywhere to do things for ourselves. We go to hold the hands of the local community, the local church and partner with them in:
1. Uniting the body of Christ, which we think is very important. Unfortunately, too many things have happened and as the body of Christ, we are sometimes found wanting – fighting among ourselves, and forgetting that we are the body of Christ. So, that is one of our main objectives.
“Our God is Bible-principled. In Genesis 11, when He came down when the people were building the Tower of Babel, He said: ‘Behold, the people is one.’ I am sure God understands and knows the English language very well, so it cannot be a grammatical error.
What God was trying to do was lay emphasis on unity, unity not just for religion or Christians, but unity that encompasses society.
“If there is no unity, development cannot take place, and that is what God was trying to say – that because ‘the people is one’, all that they have imagined to do, they will be able to do.
“We do not come with anything new. The only thing that we bring is the aura of the visitor, to use it to bring this and that side together, to activate this Bible principle.
2. “Another objective of course, is to depopulate the devil’s kingdom. We think that it is time we stand up for our Jesus, and depopulate the devil’s kingdom. People are going to hell especially in this modern way of living that we have.
God has been put aside. Unfortunately as Christians, we have positioned ourselves into small corners. But listen, if football can bring cities to a standstill, how much more Jesus?
And, that’s what we want to do for Christians – to make our Jesus look big, because He is already big, and we need to show Him as such.
It’s time that Christians do something big, to show how big our God is. Basically, this is what Jesus Healing Campaign is about.
3. “One of the things we believe and stand for in Jesus Healing Crusade is that the church’s role is to complement Government. The church is not there to fight Government.
4. “Just as Jesus went about not only preaching, but also doing good – healing the sick, we also come with what we call the medical and humanitarian outreach.
We are not doing anything now in Zimbabwe, because we were a bit late with our documentation, but we shall, if God permits, sometime next year.
The crusades
“With the open air nightly crusades, we are trying to draw people’s minds back to the gospel, which is always the main thing.
“Evangelist Heward-Mills preaches the main thing, Jesus – Him crucified. Our agenda basically is to turn people’s hearts back to the gospel, which is so simple, but we have digressed from it totally, preaching all sorts of things.
“We want to talk about Jesus who came over 2000 years ago – the Jesus of Nazareth who went about teaching and doing good, and healing people. That is the Jesus that we are talking about.
“We are not here to look for money. We are paying for everything across the 14 cities and towns that we are doing this campaign. In summary, the objectives of the Healing Jesus Crusade are:
To preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
To show love and compassion to the helpless people of this world;
To unite the body of Christ and the populace in the crusade centres; and
To promote moral regeneration amongst the populace in the crusade centres.
What to expect
“He will minister in Harare from December 2 to 4, and what was said at the press briefing on his arrival sums up what these crusades are like.
“Focusing on Harare, this phenomenal, spiritual experience will be taking place at the Robert Mugabe Square, also known as the Civic Center Grounds from 2nd December to 2016, where the Evangelist will minister the Word of God with great signs and wonders.”
Pastors’ conferences
“As part of what we do, we have what we call the Pastors and Leaders Conference – the give thyself wholly conference.
“Evangelist Heward-Mills is an international conference speaker, well-sought after all over the world.
“Something is now lacking in the world. People have forgotten about fathers. The fact that you know how to use an iPad doesn’t mean that you are wiser than your mother.
“Unfortunately, that is how we think these days. We have forgotten about fathers. We have forgotten what they went through for us to be alive, and to be where we are.
“In Christianity, we have forgotten that the Catholics and mainline churches took bullets for Christianity to be here.
“Your father’s mistakes are none of your business. It’s not your place to criticise your father.
“So, at these conferences, the Evangelist himself teaches about these things.
“He tries to direct people’s minds back to fatherhood, and how to honour fathers. It’s the father who corrects you, not the other way round.
“You can’t laugh at your father. Look at Ham, who was cursed by his father Noah. I can give you a number of examples from the Bible, which are costing Africa so much because in Africa, we don’t know how to honour fathers.
“You check most African countries – when presidents are out of power, they kill them. You go to Europe, past presidents are still there. It’s a curse for Africa.
“Therefore, there will be a ministers’ conference for all pastors and leaders desiring to be empowered to do the work of ministry on December 3, at Celebration Church International.
Who is Evangelist Heward-Mills?
“Evangelist Heward-Mills is a medical doctor by profession who trained in Ghana. After a while, God called him to ministry. He is also founder and presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International Denomination (LCI).
“A renowned author, he has written dozens of books, with 45 bestsellers, including: ‘The Art of Leadership’, ‘Loyalty and Disloyalty’, and ‘The Mega Church’.
His publications have been translated into 31 languages. Most pastors in Zimbabwe and all over the world use his books.”
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