The Sunday Mail
When crowds flock to a church, does it mean they are bona fide congregants or is there a distinctive difference between crowds and true members of a ministry?
How does a church attract huge congregations? These were some of the issues that Apostle Rushworthy Ngondonga (RN) an aircraft engineer and founder of Acts Revival Ministries, deals with in this interview with Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM).
TM: The first time I saw your ministry’s name, I automatically thought of the Acts of the Apostles. What is the story behind the name of your ministry?
RN: “Acts” according to the Bible was supposed to be acts of the Holy Spirit. However, it became Acts of the Apostles and if you carefully examine that book, you will see that it is a book of activity done by the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit in their pursuit to fulfil the Great Commission.
That is when the gospel became practical. All the things that Jesus had taught them as recorded in the four gospels became practical in the book of Acts. Jesus taught that if they asked anything from Him in His name it would be done. So, when we get into Acts, we see a lot of activity because they were now filled with the Holy Spirit and when you are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit you start doing the supernatural.
TM: How did you get to have the name?
RN: Our ministry’s name is from the scriptures because if Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, we seek a revival like in the past. We want to see the sick healed, the lame walking, those that feel hopeless coming to Jesus and having their lives transformed. We desire to see people delivered from bondage and so our mission is to spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to every creature as commanded by our Lord Jesus.
TM: And is this what is happening in your church?
RN: Yes, but when a revival is starting, it’s usually on a small scale. We have quite a number of testimonies of people delivered, for example marriage problems, people getting jobs after long searches. This gives value to the worship of God than just having worship, worship without any responses. After a period of worship, there should be some tangible results. Remember that the early church actually got into trouble because of the results of their worship. They demonstrated to unbelievers that the name of Jesus had power to heal even crippled people. And they would say that they had only used the name of Jesus. When there is a true Church of Jesus Christ people cannot remain silent. But when there is a dead church, nobody talks.
TM: When did the ministry start?
RN: We started on February 5, 2012. I was coming from the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe where I was a preacher for ten years and then in 2010 I moved to a deliverance ministry in Gweru. After that Acts Revival Ministries was born, although the ministry’s vision is now a decade old.
TM: Why did you move?
RN: When I first moved, it was because as a preacher, I had come so close to John Wesley’s materials. When I looked at the current situation, I saw that we were no longer following his vision. Wesley actually believed in healing, but in the modern church, they don’t. They think that if someone says they are healed, they are faking it.
Because of that, my heart was not satisfied. You expect God to be tangible and you expect the church to make a difference; not to be a church with a set of rules and regulations to be followed.
You also don’t want a situation where people just go to church for what they can get. When God does something it drives people to worship Him more. So, I left and went to a deliverance ministry.
However, I also experienced the extreme of the preaching of the gospel, where even a toothache and anything funny that happens were associated with demonic forces. Responsibility was taken away from man. Everything was demonic. Whenever the church gives in to extremes, there are dangers. Because of those extremes, people in the church started accusing each other of witchcraft. When people begin to point fingers at each other, then you know that there is no longer any spirit of love. Even the deliverance becomes mechanical where people crank some demons in order to demonstrate deliverance.
TM: People say that in some cases you see a man of God struggling to cast out a demon and making a person fall, and in some cases it looks like people are acting . . .
RN: In our case we believe that if God wants a person to go down, he will go down. We minimise contact with a person using our hands. We lay hands when we are ministering healing.
The funny thing (in some cases) is that after you fall down, you wake up and go home and your situation has not changed. So, the preaching of the gospel is not in making people fall down, but in ministering a word that will transform their souls so that they begin to avoid the things that they are doing.
TM: What led you to start your ministry?
RN: It would be unfair for me to blame the two churches. The simple reason is that I was hungry. I desired a practical system, which would also not neglect the spiritual. An example being that of someone that is in debt. It’s not for me to just go and say to the spirit “come out”.
If I do that, I will not have addressed the need in that person to want to get things on credit. If I give the person enough biblical teaching about debt, and also teach them about not being greedy and learning to be content with what they have, then I’d have helped them and taken them out of debt.
The gospel calls for us to be radical about issues that affect a person, because it’s not a demon that went to get a debt, but you yourself who made that decision.
This is why when God visited Adam in the Garden of Eden, he said: “What is it that you have done?” He didn’t say, “What have you been made to do?” It means, be responsible. So, men and women are called by God to be responsible.
TM: You are a young preacher (30) leading a growing church. How do you cope with issues of materialism, organisational administration and structures?
RN: It’s true that in this generation the church has become a very easy way to success and popularity. Be that as it may, if you look at the nature of the gospel, you will see that it attracts the good and the bad. So, some unsavoury characters take advantage since people do not question.
I can start to say that this is coming from God when it is coming from me, but people hardly question that. That’s abusing people.
In our case, we sat down and I communicated my vision to the church leadership and I told them our goal and what we want to achieve. Because of that, we set up an administrative structure that is able to exist without me.
If the church depends on Apostle Ngondonga only, then it will not survive after him. He should have people whom he can send out and who can do things on his behalf and at the same time, on behalf of the Holy Spirit. So, we have organised ourselves and we have many departments we are trying to grow, and we have leaders whom we are trying to grow as well.
We have also entrusted our vision to vision bearers and they act according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit. So in our church, it’s not Ngondonga’s church, but a group of people trying to do the right thing, trying to move for Jesus, trying to preach the gospel to all generations.
If you are going to be a leader you are going to be tested. Are you going to stand for the Lord?
In terms of growth, there was a time when crowds were flocking to our church – 200 to 300, but during that phase, God would still say to me, “you don’t have a congregation”. And, I would ask Him when I was going to have a congregation, if the 300 were not mine?
I would have a congregation by teaching the gospel and the people who understand the gospel; those would be the members of the church! So, there is a difference between crowds and true members of the ministry.
In part 2 Apostle Ngondonga will speak about how he sees the ministry impacting Chitungwiza, how church history in Zimbabwe has affected the growth of the church, and how ministries should work in unity to address issues affecting people.
Events calendar
Event: Razaruka Total Entry Conference 2014 – Open Heaven Christ Assemblies Church
Dates: August 29 to 30
Venue: Matinunura High School, Mkoba, Gweru
Guest speakers: Apostle Ray T. Tshitake (SA), Alec Chirenjara
Hosts: Senior Pastors Richard and Lorine Matabuka
Contact: +263772772932, +263772816593
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Event: Apostolic/Prophetic Conference – Harvest House International Church
Dates: August 25 to 31
Venue: ZITF Hall 4, Bulawayo
Theme: Perpetuating the spirit of leadership and sonship
Speakers: Bishop Tudor Bismark; Bishop Dag Heward-Mills (Ghana); Prophet B. Douglas (New Zealand); Bishop C. Chiwaka (Botswana)
Hosts: Apostles Colin and Sarah Nyathi
Contact: +263 9 881131-3; +263 772268830; +263 772609919
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Event: Anointed Water Service – Assigned Ministers Ministries International (AMMI)
Date: August 31
Venue: Mbare Netball Complex, Harare
Theme: Anointed Water Day 3 . . . Drinking your Solution
Host: Apostle Freshman R. Gwasira
Contact: [email protected]
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Event: Pastors and Prayer Leaders’ Summit – Intercessors for Zimbabwe
Dates: September 4 to 6
Venue: Assemblies of God, Gwabalanda, Luveve (Byo)
Theme: Building prayer altars for our cities (Acts 6:4)
Time: 8:30am to 9pm; 8:30am to 1pm
Speakers/Facilitators: Rev John Chimbambo; Pastor Ian Joule; Bishop G. Mkwananzi; Prof. D.D. Rafael Monnakgotsi (Botswana)
Contact: 0773786295; 0772319325
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Event: Restoration of All Nations Church of God – Official Launch
Dates: August 31
Venue: Mt Hampden (near clinic)
Time: 9am to 4pm
Host: Apostle U. Maseko
Contact: +263 782110867; +263 773162938
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Event: Catch the Fire International Conference – Heartfelt International Ministries
Dates: August 25 to 29
Venue: City Sports Centre
Theme: Chatsvaa!!!
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Hosts: Apostle Tavonga and Pastor C. Vutabwashe
Contact: +2634 785906-08; +26342917995; +263 772102601
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Event: Crusade – AFM Zimbabwe, El Shaddai Ruwa Assembly
Dates: September 29 to October 4
Venue: El Shaddai Ruwa Assembly, Damafalls Phase 4 (Pabooster)
Time: 6pm to 9pm
Theme: Exodus 2
Guest speakers: Dr A. Madziyire; Overseer C. Chiangwa; Overseer M. Mashumba; Evangelist Amai Chiweshe
Contact: +263 772919349; +263 774550437
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Event: Charismatic Conference 4 – AFM Zimbabwe Springvale Assembly
Dates: September 15 to 21
Venue: Prophetic Arena Grounds (just before Ruwa supermarket)
Time: 6pm to 9pm
Guest speakers: Pastor E. Chirombe (SA); Bishop B. Manjoro
Host: Rev Oliver Makomo
Contact: [email protected]
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Event: Esthers for the Nation Zimbabwe Conference (Interdenominational)
Dates: October 8 to 10
Venue: Dutch Reformed Hall, Samora Machel Avenue
Theme: Walking by the Spirit
Host: Evangelist Beaullah Machiri
Contact: +263 783283652
Please email forthcoming events to: [email protected] by mid-day of Tuesday of each working week.
