The Sunday Mail
He oversees a young ministry, Greater Joy Worship Centre, but Reverend Edwin Masango (EM) says the vision behind the ministry is anchored on doctrinal belief that is extracted from the Word of God, which include the Trinity of God; the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; healing; working of miracles, signs and wonders; giving; family integration and mentorship. Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM) spoke with Rev Masango (pictured) about the birthing of the ministry and where he sees God taking them.
TM: What is Greater Joy Worship Centre, and who is Rev Masango?
EM: Rev Masango is the visionary of Greater Joy Worship Centre which was birthed in January 2015, though the vision was placed upon my heart by God years back. I have been a pastor since 2004 under the Evangelical Church of Zimbabwe, after completing my Bible School in 2003.
I was born in Karoi 34 years ago. My father is an elder in the Evangelical Church. I did my primary and secondary education in Karoi at Chikangwe Primary and High Schools. After my O-Levels, I did marketing for a private company. After that I had a short stint with the National Parks and Wildlife. This was when the passion to go into ministry grew, and I went to Bible School in 2000.
TM: Which Bible School?
EM: Ameva Bible College (between Kadoma and Chegutu). Since then, I had been leading a church. From Chegutu, we moved to Harare in 2010.
TM: What necessitated the move?
EM: It was to do God’s work because I have been in full time ministry under the Evangelical Church of Zimbabwe. But in January 2015, that is when we birthed Greater Joy, though Evangelical Church is our mother church.
Although we are autonomous, we still submit to Evangelical Church. They are like our fathers. And, Greater Joy is there to fulfil the passion that God has placed upon me. The Ministry’s vision is derived from Paul’s letter to Philemon 1:7, where Paul is in prison and he writes to Philemon commending him: “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.”
Thus we believe that God has called and raised us to give comfort, to rebuild and to restore lives of people and to make rediscover who they are in Christ. Basically, that is what Greater Joy is all about: restoring lives and making people refreshed in God.
TM: An autonomous ministry, but submitting to the Evangelical Church – what’s the difference? Couldn’t you still impart that greater joy under the Evangelical Church?
EM: We were not going to see it the way we wanted to. Sometimes, when you are under a ministry full time, you are under their authority and you cannot explore the passion that God has placed upon you. Secondly, the vision that you have, you might not execute it very well because they have their own vision and passion. That’s why we have said we submit, but there is this thing that God has given us. We really feel that we don’t want to cause friction in the body of Christ.
TM: So, you were released?
EM: Yes we were.
TM: And, when you say “we”, who are the “we”?
EM: Rev Masango is married to Elizabeth and we have three lovely daughters.
TM: You start a ministry at a time when lots of ministries are mushrooming and some are complaining that churches want to fleece people of their hard earned cash. Your take on that!
EM: People talk of course, but if you look at the name of our ministry, we believe that God has not called us to build denominations. God calls people to do His work. He called them to do His work. So, I believe we will not be building our empire, but we are building God’s kingdom and we are complementing what other men and women of God are doing in the field. We endeavour to touch the heartbeat of Christ by trying as much as possible to be close to the model of the New Testament church.
TM: As you do God’s work, it also comes with worldly success, and it is very easy to desire the best of what the world offers. How would you balance that success and doing God’s work?
EM: Though we might be in this scenario, I believe that as the church, we really need to be focused. Secondly, we also need to have people who constantly check on us for every Elisha has his Elijah. We need to have accountability. We need to have people who speak into our lives, people whom we listen to, people who are able to say, ‘Hey Masango, don’t do this! This is not right.’ And, I am able to listen to that person. If I don’t have such a person in my life, that’s the beginning of my downfall.
TM: Do you have such people?
EM: I have people who speak into my life: Apostle Charles Chiriseri of His Presence Ministries International. There is also Rev Tigere Nyamakawo from the Evangelical Church and I also have Bishop Musadziruma. These are the three key people, who speak into my life.
TM: I reiterate that the ministry is fairly young, although you have been ministering for some time. What is it that you want believers and non-believers to know?
EM: Though we are fairly young, we are trying to build a generation that is founded on the Word of God. Teaching the word of God is one of our fundamental areas where we put a lot of emphasis.
People need to know the Word. That is the challenge that we are facing in today’s church. People are lazy to know the Word of God. They don’t want to learn the word of God.
Some don’t even have Bibles of their own. Most people admit that they don’t understand the Bible when they read it. So, people really need to be nurtured so that when they are on their own, they can stand in their positions as children of God. Primarily, before I am a pastor, I am a child of God. That is the key thing that should drive me in whatever I do.
I do everything because I am a child of God, and I am born again of God. So, that’s what we believe in and, that is why we are in existence. Living in the Word of God should be our way of life since we are the children of God. Secondly, reading and searching Scriptures should be like our daily food because it makes us grow in God and in our relationship with Him, which is very important as children – just as a mother ensures that she breast feeds her baby.
I believe every Christian should stand firm in his faith, but this only comes when they know the Word, for the Bible says in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This means that I can never have faith by depending on somebody’s faith. You can’t grow your faith that way. It’s not sustainable. You sustain your faith by reading the Word of God and hearing the Word. It’s better to have few people who are anchored in the Word of God.
TM: Those followers, how did you get them?
EM: These are people we are winning in one-on-one evangelism. From where I was, I said people had to stay there. We are going out witnessing to people because I believe that as the church of God, we have to have impact in the world, and not impact in the body of Christ.
A lot of people have impact in the Kingdom of God and not in the world. This Easter, the major event we had was on Easter Saturday when we went to preach at Harare Central prisons. We had a good time sharing the Word with prisoners, and we felt that we had done something. After that we were at Chikurubi Maximum Prison – women’s section. People gave their lives to Christ. So, it looks like a door has been opened for us, and we believe that God is taking us somewhere.
TM: Final comments!
EM: We need to keep focusing on God because that’s where our comfort and rescue is. I’d also want to speak to our brothers and sisters in South Africa and around the globe – we are praying for them. It’s our desire to see God coming to their rescue through the systems that are there. I also want to encourage the body of Christ to stand up and go back to the fundamentals of being in Christ. Zimbabwe needs a generation that will keep on praying for the nation.
We are a blessed nation, and I believe that whatever is going on is because God has been building a people that resemble the pattern of strength. I also believe that we are a nation where people are going to come and learn how we made it. But, it needs people who are founded in the Word of God, people who keep on focused on God because that is where our help comes from.
