The Sunday Mail
Fatima Bulla and Desire Ncube
The quest for economic security – in an era where Christianity is being sugar coated with the miracles driving the so-called prosperity gospel – is behind the “double dipping” behaviour of church goers who attend both mainline and charismatic movements.
The emerging charismatic churches, which place much emphasis on instant miracles and prosperity, has seen many Christians alternating between their traditional places of worship and these new groupings.
An emerging trend is for Christians to maintain membership in their traditional churches while also visiting the charismatic movements in search of prosperity and miracles. Christians have also been known to attend both chruch and resort to traditional religion depending on the context.
Mainline churches are characterised by sizeable community-based congregations and are rooted in the systems set up by missionaries decades ago. These systems are credited for ensuring close links between church leadership and members.
Churches like Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, United Methodist and Anglican are among those that keep strong community relations. For example, in times of need and bereavements, the church leadership actively assists members and provide some sort of social security.
It is for this and other reasons that people maintain their membership of traditional chruches.
On the other hand, the charismatic movements often do not have such systems and congregants are not drawn from a homogenous community; coming from far and wide to seek miracles.
Roman Catholic diocese of Harare’s Father Joseph Mahlahla said studies on Pentecostalism showed these had much success among the poor.
He admitted that many Catholics would, after Sunday mass, trek to the churches led by “prophets”.
“Their approach (charismatic movements) seems to be very appealing, they seem to have immediate solutions to problems that people are facing. When people are suffering and someone promises relief or solutions, they run there,” said Fr Mahlahla. He said they had stepped up catechisms to retain membership in the Roman Catholic Church.
“It is church policy that before baptism one should be catechised. We have been doing that as a formality but now I think we need to be more serious, reaching even baptised senior church members.”
Reverend Noel Magaya of St Paul Anglican Church in Highfield, Harare said inasmuch as traditional churches were affected by modern charismatic movements, they were certain things would revert to normal once people realised they were being given temporary solutions to permanent problems.
“You will find that it is much easier to call your pastor when you are in need of his help in traditional churches than there (in charismatic movements). Therefore, people might go there but eventually they will come back.”
Pentecostal churches like Prophet Healing and Deliverance Ministries led by Prophet Magaya and Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family International Church are known to attract over 5 000 congregants per service.
This means very few congregants can communicate directly with the church leader.
A United Methodist Church pastor, who declined to be named, said a way must be found to engage Christians who are going to charismatic movements without being confrontational.
“In fact I have since realised that today when a non-believer begins to show interest in Christianity, more often than not, they are looking at the charismatic movement.
“The worship in charismatic churches seems enjoyable and in some sense the church settings exhibit a modern sense of professionalism in all aspects.” Methodist Church in Zimbabwe’s Rev Tawanda Sungai said many members were going to charismatic churches but often returned for help when confronted by problems like death in the family.
“The major concern in these Pentecostal churches is that most of them are going there for prosperity, diverting from the core business of Christianity – which is salvation. Yes we all need good things, but first things first like what the Bible says,” Rev Sungai said.
But Anglican Diocese of Harare Bishop Chad Gandiya said church leaders should not force people to worship with them.
He said the most important thing was to teach the truth and allow people to make personal decisions.
“When one decides to go to Pentecostal churches let him or her go, if you know that what you taught is sound then there is nothing to fear,” said the Anglican leader.
Seventh-day Adventist national education secretary Pr Felix Njini said it was rare for their members to troop to charismatic churches.
“If an Adventist decides that he or she no longer wants to go to church they usually prefer to stay at home. This is because of our doctrine, which is Bible-rooted. Before baptism one undergoes 52 weeks of learning the fundamentals not of Adventism but of Christianity,” said Pr Njini.
Apostle Clarence Nyariri, leader of Glorious Fire Family International in Bindura, said the same structures found in traditional churches had now been established in theirs.
“For example United Family International Church has many pastors. Those pastors are the ones who should be near the people helping them in all aspects. If someone has a problem they don’t have to go to Prophet Makandiwa direct, but the pastors are the ones who are supposed to be assisting.
“Can you imagine if Prophet Makandiwa says I will attend every funeral or wedding of his congregates? It will be disaster.”
He conceded that Pentecostal pastors needed more coaching in relating with people.
“The church changes with time. There are some revelations which were not known even during Jesus time but those revelations were later known and where adopted. After the first church there was what was called the Dark Ages, when Emperor Constantine joined the church. He diluted the truth because he wanted to be popular – that was when the Roman Catholic Church was formed.”
He said when people realised that the church had diverted from truth, they rebelled against the system and that was where persecution started.
“And around 1500 Martin Luther discovered the truth that ‘the just shall live by faith’ gospel of grace. That time the Catholic Church was preaching that if one wants to go to Heaven he or she must pay indulgences to be forgiven. That is the time we see the rise of people like John Wesley, Peder Palladius, Johannes Pappus and Matthew Parker among many others.
“Around 1906 Pentecostalism started in Europe with the likes of Charles Pehom and in the 20th century we saw the rise of Billy Graham. All these years the church was moving, that is when miracles reappeared,” he said.
Pr Nyariri said the modern church was undergoing a prophetic revival and soon there would be an apostolic revival.
He, however, highlighted the importance of the prosperity gospel.
“We preach prosperity because the whole Bible is full of it, there is nothing amiss about preaching it. The church has moved this is the correct gospel of the day.
“One other element is that the church should preach the gospel that is ‘catchy’. This is because we want more people to come to the glory of God.”
