The Sunday Mail
It seems like only yesterday that Bishop Albert Chikuni was a thriving banker far removed from the man who now fellowships in Harare Gardens with Family Life Ministries International. Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM), caught up with Bishop Chikuni (AC) for a chat on his quest for knowledge, friendship with Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa and the state of the church in Zimbabwe.
TM: Is Family Life Ministries part of an international body?
AC: Family Life Ministries International is purely Zimbabwean and was founded on April 4, 2010. I was born again in the Family of God church in 1994 under Prophet Andrew Wutawunashe while working in Mutare. When I came to Harare in 2005, where I was working for an international bank, that’s when God told me to resign and go into full-time ministry. Then, I was with Glad Tidings Fellowship, Westgate.
TM: You left a banking career to start a ministry?
AC: I am a banker by experience, a marketer by profession and a shepherd by calling.
TM: What do you mean, especially on that last one?
AC: A shepherd by calling, because God called me to impart knowledge on his children as He says in Hosea 4:6, that my people are perishing for lack of knowledge, since you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you. So, on that one, God instructed me to impart knowledge.
TM: Why did you leave an established ministry to start your own?
AC: I once answered someone saying I have two children. Obviously, they are my children, and they will remain my children. But at some point in life, I have no choice but to release them to start their own families, no matter how much I love them.
TM: Do you still have links with both FOG and Glad Tidings?
AC: Yes. Last year in January I preached at Glad Tidings (the branch where I came from). The other thing to note is that Family Life never started as a result of a split and there is no one who has negative feelings on Chikuni for stealing their sheep. I have ministered in many churches but the spirit of church splitting has never followed me.
One of my mentors, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, says in “Ministerial Ethics” that you cannot destroy somebody’s house and take the bricks to build your own. He said you find your own bricks and that’s what I did with Family Life.
Family Life is not a very big ministry and I’m glad to say that three-quarters of my congregants say I’m their first pastor. They had never been pastored before. I’m doing it gradually just like Jesus did. Actually, if you want to do ministry work, you must do it the way Jesus did it.
And how did Jesus do it? He selected people who were not even qualified, people who were professionals in other areas and told them to leave what they were doing. So as Family Life, leadership development is the first thing to do before reaching the world.
And, if God has called you, I don’t think that you should cause confusion in the body of Christ.
There are so many people in Harare – about 1,6 million – and I don’t think there is a pastor who can say they have preached enough in Harare even with a 50 000-member congregation.
TM: What is your doctrine?
AC: I believe that in the Christian faith, elementary doctrine is found in Hebrews 6:1. Those are foundational teachings that must first be established. We cannot build without establishing a firm foundation because whatever we are going to build will collapse.
Christ is our foundation as Matthew 16:18 says, “upon this rock I will build my church”. The revelation of Jesus Christ is the rocky foundation of the church. In John 8:32 it says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” So, there is freedom in knowledge.
I can summarise what I teach. In Genesis 3, the first temptation when the devil approached Eve was: Did God really say that you may not eat of any tree in the garden? So, what was that? It was an inquiry into knowledge.
The first temptation was an inquiry into knowledge. There is no way we can run away from knowledge. I believe in knowledge more than anything else because the first temptation was an inquiry into knowledge.
If Eve knew exactly what God had said, then the devil would not have anything to do with her. In other words, ignorance separates us from God. Ignorance is the licence that the devil uses to destroy mankind, whilst knowledge is the licence that God uses to bless mankind. (Ephesians 4:18)
The devil has access to your life through ignorance, while God has access to your life through knowledge. (Ephesians 3:20)
TM: And it’s for you to make a choice . . .
AC: Yes! If you get into more scriptures, Ecclesiastes 12:9 talks about a wise preacher and I want to be a wise preacher, not a foolish one. What does the Bible say about a wise preacher? Ecclesiastes 12:9 says, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, not miracles, not prophecies, not deliverance, though they are necessary. So, what do people require? Knowledge! What are we gathering for? Knowledge!
Whenever I see people, I want to impart knowledge.
I also believe in writing when God speaks to me. I don’t go into prayer without a notebook and a pen. When God speaks, then I write because there is a tendency of forgetting. If God made available His word in a written form, He has not changed. So, when He speaks to me, then I have to write it down.
That’s why it’s mandatory for any of my children that they have to come to church with a Bible, notebook, a pen, an offering and a friend. Those are the five important things that you are supposed to bring to church. Bishop Chikuni believes in knowledge more than anything, and I have seen many people getting their deliverance through knowledge.
So the duty of the prophet is also to point people to pastors that were called by God to equip them with knowledge.
TM: Is this what is happening in the church in Zimbabwe?
AC: I don’t know, but I am just referring to the instruction Jeremiah got from God. But, everyone is important in the body Christ. We need apostles, evangelists, pastors, prophets and teachers.
I’ve been asked before whether we still have prophets in this era, and I said that if Jesus called some to be apostles and some prophets, why should we deny the ministry that was given to us by Jesus? There are people that have been called to be prophets. I believe what the Bible says that some people have been called into the prophetic office.
TM: Which college did you go to?
AC: I did a Higher National Diploma in Pastoral and Prophetic Studies with Harvest House International.
TM: The year 2014 is coming to a close. How have you seen it – the work of the body of Christ, and other areas? Have there been synergies?
AC: I have told you that for three-quarters of my members, I am their first pastor. The other quarter comes from other ministries. It may be advantageous to receive members from other ministries, but the body of Christ won’t grow that way.
If I were to get 1 000 members from Glad Tidings, it may seem as if I’m doing a great job, and then 5 000 coming from FOG, and then we have 6 000. It might seem as though we are doing a great job. But according to Christ, I have not done the work that He has called me to do. There is no increase. That’s the problem with the body of Christ today.
TM: Why do people move from one ministry to another? What are they looking for?
AC: Ephesians 4:11-14 says are there no movements there? Don’t we have a scripture that explains such? It reads: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine (mamhepo) by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; For your information, I am moved by a preacher that imparts knowledge.”
TM: The huge crowds? What is behind it all?
AC: If you look at Jesus, what attracted the huge crowd was the need to learn from the master Himself. It says in John 6:2 that, “And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.” So, it is the nature of great multitude to follow miracles.
John 6:26 also says, “Jesus answered them and said, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.’
So, according to this scripture, people generally want to follow miracles and provisions (benefits of the Kingdom).
In another scripture Paul said I seek not yours but you. Paul sought the Lord and not the benefits of the Lord unlike many today.
As a preacher I do not want to get into the trap of pleasing man to get their approval. It is far better to please God than to please man. Let us please the one who called us. And John 6:60 says, “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?”
If you read further when Jesus began to teach, He lost a lot of people. They were offended by the truth.
We have people unsatisfied with their pastors. The Bible talks about people who will appear. In Deuteronomy 13:1 God says, “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
There will appear a preacher spitting stones from his mouth, and people will rush to him because they’ve never seen it before. After a year or so, another one rises from another corner, this one is not spitting stones but water, and they will say, we are tired of stones, let us rush to that one spitting water.
While they are there, there is another one who is also rising from another corner spitting fire, and they say, we go for him. So, it’s the same people: from the stones, to the water, to the fire and to the wind, to the smoke. Whatever appears!
So, as pastors, we end up with fans and not disciples.
TM: And, you’d be like Hollywood stars?
AC: Yes, we’ve become Hollywood stars. That’s why I believe in knowledge more than anything, because the Bible in 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “study to show yourselves approved, a workman who is not ashamed but who correctly interprets the word of truth, or who correctly handles the word of truth.”
I must do as Jesus did, to raise disciples out of people, because heaven is for disciples, not for church members (John 14). The last thing that Jesus said was, Go and make disciples, so, are we making disciples?
TM: I came across a number of references that you’re Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s best friend. Can you comment on that?
AC: The reports are true, and it shall remain like that.
