The Sunday Mail
More than 3 000 people are expected to witness the United Methodist Church’s West Conference dedication of their new headquarters in Milton Park, Harare.
UMC Zimbabwe deputy administrative assistant Reverend Alan Gurupira told The Sunday Mail Religion that the new state-of-the-art offices would be officially dedicated to God by church leader, Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa. He said the multi-million dollar headquarters was built with assistance from America’s UMC Baltimore and Washington annual conferences.
Construction work took one year and eight months to complete, and among people expected at today’s dedication are Minister of State for Harare Miriam Chikukwa.
“Our church national leader, Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa will be officiating at the dedication of this house on Sunday (today). We will be celebrating what God has done through us for the past two years,” said Rev Gurupira.
UMC Zimbabwe is divided into the West and East conferences.
The church is building another structure in Mutare under the East Conference, Rev Gurupira said.
“The average time for constructing such a structure is more or less 10-15 years, but within 18 months we had finished ours.
“This shows the zeal and eagerness the church has for the work of God. Everybody willingly participated, church members based overseas as well as young children actively participated.
“It was all because the Lord was inspiring his people to donate towards this project, this is the time to say God look what we have done through you. “It has become tradition that church buildings such as temples, offices or private properties are dedicated to God in a bid to consecration them.
“The practice was adopted from King Solomon as evidenced in 2 Chronicles 7 and 1 Kings 8 when he dedicated the Temple he had built for the Lord,” said Rev Gurupira.
Bishop Nhiwatiwa said UMC Zimbabwe had embarked on a massive evangelism programme targeting areas like Matebeleland and Midlands provinces.
