In the providence of God, we are presently planting a new church in Harare. As far as we know, it is the only Reformed Baptist church in Zimbabwe.
I have been preaching here since 1999, having studied at the London Reformed Baptist Seminary from 1998 to 1999.
I am married to Plaxedes; we have seven children — four boys and three girls.
As you may be aware from the high media profile of Zimbabwe, our country has severe economic problems, resulting in both high unemployment and high mortality. This means that our church is much involved in benevolent work.
Growth
The church is still young, with relatively few attending, but it is growing spiritually. We hold services in a shelter behind the pastor’s house. These include Sunday services, Sunday school, seminars, and evangelistic meetings.
Other services are held in other places. These include camp meetings for Christians and non-Christians (and their families) held twice a year.
We seek to stand firm on the doctrines of grace and long to see these truths widely spread, understood, and embraced in Zimbabwe.
Old paths
We are deeply concerned about the tide of false teaching that has engulfed the churches in our land, including that emanating from the Charismatic movement.
It is only through a recovery of the doctrines of grace that the churches here can be turned back again to the ‘old paths’ of biblical truth.
Many of Zimbabwe’s churches today have become places of entertainment. Such a development signals a lack of faith in almighty God and a lack of confidence in the truth of the gospel.
Nevertheless, we have been much encouraged by the Lord, who has given us contacts with people from both rural and urban areas who want to listen to the gospel of grace.
We pray that the Lord will bless the continued dissemination of his precious doctrines.
Hunger
We also find that many people in Harare contacted by our church are amazed at the insight into biblical truths given by the doctrines of grace, and they are hungry for more.
We continue to receive invitations to teach the Word of God to church groups of other theological backgrounds. In turn we invite them to our own seminars and Bible studies.
We are very concerned about the lack of sound Christian literature in Zimbabwe. To help remedy this problem, we have been using booklets by Dr Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.
These are in big demand — we would appreciate help from other Christians who want to support us in making sound literature available here.
We now have The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith written in our own language (Shona). This has proved helpful.
Dedicated
We are praying that, as a church, we will be wholly dedicated to the Lord, ready to do anything for him and, in short, be true biblical Christians.
The Zambian Reformed Conference, to which Pastor Conrad Mbewe of Kabwata Baptist Church recently invited us, was most encouraging.
Such a conference can play a strategic role in fostering gospel work in spiritually barren areas like Zimbabwe.
