Anointing oil splits church

Nhlalwenhle Ncube
ORGANISATIONS dona��t split suddenly and without warning. There are usually signs of impending disaster and the signs at the Twelve Apostolic Church have been in the form of anointing oil.

Now there are two camps that could literally take the a�?a�?red sea theorya��a�� with the church split into two.

The church division came as a result of two of its bishops being ordained by the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe President Bishop Johannes Ndanga.

After the ordination, Bishop Aaron Ngwenya and Aleck Francis Dube were ordered to step down and stop leading the congregants as they were said to have gone against the churcha��s doctrine.

a�?Twelve Apostolic Church does not use anointing oil, but only holy water so the two were said to have breached the doctrine and were not eligible to be leaders.

a�?For the past weeks congregants have been unable to have services because of these divisions at the church,a�? said a source.

The two were demoted to mere congregants but refused to follow the order leading to violent clashes at the churcha��s Cowdray Park branch.

The clashes led to the closure ofA� Cowdray Park Twelve Apostolic Church and congregants moved to worship at the churcha��s headquarters in Lobengula West, where chaos erupted again.

a�?For the past weeks congregants have been unable to have services because of these divisions at the church,a�? added the source.

Twelve Apostolic Church is said to have six bishops. Four are against the twoa��s ordination by Bishop Ndanga.

One of the churcha��s ministersa�� confirmed the reports, but said only the senior bishop could shed more light.

Unfortunately, Bishop Ndlovua��s phone went unanswered. He is based in Botswana.

Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe President Bishop Johannes Ndanga confirmed having received reports about the divisions.

a�?There are two bishops who came for ordination and I just laid my hands on them and never used any oil.

a�?Ordination is something voluntary and it is a way of doing away with the so-called issue of self-styled prophets.

a�?It appears this whole thing is not about anointing oil, but political differences of bishops at the Twelve Apostolic Church,a�? said Bishop Ndanga.

The Bulawayo Co-ordinator of the ACCZ, Runyararo Kunzekweguta, said the Twelve Apostle Church bishops were never ordained as they indicated the use of oil was against their church doctrine.

a�?What I know from the Bulawayo office is that they were not ordained. I think it was Ngwenya and Dube, who refused saying they do not use olive oil. However, there is a bigger political fight there because some of the bishops said they did not want to be associated with an evil political body, hence the divisions over the ordination,a�? she said. .