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Sunday News Reporter
THE Apostolic Faith Church in Southern Africa begins its 61st annual camp meeting today with thousands of congregants from the entire Sadc region converging on the church regional headquarters in Bulawayo’s Pelandaba suburb.
The annual convention, which is expected to draw more than 3 000 congregants from the country’s 10 provinces and countries in the Sadc region, ends on 1 January 2017. Last year, the camp meeting ran under the theme: “The second coming of Jesus Christ” whose scriptures were taken from the Books of Matthew 24 and Hebrews 12.
The church overseer, Reverend Richard Sibanda will officially open the camp meeting. The church leadership has openly called for the removal of illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, saying they were causing untold suffering to the Zimbabwean populace.
The church, commonly known as Ivangeli/Vhangeri, has a large following in the entire Sadc region. It was founded in 1955 by the late Reverend Morgan Sengwayo.
Rev Sengwayo’s son, Freedom who is also late, was a renowned religious figure and a gospel musician. He was also one of the country’s pioneer gospel singers famed for his anti-apartheid hit song Thula Sizwe, which was composed in the early 1970s.
Bongani Ndlovu