Church fulfils founder’s vision…Commissions bus in style

THE Apostolic Faith Mission of Africa (AFMA), one of the country’s biggest religious organisations in terms of following, on Saturday, fulfilled the vision of its late founder, Reverend Morgan Sengwayo when it commissioned a 68-seater brand-new luxury bus for its missionary trips.

The custom-built Marcopolo bus, which was procured in South Africa at a cost of R6 million, was assembled according to the church’s specifications.
The funds were raised by congregants drawn from all corners of Zimbabwe.

The bus was commissioned at the church’s headquarters in Lobengula Extension in Bulawayo during a colourful ceremony dubbed “Marcopolo Thanksgiving Revival”.

Scores of AFMA followers, some from as far as the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa, attended the event, which was punctuated by spirit-filled sermons and melodious music provided by the church’s main choir “The Gospel Team.”

Residents of Lobengula Extension including other neighbouring suburbs such as Pelandaba and Njube watched in awe as scores of AFMA congregants’ flooded Hyde Park Road near Sizane Turn-off to welcome the bus as it made its way to the church.

The church leader, Rev Rosewell Zulu cut the ribbon before unveiling a plaque to mark the official commissioning of the bus emblazoned with the words “Christian Youth Crusaders and Good News Crusaders.”

Rev Zulu said the commissioning of the bus is a culmination of Rev Sengwayo’s vision of spreading the Gospel across Zimbabwe including beyond the country’s borders.

“We bought this bus from South Africa at a cost of R4,2 million and when we add all the other costs such as import duty and getting it here, the figure gets to over R6 million. The bus was built from scratch according to our own specifications,” he said.

“To us as a church, this marks the realisation of a broader vision by our founder Rev Sengwayo whose vision was to see the Gospel being promulgated throughout the country and beyond our borders. All this work was made possible through generous contributions from our congregants.”

He said the bus would be used specifically to carry congregants whenever travelling for their missionary trips.

“We thank the Almighty God for this wonderful asset that he has blessed us with. This Marcopolo bus was bought solely for the purpose of spreading the Word of God. Jesus said ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,” said Rev Zulu.

“We want people to be able to go anywhere and visit everyone to spread the good news of salvation, near and far. Time is no longer with us, these are the end times and Jesus wants everyone to repent.”

When a Chronicle news crew visited the church on Sunday, congregants could not hide tears of joy as they joined their leader in boarding the bus just to have a feel of it.

Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) Vice Chancellor Engineer Dr Quinton Kanhukamwe who was among the congregants, could not hide his excitement.

“I am feeling extremely excited as we see the leadership that has come through Rev Sengwayo, making sure the work of the Gospel is sustained. I am personally happy because this basically means that we have no limitations to where we can go, we are now able to reach all the corners, not only in

Zimbabwe but even within the Sadc region,” he said.

“This has always been the wish of our overseer to make sure that there is no place that is left behind in terms of preaching the Gospel of Jesus

Christ.”Another congregant, Mrs Sheila Ncube said: “We are quite excited as members of this church and can you imagine, I could not sleep on Friday night because of excitement following the arrival of our bus. We really do not have enough words to thank our leader, Rev Zulu.”

Mr Sehlule Nyathi said that the vehicle will go a long way in addressing some of the challenges the church faced in terms of accessing some remote parts of the country.

“To us as members of the church, the commissioning of the bus is historic and we thank God for answering our prayer. Now that we have a bus, the next thing is to spread the Word of God,” he said.

The late Rev Sengwayo, father to the late renowned Gospel musician, Freedom Sengwayo, founded the church in 1955. He died in March 1982, and the late former Vice President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo was the main speaker at his funeral.