Church marks 10 years in city

Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Reporter
THE UNITED Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) Bulawayo region is celebrating its 10th anniversary and to mark that milestone it will be donating goods to the less-privileged around the city. In an interview on Monday, UCCSA regional secretary Reverend Mlayo Sikhosana said the church was celebrating 10 years of existence as the Bulawayo region.
“UCCSA is the oldest church in Zimbabwe as it was originally the London Missionary Society which established the Inyathi Mission in 1859.

“In 1967 the church changed its name to UCCSA and after restructuring, the church then formed regions and in 2003 the Bulawayo region came into being,” said Rev Sikhosana.

The church’s celebrations are running under the theme: “The Lord has taken us this far”.
Rev Sikhosana said the church saw it wise to involve the less-privileged members of the community in its celebrations.
“As a church we have a responsibility to assist the less-privileged in society. The bible says ‘faith without works is dead’ and as a church we want to exercise our faith by doing tangible works to communities surrounding us,” said Rev Sikhosana.

On Monday the church donated blankets worth more than $700 to Mpilo Central Hospital.
“We want to create a permanent relationship with Mpilo Central Hospital and that donation marks the beginning of a long journey,” said Rev Sikhosana.

On Tuesday the church celebrated International Day of the Elderly with its members who are over 70 at Njube UCCSA where they had fellowship and lunch.

Yesterday the church donated to Entembeni Old People’s Home while today it would be at Ekuphumuleni Nursing Home for another donation.

Tomorrow it would round up its donations by visiting St. Francis Children’s Home and House Isaiah Children’s Home.
On Saturday the church will hold its main celebrations at Queens Sports Club.

“Our main celebrations will start with a march from City Hall at 9.30am to Queens Sport Club,” said Rev Sikhosana.
The celebrations end with a service on Sunday at the UCCSA Njube national branch.