dyton mupawaenda
YESTERDAY, we carried the tragic story of the sudden death of United Methodist Church Evangelist Norest Nyakudanga who died in Highlands on Tuesday night.
The evangelist, who was loved and respected by the church members, collapsed and died while delivering a sermon in Highlands.
As we reported, the tragedy was also witnessed by some church members who were following on Facebook.
St Peter’s Chitungwiza Evangelist, Nyakudanga, was preaching when he suddenly collapsed and died.
He was 65.
Evangelist Nyakudanga was the guest speaker at the End of Year Revival gathering at Chisipite UMC assembly.
A member of the church, who was part of the congregants in Highlands on Tuesday night, described the tragic events in a scary WhatsApp message.
She said Evangelist Nyakudanga showed no signs of illness and was so cheerful on the night he even took time to dance.
She said, in his message, Evangelist Nyakudanga had raised concern that most of the messages, which were coming out of the church, were negative and divisive ones rather than powerful messages praising the Lord.
She said the evangelist said the church was surrounded by divisive people.
We have gathered that Evangelist Nyakudanga was a man who was respected and loved by the entire UMC membership.
He was a family man and he was an exemplary leader of the church.
It’s sad and unfortunate that he has died.
But, we are all mortals and at some point in our lives we are all going to die.
Evangelist Nyakudanga did his part in a life spent preaching the word of God and converting thousands, if not millions, of souls.
What is now important is that the UMC members should embrace the powerful messages that he preached, during his lifetime, and use these messages to ensure they remain steadfastly committed to their faith.
What captured our attention was that, in his final sermon, Evangelist Nyakudanga cast a spotlight on the challenges which are confronting his church.
He was very clear that the messages, which are coming from the UMC family, were largely negative ones.
He said many of the messages were divisive ones instead of messages which praised the Lord. The evangelist also said that the church was surrounded by divisive people.
He was correct because we have seen divisions ravaging UMC in recent months, leading even to a splinter group being formed in this country and also in South Africa and other parts of the world.
Serious differences over homosexuality have been tearing the UMC into factions and this has led to a sensational split in this country after scores of the church’s members formed a splinter group.
The splinter group is led by Simon Mafunda and James Kawadza.
The UMC has been against the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy for over a century.
However, it is now permissible for gays and lesbians to be ordained as bishops or pastors and it is also now allowed to solemnise same-sex marriages in the UMC in the United States.
Online Reporter