adminMercy Ngwebvu and Tendai Gukutikwa
A LOCAL Pentecostal Church, Kingdom Shakers Ministry is targeting rural areas to try and eradicate poverty by delivering the rural folk from traditional spiritual bondages and prostitution which according to the founder of the church, Prophet Innocent Muchirahondo, are the main sources of sins that have infested the people.
“Our main focus is on popularising the gospel by delivering any kind of bondages mainly traditional bondages and prostitution which have become an epidemic among rural folks,” said Prophet Muchirahondo.
He said that the rural folks were living in traditional bondages where they do not even know or completely ignore God’s existence and that was the reason why they were targeting them so that they could also see the light.
The ministry which celebrated its second anniversary last Sunday has also ventured into uplifting the rural communities through the provision of food and clothing to the less privileged, mainly widows and orphans.
“Social responsibility is also part of our vision. We are currently paying school fees for a handful of orphans here in Odzi and we have just opened a new branch in Chibuwe in which we desire to follow the same route of uplifting the community.
“Our biggest goal is to partner with bigger companies to sponsor these community development projects,” he said.
He also told The Manica Post that the church was pro-Government and adheres to the precepts of the constitution, adding that his ministry had changed lives in Odzi.
Said Prophet Muchirahondo: “Our ministry is God centred, but everything we do is legit. We abide by the country’s laws and respect the provisions of the constitution. We have gained considerable ground as Kingdom shakers because we have witnessed a lot of people turning to Christ because of the work we are doing for the Lord. Police at Odzi Police Station even confirmed that the crime rate in this area has somewhat decreased since the inception of our church.”
Amidst all praises, however, criticism has not been left behind for the Kingdom Shakers Ministries like any other Pentecostal church.
Prophet Muchirahondo indicated that Satanism suspicions and accusations had at one time surrounded his ministry to the extent that a councillor of in the area had to attend their Easter conference just to find out if the accusations were true.
“Because the status quo of most traditional churches does not involve crying as one prays and speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit coming directly to the congregation, it became a challenge to convince most people that we are true servants of God.
“Satanism suspicions arose and we were labelled Satanists, but the councillor intervened. He visited us and by the grace of God he declared that we were ideal candidates for a church stand here in Odzi,” said Prophet Muchirahondo.
As is the norm in Pentecostal churches, all pastors and prophets have their spiritual fathers to which they pay their own tithes to, men who would have ushered them into the ministry and ordained them to become leaders of their own ministries.
However, Prophet Muchirahondo, said he did not have a spiritual father, but referred to those men who ushered him and ordained him as his mentors.
“My mentors are Prophet William Mundi of Christ Ministries in Bulawayo and Prophet Innocent in South Africa. These two men are not my spiritual fathers as some would refer to them, but my mentors because they have been there all the way in my ministerial journey and I respect them for that.”
Several members of Kingdom Shakers Ministries in the Odzi area testified of how they had been delivered from different spiritual bondages by the man of God. Ndaneta Mandura who was a sex worker before she was delivered and has since changed her name to Sister Annointed testified that the ministry had transformed her life for the better and that it was God who had anointed the ‘man of God’ to deliver her and a whole lot other sinners.
“I was delivered in February 2014 and before then I was a regular at all night clubs because I was a sex worker. I would pick up different men every night and get paid for my services. I was a negligent single mother, ignoring all the needs and wants of my child, but I want to thank the Lord that I am now a responsible mother and a very successful cross-border trader,” said Mandura who has since joined the church’s praise and worship team.
Another congregant, Samantha England, who was bedridden for the past three years and was healed after Prophet Muchirahondo visited her had nothing, but praises to the man of God and his ministry. “I had a problem with my womb for three years and I was bedridden. I had changed churches and healers in the vain hope of being healed. Nothing worked until my niece who attended Kingdom Shakers Ministries invited me to one of their services. I could not walk and so my husband visited the church on my behalf. The man of God visited me and as he greeted me he told me that all was well and that I was healed and I felt the presence of God then.
“The next Sunday I could now walk and so I went to church and it was on the church’s first anniversary. After Prophet Muchirahondo prayed for me, he told me that it was now safe for me to go and have my womb operated on at the hospital and likewise the operation was successful,” said England.
Kingdom Shakers Ministry has branches in Harare, Mutare, Odzi, Chibuwe and Prophet Muchirahondo said they had plans of expanding and opening new branches in most rural communities in the province.
Online Reporter