Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Senior Health Reporter
THE familiar sight of overloaded trucks and cars carrying suitcases, chairs, cardboard boxes, water containers, food and tents could not be mistaken.
After everything had been offloaded, there was the sight of thousands of pitched tents and fire smoke rose majestically across various camping areas for Seventh Day Adventist church members who returned to their annual tradition of spending a week in the bush worshipping.
After spending two years without annual camp meetings due to Covid-19, thousands of Seventh Day Adventists Church members last week thronged various sites, thanks to the relaxed Covid-19 measures.
Church members converge in various locations according to their zones where they dedicate an entire week to worshipping.
After decades of religiously adhering to this tradition whose origins can be traced back to 1868 when the church held its first camp meeting in Michigan in the United States, congregants were forced into a two-year break due to Covid-19.
During the camp meeting week, congregants including non-members leave the comfort of their homes to live in tents, cooking with fire and dedicate a majority of their time to worship.
Besides worship, soul winning and revival, camp meetings offer families quality time to spend the entire week in one setting without cares of the world, social media and fast paced work schedules that often take up family time.
Congregants also get time to live communally sharing water, power and light sources for a week.
The concept which other religious denominations practice annually is from Leviticus 23 verse 40 ‘On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows and celebrate in the presence of ADONAI your God for seven days.’
Adventists also believe this annual gathering is a gentle reminder that the world is not permanent with its pleasures and all that it offers.
Business people also make a killing from these gatherings and normally go camping as well so that they can provide perishable foods to campers.
In Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces which make the Zimbabwe West Union Conference, at least 40 000 campers convened at different sites scattered across the region.
These account for the first part of the camping week which started on August 7 to 14, 2022 at 23 camp sites.
The second round of camps will take place from August 21 to 28 August at 23 other different sites.
For Pastor Sikhumbuzo Dube, the executive secretary of the West Zimbabwe Conference, the relaxing of Covid-19 measures gave congregants another chance to meet for worship and get spiritual revival.
“We were excited about the recent camps; we were eagerly waiting for the camping experience which we last enjoyed in 2019 due to Covid-19. During the past two years we did online meetings which lacked that physical touch and we are happy that we managed to have the experience,” said Pastor Dube.
“We lived in tents and we believe this is preparing our minds that we are on transit taken from the Feast of the Tabernacles where people used to gather in the olden days and be in tents.”
He said the camp was also tailor made to bring restoration in families and communities while equipping members with tips on how to remain faithful to their calling as Christians.
“We had more than 26 000 congregants at nine different sites during the first week and given the circumstances we are happy that most members managed to come, ” he said.
His counterpart from South Zimbabwe Conference Pastor Sifundo Ngwenya said the physical gathering had brought relief to members who did not afford data to attend the virtual meetings of the past two years.
“We are very happy that we made it to our annual camp meeting this year, we cannot take it for granted and as such we remain grateful. Our members were also excited and came in their numbers to worship God as one united community,” he said.
Ecstatic congregants told Chronicle that Covid-19 had for two years denied them the opportunity to participate in one of the most crucial events in the life of Adventists.
Gogo Irene Ncube (85) said she had been camping yearly for the past 30 years after she became an Adventist.
“When Covid-19 hit in 2020, we never thought we would live to attend any camp meeting as many of my peers and relatives succumbed to the disease. However, I feel honoured to have lived to attend the camp and gather with other congregants,’ she said.
“For the longest time I have enjoyed the prayer sessions we have at 4AM daily during camp which is followed by the morning service to mark the start of the day. Besides the sermons we also have tailor made lessons on family, finances, business, health and community service which help us to become more effective as Adventists. We are also grateful to the Government for relaxing Covid-19 regulation which saw us camping for the first time since 2020.”
For Sakhile Mbambo (36), the camping experience was therapeutic as many families went through depressing times after Covid-19 left many jobless and without sources of income.
“It was refreshing to just leave home and city life with all its stresses and come to the bush, gather with fellow church members just to rest, worship and pray. We are happy that finally our lives are slowly going back to the normal we knew and camp meeting 2022 was definitely a highlight for the year,” she said. – @thamamoe.
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