KWEKWE EVANGELISM REPORT (Chipo Chironga)

1st part: Oct - Dec 2023 highlights

Theme: “Arise and shine for Christ” Isaiah 60 vs 1-3

Evangelism at work

My first preaching point was at work, when I felt that I had to preach to my workmates, before knowing much about them or familiarizing with the people there, since it would help me “guard my salvation”. How and when was I going to share with them? The hesitation was real.

On my 3^rd day at Intrachem, I stood in the staff bus and asked the driver to switch off the radio. It was a great experience but no one received Christ, though everyone was shocked with this new thing brought to them by just a mere student, ending the day with the remarks from an Admin lady who in her words mentioned that she had been, “praying for a Moses, who would come to rescue the Israelites,” which became a confirmation to me that, a lot had been happening at the plant, that I was never aware of.

Days went by, with me preaching at different times, to different shifts, when at a particular day, feeling the hesitation as usual, the Shift Supervisor approached me and asked for the Word. I knew I could not say no, and I preached as usual, but the tension was evident though it was quiet. One of the gardeners, who seemed to have been paying attention and recording the sermon, then asked me to give him a chance the next day, because he too felt he should preach, with so much joy in me, I agreed, seeing a form of revival in the guy’s life. He came with his well-prepared sermon and started preaching about pride the next day. To my surprise, people cheered as he preached (which was very unusual). He finished preaching and debates started as some seemed to be comparing the both of us, and some even complaining about the whole preaching idea. It was clear to me that people didn’t enjoy being preached to. The week that followed, the Plant Administrator sent people to tell me I was wanted at the office. Though many knew I was in some kind of trouble they acted like they didn’t know, and when I arrived at the office a few individuals were waiting for me. They asked some questions about my preaching, and later told me that, they had received a call from Headquarters (HR), that he had received complaints from the plant staff about being my preaching, and so, he didn’t want to hear about me preaching at the plant ever again, or else I would receive an immediate dismissal letter, without any warnings since I was just a student on attachment. I was hurt, and with tears I left the office, though some tried sympathizing. However, in early December 2023, we received an immediate dismissal memo of the Executive HR, which was the shock of everyone working at Intrachem nationwide, but it was evident to the plant staff that the God I worshipped is Big, “No one stands in His way and succeeds.”

Evangelism in public transport (kombis)

After being stopped at work, I then moved to kombi evangelism which didn’t last long, since I rarely used public transport. Every time I preached in a kombi, people would debate and quarrels would start amongst the passengers, some accepting with others disagreeing, but overall, the knowledge that some were being helped strengthened me. In another incident I was sitting next to an old “madzimai” (dressed in their customary garments) preaching. She was disturbed, uncomfortable and restless from the time I started, gently tapping my legs so that I stop. However, I continued thinking she needed help spiritually, which I would give after the sermon. To my surprise, when I was done, she started speaking against the sermon, wrongly quoting the Bible, saying I wasn’t supposed to say something is a sin when others were doing it. My surprise became greater still because the whole kombi rebuked her, and I was strengthened more when the conductor asked to receive Christ.

Street Evangelism

From there, I felt a heavy push to start street evangelism, that is, doing Mhere-Mhere (open air evangelism) at the shopping centers (usually Mbizo 7 and Nazareth) close to where I stayed.

It was a great experience and I experienced a lot. There was a distinct difference between the two phases of evangelism, that is, 2023 and 2024 (after the baptism of the Holy Spirit). One of the funny incidents in 2023 was I did open air evangelism and one person received Christ. I felt satisfied and thought of going back home thinking I had preached enough for the day, but to my surprise I felt I should preach again in a takeaway tent, which was full of people eating there. I asked the cook, who looked like the owner, if I could preach, and though she was initially surprised at my request she did not like the idea, but I knew I had to preach there. As she delayed in responding, an unknown man just pitched in and said "It's fine, you can." Feeling the power, I didn't think twice and grabbed the opportunity to preach, and three people received Christ. On my way out of the takeaway, I got stopped by the lady and another man, furious because I had preached, asking me if I had seen anything that needed to be preached to in their establishment. They further accused me of wanting to initiate people, since I had preached without the woman’s approval, and they delayed me for some time, though the man who had allowed me to preach couldn’t be seen. It was clear that God wanted some people there to be saved. One small child came interrupting the accusations, saying she had been sent by her mother with money, as a token of gratitude for the Word but I couldn’t take it, but sent her to tell her mom to give it as an offering at her church thanking God for the Word. This shocked my accusers and I took the opportunity and cleared out.

2nd Part: Jan-Jul 2024 highlights

Street Evangelism after the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Beginning 2024, the evangelism felt different with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, "Doing the same thing but getting different results.” At times I could preach and have so many souls coming back to God, and on this particular day, I remember praying for over 15-20 people, including the owner of the shopping center at Mbizo 7, who also brought his other family and friends to be prayed for, it was a great turnover which increased my faith. One other day, heading home after evangelism, very strange, no one had received Christ, but a young girl ran and followed me and asked for my contact saying she had heard me preaching and was in need of help because though she loved God, she didn't have the power to overcome sin and become holy like I had said. She asked for my contact and afterward, asked me to preach to her everyday through WhatsApp. The young girl was 19, and her confession to me and the way we met, led me to believe that God had sent me to that place for her only. She grew in sanctification which I never taught her, I saw God's love and care for even the young souls of today; that despite having not known the truth, they still had the zeal of becoming holy.

Another experience was when I went to preach, but I wasn’t sure of the point to preach at, and going around the shopping center, I saw a big crowd and so many kids at one area, and besides the fear of preaching to a big crowd, I thought it was an opportunity for many to hear the truth. I started preaching, but one drunkard kept distracting me, grabbing my hand, threatening me and telling me to stop, though his friend would come to get him from me, the drunkard kept disturbing me. I drew the attention of many, especially the kids, but immediately one guy from the crowd came next to me and started playing the drum at its loudest, which was very disturbing as the kids seemed to be shifting their attention to him. As strong as I thought I could be, I became louder, to my shock, zvigure came in full speed where I was preaching, I was so scared, but still ready to face anything for the name of the Lord. It was scary. A few people kept their attention to me despite the noise, I could hear some saying “Don’t grow weary, even Jesus faced this…” I later finished preaching and as I was leaving, people kept shouting words of encouragement, I felt the love of God in me. It was great feeling ready to face anything for the name of God.

 Days went by, and I met different people who wanted to know the church I was coming from, and wishing they would have a chance to come. I encouraged them to go back to their churches, to live in truth and seek to live a holy life. Young people, at times, followed me, and would ask me to always preach to them since they wished to turn from their ways but didn't have the power, some invited me to their church mid-week devotions, which I couldn’t attend at times, because of my schedule, but they always said they wished to live the way I preached was possible, but they didn’t know how one could live such a life. In my last days in Kwekwe, some boys from UFIC, offered me a speaker, after I had preached, saying they had bought it wishing to do street evangelism, but they knew they couldn’t do it, so they wanted me to use it instead. I then encouraged them to use the speaker themselves to preach the word, since they had mentioned it was specifically for evangelism.

Evangelism at the Boarding House (with Poly students)

After moving from where I was staying, going to a boarding house for Polytechnic students I found myself stuck with kids who I never thought existed. There were 4 boys and six girls, living a miserable life, both girls and boys smoking weed, drinking, going out with old married men, it was another lifestyle I had never seen. I didn't know how to start preaching to them, I didn't know how to even start a conversation with them. One of the days when some were having a conversation in the kitchen, I felt pushed to go there and start a conversation at the same time sharing my testimony of how God saved me, which was very odd. I thank God for the courage when I shared with them and received their sarcastic comments about how they had made someone leave the house because she was so much into Christianity, but I still made it clear to them, that we had to have evening prayers. They were not interested, it was clear with their laughs, but I still kept the faith, that God had some He wanted to save.

Two days after I had suggested evening prayers to them; about 4 people were laughing in one of the boy's rooms, when the boy (owner) came, knocked at my door, asking if it was possible for me to come for prayer, since I had suggested evening prayers and people were in his room at that time, I gladly took my bible and went there. Trying to start with an opening prayer, just after greeting them, they started leaving the room one by one, only to realize I was left in that room with the guy who had called me, I wanted to leave, but God made me to understand that, if I wasn’t going to continue with the service, I would never be able to have one with them, so I continued, preached to that one guy and closed with a prayer. As I was leaving his room, I realized everyone was sitting in the next room, and I entered the room asking, jokingly, each one of them why they had left earlier. I used the opportunity to share my full testimony with them, and they looked shocked and it ended up being a discussion, with them laughing at each other’s weaknesses, which was more like they were helping each other confess their life to me. We laughed and I told them God was all they needed and I promised them that I would help them grow out of the life they were drowning in. From that day, we had services every day at 8 with those who would be around. It was a great experience for me, having an unconditional love, patience and care, for weed smokers and drunkards, so that they make it to the end. It was a journey indeed, but I was grateful to God seeing even other students who would have visited, joining us and feeling helped in our services, the highest recorded number of attendants in one of the services being 11 students.

The service at AOG General council

Customary at AOG General council, July is a renewal month, whereby Pastors don’t lead services, and so, on one of the Sundays, the youth was to lead the service so they needed a young person who would preach, and it so happened that the youth leader asked me to participate by doing one thing and according to her, even preaching would do though I was not from their Assembly. I didn’t hesitate taking the opportunity to preach, since I realized God was giving me an opportunity to help the AOG congregation know about the true Gospel on my last day in Kwekwe. During the week, preparing for the day, I faced challenges with one of the pastors wanting me to prepare a written sermon, so that he would know what I was going to preach and so he could correct me where he thought necessary. I obviously couldn’t agree with him, because I had learnt from my Rev (Spiritual Movement leader), that we don’t prepare sermons, or depend on the knowledge from Bible School but that we preach whenever the Holy Spirit wants us to, whether once or thrice a day, just relying on the Holy Spirit, who always knows the message He has for His people at a particular time. It was a very unusual thing, being given a young fore-runner from their congregation, who preached a short sermon and left me to preach. God did it as usual and gave them a powerful message, about the standard of Heaven which is Holiness, the Bishop there, announced that they would link me to the AOG General council Pastors in Marondera, so that I attend services with them, marking the end of my Kwekwe journey. In conclusion, Kwekwe was full of lessons to learn and was a time for me to be spiritually mature.