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Musoni Inculturated 2017

This study explores the inculturation of African spiritual elements within the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church in Zimbabwe, arguing that traditional African spirituality dominates over Christian elements in its practices. It categorizes African Indigenous Churches (AICs) into 'undisputed' and 'disputed' based on their integration of African spiritual elements, concluding that JMCN has shifted towards a syncretic religious identity. The research employs phenomenological and theological reflective methods to evaluate the church's spirituality against biblical standards, highlighting the need for careful selection of spiritual elements to maintain core Christian beliefs.

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47 views264 pages

Musoni Inculturated 2017

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ellie267tte

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You are on page 1/ 264

Inculturated African spiritual elements in the Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi Church in Zimbabwe

Phillip Musoni

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

Philosophiae Doctor

Church History

At the

University of Pretoria

South Africa

Promoter: Professor Graham A. Duncan

Open Rubric © University of Pretoria

DEDICATION

To my late mother Lainah Chikuku- Musoni who introduced me to a life of devotion. She
taught me from childhood that a human being is helpless without the intervention of God.
Though she was a devoted Christian she continued to believe that human beings are so
much connected to the soil so much that each time we travelled with her to other places,
I always remember her giving us soil from the road to eat so as to prevent us from falling
sick during our stay there. This eating of the soil was mostly accompanied by a short
prayer committing our lives into the hands of God almighty and varipasi /our ancestors.
Though spirituality as a term was not in her vocabulary this study posits that practically
Lainah my mother was torn between two religious spiritualities- Christian and traditional
African. This devotional life impacted to me from childhood enthused me to research
further on the genuineness of Christian spirituality in African Indigenous Churches (AICs)
in Zimbabwe.

I am very grateful to my wife Otty and my Children; Nyasha, Takunda and Shalom who
in most times missed the love of the Husband and Father respectively due to many times
I was away for study. I’m indebted to thank the Founder of ZAOGA FIF Apostle Ezekiel
Guti who happens to be the Chancellor of a newly established Christian private
University-Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University (ZEGU) where I’m a lecturer, for granting
me a three year study leave to further up my studies. I am grateful to my Church
Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa Forward in Faith (ZAOGA FIF) for moral support.
Many thanks go to the Secretary General of the Church Rev Washington Rupapa and the
Presiding Bishop of Forward in Faith Church of South Africa Rev Elias Soko for providing
my welfare during my stay in South Africa for study. I also appreciate the moral support
and insights of Overseers Glenda and Mark Gombakomba who kept on pushing me on
the progress of my studies.

I am also grateful to Professor Ezra Chitando of the University of Zimbabwe, Department

of Religious Studies Classics and Philosophy for shaping my initial, disjointed thoughts
on Johane Masowe Church spirituality into an academic study. Many thanks also goes to
Professor Francis Machingura of the University of Zimbabwe, Department of Curriculum
development for strong encouragements and sometimes shouting at me each time when
I was considering quitting the research field because of some challenges.This study was
made possible because I had people around me to critic and encourage me throughout
the journey. One of them was Professor Paul Gundani of the University of South Africa,
Department of Church History and Missiology.

Above all I am indebted to thank my mentor Emeritus Professor Graham Duncan for his
dedication and unwavering support thorough out this study. Professor Duncan sharpened
my ideas and provided me with the necessary guidance throughout this study.

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that this thesis is a result of my personal reading,
scientific research and personal integrative reflection. It is original and has not been
submitted to any other institution for award of either certificate, Diploma or Degree. All
the information from other sources and people consulted have been duly acknowledged.

Student Signature: Date: 14/02/2017

Phillip Musoni
Student No: 15082220

iii

This study is in the domain of Church History under a sub theme ‘Africanisation of
Christianity’. Though Africanisation of Christianity is not a modern-day topic in Church
History, this study posits that the theme should continue enjoying attention. The reason
to this proposal is that it seems there is again a problem today on how African Indigenous
Churches (AICs) interface with local traditional spiritualities in communities in which they
are planted. Thus, this current study deals with the blurred interface and religious
boundaries between African spiritual elements of faith and traditional Christian spiritual
elements of faith as depicted in the Johane Masowe weChishanu inotungamirirwa
neNyenyedzi(led by the star) (JMCN) Church in Zimbabwe. The hypothesis of this study
is that the traditional African spiritual elements of faith dominate in JMCN Church
spirituality at the expense of traditional Christian spiritual elements of faith. It is this
unconscious adapting and adopting of ‘incompatible’ African spiritual elements of faith by
the JMCN Church that has whet the appetite to examine whether JMCN Church
spirituality can be described as a genuinely Christian. In an attempt to understand the
genuineness of JMCN Church spirituality this study grouped AICs into two categories
those that are said to be ‘undisputed’ and those that are said to be ‘disputed’.While both
groups have inculturated African spiritual elements of faith, this study argues that the
undisputed AICs conscious selected compatible African spiritual elements of faith against
the disputed AICs who unconsciously selected incompatible African spiritual elements of
faith. Accordingly, the spirituality of JMCN (hereafter refered to as the Church) identified
by its appropriation of African/Karanga spiritual elements of faith such as praying in
traditional sacred caves and baptizing church members in traditional sacred pools and
dams. Critical to JMCN spirituality is the removal of faith in Jesus Christ’s death,
resurrection and faith in the Bible as the word of God for human salvation. These are
replaced by belief in the power of water spirits and tsanangudzo dzeMweya, (the sayings
of the spirit) respectively.This study uses phenomenological and Theological Reflective
approaches for data collection and interpreting of the data. Phenomenological method
was used because it has two essential strands; the descriptive and the hermeneutical
strands.The descriptive aspect helps the researcher to describe the spirituality of the
Church accurately, while hermeneutic phenomenological and Theological Reflective
approaches give the researcher the ability to evaluate the spirituality of the Church in light
of Biblical Christian spirituality. The research study concludes that the JMCN church
moved way from being a Christian Church to another syncretic religious denomination
due to its inculturation of incompatible African spiritual elements of faith. This study
argues that AICs have the liberty to inculturate local religious spiritual elements to shape
their Church spiritualities, but the selection criteria should be carefully chosen to avoid
obfuscating central Biblical spiritual elements of faith in the process.

KEY WORDS: Africanisation of Christianity, AICs, African spiritual elements, Authentic.

Christianization of African Religion(s), Spirituality, Obfuscation, Christian
spiritual elements, Non-Christian, Incompatible, Inculturation.

AAC African Apostolic Church

ACCZ Apostolic Churches Council of Zimbabwe

AFM Apostolic Faith Mission

AICs African Indigenous/Independent/Instituted/Initiated/International

Churches

AoG Assemblies of God

AOGA Assemblies of God Africa

APCs African Pentecostal Churches

ATR(s) African Traditional Religion(s)

DCC Deliverance Centre Church

FEC First Ethiopian Church

FOG Family of God

GRJ Guta Ra Jehovah

GRM Guta Ra Mwari

JMCN Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi

JMCCs Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches

MDC Movement for Democratic Change

NRMs New Religious Movements

NRRMs New Religious Right Movements

PHD Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministry

POTHS Power of the Holy Spirit Ministries International

UFIC United Family International Church

UN-DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

ZAOGA FIF Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa Forward in Faith Church

ZCC Zion Christian Church

DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................... iii

ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................ v

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xv

CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY ........................................................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Geographical location of research area ..................................................................... 4

1.2 Religious Dialogue ........................................................................................................ 5

1.3 Statement of the problem ............................................................................................. 6

1.4 Justification of the study ............................................................................................... 7

1.5 Objectives of the Study ................................................................................................. 8

1.6 Research questions ...................................................................................................... 8

1.7 Literature review ............................................................................................................ 9

1.7.1 Spirituality in General ................................................................................................. 9

1.7.2 Spiritual elements of African faith ........................................................................... 13

1.7.3 A Traditional view of Christian spirituality ............................................................. 16

1.7.4 African Indigenous Churches (AICs) ..................................................................... 17

1.7.5 Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church ........................................... 18

1.7.6 Masowe (Wilderness)............................................................................................... 24

1.8 Research methodology ............................................................................................... 29

1.8.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 29

vii

© University of Pretoria
1.8.2 What is Phenomenology ..................................................................................... 29

1.8.3 Descriptive Phenomenological approach ......................................................... 31

1.8.4 Hermeneutic phenomenological approach ...................................................... 32

1.8.5 Theological Reflection approach ....................................................................... 34

1.9 Delimitation of the study ............................................................................................. 37

1.10 Limitation of the study ................................................................................................. 39

1.11 Summary of the Chapter ............................................................................................ 40

CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................ 42

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANIZATION OF ZIMBABWE AND THE ORIGIN OF AICs 42

2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 42

2.2 The History of Christianity in Zimbabwe .................................................................. 43

2.3 ‘Africanisation of Christianity’ in Zimbabwe ............................................................. 50

2.4 The rise of Authentic African Indigenous Churches in Zimbabwe ....................... 53

2.5 Typologies and spirituality of the undisputed AICs ................................................ 56

2.5.1 Ethiopian Churches .................................................................................................. 58

2.5.2 Sprit-Type/ Prophet-Healing/ Spiritual Churches ............................................ 62

2.5.3 African Pentecostal Churches (APCs) .............................................................. 63

2.5.3.1 Some Examples of African Pentecostal Churches (APCs) in Zimbabwe . 65

2.6 Central spiritual elements of the undisputed AICs ................................................. 70

2.7 Summary of the Chapter ............................................................................................ 74

CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................ 75

DISPUTED AICS, THEIR TYPOLOGIES AND CENTRAL SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS OF

FAITH ........................................................................................................................................... 75

viii

© University of Pretoria
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 75

3.2 Selected disputed African Indigenous Churches.................................................... 76

3.3 The Herero Protestant Church of Namibia .............................................................. 77

3.4 Herero Protestant Church central spiritual elements of faith ................................ 79

3.5 The Church of the Black Ancestors in Malawi ........................................................ 81

3.6 Black Ancestor Church of Malawi central spiritual elements of faith ................... 83

3.7 Guta Ra Jehovah (City of Jehovah) Church in Zimbabwe .................................... 84

3.8 Guta raJehovah Church central spiritual elements of faith ................................... 87

3.9 Guta RaMwari (the City of God) ................................................................................ 88

3.10 The overall central spiritual elements of the disputed AICs.................................. 90

3.11 Orthodox Christian Central spiritual elements of faith ........................................... 91

3.11.1 Doctrine of Christology .......................................................................................... 92

3.11.2 The doctrine of Trinity ............................................................................................ 94

3.11.3 Doctrine of Eschatology ......................................................................................... 95

3.11.4 Concept of Soteriological beliefs in Disputed AICs ........................................... 97

3.11.5 Bibliology ................................................................................................................ 100

3.12 Summary of the Chapter .......................................................................................... 102

CHAPTER 4 .............................................................................................................................. 105

CENTRAL SPIRITUAL TENETS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION(S) ............. 105

4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 105

4.2 Rituals and Ceremonies ........................................................................................... 106

4.3 Objects of Faith .......................................................................................................... 108

4.4 Symbols....................................................................................................................... 109

© University of Pretoria
4.5 Myths and Legends ................................................................................................... 110

4.6 The Beliefs and Customs of the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu ................... 111

4.7 Values and Morals ..................................................................................................... 112

4.8 Causes of Death ........................................................................................................ 113

4.9 Burial rites of passages ............................................................................................ 115

4.10 Funeral Rites .............................................................................................................. 116

4.11 The Hereafter, Nyikadzimu ...................................................................................... 118

4.12 Summary of the Chapter .......................................................................................... 119

CHAPTER 5 .............................................................................................................................. 121

JMCN THEOLOGY AND CENTRE OF OPERATIONS ..................................................... 121

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 121

5.2 Historical background of the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe .................................. 122

5.2.1 Shonhiwa Masedza (Johane Masowe) ............................................................... 124

5.2.2 Mudyiwa Dzangara ................................................................................................. 127

5.2.3 Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde ....................................................................... 132

5.3 The Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi in Chitungwiza ............................ 133

5.4 The etymology of the term yeNyenyedzi (of the star) .......................................... 135

5.5 JMCN Church Headquarters -Chirumhanzu ......................................................... 136

5.6 Geographical location of Chirumhanzu District .................................................... 139

5.7 Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church Doctrine ................................. 140

5.8 JMCN and the Doctrine of Christ ............................................................................ 142

5.9 The Bible in Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church. ......................... 151

5.10 Ten Commandments, Gumi Remitemo ................................................................. 155

© University of Pretoria
5.11 Dietary Laws (Miko) .................................................................................................. 156

5.12 General Regulations (Mirairo paMasowe) ............................................................. 158

5.13 Johane Masowe and the Doctrine of (the Holy) Trinity ....................................... 159

5.14 JMCN and the Doctrine of Soteriology ................................................................... 161

5.15 JMCN and Doctrine of the Holy Spirit .................................................................... 164

5.16 Summary of the Chapter .......................................................................................... 166

CHAPTER 6 .............................................................................................................................. 167

INCULTURATED AFRICAN SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS IN JMCN CHURCH IN ZIMBABWE

..................................................................................................................................................... 167

6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 167

6.2 Inculturated Incompatible African Spiritual elements ........................................... 168

6.3 Inculturated African Traditional sacred Hills, Mountains and Rock ................... 171

6.3.1 Chivavarira hill of Chirumhanzu District .......................................................... 172

6.4.1 DomboraMwari ................................................................................................... 181

6.4.2 Mawanga Mountain in Goromonzi ................................................................... 183

6.5 Inculturated Traditional African Sacred trees ........................................................ 188

6.6 Inculturated Traditional African sacred dams, pools and rivers ......................... 190

6.6.1 Gonawapotera sacred pool .............................................................................. 190

6.6.2 Nyatsime pool and Hokoyo dam ...................................................................... 192

6.6.3 Hokoyo Dam ....................................................................................................... 193

6.7 Inculturated African Traditional Rituals in JMCN Church spirituality ................. 194

6.7.1 Burial Rituals, kuvigwa kwemupositori............................................................ 194

6.7.2 Marriage rituals ................................................................................................... 197

6.8.1 Objects at the religious holy place pakirawa.................................................. 199

6.8.2 Tsvimbo, the rod and related sacred paraphernalia ..................................... 202

6.9 Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church symbols ............................................... 205

6.9.1 The Cross ............................................................................................................ 206

6.9.2 The Star ............................................................................................................... 208

6.10 JMCN Religious Commemorations ........................................................................ 213

6.10.1 Muteuro wegore, annual prayer ................................................................... 213

6.10.2 Easter commemorations in the JMCN church ........................................... 215

6.10.3 Annual Conference, Musangano Wegore .................................................. 217

6.11 Summary of the Chapter .......................................................................................... 219

CHAPTER 7 .............................................................................................................................. 222

CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY ......................................................................................... 222

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 222

7.2 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 222

7.2.1 Conclusion on Inculturation of African spiritual elements by the JMCN

Church……. ....................................................................................................................... 223

7.2.2 Conclusion on JMCN spirituality deviation from orthodox Christian

spirituality ........................................................................................................................... 225

7.2.3 Conclusion on Setbacks of Africanisation of Christianity ............................. 228

7.3 Study Contributions ................................................................................................... 228

7.4 Areas for Further Study ............................................................................................ 229

xii

© University of Pretoria
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 230

APPENDIX 1: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES ............................................................................ 246

APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS ...... 248

xiii

Figure 1.1: Portrait of Baba Gilbert the longest serving member of JMCN .................... 22

Figure 6.1: Chivavarira sacred hill ............................................................................... 173

Figure 6.2: Chivavarira cave ...................................................................................... 178

Figure 6.3: Example of religious objects kept in Chivavarira cave .............................. 179

Figure 6.4: Inside Chivavarira cave ............................................................................. 180

Figure 6.5: DomboraMwari in Epworth Suburbs Harare .............................................. 182

Figure 6.6: Portrait of the Mawanga Mountain ............................................................ 183

Figure 6.7: Entrance into the cave, which was turned into a Church Centre ............... 186

Figure 6.8: Example of a kirawa .................................................................................. 200

Figure 6.9: A portrait of the JMC church service in UK................................................ 207

Figure 6.10 Portrait Baba Sandros Nhamoyebonde .................................................... 212

xiv

Table 1: Examples of undisputed AICs, their founders and years they were founded .. 54

Table 2: Typologies of AICs according to Turner, Daneel and Anderson ...................... 57

Table 3: Examples of disputed AIC, their founders and the years they were founded .. 89

Table 4: General overviews of JMCN insider’s Responses during Interviews ............. 227

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

This study interrogates the JMCN church’s ritualisation and institutional practices which

can be described as expropriated from various African traditional beliefs systems. While

Africa is now the ‘home’ of Christianity because of the continuous mushrooming of new

African Indigenous Churches (AICs), this study queries the genuineness of Christian

spirituality as presented by some AICs particularly those in Zimbabwe. Johane Masowe

weChishanu yeNyenyedzi (JMCN) which is a new millennium church was singled out as

a case study of AICs which presents the phenomenon characterised in this study referred

to as ‘questionable Christian spirituality’. A careful study on the JMCN’s theology and

spirituality posits that JMCN confused Christian spirituality by its inculturation of

‘incompatible African spiritual elements of faith’.

Accordingly, the discourse on the genuineness of Christian spirituality in Africa,

particularly on AICs is an old debate that is resurfacing again among Christian boards in

Zimbabwe today. For instance a search for authenticity of Christian spirituality among

AICs resulted in one Robert Martin Gumbura’s African Independent Church ‘End Time

Message Church’ being banned by the Apostolic Churches Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ)

(Mbiba, 2013). The church was banned for, among other reasons, accusations of

practicing Satanism while masquerading as a bona fide Christian church. Another incident
1

they use power from water spirits mweya yemuvhura to cure the sick (Zuze: 2015).

Prophet Walter Magaya, founder of a popular Charismatic Church Ministry, Prophetic

Healing and Deliverance (PHD) allegedly accused all Vapositori to be using the power of

the water spirits, mweya yemumvura, for healing and exorcism of evil spirits (Zuze 2015).

Therefore, the study rationale is premised on the desire to test the accusation that all

Vapositori Churches should be banned as they were allegedly reported to be using

healing powers from water spirits, njuzu instead of the true Holy Spirit. This accusation

would not go unnoticed because the Vapositori, white garmented churches are the fastest

growing Churches attracting many people from all walks of life. We noted that again this

denunciation is an old one started by Bengt Sundkler in the 1948 and later in 1964 where

he designated all AICs as non-Christian (Molobi 2013:1-7). This research interrogates

further this generalization made by Prophet Magaya and other Zimbabwean Christian

boards that all Vapositori are non-Christian Churches because they draw their healing

powers from water spirits. The study places the dividing line between undisputed AICs

and disputed AICs a debate introduced by Sundkler 1948 and has resurfaced in this

millennium by Prophet Walter Magaya and supported by other Christian organisations in

the Zimbabwean religious landscape.

Though the study is confined to the Zimbabwean religious landscape, we have noted that

this test for authentic Christian spirituality in AICs is present in other neighbouring

Countries. In South Africa a church Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries

deliverance from evil spirits (Blair 2014). Another South African Pastor, Prophet Penuel

Mnguni of End Times Disciples Ministries was arrested for forcing his members to feed

on live snakes (Dubuis 2015).

It is against this background that this study investigated inculturated African spiritual

elements in the JMCN Church spirituality in Zimbabwe. The central questions of this study

are: to what extent should AICs inculturate their pre-Christian beliefs and practices to

shape their Church spiritualities without jeopardizing global Christian spirituality? Can

African Indigenous Churches continue to appropriate traditional sacred shrines for Church

rituals and ceremonies? Can there be a Church that does not use the Bible for its

theology and yet present an authentic Christian spirituality? In trying to respond to these

questions among others a popular notion ‘inculturation’ was used as a dominating

concept for the whole research study.

However, it is imperative to note that this word ‘inculturation’ is narrowly used in this study

to refer to the ratio at which the JMCN Church accommodated the traditional African

spiritual elements to the ratio it accommodated traditional Christian spiritual elements to

shape its Church spirituality. The following key scholars whose definition of the term

‘inculturation’ shaped this research study. Aylward Shorter defined inculturation as “the

creative and dynamic relationship between the Christian messages and culture or

cultures” (Shorter 1988:11). For Ikechekwu (2012:25), inculturation in Church history

refers to the “manifestation of the Christian message in particular cultural context”.

through their exposure to the ‘Christian message’ and the insertion of ‘Christianity’ into

indigenous cultures (Duncan 2012:2). With these definitions, this study summarised

inculturation as the ‘baptism’ of the Christian gospel into African cultures so that

Christianity become an African religion without losing its global identity.

What is argued in this study is that inculturation is a process whereby Christian message

is simplified by being tainted with the local cultures but without losing its shape and

identity. Christianity takes different modes in different cultures and contexts so as to fit

into the local environment but not dropping the sine qua non of Christianity (David

2010:24). Hence this research attempts to interrogate how JMCN, whose headquarters

is Chirumhanzu, inculturated its pre-Christian African spiritual elements to shape its

Church spirituality.

1.1 Geographical location of research area

This research study is situated in Zimbabwe in general and Chirumhanzu district in

particular. Though the JMCN was founded in 1990s in Chitungwiza at Nyatsime dam

(Engelke 2007) 27km east of the capital city of Zimbabwe, JMCN became popular and

attracted more members when it moved its headquarters from the urban centre of

Chitungwiza to a rural district called Chirumhanzu in May 2000 (Gilbert, Interview:

15/05/2014). Reasons for this religious pilgrimage from Chitungwiza to Chirumhanzu shall

be dealt with in the following chapters. Thus, Chirumhanzu district is central for the JMCN

Church spirituality. To date every month of October JMCN Church members within the

rituals.

One could ask, what makes Chirumhanzu the headquarters of JMCN Church? Or what

type of a theology Masowe yeNyenyedzi presented which attracted thousands of

followers to go to Chirumhanzu every year in October? Accordingly, the study grapples

with these questions by examining the JMCN Church sacred places particularly those in

Chirumhanzu District of Zimbabwe. The justification for the selection of Chirumhanzu is

therefore automatic owing to the fact that it is the centre of the church, a head office type

of centre. Thus, the key contribution raised in this study is to flag up the pre-Christian

beliefs and practices which JMCN inculturated in the process of Africanising Christianity.

1.2 Religious Dialogue

According to the Division for Social Policy and Development of the United Nations

Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), dialogue means a conversation

between two or so people or a swap of beliefs and opinions (2005:3). Religious dialogue

therefore, represents a mutual borrowing of:

Ideas and notions from either spoken or written sources that are based on norms

and values, which the discussion thereafter tries to widen and intensify so as to

identify variances, similarities and criticisms as well as to find the loci where shared

influences or mutual fecundation may take place (Adamo 2011:6).

Religions and Christianity. However, the study opines that religious dialogue should not

tamper with the central pillars of any religion in the process of mutual borrowings. For

example Christianity has its central pillars such as the belief in the Bible and belief in

Jesus Christ (Holt 2005:13) and many other Christian spiritual elements as this study will

allude to. On the other hand African traditional religion has its central pillars such as belief

in ancestral spirits, belief in spirit mediums, belief in sacred places, mountains, caves and

trees (Mbiti 1986:55).

Though there are some commonalities between Christianity and ATRs, these religions

are rendered distinct by the central role played by what is referred to in this study as

central spiritual elements. These central spiritual elements are incompatible with other

religions as they cannot be shared among religions as means of religious dialogue. It is

against this background that this study interrogates the extent to which JMCN has

inculturated African spiritual elements to shape its Church spirituality.

1.3 Statement of the problem

The problem relates to the blurred interface and religious boundaries between

African/Karanga traditional sacred places and objects of faith and the JMCN sacred

places and paraphernalia of faith. Karanga traditional beliefs systems and the JMCN are

in principle not in tandem with each other, yet in practice a symbiotic relationship exists,

one where the Church adapts and adopts Karanga traditional belief system, symbols and

institutions and uses them as part of their spirituality and church practice. Thus, this study
6

spirituality of Chirumhanzu in Zimbabwe. We argue that this African Church has replaced

traditional Christian spiritual elements of faith with traditional African spiritual elements of

faith to substantiate its Church spirituality. Thus this study questions whether JMCN

constitutes a Christian Church in the Christian sense of a church.

1.4 Justification of the study

The study is anchored on the following rationale:

1. The discourse about Africanisation of Christianity and the development of

Christianity in Africa continues to develop. In fact, this discipline continues to be

vital to the analysis of the growth and development of new AICs and particularly

the spirit-type or mapositori (Apostolic) churches (Chitando 2005:85). The present

study constitutes a specific case-study in an investigation on impact of Karanga

spirituality on JMCN Church spirituality.

2. The study investigates some theological developments ingrained in this African

Indigenous Church of Zimbabwe today.

3. This study also seeks to address and educate the local people on the need to be

cautious about what to accommodate and what to reject in the process of

inculturating Christian gospel; hence, this is a case study of JMCN Church

spirituality in Zimbabwe.

The study is guided by the following objectives:

1. To assess the extent to which JMCN Church inculturated African spiritual

elements.

2. To verify the extent to which JMCN spirituality deviated from universally accepted

Christian spirituality.

3. To ascertain setbacks regarding the development of African Christianity through

the continuous dilution of genuine Christian spiritual elements particularly by other

AICs in Zimbabwe.

1.6 Research questions

The study is guided by the following questions:

1. To what extent has the JMCN Church inculturated African spiritual elements of

faith?

2. How valuable is the accusation that ‘JMCN Church spirituality deviates from

Biblical Christian spirituality?

3. What are the setbacks to ‘Africanisation’ of Christianity in the light of the continuous

‘Christianization’ of traditional religious practices and beliefs by some AICs in

Zimbabwe?

In “every research ventured there is an infinite amount of literature, countless reports on

what others have done” (Leedy and Ormrod 2001:70). For Leedy and Ormrod (2001:70)

“the essence of literature review is to find out what issues are already known about one’s

topic of interest”. In addition, as the existing literature is discussed and critiqued, areas of

further research are exposed. Therefore, this section reviews related literature on;

Spirituality in general, African spirituality, Christian spirituality, African Indigenous

Churches (AICs) and the notion of masowe (wilderness). This is done so as to find out

what other scholars discovered on African Churches as they inculturate pre-Christian

beliefs and practices to shape their church spiritualities particularly those in Zimbabwe

(Chitando 2005:4). The literature provides a base to analyse, investigate, evaluate,

scrutinise and assess effectively the impact of African Indigenous spirituality in the

development of JMCN Church spirituality in Zimbabwe. This background helps the

researcher to add to the already existing knowledge which serves as a guide and a critical

stepping stone in the study of Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church

spirituality.

1.7.1 Spirituality in General

It is important to note that the meaning of the word spirituality did not only undergo some

changes in meaning over time but is a term which was also subjected to different

interpretations by different scholars across various disciplines (Kees Waaijman 2003:10).

According to Jones, Wainwright & Yarnold (1986:26) the term spirituality means; “interior

“which expresses life or power on a person's religious beliefs and practices.” It is that

which awaken a person's religious belief to greater depths and excellence. A basic

definition of spirituality is the status of one’s reflection on the things of the spirit. And what

are these things of the spirit? These are those things that cannot be directly professed

by our senses but whose effects can be construed or inferred by our observations, such

as, gods/God, death, life after death, evil spirits i.e. zvikwambo (goblins), forgiveness,

peace, retribution/ngozi, reconciliation, justice and many other metaphysical elements.

Bouyer (1961:4) defines spirituality as person’s activities of self-transcendence as he/she

gets connected to an ultimate concern’. For Bouyer:

It is through this bond that man constructs a worldview which defines particular

ways of acting and interpreting reality. Spirituality is born from the union of such a

worldview related to the holy or Supreme Being and the way of living which is in

accordance with this worldview. In other words, spirituality is the basic, practical,

existential attitude of man which is the outcome and expression of the way in which

he understands his existence and the meaning of reality (1961:4).

According to Fabella & Surjirtharajah (2000:189), “spirituality is a cry for life and for the

ability to resist death and the causes of death. It energizes the strength to go on, for it is

the guarantee that God is in the struggle.”

Theorizing on the notion of spirituality, Constable (2003:10) also contended that:

inclusion, so the whole human community can live fully as human beings

created by God. Spirituality is human connectedness to the ultimate

concern, to human roots, to the rest of nature, to one another and to human

self. Spirituality is celebrated in songs, rituals and symbols that show the

energizing spirit animating the community to move together in response to

God.

Waaijman (2004:2) defines spirituality as:

One’s relationship with God which is experienced within a given

community as a whole: at the time of birth and death, on the occasion of

the naming and weaning of the child, in the child’s upbringing and at the

time of marriage, upon entering new pasture grounds and leaving them,

at the time of illness and dangers, in the context of the assemblies and

mutual helpfulness.

For Constable (2003:10), Fabella & Surjirtharajah (2000:189) and Waaijman (2004:2) this

spiritual core is the deepest centre of a person because it is here that the person is open

to the transcendent dimension; it is here that a person experiences ultimate reality. Hence

spirituality deals with prayer, spiritual direction, the various maps of the spiritual journey,

and the methods of advancement in the spiritual ascent. Therefore spirituality can be

summarized as one’s connectedness to the ultimate concern. For Christians the ultimate

concern here is the Supreme Being, the transcendent Trinitarian God.

in principle spirituality as a concept is not new to Africans. For Orobator (2008:141) from

time immemorial, Africans devised methods of communicating with the divine. It is against

this knowledge that the study seeks to investigate how Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi church members relate to their pre-Christian ways of invoking the divine

which shaped their Church spirituality. Briefly, the study pronounces that JMCN Church

spirituality is consciously informed by pre-Christian African worldview that the spiritual

world controls the fate of human beings. Hence in their prayers JMCN always engages in

a spiritual welfare fighting, mweya yekumadokero, mweya yerima literally translated -

spirits from the west which operates as the sun goes down.

It is on this note that members of Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi congregate

for long periods, at times under extreme weather conditions in open spaces kumasowe

without any shelter. They did this bare footed while they waited for a prophetic voice from

any among them to pronounce blessings and reversing of all misfortunes minyama,

rushambwa ne rushavashava/bad luck and misfortune. The study critiques JMCN’s

conscious or unconscious adoption of pre-Christian Karanga existential ways of rejecting

evil spirits among other life threatening challenges. We hypothesised that, a careful study

of JMCN Church spirituality demonstrates that the Church inculturated incompatible

Karanga spiritual elements of faith more than it inculturated the traditional Christian

spiritual elements of faith into their Church spirituality.

This study suggests that every religion has its own central spiritual elements of faith. By

central spiritual elements of faith this study refers to essential tenets or teachings that

sustain each religion. These tenets together form what this study refers to as religious

spirituality. For instance Islamic spirituality is informed by believing in the Holy Quran as

the inspired word of Allah, observing the Five Pillars of Islam and worshiping in a mosque.

We argue in this study that though Islam is divided into Sunni and Shiites what makes

them all Muslims are these central spiritual elements of their faith.

On the same note, Odak posited that African spirituality is articulated mostly in shrines

and revered places where prayers and sacrifices can be offered (Odak, 1995:24). Odak

describes a shrine as a place discernible for religious purposes and where sacrifices

could be offered (Odak, 1995:24). Adding to that Mbiti (1975:9) opines that African

spirituality is found in a number of holy shrines of which some belong to families, such as

those related with departed family members for instance family graveyards. Others

belong to the community for example, provincial or national heroes’ acres where war

veterans are buried; some are rocks, some are caves other places like, hills, mountains,

and under certain trees” (Mbiti 1975:18-21). Mbiti argues that:

Africans respect such shrines and in some societies no bird, animal or human

being may be killed if hiding in such places. At the shrines and sacred places,

Africans make or bring sacrifices and offerings, such as animals, food, utensils,

tools and fowls. They regard such places as holy and sacred where people meet

with God. These places are protected from desecration or misuse by

religious places. They are of different shapes, kinds, sizes and colours. Some

are kept in the houses while others are kept in the forests. The graves of

ancestors usually serve as shrines. These objects are material expressions of

religious ideas, beliefs and practices like praying, making offerings and sacrifices

and major ceremonies and rituals (Mbiti 1975:18-21).

African spirituality therefore in this study is narrowed to refer to pre-Christian Karanga of

Chirumhanzu ways of appealing to the divine world which is passed on from one

generation to another generation through, among other methods, oral tradition, artefacts

hidden in sacred places such as graveyards, certain pools, rivers, dams, mountains,

caves and trees (Mbiti 1975:21). These constitute what is referred to as African spiritual

elements of faith. Some of the above mentioned central Karanga spiritual elements or

emblems of faith for traditional Africans which will be discussed in this study are certain

religious symbols, rituals and ceremonies the Church inculturated to shape its Church

spirituality.

Strengthening the debate, Orobator posited that African spirituality represents Africans’

various ways of expressing and celebrating their experience of God in certain places

using certain objects that pre-date Christianity and Islam (Orobator 2008:141). With this

in mind the study selected well known sacred shrines of JMCN in Zimbabwe and

interrogated why specifically the Church selected these places to be religious centres.

Examples of these places are:

2. Hokoyo/Gwehava dam in Gokwe

3. Gonawapotera pool in Chirumhanzu

4. Chivavarira hill in Chirumhanzu

5. DomboraMwari in Epworth in Harare.

We have noted that though other places mentioned above are religious rituals centres for

JMCN Gonawapotera and Chivavarira are the icons of their Church spirituality as shall

be demonstrated in this study.

However, it is imperative to note that one cannot dismiss the fact that African spirituality

provided fertile ground for the acceptance of Christian spirituality in Africa. For instance,

the concept of prayer, existence of a true eternal God, rewards and punishments

(Benyera 2014) are not new concepts to Africans. For Orobator (2008:141) what is new

to Africans is Jesus and the Bible and not prayers and sacrifices to God. He further argues

that “long before missionaries came to Africa; Africans had already developed their

various ways of expressing and celebrating their experience of God” (Orobator 2008:142).

Arguably, the critical questions raised in this study is: Should Africans continue to pray

under certain African sacred trees, should they revive traditional sacred mountains,

baptize their Church members in sacred pools where Water spirits are said to inhabit,

should Africans Christian churches completely reject the Bible and the mediatorship of

Jesus Christ and continue to be referred to as Christian? It is against this background this

Zimbabwe.

1.7.3 A Traditional view of Christian spirituality

According to a western missionary worldview Christian spirituality is defined as “an

experience that arises from an inspired and vibrant amalgamation of faith and life,

intended for adherents to live out the Christian faith genuinely, dependably, productively

and wholly”(McGrath 1999:9). For Principe (1983:127-141), “spirituality is an authentic

Christian term derived from the Latin word spiritualitus, an abstract word related to spiritus

and spiritualis both terms used to translate the Greek words pneuma and pneumatikos

as used in the Pauline epistles”. Principe further argues that Paul’s understanding of a

“pneumatic” or “spiritual” person is one whose whole being and life is ordered, led, or

influenced by the “Spirit of God, in contrast with this stands the “sarkic,“ that is, the “carnal”

person whose being and life oppose God’s Spirit” (Walter 1993:931). For Peck (2012:2)

Christian spirituality is “the conscious human response to God that is both personal and

ecclesial – it is life in the Holy Spirit”.

According to Sheldrake (2005:1)

Christian spirituality refers to the whole of the Christian’s life leaned to self-

transcending knowledge, freedom, and love in light of the decisive values and

highest ideals perceived and pursued in the mystery of Jesus Christ through the

Holy Spirit – that is, spirituality concerns everything that constitutes Christian

experience.
16

acquires by following the teachings of the Bible. These definitions suggest that what

differentiates Christian spirituality from other spiritualities is its rootedness in the Bible,

following the teachings of Jesus as the role model. To sum up, the definitions of Christian

spirituality as understood by missionaries means, a life of prayer that a Christian should

lead which is informed by the teachings of the Bible and following the examples set by

Jesus Christ through the help of the Holy Spirit such as; love, forgiveness, humility, long

suffering, tolerance and many other virtues of the Holy Spirit. When a believer follows

such an example of Jesus Christ, the benefit is that when he dies he/she goes to heaven

and enjoys life eternal (Dowley 1992:271-280). Therefore, it is in this light that the study

has investigated the JMCN Church spirituality as mirrored by the above definition of

Christian spirituality.

1.7.4 African Indigenous Churches (AICs)

It must be noted that the term AICs was used in various contexts to denote various

meanings or interpretations in relation to contemporary African Christianity. In fact, there

are five ways in which the term AICs was used by scholars. For instance, AICs was

loosely used to refer to different church formations such as the African Indigenous

Churches (Turner 1967), African Independent Churches (Daneel 1987), African Initiated

Churches (Hastings 1996), African Instituted Churches (Chitando 2004) and African

International Churches (Maxwell 2007). Conclusively and as postulated by Chitando

(2004), the term AICs refers to Christian Churches founded by ‘Africans in Africa’ and not
17

living in the African continent.

Nevertheless, most of these Churches though started in Africa have crossed African

borders and no longer confined to Africa hence defeating the nomenclature given to them

by earlier scholars as ‘African Churches for Africans in Africa (Kofi Appiah-Kubi 1979),

(Turner 1979). Gerrie ter Haar posited that AICs are African Churches just by origin but

in nature are African International Churches because they accommodated other

nationalities such as Europeans (Gerrie ter Haar 1998). For example, Europeans, Indians

and Chinese are enjoying the economy of salvation in these African Churches in the

nations they have crossed to (Gerrie ter Haar 2001). However, it is imperative to note that

while other AICs economy of salvation is for all nationalities, JMCN Church is not open to

other nationalities. It is against this theological position that JMCN Church spirituality was

interrogated in this study.

1.7.5 Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church is a split group from the original

Johane Masowe weChishanu (John of the Wilderness that congregates on Friday). The

study observes that there are several branches of the same Johane Masowe weChishanu

which mushroomed in Zimbabwe. If one tries to enquire on the causes of the continuous

breakaways in this Johane Masowe weChishanu church, it is not surprising to find out

that the leader of the congregation who is usually a prophet or prophetess is accused of

deviating from the original teaching of mutumwa meaning Johane Masowe (Sixpence
18

leader will discredit this new leader and also claims to have received the vision from God

resulting into another breakaway from a breakaway of the breakaway and the circle

continues. What is noteworthy is that all these factions claim to be Johane Masowe

weChishanu but adding something that distinguishes them from other Johane Masowe

weChishanu. The study noted that after the death of Johane Masowe; many Masowe

groups were formed such as:

1. Johane Masowe weChishanu Jerusarema (John of the wilderness of the Friday

Jerusalem)

2. Johane Masowe weChishanu Vadzidzi (John of the wilderness of the Friday the

disciples)

3. Johane Masowe weChishanu Mudzimu unoera (John of the wilderness of the

Friday Sacred ancestor)

4. Johane Masowe weChishanu venguvo tsvuku (John of the wilderness of the

Friday of red clothes)

5. Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi nomwe (John of the wilderness of the

Friday of the seven stars), (Amos, Interview: 17/05/2014).

It is in this background that Johane Masowe weChishanu inotungamirigwa

neNyenyedzi/the one led by the star which is identified in this study as Johane Masowe

weChishanu yeNyenyedzi was founded. The Church Masowe yeNyenyedzi was founded

by Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde and was popularized by Antony a disciple of

Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde. Sanders/Sandros who was a disciples of Sixpence

Chishanu Church in Zimbabwe (Engelke 2007:114). After the death of Johane Masowe

in 1973, Mudyiwa Dzangara whose religious name ‘Emanuweri’ took over the leadership

of the Church Johane Masowe Chishanu. According to the church key informants

Emanuweri was accused of deviating from the teachings of Johane by encouraging

polygamous marriage and consultation of the dead (Moris, Interview: 15/08/ 2013). It is

on that note that Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde embarked on a religious pilgrimage

from Guruve to Chitungwiza, a district situated on the eastern side of Harare the capital

city of Zimbabwe. Chitungwiza is significant because when Johane Masowe Chishanu

Church was first expelled from Port Elizabeth in South Africa on 7 June 1962 the Church

came back and occupied Seke, Chitungwiza. (Clive M.Dillon-Malone 1978:36). Perhaps

this is the reason why Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde revisited Chitungwiza

imaginably in a bid to revive the original spirit and vision of Johane Masowe.

The inside informant informed the researcher that some pious Johane Masowe Chishanu

members who were not amused by the dilution of the divine message by Emanuweri

followed Sanders/Sandros to Chitungwiza (Moris, Interview: 15/08/2013). According to

Engelke (2007:115) one day as Sanders/Sandros was praying with the disciples of

Johane at Nyatsime pool there in Chitungwiza, he claimed to have seen a bright star

leading the Church converting people from brewing of beer and polygamous marriages

hence his name was changed to be Mutumwa Nyenyedzi, Angel star. This was in 1990

coincidentally after the death of Emanuweri who died in 1989 (Engelke 2007:115).

Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde professed that he had seen a star leading the church,

polygamous marriages and consultation of the dead (Gilbert, Interview:15/05/2014). The

study observes that during Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde leadership, the Church was

still Johane Masowe weChishanu. But the group that remained in Guruve after

Emanuweri died re-named itself Mudzimu unorera (John of the wilderness Church led by

a sacred ancestor). This Guruve Johane Masowe weChishanu also referred itself as the

Church of the First born, Chechi yematangwe. This second name ‘Church of the first born’

signifies that they themselves were true followers of the doctrine of Johane Masowe and

not the Nyatsime-Chitungwiza group of Sandros (Goredema, Interview: 14/12/2013).

Later, the name Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi became popular after the

death of Sanders/Sandros in July 1994. This name was popularized by Baba Antony

during a decisive moment on who to lead the church after the death of Sanders/Sandros

Nhamoyebonde (Nyenyedzi) (Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/2014). Among the founding

disciples of Johane Masowe, only three were still alive; Father Godfrey Nzira, Father

Micho of Chiweshe and Father Wimbo of Guruve. These three were fighting amongst

themselves for leadership of the church. It is in the midst of this critical moment that Baba

Antony stood up to announce that, “those who want to follow Nzira, those who want to

follow Wimbo and those who want to follow Micho you can do so but the rest we are going

to follow the star” (Gilbert, Interview:18/10/2014). Baba Antony further declared that the

time of human leadership is gone, it’s the time for the spirit/Nyenyedzi to lead this Church

(Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/2014). In Shona Antony lamented; hakuchina mutimbi

uchagagwa nomweya sezvawakaita pana Johane, pana Emanuweri ne pana

operate as it used to, selectively choosing individuals like in the case of Johane,

Emanuweri or Nyenyedzi; rather the spirit will use any one available). This is how the

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi was founded in 1994. However, the church

became more visible and popular in the dawn of 2000 in the Chirumhanzu District and

now has spread and has affected many parts of the Continent with branches in countries

such as Zambia, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

Figure 1.1: Portrait of Baba Gilbert the longest serving member of JMCN

The portrait above is Baba Gilbert one of my Key informants, who witnessed the schism and formation of
the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe. Currently he is the spiritual leader of the JMCN in Matebeleland based in
Bulawayo.
Thus, there is justification for suspecting and hypothesising that the purpose of these

schismatics in Johane Masowe weChishanu Church was not about feathering the gospel

of Christ but were based on fighting for Church leadership as means of survival,

particularly in the face of economic hardships that faced Zimbabweans during that time.

African Churches took upon themselves to look after their spiritual leaders in the person

of munzwi wedenga (the one who hears from heaven). They catered for munzwi wedenga

by paying rents, providing them with food, sending their children to school as token of

appreciation. The study observes that there is no proper system of paying munzwi

wedenga but hwai (believers) willingly bring anything as token of appreciation for the

services rendered by munzwi wedenga.

The study observes that as a means of gaining popularity Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi introduced water Baptism in sacred dams and pools which is not done

anywhere else in other Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches in Zimbabwe. This is

central to its spirituality and as a result JMCN Church attracts most local people who are

not sure whether to follow Western Christianity and abandon African traditional beliefs

systems or to combine both. This study theorises that Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi attracted more members by reviving the indigenous traditional sacred

shrines as they redefined such places. The study perceives that for this African church, a

sacred place is always a sacred place and people want to familiarize themselves with

such places regardless of religious affiliation. We discovered that because of the

Chirumhanzu/Karanga worldview (the world of spirits), Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi with its sacred water baptism and the revival of these traditional

Chirumhanzu shrines, the church was growing tremendously. People across the borders

of Zimbabwe were seen annually converging at Gonawapotera and Chivavarira hill for

water baptism and exorcism of evil spirits respectively.

Masowe or sasa is described as a place where there is “poor soil that is difficult to build

houses, grow crops, and do other things that would attract people” (Mukonyora 2007:12).

The origin of Masowe or sasa is explored in the book, Wandering a gendered wilderness.

(2007). Isabel Mukonyora highlighted in that book that the founder of this African

Indigenous Church decided to look for a “secluded place to worship God instead of

worshiping in Churches which were built and led by white missionaries, the then

colonizers of Rhodesia”. For Engelke (2007:5) the first founder of Masowe traditions

Sixpence Shonhiwa (Johane) accused colonial missionary Christianity of being too

academic and out of touch with the existential African problems; as a result it failed to

attend to Africans’ deepest needs. This led Sixpence Shonhiwa to look for a new place of

worship hence sowe/sasa became the ideal place. It is against this backdrop that almost

all the Masowe Churches do not have church buildings. Instead they worship under trees,

near dams, open spaces and roadsides to authenticate Shonhiwa Sixpence’s

instructions. Their lack of buildings does not imply their inability to purchase such

structures, as the Masowe members have become quite prosperous, but is a reflection of

their doctrine (Mukonyora 2001:8).

According to Dillone-Malone (1978:28) Masowe people see themselves as aliens

fashioned by their early experiences of being stressed by colonial missionaries and above

all having a prophetic and redemptive word for Africans. Further he argues that Masowe

Church members see themselves as mandated by the divine to minister to the whole
24

as they made their way to the New Canaan (Dillone-Malone 1978:29). As a result of this

vision, the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi propagated a spirituality that is not

wholly borrowed and that is not wholly local but ‘hybrid spirituality.

Daneel (1987:99) in Quest for Belonging noted some AICs whose approach to theology

different to that of western missionaries. For these AICs, God is not confined in a written

word but is manifestly present in His creations. It can be argued that this is how Masowe

yeNyenyedzi almost rejected written scriptures and believed in the doctrine of ‘live and

direct’. Accordingly, for the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi church, God

speaks to humanity through many means such as dreams, signs and visions and through

munzwi wedenga (a prophet/prophetess). Besides the Masowe denying written

scriptures, advocating oral transmission of the divine oracles, evidence of what is shown

in its efforts to revive sacred indigenous places as her place of worship. Some of the

questions this present research grapples with are: Is there any problem if African Christian

Churches integrate African customs, cultures and practices as sources of their church

theologies and outrightly condemn the Bible and Jesus Christ as western impositions? Or

should African Christians outrightly denounce their pre-Christian traditions, throw away

their pre-Christian celebrations and rituals for them to be regarded as authentic

Christians? Or must they throw away their African spirituality fashioned to some degree

by the extensive indigenous view of a spiritual world or rather inculturate it and develop a

new African Christian spirituality? (Nketia 2009:10).

Christian religious systems without obfuscating the essence of Christian gospel. The

debate raised in this study is on how some AICs in their attempt to Africanise Christianity

ended up Christianise African religious systems. However, there are scholars such as

Mukonyora 1998, Daneel 1987, Chitando 2004 among others who claimed that AICs are

a result of Africans innovativity and creativity, by blending Christian beliefs into African

thought forms hence the adoption of the five(Is) Indigenous, Independent, Instituted,

Initiated, and International African Churches. By this AICs have successfully dealt with

the sting of colonization, western missionaries’ dominance, western theologies and

imposition of western cultures. This is what was summarized by Musopele as theology

cooked in an African pot (Musopele 1998).

However, in as much as this study appreciates different views on Africanisation of

Christianity, what remains critical is: how should AICs inculturate pre-Christian African

beliefs and practices without confusing Christianity. Thus, the nerve centre of this thesis

is an attempt to posit that every primal religion like Judaism and African Traditional

Religion has the capacity to adopt or reject certain spiritual elements faith in the process

of localizing secondary religions such as Islam and Christianity. Hence, this present study

agrees that Christianity from time immemorial adapted to the various environments where

it was taken. It was first expressed in Aramaic and then in Greek, a language profoundly

different from Aramaic and later to many other languages (Mushete 1978:50). For

Mushete:

was called Palestinian-Christianity, in Asia it was Asian-Christianity and in

Roman Empire it was called Hellenistic Christianity, “the church never ceases

to insist upon the revealed truth such as the transcendental character of

Christian revelation, totally given in Christ which has been defined and

transmitted in diverse teaching (Mushete 1978:51).

In other words Mushete is arguing that diversity is not bad, pluralism in Christianity is

accepted, but certain central spiritual elements like belief in the Bible and faith in

resurrected Christ must be maintained regardless of space and environment. What this

study argues for is that these central Christian spiritual elements are the core values, the

landmarks of how Christianity should be practiced. Ikenga-Metuh (1990:151) observes

that some churches in Africa continue to embrace pre-Christian African spiritual element

of faith to shape their Church spiritualities. Therefore, this present study posits that the

central tenets of Christianity should not be overridden by African spiritual elements of faith

(Ikenga-Metuh 1990:171).

Daneel (1987:25) in Quest for Belonging: An introduction to the study of African

Independent Churches argued that some churches were growing in membership because

they emphasized the total freeing of the ‘black man’ from the bad influence of western

oriented missionaries and henceforth will have some latitude to incorporate traditional

religion into their liturgy. He defined the term independent to mean freedom in

organization, leadership and religious expression from the western oriented historical or

African Independent Churches yeaning to “feel at home” while in Church. However, the

outstanding question is; to what extent should African Indigenous Churches incorporate

African spirituality in their processes of Africanizing the Christian gospel? This question

becomes central to this research particularly on JMCN spirituality in Zimbabwe.

To sum up: the study seeks to fill up the knowledge gaps in the history of African

Christianity in a way in that: most African scholars popularise contextualization and

Africanisation of the Christian Gospel, baptizing the Christian concepts into African ideas.

However, little has been said on the process itself of contextualization; on what to take

and what not to take in a bid to avoid ‘Christianisation’ of African traditional religious

beliefs and practices. In as much as inculturation is a noble idea for the gospel of Christ

to be meaningful to the locals; conversely this study raises questions on what to

inculturate and not in the process of Africanisation of Christianity.

The section above discussed the interrelated literature on AIC spirituality. Selected

themes such as African indigenous spirituality, traditional understandings of Christian

spirituality, the spirituality of the Johane Masowe weChishanu church and the notion of

masowe (wilderness) were discussed among others. The selected sources dealing with

the above cited themes were reviewed to find out what other scholars discovered on AICs

spirituality and how AICs inculturated pre-Christian beliefs and practices to shape their

Church spiritualities particularly those in Zimbabwe. Also the study noted that though

other scholars like Dillon-Malone 1978, Engelke 2007 and Mukonyora 2007 wrote

Johane Masowe weChishanu churches in Zimbabwe today. The above cited scholars

among others presented Johane Masowe weChishanu as a unified homogeneous African

Church movement and yet there are numerous Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches

in Zimbabwe. It is the reason why this study selected one of these numerous Masowe

Churches namely Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church in Zimbabwe. Thus

because of the previous scholars generalization of the Johane Masowe weChishanu

Churches, there is dearth of documentation particular for the Johane Masowe Chishanu

inotungamirirwa ne Nyenyedzi Church in Zimbabwe. Accordingly, this study fills an

academic lacuna in that it tries to provide a historical and theological reflection of one of

the fastest growing AIC in the Zimbabwean religious landscape.

1.8 Research methodology

1.8.1 Introduction

In carrying out research, there are two fundamental matters regarding methodology. The

first deals with how the researcher will collect the data and the second deals with how the

researcher will interpret the data collected. In that regard, this study utilizes

phenomelogical and theological reflection approaches.

1.8.2 What is Phenomenology?

Phenomenology is a qualitative research method which seeks to point to the phenomenon

(Cox 1996:12). It is the ‘study of appearances’ and calls for ‘bracketing assumptions’. In

phenomena. Merleau-Ponty defined, phenomenology as “the study of essences”

(Merleau-Ponty 1962:7). Here the term essence denotes the indispensable meanings of

a phenomenon; that which manifest (van Manen 1997:39). It encourages the researcher

to go back to the things themselves as they are and not as informed by the researcher’s

impressions or preconceived ideas (Cox 1996:12). From its etymology, phenomenology

as a term is derived from the Greek word, phainomenon, which means ‘that which

appears’ (Cox 1996:12). Accordingly a phenomenological approach makes the

researcher draw closer to the phenomenon so that he/she can describe the essence of

a phenomenon as “the way in which it remains through time as what it is” (Heidegger

1977:3). This suggests that through this method the essence of that which is hidden is

revealed so that the deep secrets of a lived experience are revealed to the researcher in

such a way that the researcher is now able to comprehend the nature and significance of

this experience in a hitherto unseen way (van Manen 1990:39). Though the researcher

might not be an ‘insider’, through the phenomenological approach one can conceive and

give meaning to that which appears. This proposes that the researcher should bracket

his/her preconceived ideas, go into the field of research, become a participant observer

and carry out interviews. Thus, through participant observation and in-depth interviews

new meaning emerges about the phenomenon that draws “something invisible, visible”

(Harman, 2007:92). Therefore from what has been alluded to above, Phenomenological

research method is a two-sided research method which is descriptive one side and

hermeneutic on the other side.

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) is considered to be the chief proponent of the descriptive

phenomenological approach. For Husserl the starting point for empirical research is to

deal with personal biases which hinder researchers from discovering the essence of the

phenomena (that which is studied) (Wojnar & Swanson 2007:172). Further, Husserl

advances that the meaning of the phenomena may be unravelled only through one to one

relations between the researcher and the objects of research. This interface must involve

attentive listening, interaction and observation to create representation of reality more

sophisticated than previous understanding (Wojnar, & Swanson 2007:143). It is through

these phenomenological steps such as epoche, eidetic intuition, and empathetic

interpolation that Husserl concluded that it is possible for a researcher to gain insights

into the common features as universal essences or eidetic structures and considered

them to represent the true nature of the phenomenon under investigation (Wojnar &

Swanson 2007).

Smith et al (2009:5) defined descriptive phenomenology as that skill of ‘bracketing off’

influences around a religious phenomenon to get to the essence of the phenomena.

However, the critics of the method, question the practicability of epoche ‘bracketing off’

(Chitando 1998). Arguably Kasomo postulated that bracketing is only for the period of

phenomenological investigation (Kasomo 2012:133). It is in this sense epoche is used to

mean temporary suspension of preconceived ideas for empirical research purposes only.

Therefore the focus of descriptive phenomenology is the correlation of the noema (what

that the researcher has to observe the phenomenon as it appears, not as it is understood

through opinions formed prior observation. Once the things themselves have been

identified, the descriptive phenomenology considers its work done (Kasomo 2012:136).

This how we see a sharp departure from a purely descriptive phenomenological approach

to an interpretive phenomelogical approach (Kafle 2011:21). This departure is primarily

because of the rejection of the idea of suspending personal opinions and the turn for the

interpretive narration to the description. Based on the premises that lasting reduction is

impossible and acceptance of endless interpretations this school of phenomenology puts

an effort to get beneath the subjective experience and find the genuine objective nature

of the things as realized by an individual (Kafle 2011:22). Hermeneutic phenomenology

is focused on subjective experience of individuals and groups. It is an attempt to unveil

the world as experienced by the subject through their life world stories.

1.8.4 Hermeneutic phenomenological approach

The publication of History of Concept of Time (1925) and Being and Time (1927) by Martin

Heidegger paved the foundation to this school of thought (Kafle 2011:21-35). Later it was

enriched by the scholars like Hans George Gadamar, Poul Ricoeur, and Max van Manen

(Kafle 2011:21-35). Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), a disciple of Husserl propounded the

hermeneutic phenomenological method as a complete turnaround from Hurssel‘s

descriptive phenomenology (Grbich 2007:10). This departure is primarily because of the

rejection of the idea of suspending personal opinions and the turn for the interpretive

phenomelogical approach was introduced to answer the question of the meaning of the

existence (Denscombe 2007:76). For him the question of the meaning of being can be

discovered when a researcher moves further from the description to the interpretation of

that is being studied (Denscombe 2007:76). The word hermeneutic is derived from the

name Hermes, the Greek god who was responsible for making clear, or interpreting

messages between gods (Reiners 2012:3). Thus, Interpretive phenomenological

approach is a process of bringing out and making manifest what is normally hidden in

human experience and human relations (Reiners 2012:2).

Therefore the hermeneutical phenomenological method, rather than seeking purely

descriptive categories of the real perceived world in the narratives of the insiders, focuses

on unfolding the meaning of the individuals’ being-in-the world and how these meanings

influence the choices they make (Wojnar 2007:172-180). So, based on the premises that

permanent suspension of one’s preconceived ideas is impossible, Heidegger in this

school of phenomenology focuses on getting beneath the subjective experience of the

believers themselves and finding the genuine objective nature of the things as realised

by an individual (Kafle 2011).

Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2000:21) theorized that 'hermeneutic phenomenology' is

concerned with understanding texts. In this approach the researcher aimed at creating a

rich and deep account of a phenomenon through intuition, while focusing on uncovering,

rather than accuracy, and amplification with avoidance of prior knowledge, Cohen,

accept that permanent bracketing of one’s preconceived ideas is not possible. Thus, we

accept the notion that there may be many possible perspectives on a phenomenon, as

when we turn a prism, one part becomes hidden and another part reveals (Kafle 2011).

Laverty (2003) in his writings makes a clear distinction between descriptive

phenomenology and hermeneutic phenomenology. For him, hermeneutic

phenomenology differs with descriptive phenomenology in terms of ontological,

epistemological and methodological grounds (Laverty 2003:22). Taking self reflection as

the standpoint, for Laverty data is to be interpreted using hermeneutic circle that consists

of reading, reflective writing and interpretation(Laverty 2003:22). Adding to hermeneutic

phenomenology, since this study is a theological investigation, the study also used a

theological reflective approach to interpret the data. Thus Theological Reflective was

used in this study to investigate JMCN Church spirituality in Zimbabwe. JMCN is an

African Indigenous Church registered under the Apostolic Churches Council of Zimbabwe

(ACCZ).

1.8.5 Theological Reflection approach

Theological reflection, designates critical thinking about practical life situations in society

and relating them critically to the traditions of the church (Kinast 1995:6). O'Connell Killen

& de Beer (1994: 5-19) described theological reflection from three standpoints namely

investigation, assurance and conviction.

contributions to make to the process of reflection (Dean 2007:10). Thus the intention of

theological reflection in this study is to ascertain whether JMCN Church spirituality

represents biblical Christian spirituality in Zimbabwe. Thus, theological reflection fosters

practical decisions at the end of the reflection cycle to enhance the link between reflection

and action, that is, to encourage participants critically to come-up with a justifiable position

on their beliefs. Kinast (1995:6) sees “theological reflection” as action-oriented and

change-oriented. This method can be used in an environment where counterfeits, (things

that look like and not yet the same) confuses individual members of the community. Thus,

Theological reflection is used to assist a person to grasp the events, draw conclusions

and to remain honest concerning the tradition of the Church (Kinast, 1996:6). In this

regard this study reflects on the genuineness of some AICs Church spiritualities as

Christian or not. Mugambi posited that:

To become a Christian is to accept Jesus Christ and His teachings as preserved

in the Christian scriptures and maintained by the Church of your choice. He further

defined a Christian Church as the community of people who have accepted the

Christian faith and are consciously bound together as a community by the

commitment to implement the teachings of Jesus Christ in the world. Christianity

affirms that Jesus of Nazareth is Christ the “Son of God”, but each church lives this

faith according to its understanding of the demands of the Gospel (Mugambi,

2002:157).

“describe” them through participant observation, and interviews and at the end reflect on

them. Theological reflection is an exploration of what was observed and described by the

researcher. In this research the JMCN Church spirituality will be mirrored against the

traditional Christian doctrines – that is to be Christian means accepting Jesus of Nazareth

as the Son of God and to be a true Christian Church should be scripturally based

(Mugambi 2002:157). However, this is not a pointer to a notion that Christianity is

homogenous in character. The researcher of this study appreciates the variables in

Christianity, where we have Catholics, Pentecostal and African Indigenous Churches just

to mention a few. The reason for these variables among other things is cultural diversities

(Darragh 1995:9). This suggests that integrating African customs, culture and practices

to bring an African flavour to Christianity, hence introduces ‘foreign’ thoughts to Christian

beliefs is acceptable. However, borrowing from O’Connell Killen & de Beer (1994:10) and

later Mugambi (2002), considering theological challenges of our time, scholars should be

encouraged to engage in critical and conscious theological reflection in order to maintain

the Christian community’s authentic witness and faithfulness to the gospel (O’Connell

Killen & de Beer 1994:6).

Thus the study used these theories to regulate Christianity. This study suggested that

though Christianity is divided into many denominations it has its central Biblical spiritual

doctrines which distinguishes it from other World religions such like:

1. Christology

2. Trinity

4. Setoriology

5. Eschatology (Moodley 2008:79).

It is based on these criteria that Church spiritualities are being assessed as Christian or

non Christian Churches in this study.

1.9 Delimitation of the study

The study is primarily limited to research on the inculturated African spiritual elements in

JMCN church of Chirumhanzu District, Zimbabwe. There is a significant amount of

information about AICs, predominantly on the growth and expansion of these churches.

In this study the researcher is mostly interested with the interface between African

spirituality and AICs’ spiritualities in Zimbabwe. The study opines that Africans had

already devised methods of expressing and celebrating their experience with the divine.

These ways included priests and priestesses at holy shrines, prayers and forms of

worship in shrines such as in sacred mountains, sacred caves, under scared trees, sacred

pools and a great reverence of their ancestors. What is central to this study is to

investigate the impact and influence of traditional African ways of addressing their

divinities as depicted by JMCN Church in Zimbabwe. To be more precise how does JMCN

Church socialize itself with old African indigenous ways of worshipping God at shrines

such as Chivavarira hill, Chinhoyi caves, Matopo hills, Matonjeni, and sacred pools such

as Gonawapotera, Chirorodziva, Nyatsime and Hokoyo pools?

of these Vapositori (apostolic) Churches are predominantly found in Mashonaland

Central, Mashonaland East, and Manicaland Provinces. It is for this reason that the

research is restricted to the Midlands Province’s Chirumhanzu district. Additionally there

has been little research on Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi done in this

province. Some other key places outside Midlands will be referred to for referencing

purposes because this Church started from Chitungwiza in 1990 at Nyatsime pool and

gradually moved to Chirumhanzu (Godfrey,Interview:15/05/2014). Since 2000,

Chirumhanzu became the headquarters of JMCN up to the time of this research. Every

October most pilgrims attend JMCN annual pilgrimage in Chirumhanzu at Gonawapotera

pool for baptismal and other rituals and ceremonies. Therefore, the research was

prompted by the ever increasing population of congregants in the Johane Masowe

weChishanu yeNyenyedzi in Chirumhanzu District which started off as a small seed in

early 2000 and now has grown to have thousands of members following this new faith in

Zimbabwe. The study endeavours to examine JMCN spirituality in the search for the

imprint of African spirituality on its Church spirituality in Zimbabwe. Also it is imperative to

note that this research was conducted between 2013-2017, a period where Vapositori

Churches were being accused of using powers from water spirits, abusing Children and

female members among other allegations. Thus, we indicate the research time phrase

because African Churches are dynamic and not static.

Limitations are foreseeable challenges in your study and are out of your control (Simon

2011). In every research, the researcher intends to embark on; one must identify potential

challenges and put in place possible solutions ahead of the delinquent. This will

guarantee the accomplishment of the study intended to be done. Thus for this study the

biggest limitation was time, balancing between research works and lecturing at a newly

inaugurated University, Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, a private Christian University

which opened its doors to enrol students in May 2012. In 2013 the researcher started to

do field work at the same time lecturing at this university. Another foreseeable limitation

was, the distance between Chirumhanzu the research field and Bindura the researcher’s

work place. Approximately Bindura and Chirumhanzu are 312km apart. The fact that

Chirumhanzu is far from Bindura attracketed more funds for transport and upkeep being

away from home. Over and above researching about spirituality of other people’s religion

is always a risk. One possible risk expected was lack of information since JMCN Church

does not have written documents. It means that the research on JMCN spirituality was

going to be entirely gathered through interviews and participant observation. Having

anticipated all these limitations the researcher applied for a three year study leave in order

to be able to embark fully on research. The researcher also applied for research funds

and a letter from his university which states that the purpose of the research was just for

academics.

The major objective of this study is to flag up that all religions have landmarks and

boundaries which should be maintained in order to keep the identity and essence of that

religion. However, though the study acknowledges that a religion cannot survive in

seclusion of other religion; mutual borrowing is inevitable. This study theorizes that there

are certain ‘incompatible’ spiritual elements of faith that should be avoided. The study

proposes that, in the process of Africanisation of Christianity, certain indigenous spiritual

elements of faith should be avoided so as not to obfuscate major Christian spiritual

elements of faith such as the centrality of Jesus Christ and the Bible as normative of

Christian spirituality (Holt 2005:13). These are the ‘central features of Christianity’ that

distinguish Christian spirituality from Islam, Hindu, African Traditional spiritualities among

other Religious spiritualities. To achieve this objective, this research study was subdivided

into Seven (7) Chapters.

Chapter 1 being an introductory Chapter of research study discusses; statement of the

Problem, Justification of the study, Aims and Objectives of the study, Literature that

shaped this study and the Research method used for this study. Chapter 2 discusses the

history of Christianisation of Zimbabwe that gave rise to the emergence of AICs in

Zimbabwe. Chapter 2 also outlines two major groups of AICs the undisputed and disputed

AICs in Zimbabwe. Chapter 3 discusses the selected disputed AICs outlining their beliefs

and practices. Chapter 4 discusses the central African spiritual elements highlighting the

central spiritual element that makes African spirituality distinct from other spiritualities.

Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 present the main findings of the study which begins by chapter

Zimbabwe followed by Chapter 6 discussing the Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi sacred places, objects of worship, Church symbols and ceremonies.

Timingly after discussing the major findings, Chapter 7 gives the conclusions of the study

based on the research findings.

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANIZATION OF ZIMBABWE AND THE

EMERGENCE OF AICs

2.1 Introduction

The first chapter introduced the central focus of the study that is - a theological inquiry

on JMCN Church spirituality in Zimbabwe. The investigation is whether the Church

qualifies to be an authentic Christian Church in the theological sense of ‘being Christian’

by present a Christian biblical spirituality. This study hypothesised that JMCN in its

attempt to appropriate African spiritual elements of faith unconsciously or consciously

demeans what takes a religious movement to be classified as a Christian Church. Thus,

it is against this background this chapter discusses a major theme in African Church

history which is Christianisation of Africa. What needs to be flagged up is that though

Christianity changed environment, mixed with different cultures, its stem continues to be

visible in all times. This was so because perhaps those who transported the gospel did

not inculturate the gospel itself but inculturated the means to propagate the true gospel

of Jesus Christ. Thus, this chapter deals with Christianisation of Africa from the time of

Western missionaries to the time of moratorium (when western missionaries decided to

pack their bags and return to their countries of origins) (Wakatama 2007) and up to today

when the African Christians are in the vanguard. This trajectory is important to see

whether the Church as ecumenical continued to mirror itself on the central Biblical spiritual

Thus before the study delves on the spirituality and theology of the JMCN, the historical

background of Christianization of Zimbabwe is necessary. The trajectory of the

evangelization of Zimbabwe is characterised in this study in two epochs; Christianisation

of Africa/Zimbabwe and Africanisation of Christianity.

2.2 The History of Christianity in Zimbabwe

The history of Christianisation of Zimbabwe is very long and complex. It can be effectively

traced back to the 15th century with the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries from Europe

(Mudenge 1986:12). Throughout the Christian epochs, western missionaries established

various Christian denominations such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Methodist

Churches (Baur 1994:417-422). These Western missionaries had their bases in England,

Germany, Portugal, America and other countries. Apart from converting Africans to

Christianity, Western missionaries established numerous mission stations, schools and

hospitals for the nourishment of Africans (Zvobgo 1996:16). These include Gokomere in

Masvingo, Waddilove in Marondera, and Hama Mission, Chinyika Mission, Drefontein all

in Chirumhanzu District.

Murphree (1969:6) observes that in the southern part of Zimbabwe, “Roman Catholic

missionaries were the first to arrive and establish several mission stations”. For Murphree

(1969:6) “the first endeavour to introduce Christianity to the Shona populace was by a

Portuguese Jesuit missionary, Gonzalo da Silveira, at the courtyard of the Mutapa empire

until he was assassinated as a result of court scheming in 1561.” However, Bhebhe

Zimbabwe in particular did not materialize because of various reasons:

Firstly, the Shona and the Ndebele saw no moral supremacy of monogamy

over polygamy and could not see why missionaries denounced their customs.

Secondly, Christianity did not seem to offer practical answers to the daily

problems of Shona and the Ndebele people, but answers were provided by

their traditional religion. Thirdly, a high God of love did not match with the

droughts and disasters they were now experiencing” (Bhebhe 1979:38).

Missionaries condemned the rain-making cultic worship as a mere waste of time by the

Ndebele and the Shona people. Coincidentally, in 1561 the Mutapa Empire experienced

droughts for the first time ever (Isichei 1995). The blame was levelled against the white

missionary’s religion. The people of Mutapa Empire confronted the missionaries to

explain that:

The Ndebele and the Shona did not believe that killing an ox or

burning particular herbs makes rain, but these were the means by

which they asked for the rain, just like missionaries do by reading the

bible and recite a prayer (Isichei 1995:114)

However, it was also unfortunate that the main purpose of the first group of missionaries

who came to Africa, particularly to Zimbabwe, were more focused on trading than genuine

preaching of the gospel. For instance, Ganzalo da Silveira’s coming to the Mutapa Empire

was primarily for trading in gold and ivory (Mudenge, 1986:13). The other reason, which

(Mudenge, 1986:13). Above all, missionaries were, “regarded as emissaries sent by

their white rulers to divorce Africans from their custom and traditions” (Zvobgo, 1986:44).

This does not imply that missionaries did not do anything positive to evangelise

Zimbabwe. Western missionaries did a great deal in this regard; for instance they

introduced universal free western education, free medical treatment and many other

health facilities (Zvobgo 1996:16). Nevertheless, and in the contrast, the locals perceived

missionaries’ service as a bait to fish them out of their cultures, depriving them of their

resources, and finally destroying their identity (Maposa 2014:141).

Isichei observes that:

The Shona/Ndebele people believed that high God Mwari had given each

people the culture he intended for them. He made all things as he wanted

them to be. He had made all people and that he had made every country

and tribe just as he wished them to remain, he believed God made the

MaNdebele and MaShona as he wished them to be and it was wrong for

anyone to seek to alter them (Isichei, 1995:114).

Thus, the Shona and the Ndebele continued to see Christianity as a ‘white man’s

religion’ (Taylor 1963). This also was exacerbated by missionaries demanding the

changing of African names to Christian and or European names upon conversion.

Even good Shona names like Kudzaishe, Tinomudaishe and Tanatswanashe (all

praise names, translated Praise God, we love the Lord and we have been sanctified

female Catholic saints as a pre-requisite of becoming a full church member. Such

common names to be confirmed on the converted included Gabriel, Mary, Maria,

Ezekiel, Daniel and many more. Maposa (2014:78) argues that earliest generation

of white missionaries envisaged in bringing a Christianity that was ‘clothed’ in

western cultural garb”. He maintains that missionary Christianity was regarded as

part and parcel of western culture (Maposa 2014:78).

To some extent, missionary Christianity was only a particular religio-cultural

phenomenon. This study notes that it was a delusion for missionaries to conclude

that, what was good for Europe must be good for the local people they encountered

in Africa (Maposa 2014:78). From this fallacy that missionaries construed salvation

to mean adoption of European cultures as a pre-requisite to become a bona fide

Christian (Wiredu 1996:16). Against this background, European missionaries

rigorously fought against African cultures and traditions. For European missionaries,

blackness was associated with evil so much that even in their painting, Satan was

depicted as a black being with horns and an Angel of God depicted as a white being

with wings (Amanze 1998:50). This Satan was, again, perceived as masked and

alive through the complex of African traditional practices and local cultural worldview

(Amanze 1998:51). Therefore, the total destruction of African tradition and culture

would symbolise the fall of Satan in Africa (Amanze 1998:53). The missionary

victory would, in the end, signify also the victory of Christ over the powers of

(European cultures) (Amanze 1998:53).

Again, the study notes that most colonial missionary’s agenda appeared as ‘an attitude

of goodwill,’ but with an hidden agenda which was to dislocate African societies by

replacing traditional culture with the so-called favourable Christian (western culture) and

civilisation (Amanze 1998:52). For instance the, “African people were asked to disregard

their cultures in order to be saved and be truly Christians” (Maposa 2014:79). Salvation

was only possible if they renounce their African past, that is, their beliefs and practices

and showed willingness to live according to the ‘Christian’/western principles” (Amanze

1998:52). Polygamous marriages were denied and condemned as unbiblical.

Accordingly, the Jesuits missionaries expelled polygamists from attending church

services resulting into many polygamous men being stripped off of benefits accruing to

Catholic members (Zvobgo 1996). In 1902 many polygamists from Empandeni near

Bulawayo were barred from being members of a Jesuit Catholic Church arguing that, “it

is better to lose in numbers, but registering in the minds of the locals that we mean

business and that there is no negotiation between Christianity and pagan religion”

(Zvobgo 1986:46).

Adding to that, Mbiti (1980:26) observes that western missionaries were reluctant to adopt

African names for God, though various African names for God were closely related to

reflect biblical teachings. Like all names, African names have meanings; hence names

are not just randomly given either to their children or even to places. Most of these names

They show the way of life of people. Sometimes they give their children names of a

departed family member authenticating their strong belief in re-incarnation of life.

However, the majority of names given to children today among the Karanga people of

Chirumhanzu are praise names such like Makanakaishe (you are good God). Their

connectedness to the Supreme Being is also indicated by names they give to their God.

Name like Musiki, (the creator), Samatenga, (owner of heaven), Mutanga kugara (alpha

and omega) and many others (Van der Merwe 1957:8). These names are indicative that

the Shona already worshipped God before the European missionaries ‘introduced God’

to them’.

Hence missionaries’ negative attitude towards African culture and worldviews inter alia

gave rise to African Indigenous Churches. Waruta (2000:125) notes that missionary

Christianity did not touch the hearts of the locals because it failed to become indigenous

enough to the Africans and therefore was condemned by locals as irrelevant. Muzorewa

(1991:96-97) agrees with the above and observes that imported theologies did not touch

the hearts of the African believers because they were couched in a religious language

foreign to locals. For Taylor (1963:13) Christianity which was presented in Africa was

offered as a White man’s religion. For him:

It is bad enough that religious pictures, films and film strips have almost

universally shown a white Christ, child of a white mother, master of white

disciples; worshipped almost exclusively with European music set to

translations of European hymns, sung by clergy and people wearing

of worship should bear almost no relation to traditional African ritual nor

content of the prayers to contemporary African life; that the

organisational structure of the Church and its method of reaching

decisions modelled more closely on Western concepts rather than

deviating from them (Taylor 1963:13).

To support this view, Idowu as cited by Sawyerr (1996:87) concluded that prefabricated

theology did not quench the thirst of the indigenous Africans. Later, Orobator (2008:11)

concurred with these views when he noted that the form of Christianity which was

presented to Africans by Western missionaries was ‘cooked in a western pot’, hence there

is need to ‘brew it in an African pot’. According to him, ‘theology brewed in an African pot’

presents an invitation to taste theology in an African context” (Orobator 2008:11). Western

missionaries required Africans to give up their traditional heritage to become Christians.

Accordingly, this model of approach denotes that, for one to become Christian, one must

become culturally European. This is why Kwabena Nketia (2009:10) quoting K.A. Busia

queried western missionaries approaches to mission by demanding that Africans give up

their traditions, their celebrations and ritual cycles and discard their spirituality before

they become Christians.

These missionaries’ approaches to missio Dei (the mission of God) led Africans to initiate

a ‘home grown Christianity’ (African Christianity), a Christianity exhibited by AICs. This

term African Christianity suggests that though Christianity is universal there are some

religion. Thus, the term ‘African Christianity’ was first used in the 1960s and gained

popular usage after it was used by Pope John Paul VI at a Pan African Episcopal meeting

of Roman Catholic Bishops and Priests held at Gaba, Uganda (Shorter, 1975:20). During

that conference, Pope John Paul VI concluded by saying:

From this point of view, certain pluralism is not only legitimate, but desirable.

An adaptation of the Christian life in the fields of pastoral, ritual, didactic and

spiritual activities is not only possible, it is even favoured by the church; the

liturgical renewal is a living example of this. And in this sense you may, and

you must have ‘African Christianity (Shorter, 1975:20).

The above quotation indicates the introduction of the second phase of ‘Christianization of

Africa’ with African Christians ‘Africanizing Christianity’. This Africanisation of Christianity

by African Christians is seen in form of African Indigenous Churches (AICs).Therefore,

the main aim of these AICs in Africa was to ensure that Africans could be Christians

without feeling that they are living on borrowed religion and borrowed culture. Mbiti

(1977:183) also observed that at first European missionaries Christianised Africa while

African Christians later Africanised Christianity. This is how the study conceptualises the

second phase of evangelisation of the gospel in Zimbabwe which gave birth to the

emergence of AICs, ‘Africanisation of Christianity by African Christians’.

2.3 ‘Africanisation of Christianity’ in Zimbabwe

This section reconstructs the second phase of the history of Christianization of Africa

particularly in Zimbabwe. This second phase is commonly known as Africanisation of

of the gospel from western missionaries. The main agenda of these African Christians

was to make Christianity an African religion. We have already noted that missionaries

presented a gospel tinged in western colours and hence in Africanisation of Christianity,

the intention was to remove the western garments but retain the universal Christian

gospel as it was from the beginning with the centrality of Jesus Christ and the Bible. For

German (1987: 2) the “Africanisation of Christianity is the quest to make Christian faith

authentically an African Christian faith”.

Further German argues that Jesus Christ must be interpreted to the Africans in such a

way that HE is both true to the scripture and meaningful to the African man. It is in this

milieu that Nyamiti (1984) popularised a new tag for Christ, which is Christ our ancestor.

Nyamiti posits that the cult of ancestors should control how the church in Africa

understands its life and operations (Kaoma 2015:45). Through incarnation and

redemption, Christ has become our kin our mediator and our example (Kaoma 2015:45).

About eight years later Benezet Bujo further developed Nyamiti’s school of thought of

Christ being our Ancestor. However, for Bujo Christ as ancestor can only be used

metaphorically since Jesus Christ transcends all ancestors (Bujo 1992:87). It is against

this arguement that Bujo labels Christ as our Proto-Ancestor (Bujo 1992:87). By Proto

ancestor Bujo implies that Jesus is the first to resurrect from the dead, evidenced by HIS

Christophanes, ascended to heaven and hence the vehicle of a new life between the

weak human beings and the supreme God, the creator (Bujo 1992:89). In a way, Bujo is

presenting to an African man Jesus Christ as an ancestor par excellence who transcends

African cultures. This is how Africans perceived and constructed praise names like

Mudzimu mukuru (Great Ancestor), Chidza chepo (The one who has no beginning),

dande mutande (the one who is everywhere), being accommodated in Christianity though

during ‘Christianisation of Africa’ such words were deemed to be evil and unwelcome by

the Church. Thus, we argue that the Africanisation of Christianity is a by-product of

western missionaries failing to inculturate the gospel into the African worldviews.

As we have already noted that inculturation is the process whereby cultural values can

be transformed through exposure to the Christian message and the insertion of

Christianity into indigenous cultures (Duncan 2014:11). This suggests a dual possess

whereby the Christian gospel adapts to and adopts the new African environment at the

same time maintaining its central tenets. Thus, western missionaries’ rigid approach to

the Christianisation of Africa triggered the migration of church members from missionary

churches to establish their own African Independent Churches. By the time many African

nations gained freedom from colonial governments, African Indigenous Churches were

becoming more and more visible in many of these African countries. The main purpose

of these AICs was to redefine Christianity from an African perspective and through African

thought forms and idioms but still continuing to be in tandem with the rest of the

Christendom (Muzorewa 1985). This is what Orobator (2008)referred to as “brewed

theology in an African pot” Thus, resulting in a Christianity that was influenced by and

conceived from an African worldview, African philosophy, African tradition and African

cultures (Fielder et al. 1998:34).

some AICs went on to accommodate incompatible African spiritual elements hence

presenting suspicious Church spiritualities. This suggests that there are two broad

categories of AICs: Undisputed and Disputed. For us to reach this conclusion first, we

need to agree on what constitutes an authentic Christian church and what characterises

a disputed church. Burridge (2001) gives us a tentative working definition of a true

Christian church. Thus, a genuine Christian church is a group of people that follows the

doctrine of Jesus Christ, his death burial and resurrection for the salvation of humankind

(Burridge 2001:10). This doctrine of Christ is found in the Bible (Burridge 2001:11). Basing

on this working definition, any Church that does not teach the Doctrine of Christ; and does

not use the Bible for its theology is presenting a questionable non Christian spirituality.

Below is a discussion on the origin of authentic AICs in Zimbabwe. A selection of the

disputed AICs shall be undertaken in Chapter 3.

2.4 The rise of Authentic African Indigenous Churches in Zimbabwe

The phenomenon of AICs came to the then Rhodesia from South Africa. The simple

reason for this assumption is that the first and second AICs in Zimbabwe were from South

Africa. According to Daneel (1987:51) the earliest AIC in the then Southern Eastern

Rhodesia was the ‘First Ethiopian Church’ (FEC) which was founded by Mupambi

Chidembo from the Ndau tribe of Chipinge in 1910. Chidembo returned from the then

Transvaal (now Limpopo province of South Africa) and established an independent

Church first among the Karanga people of Bikita, then Gutu and finally his home area
53

(Daneel 1987). The Zion Christian Church of the Zimbabwean chapter was founded by

Samuel Mamvura Mutendi of Bikita district in Masvingo province in 1925 as he broke

away with Engenas Lekganyane (Chimininge 2014:33-48). After the establishment of

FEC and ZCC, many more emerged such as Johane Marange in the early 1930s, and

Assemblies of God Africa (AOGA) now called Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa

Forward in Faith (ZAOGA FIF) Church founded by Ezekiel Guti in 1960 among other AICs

in Zimbabwe. Since then, AICs continued to spread so that today they are numerous in

Zimbabwe.

Table 1: Examples of undisputed AICs, their founders and years they were
founded

African Independent Church Founder Year

First Ethiopian Church Mupambi Chidembo 1910

Zion Christian Church (ZCC Samuel Mamvura Mutendi 1925

Johane Marange Apostolic Faith Church Johane Marange 1935

African Apostolic Church Paul Mwazha 1951

AOGA now ZAOGA FIF Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti 1960

given to designate these AICs need to be revised. This is so because for Anderson

(2001:107) the typologies given overlooked the complexities of the subject hence causing

confusion and wrong interpretation of the phenomenon. Anderson further argues that

earlier scholars of these AICs were short-sighted because their typologies of AICs do not

match the intricacies of the subject matter and are very misleading (Anderson

2000:107).Thus this study shares the same sentiments with other scholars like Dana and

Daneel (2007) who argued that the tendency of studying one movement and presupposes

that all AICs are the same should be discouraged.

It is important to highlight that this research was carried out among the Vapositori

(Apostolic) Christian Churches in Zimbabwe. Still, the researcher of this study admits that

one cannot carry out meaningful research if one targets the Vapositori as a whole

because there are enumerable number of Vapositori denominations in Zimbabwe. Among

the Vapositori Churches, there are those of the ‘Book’ and those of the ‘Spirit’. By those

of the ‘Book’ this study refers to those Vapositori who use the Bible for their theology.

Examples of these are: Positori yekwa Johane Marange (the Johane Marange Apostolic

Church), Positori yekwa Mwazha (African Apostolic Church) and Positori yekwa Mugodhi

(the Mugodhi Apostolic Church) among others. And another group is Vapositori of the

‘Spirit’. These Vapositori normally referred to themselves as ‘Christians who do not read

the Bible’ but rely on direct communication from God (live and directly) (Matthew Engelke

2007).

dzekuMadzibaba (Fathers Churches). Therefore, in an attempt to fill up the academic

lacuna, our submission is that, the earlier scholars who researched on Vapositori of the

‘Spirit’ or Madzibaba or Masowe, the likes of Dillone-Malone (1978) Mukonyora (1998),

(2007) and Engelke (2007) among others did not account for variables amongst the

Masowe religious groups. It appears as if there is one unified Johane Masowe

weChishanu Church in Zimbabwe. Yet there are numerous Johane Masowe weChishanu

churches in Zimbabwe. Perhaps during their time of study Johane Masowe weChishanu

Church was still a unified religious group. This study observes that after the death of

Johane Masowe in 1973, many splinter groups emerging but they all continued to be

designated by the preface Johane Masowe weChishanu. This study shall provide a list of

these Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches in Zimbabwe and their identity. It is among

the numerous lists of the Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches that Johane Masowe

weChishanu yeNyenyedzi has been explicitly selected to be the case study of this

research. The reason why we are carrying a research among this religious group is that

the Church attracted thousands of followers in Zimbabwe and its neighbouring countries

hence attracting scholars to discuss its Church spirituality. Below is a brief study on the

typologies of undisputed AICs.

2.5 Typologies and spirituality of the undisputed AICs

The term typology in this study is used to imply a classification of AICs according to certain

specifications. A typology is a genre or class that helps to characterise a certain

identified some broad categories. These categories are based on certain features of the

church. Convincingly, this study notes that although there is extensive literature on AICs,

Bengt Sundkler (1948) is credited with being the first to systematise the study of AICs

(Anderson 2001:12) into two broad groups; the ‘Ethiopian’ and the ‘Spirit-type’. This two-

fold distinction of AICs, of Sundkler was later developed by Turner (1967). However,

though Turner adopted the two-fold categories of AICs, he noted that there are some

AICs which do not fit into the two broad subdivisions. These according to Turner were

disputed AICs hence he categorised them as Neo-pagan movements and Hebraic

movements (Daneel 1987:34-35). For Him any other AIC that does not fit into the two

main broad categories ‘Ethiopian’ and ‘Spirit-type’ is Neo-pagan or non-Christian.

Seemingly, the discourse on the authentic and non-authentic Christian Churches is

central to this study hence Chapter three of this study will pursue Turner’s argument that

“some AICs are non-Christian and others are more obviously Christian” (Daneel 1987:35).

So, the two-fold distinction of AICs propounded by Sundkler (1948) supported by Turner

(1967) and later by Daneel (1987), was further subdivided by Anderson (1997) into three

broad categories - Ethiopian, Spirit-type and Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches. The

Pentecostal Churches, according to Anderson, are those that emerged after Zimbabwe

became independent of colonisation in 1980. Thus this chapter discussed the three broad

categories of AICs - Ethiopian, Spirit-type and Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches.

Table 2: Typologies of AICs according to Turner, Daneel and Anderson

Ethiopian 1.The First Ethiopian Church (FEC) of 1910

2.African Congregational Church of 1953

Spirit-type 1.Zion Christian Church

2. Johane Marange Apostolic Church of 1935

African Pentecostal Churches 1. Assemblies of God Africa (AOGA) Zimbabwe Assemblies

of God Africa Forward in Faith Church of 1960

2. Worldwide Family of God (FOG) Church 1985

These typologies are studied for three main reasons; first, to find out whether the

categories of AICs added more knowledge to the academic study of this phenomenon or

has caused a lot of confusion; second, to locate the JMCN Church group in Zimbabwe;

third, whether the three-fold typologies: Ethiopian, Spirit-type and Pentecostal is a full

representation of AICs in Zimbabwe.

2.5.1 Ethiopian Churches

The first group, as observed by Sundkler (1961:53), is a generic group of what he termed

‘Ethiopian Churches.’ For him, these churches are linked ideologically to the Coptic

Church in the medieval kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia. It was the first Christian Church

1987:38). However, for Sundkler (1961:53), these Churches are not significantly different

from most of the ‘parent’ mission churches in terms of their theology and liturgy. He

argued that the chief dissimilarity is that they are led and controlled by Africans. In other

words, for Sundkler (1961) the main reason for their emergence has been to empower

Africans in Church leadership. For Anderson Ethiopian Churches are AICs that do not

claim to be prophetic or to have special manifestation of the Holy Spirit but emerged on

racial and political grounds (Anderson 2001:16). The term is derived from Ethiopia, the

only African nation that had successfully rejected colonialism by defeating Italy in the

battle of Adwa which was fought on 1 March in 1896 (Anderson 2001:16). Apart from

Ethiopia defeating Italy in a war, it is the one of the few African countries mentioned in the

Bible (Psalm 68:31), (Anderson 2001:16). Thus, Daneel (1987) the leading exponent on

the study of AICs in Zimbabwe outlines the main spiritual elements of faith of the Ethiopian

Churches:

1. They lay no claim to manifestations of the Holy Spirit

2. They have a political outlook based largely on Africa for the Africans.

3. They claim a close connection with the New Testament Christianity

through the Coptic Church of Ethiopia

4. The label Ethiopia occurs prominently in the names of the Churches

(Psalms 68:31).

5. They stress the reading of the Bible

6. They value Biblical exegesis following patterns of the mainline Churches

(Daneel 1987:54).

The examples of the Ethiopian Churches in the Zimbabwean religious landscape are as

follows:

1. The First Ethiopian Church of Zimbabwe (Chechi yaMatopia) by

Mupambi Chidembo founded in 1910

2. African Congregational Church founded by Mheke Semwayo in

1942

3. Apostolic Faith Mission of Africa International by the late Rev

Sibanda now led by Tony Tshuma in 1985

4. African Reformed Church founded by Rev Jonas Zvobgo.

For Daneel (1987:51) the first Ethiopian Church (FEC) was founded by Mupambi

Chidembo, a MuNdau from Bikita district in Masvingo province who worked as a migrant

labourer in the then Transvaal in South Africa from 1890 to 1910 where he came into

contact with the South African “Ethiopian Church.” What is noteworthy in this study is the

origin of the founder. Mupambi was Ndau but located in Bikita area, an area of the

Karanga people. Most Ndau people in Zimbabwe are from Chipinge, not from Bikita. Also

the name Mupambi Chidembo is not a Ndau name but a Karanga name. This could imply

that if this man was a Ndau he could have migrated from Chipinge and forcefully grabbed

a piece of land in Bikita hence the nickname Mupambi meaning someone who grabs

things by force. Chibembo is an animal that smells a lot that no one is comfortable staying

land and forcing his way to stay among the Karanga people. It is this man like Saul of the

Bible who was a killer but turned to be a great preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mupambi Chidembo despite his displeasing background started a Church and people

followed him. This church, is no longer functional as it used to be during its hay days when

it was then popularly known as chichi yamatopia, meaning the Ethiopian Church mostly

among the Gutu, Ndanga, Bikita and Chipinge districts (Daneel 1987:51).

The second group identified by Daneel (18987:53) of the Ethiopian Church was the

African Congregational Church founded by Semwayo, a muRozvi from Chipinge district

in Manicaland province. Semwayo left the American Board Mission to start his own

Church among his people as result of leadership disputes (Duncan 2015:213). The

dispute arose at Mt Silinda because white missionaries were supporting the colonial

regime that was there in Zimbabwe. It was during this time that most African country were

advocating for Pan- Africanism (Duncan 2015). It is interesting to note that most Church

founders are from Chipinge and are of the Ndau tribe. On contrasting views Chipinge

district is commonly known for witchcraft and sorcery (Kelso 1993:4). Kelso raised that

his editor friend Maxwell Chivasa informed him that powerful sorcerers reside in Chipinge

(Kelso 1993:4). Surprisingly most great Church founders are from Chipinge. However,

the primary focus of this study is not discussing the origins of African Indigenous Church

leaders but to discuss the typologies of AICs.

The second group of AICs after the Ethiopians was the Spirit-type Churches (Daneel

1987:53). Historically, these churches are related to the Zionist movements in South

Africa and en route to Zion City of Illinois (United States of America) (Sundkler1976:16ff).

Spirit-type churches are more dissimilar and different from the missionary Christianity in

the area of theology and liturgy. For Daneel (1987:54) “the prevalence of such terms as

Zion, Jerusalem, Apostolic, Full Gospel, Pentecostal and the like as the designations of

African Spirit-type Churches in itself indicates that most of them are strongly inclined, or

at least pre-eminence to the work of the Holy Spirit.” Daneel (1987) summarised the main

tenets of the Spirit-type Churches as follows:

1. They are Spirit type Churches

2. They ideologically pride themselves as Amazonia who emanate from

Mt Zion in Jerusalem

3. They emphasise prophecy under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

4. They value the power of revelation, visions and dreams

5. They emphasise the authority of the Bible

6. They emphasise exorcism and healing

7. They affirm some aspects of traditional society.

Examples of Churches which fall under Spirit-type in the Zimbabwean Chapter according

to Daneel are:

1. Zion Christian Church (ZCC) founded by Samuel Mutendi

2. Zion Church (Zioni reNdaza) Zionist of the sacred cords founded by Andria

3. African Apostolic Church of God founded by Paul Mwazha

However, it is important to note that the third category of AICs was later introduced by

Anderson (1997). For him though the second group of AICs (the Spirit –type) is spiritual

in nature, there are distinctive features that are there between the old Spirit-type

Churches of the 1910-1970s with newly Spirit-type Churches which came as the

aftermath of the Zimbabwean independence (Anderson 1997:3). This is how the third

categories of AICs were introduced particularly on the Zimbabwean Christian landscape.

2.5.3 African Pentecostal Churches (APCs)

The third group of AICs is the African Pentecostal Churches. African Pentecostal

Churches are the third fastest growing phenomenon among the AICs in Zimbabwe. For

Martin (2008:9) Pentecostalism represents the third great force of Christianity.

Mapuranga (2013:172) as quoting Togarasei (2010:20) argues that the emergence of

African Pentecostalism was largely facilitated by Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) which

entered in Zimbabwe in 1915 through a South African Evangelist called Zacharius

Manamela. AFM Church brought Pentecostal revivals in the country which gave birth to

a number of African Pentecostal Churches in Zimbabwe. The oldest of these African

Pentecostal Churches emerged from AFM is Assemblies of God Africa (AOGA) of

Ezekiel Guti of the 1960s (Machingura 2011).

This term Pentecostal is taken from the Day of Pentecost experience of the Acts Chapter

2:1ff (Anderson 2001:18). This strand of Christianity in Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe,

ordinary members who thereafter break through both cultural and economic limitations

(Maxwell 1998;350-373). David Maxwell (1998:350-373) who studied ZAOGA FIF one of

the oldest Zimbabwean Pentecostal Churches, argues that African Pentecostal Churches

seek to cultivate a theology that attends to the needs of Africans. For Maxwell these

African Pentecostal Churches emphasise deliverance from the spirit of poverty since

Africa from time immemorial is characterised by poverty, disease and wars (Maxwell

1998:350-373).

Pentecostalism is a globalized form of faith expression, a transnational, worldwide form

of Christianity (Duncan 2014:1-11). Further Duncan argues that African Pentecostal

Churches are innovative where scripture is used to speak into existential situations of

believers and in response Church members believed it will act in their favour (Duncan

2014:9). More so, unlike the ‘Spirit-type, spiritual-healing Churches’, African Pentecostal

Churches (APCs) emphasize the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This baptism is for all Church

members. For Musoni (2014) all members are baptized by the Holy Spirit with the

evidence of speaking in other languages popularly known as speaking in tongues

(glossolalia). This is different from the Spirit type Churches which believe that the gift of

the Holy Spirit is for special individuals in the Church. The study posits that African

Pentecostal Churches propagated a theology of priesthood for all believers basing their

theology from Acts 2 which states in part that:

… And they were ALL filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with

other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4 (KJV).

reckon in Zimbabwe after 1980s (Anderson 2004). One thing that has been a mirage

among scholars who studied this strand of Christianity in Africa is that African

Pentecostalism is not static but is dynamic. Maxwell (2007) described African Pentecostal

Churches as ‘transitional’ African Pentecostal Churches. For him African Pentecostal

Churches are characterised by vacillation especially when it comes to political issues.

Maxwell observed that the leader of one African Pentecostal Church the Zimbabwe

Assemblies of God Africa, Ezekiel Guti draws towards Mugabe at one stage and moved

towards the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at another stage

(Maxwell 2007). Following is a discussion on types of APCs and their Church spiritualities

in Zimbabwe.

2.5.3.1 Some Examples of African Pentecostal Churches (APCs) in Zimbabwe

According to Ukah (2007:1), “African Pentecostalism has taken the African south of the

Sahara by storm”. Kalu (2008:6) added that these Pentecostal Churches built mega-

centres of worship; use attractive and expensive places such as stadia and cinemas;

organise well attended crusades and revivals; own radio and television stations. Dovlo

(1998:52-69) summarises the major tenets of the APCs emphasis on:

1. Emphasis on gospel of material prosperity, prosperity that comes through giving

and paying of tithes

2. Emphasis on a life of mission (suffering for the gospel)

3. Emphasis on deliverance from evil spirits

5. Emphasis on speaking in tongues (glossolalia) Spiritometer

6. The priesthood of all believers

7. All night prayers, praying in the name of Jesus Christ Dovlo (1998:52-69),

(Musoni 2014:15)

Examples of these African Pentecostal Churches in Zimbabwe are as follows:

1. Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (ZAOGA F.I.F) by Ezekiel Guti of 1960

2. Worldwide Family of God (FOG) Church led by Andrew Wutawunashe of 1985

3. Faith World Ministries founded by Bartholomew Manjoro 1993

4. United Family International Church(UFIC) by Emmanuel Makandiwa 2008

5. Prophecy Healing and Deliverance Ministry (PHD) Walter Magaya 2012

However, it has been noted in this study that some other scholars used the term New

Religious Movements (NRMs) or New Religious Right Movements (NRRMs) to refer to

African Pentecostal Churches. In the Zimbabwean setting (Mpofu 2013) in his

unpublished doctoral thesis used (NRRMs) to refer to this group of Christian Churches in

Zimbabwe as movements that have deviated from preaching the true gospel of Christ.

Arguably, the term NRRMs or NRMs used to refer to this brand of Christianity is very

misleading and raises more questions than answers. The reason for this submission is

that it appears as though those scholars who use NRRMs to refer to African Pentecostal

Churches follow the armchair theorists and critics of the West, who question phenomena

without proper empirical appreciation of them. For instance the immediate question one

or what constitutes a Church, Christian or Religious Movement? Can the word

‘Movement’ used interchangeably with the word ‘Church’ without confusing?

For Galgalo and Peter (2012:76) what makes a Church Christian is the proclamation of

the gospel of Christ, His death and resurrection. Considering the theology of these

Churches that are referred to as Religious Movements - a theology that is Christ centred,

drawn from the Bible, scholars like Mapuranga (2013) prefer to use African Pentecostal

Churches than New Religious Movements. The term New Religious Movement lost

significance because of its ambiguity and lack of clarity. For George the word ‘new’ is so

confusing because for him the so called ‘new religious movements’ are certainly not new

phenomena (George 2006:3). For example a Church that has existed for over five

decades cannot be still referred to as New Religious movement. Anderson (1997:4)

decided to designate a new tag for this strand of Christianity particularly in Zimbabwe.

Instead of being New Religious Movements Anderson termed them ‘New Pentecostal

Churches’. For him they are New Pentecostal Churches because they emerged after

Independence in 1980 (Anderson 1997:3).

However, the only error that Anderson made at first was to assume that ZAOGA started

after 1980 (Anderson 19974:3) which he corrected later in his 2001 publication citing that

the Church started in the 1960s (Anderson 2001:179). Perhaps what confused him earlier

was the initial ‘Z’ on Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (ZOAGA). Maxwell adds that

the Church was founded between the1950s and 1960s by Guti and a small group of

of Guti’s charisma (Maxwell 2006:13). This group joined Nicholas Bhengu of South

Africa’s Assemblies of God (AoG) before Guti started his Assemblies of God Africa

(AOGA) in the 1960. Therefore its name then was ‘Assemblies of God Africa’ (AOGA)

before it was renamed after Independence to be Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa. As

this Zimbabwean Pentecostal Church continued to reach out for other nations outside

Zimbabwe, it was again renamed to be the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa Forward

in Faith Church (ZAOGA FIF). This is why Maxwell referred to this Church as African

Zimbabwean ‘Transitional’ Pentecostal Church (Maxwell 2006:13).

George and Wilkins further argued that the term New Religious Movement is misleading

because all the ancient religions were once new, even mainline Christianity. However, for

Turner (1987:13) the term New Religious Movements (NRMs) is a substitute of the

pejorative term ‘cult’. George and Wilkins ( 2006:3), Saliba (2003:3) defined New

Religious Movements as:

Any religious movement that is organizationally distinct and has

doctrines and or practices that contradict those of the Scripture (Bible)

as interpreted by traditional Christianity as represented by the major

Catholic and Protestant denominations, and as expressed in such

statements as the Apostles’ Creed.

Guided by this definition this study posits that some Churches which were labelled ‘New

Religious Movements’ need to be correctly called ‘African Pentecostal Churches (APCs)’

Religious Movements or cults subscribe to the traditional Christian spiritual tenets.

There is a gross conflation between New Religious Movements (cults) and African

Pentecostal Churches. These denominations that are typically identified as New

Religious Movements (cults) subscribe to the traditional tenets of Christianity (George

2006:3). A case in point is ZAOGA FIF. However, for Mpofu (2013) ZAOGA FIF is New

Religious Right Movement because Guti as the founder of the movement is glorified to

the level of a demi-god (Mpofu 2013:63).

Further Mpofu argues that too much power vested in one person has led to many splits

within the ZAOGA FIF movement leading to many ministers starting their own Churches

for instance Prophet Uebert Angel of Spirit Embassy Ministries (Mpofu 2013:64). This

study posits that a misinterpretation of facts by some academic scholars resulted in the

disseminating of false information to the corporate world. For example, it is a

misinterpretation of fact that Uebert Angel broke away from ZAOGA FIF. Similarly that

ZAOGA FIF is a New Religious Movement because the ordinary followers of the Church

revere a person as the ‘son of God’ in Christological stature is again empirically unproven.

In fact what can be empirically proven is that Guti teaches who he is and what his

members should do. Guti taught his members that he is not Christ nor claimed to be equal

to Jesus Christ but just a servant of Jesus Christ. As Guti wrote:

servant and Messenger of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, who

died and rose for you and me. Amen. (Guti 2014:17).

In a continuous endeavour to clarify this misunderstanding, The History of ZAOGA

Forward in Faith, (2014) is a book that is read to all members of the church on every

Church anniversary. Therefore to argue that ordinary followers of Guti see him as a ‘son

of God’ with Christological stature (Mpofu 2013:64) is a theologically and doctrinally

misleading statement. So apart from the few scholars who preferred to name African

Pentecostal Churches New Religious Movements, this chapter posits that the majority of

scholars unanimously agree that the above mentioned categories of AICs - Ethiopian,

Spirit type and African Pentecostal movements are authentic Christian Churches.

2.6 Central spiritual elements of the undisputed AICs

The study notes that though there are many different Church denominations displaying

variable spiritualities what makes them Christian are certain boundaries. For Holt

(2005:13) Christianity has an extensive field, but there are also boundaries outside

where the ‘game’ is no longer Christian. Holt further argues that in this modern era,

demarcation lines are not always as clear as they used to be in the past hence there is

need to critically discuss criteria of judging Christian spiritualities (Holt 2005:13). For

him ‘not every spirituality is a type of Christian Spirituality’ (Holt 2005:13). Therefore,

environment where everyday a new Church is being started particularly in Zimbabwe.

This study continues to argue that while religious dialogue is necessary, Christians

should not lose the central spiritual Christian elements. The study posits that boundaries

are set to define parameters and identities. It is reasonable to argue that Christianity like

any other religion has boundaries that should be preserved to safeguard its integrity and

identity. Clark (1998:38) observes that “boundaries protect what is at the heart of the

matter for a community of faith, that an assault on boundaries is an assault on the heart

of the matter”. He adds, “Boundaries also define the shape and extent of an entity, and

distinguish between what is inside and what is out” (Clark1998:44). Further, Clark gave

examples of boundaries.

Some boundaries are like the Berlin Wall - fronted by land mines,

topped with barbed wire, guarded by machine guns. Others serve to

facilitate interaction with the environment. Other boundaries are elastic

and semi-permeable, define the self and require bonding with the other,

point to the reality of mutual inter-connectedness. Such communion

attests that we inhabit a single context, and within that context we live

deeply within one another’s boundaries. The only way to in-habit is to

co-habit. The fantasy of the impermeable self or religious boundaries is

a snare and a delusion. With such understanding of boundaries might

encourage those willing to cross over and return, and create the

conditions for peace between traditions long separated from each

entity and generates creativity and community (Clark 1998:44).

For Smith, “boundaries define us; they define what is me and what is not me” (Smith

2011:2). Further Smith argues that “boundary shows me where I end and someone else

begins, it leads me to sense of ownership”. Therefore, the study on inculturated African

spiritual elements in the JMCN Church looks into what the Church has adopted from

African Traditional Religion to shape their Christian spirituality in Zimbabwe.

Accordingly Clark (1998) and Smith’s (2011) definitions of ‘boundaries’ can be equated

to central religious spiritual elements which define the essence of a religion. For Bruce

(1999:1) Christian spiritual elements are the very mystical essentials which form the line

of demarcation between undisputed Church Movements and disputed Church

Movements. For him though there are a number of these Christian doctrines; seven

doctrines are undisputable and all Christian denomination should uphold them. The

study maintains the same perspective in dealing with African Indigenous Churches.

Religious scholars are aware of the contestation on the criteria for distinguishing

undisputed Church denominations from disputed Church denominations. This study

subscribes to the seven undisputed Christian spiritual elements according to Bruce

(1999). The following are the summarised Christian tenets according to Bruce (1999):

1. Salvation through Jesus Christ

2. The Bible is the inspired word of God

3. The doctrine of the Trinity, God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit

5. The Bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ

6. The Second coming of Jesus Christ to Judge the World

7. The sacraments, i.e., Eucharist and Water Baptism

For Moodley (2008:78) one set of criteria to accurately evaluate the authenticity of

Christian spirituality in a Church organisation is its Christological beliefs. Moodley

summarized Peter Beyerhaus’s (1967) orthodox Christology as follows;

1 Christ must be proclaimed as Christus Victor, the one who triumphs over evil

forces (Colossians 2:15) (ASV)

2 Christ must be proclaimed as the Crucified One who took the curse of our sins

upon himself

3 Christ must be proclaimed as the one who is present, still working powerfully

among his people and assisting them in their needs, dangers and temptations

4 And Christ must be proclaimed as the one to come who will appear at the full

revelation of God’s kingdom (Moodley, 2008:79).

This chapter argues that the emphasis on the person and work of Christ in the above

discussed AICs Ethiopian, Spirit-Type, and Pentecostal Charismatics particularly in

Zimbabwe is an important criterion in concluding that these AICs are undisputed Christian

churches. This study posits that there is plethora of other AICs whose theology and

spirituality is questionable. It is against this background that chapter three of this study

discussed the theology and spirituality of the disputed AICs in Zimbabwe. The chapter

the ones in Zimbabwe.

2.7 Summary of the Chapter

This chapter posited that there are two phases of the Christianisation of Zimbabwe. The

first phase was the European missionaries’ enterprise (1561 to 1900). The second phase

is the African Christian initiative (about 1910 to the present). This study observes that

while the initiative of evangelisation of the Christian gospel shifted from European

missionaries to African Christians, the centrality of Christian spirituality continued to be

noticeable i.e. they continued to proclaim Christus victor (Amanze 2002:34), using the

Bible as the source of their theology, preaching and waiting for the second coming of

Jesus Christ to judge the world, and they continue to fellowship in the Pascal mystery of

Jesus. It is to these results the groups of AICs discussed in this chapter are designated

as undisputed AICs in Zimbabwe. However, the purpose of this study is to discover the

authenticity of JMCN Church spirituality. We have noted that the JMCN Church was not

listed among the undisputed AICs hence a need to selected other groups of AICs in

Zimbabwe. This selection of other AICs is done to ascertain the place of Jesus Christ, His

mediatorship role, His death and resurrection, His second coming and primarily the place

of the Bible for their Theology and spirituality.

DISPUTED AICS, THEIR TYPOLOGIES AND CENTRAL SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS OF

FAITH

3.1 Introduction

The previous chapter discussed the origin and typologies of African Indigenous Churches

(AICs). It noted that there are two distinctive broad categories of AICs - the disputed AICs

and the undisputed AICs (Turner 1967). A central criterion was used to arrive at that

conclusion. Thus, any Church that does not proclaim the following cannot be classified

as a bona fide Christian church:

1. Salvation through Jesus Christ

2. The Bible as the inspired word of God

3. Believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, God Father, Son and Holy Spirit

4. Believe in the Doctrine of Christology

5. Believe in the Bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ

6. Belief in the Second coming of Jesus Christ to Judge the World(Bruce

1999).

Therefore, this chapter selects some of these Churches which were dismissed as non-

Christian and employs the criteria mentioned above to evaluate their theology and

spirituality. This is done to try and situate JMCN Church in a group. Though the study is

narrowed to the Zimbabwean religious context, two Churches outside Zimbabwe have

other one is the Namibian - Herero Protestant Church. The reason why they have been

sampled is to show that the debate on authentic and non-authentic Church denominations

is not confined to the Zimbabwean situation but even in other African nations and these

churches have, to a limited degree infiltrated the Zimbabwean context through migration.

Two Zimbabwean Churches which are sampled as disputed AICs are the Guta

RaJehovah GRJ (City of Jehovah) of Mai Chaza (Theresa Nyamushanya) and Guta

raMwari GRM (City of God) of Taxwell Tayali. The chapter will begin by outlining the

selected disputed AICs and their central spiritual elements. Finally, this Chapter will

discuss in detail the highlighted selected central traditional Christian spiritual elements of

faith. We discuss central Christian elements in detail in this Chapter to evaluate the

spirituality of the disputed AICs as we have evaluated the undisputed AICs in the previous

Chapter.

3.2 Selected disputed African Indigenous Churches

The term disputed AICs in this study is used interchangeably with earlier designations

given by scholars such as Neo-pagan Movements, (Turner 1967), Post-Christian

(Oosthuizen 1968), New Religious Movements, (Turner 1979) or non-Christian

movements (Daneel 1987). This study posits that these terms are closely connected or

rather are ‘two-sides’ of the same coin. For instance, Neo-pagan movements as a term

was used to refer to AICs which represent a large–scale reversion to traditional religion

(Turner 1967). Post-Christian denotes Churches that have deviated from authentic

Christianity (Oosthuizen 1968) Non-Christian denotes a group of Churches which reacted

a way of stabilising the situation; they ended up demeaning western Christianity (Daneel

1987). New Religious Movements was used to refer to those AICs that blended

indigenous religious beliefs and practices with Christian ones (Chitando, 2005:14). Below

are examples of such AICs.

3.3 The Herero Protestant Church of Namibia

The Herero Oruuano also known as the Unity Protestant Church was established in 1955

by Alfeus Kanambunga and Pastor Reinhard Ruzo (Ejikeme 2011:57). This AIC emerged

as a reaction to Lutheran missionaries’ refusal to allow its members to continue practicing

traditional burial rites (Ejikeme 2011:57). It is against this setting that the critics of this

Church posit that Herero Oruuano or Unity Protestant Church as an AIC presented a

questionable form of spirituality. For Kandovazu, this indigenous church radically

inculturated incompatible African spiritual elements as a way to react to missionaries’

approach to African culture (Kandovazu, 2009:7). Initially the Church started as a

protestant group within the Lutheran Church in Namibia but later grew into a big

congregation with a huge following numbering in the thousands.

As a protestant group its primary goal was to transform the Lutheran way of worship by

accommodating ancestral veneration (Kandovazu 2009:8). For Kandovazu the Herero

Unity Protestant group sought to integrate the liturgical tradition of Mission Christianity

with Herero cultural traditions. The controversy rose around 1955 in the Lutheran Rhenish

mission when certain members who were accused of continuing with the ‘holy fire ritual’
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between the main bedroom of the head man and the cattle’s kraal during the night (Breure

1999:41). It is their axis mundi, a place around which the whole ancestral veneration is

centered (Breure 1999:1). This study posits that the small fire was a symbol of rendezvous

between the living and the living-dead (Mbiti 1971).

One fascinating feature of the Herero Unity Protestant Church is the displacement of

Jesus Christ as mediator between God and the living. For Breure in the Herero Protestant

Church there are God-ancestors and the living ancestors (Breure 1999:74). The Herero

Unity Church intentionally emphasised veneration of one’s ancestor and traditional burial

rites (Kandovazu 2009:8). It is because of religious conflict among other issues that the

Herero Christian converts of Lutheranism withdrew from missionary Christianity to start

their own AIC that accommodated the practice of veneration of ancestors. For the Herero

people their traditional religious culture, based on traditional burial rituals and veneration

of the dead was overshadowed by Western Christianity (Rajmund, 2001:49-65). This

necessitated the exodus of most Herero peoples in 1955 to form the Protestant Unity

Church. They wanted a Christianity that provided exorcism, forth-telling (prophecy) and

a clear explanation on the continuation of ancestor veneration (Rajmund, 2001:50).

Arguably, their theology is based on a few bible verses which they read and seems to

authenticate their pre-Christian ancestor veneration and consultation of soothsayers;

reading portions where God is being associated with the dead. For example, they read

Biblical passages where God referred to Himself as ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and

The Herero in turn wanted to worship God through their ancestors. They also wanted to

revive the consultation of soothsayers and traditional healers especially after they read

1Samuel 28:11-15(KJV) which states in part:

Then the soothsayer said to Saul, whom shall I bring up for you? And Saul said

bring Samuel up for me.”... And the soothsayer said to Saul, I saw a spirit

ascending out of the earth.’ And Saul said what the form is? And the soothsayer

said an old man is coming up and he is covered with a mantle.”... Now Samuel

said to Saul, ‘why have you disturbed me by bringing me up ....

It is argued in this study that it is on the basis of these biblical verses that the Herero

sought to revive ancestral veneration and consultation of witchdoctors and soothsayers

as a solution to their social ills. This is how the missionaries’ gospel was condemned as

irrelevant and failed to mitigate African desires by members of this AIC in Namibia. Below

are the central beliefs of the Herero Unity Protestant Church.

3.4 Herero Protestant Church central spiritual elements of faith

1. They believe in the ‘holy fire’, a fire set outside by the elders of each Herero

Home-stead to take the ashes for healing purposes

2. They believe in the Bible and read it but emphasis is placed on cultural

similarities

3. They mix Christian faith with veneration of the dead

4. They believe in after dead rituals

6. They believe in soothsayers (Rajmund, 2001:64).

A close look at this AIC spirituality depicts an African Church whose spirituality has been

highly influenced by African ways of approaching the divine that pre-dates western

Christianity. It seems the Herero Protestant Church of Namibia gravitated from being

authentically Christian to a fundamentalist New Religious Movement (NRM). Hence for

Moodley (2008:58) “some AICs have moved away from orthodox Christian positions and

thus would likely fall into the category of what Oosthuizen called “post-Christian” or in the

terminology of Turner’s “New Religious Movements”. The study postulates that African

Churches should exercise extreme caution in their process of Africanizing Christianity.

For Shenk (1999:56), inculturation is a process whereby the gospel message encounters

a particular culture, calling forth faith and leading to the formation of a faith community

which is culturally authentic and authentically Christian. However, the Herero Church

borrowed incompatible African spiritual elements like ancestor veneration and

consultation of the witchdoctors to inform their Church spirituality; hence presenting a

questionable Christian spirituality.

This study therefore pronounces that the Herero Protest Church deviated from

undisputed AICs theology in several ways. For Turner ‘obvious-Christian movements or

undisputed (AICs) have made a ‘radical departure’ from accommodating incompatible

African spiritual elements which amount to a ‘radical breakthrough’ to worshipping God

as prescribed in the Christian Bible (Turner 1979;166). For Turner, the key to the success

elements such as ancestor veneration, traditional after-burial rituals and consultation of

traditional diviners by adopting Christian spiritual elements such as believing in Jesus

Christ as mediator and believing in the authority of the Bible (Turner 1979:166).

This study notes that, there are certain traditional African elements that should be avoided

in this process of inculturation so that the gospel message can remain culturally authentic

and authentically Christian. Arguably, the Herero Protestant Church’s liberal approach to

ancestor veneration underpinned it as a non-Christian movement (Turner (1979), Daneel

(1987) and Anderson (1997). The Herero Unity Protestant Church, unlike the undisputed

AICs, accommodated incompatible traditional African spiritual elements of faith, and it

disregarded traditional Christian spiritual elements of faith in the process.

3.5 The Church of the Black Ancestors in Malawi

The Church of the Black Ancestor was founded in Malawi in 1954 by Peter Nyambo, a

Nguni from the present Central Region of Malawi (Schoffeleers 2013:248). Its Chichewa

name is Chipembedzo chaMakolo Achikuda which can be translated to mean the Church

of Black Ancestors (Chakanza 1959:81). Its theology rejects the authority of the Holy

Scriptures condemning them to be the text book of the Jews and whites (Chakanza

1959:81). The key reason for the emergence of this Church was to rediscover indigenous

traditional religion and motivate Africans to struggle for a pan-Africanist, an Afro-centric

religious liberation that redeems their cultural traditions and self-determination (Chakanza

1959:19). For Ranger, this self-consciously Africanist Church called upon Africans to

return to their traditional religion (Ranger 1993:88). In this Church, Jesus of the Bible is
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(Ranger 1993:88).

Therefore, in order to oppose western Christianity, a religion equally exclusive and

dogmatic, the Church of the Ancestors sought to possess all the traditional resources of

Southern Malawi and then simplified them into what amounted to a party ideology

(Ranger 1993:88). For Schoffeleers (2013:248) the main theological position of these

African Churches was given in a circular when the Church started in Blantyre in 1954

which has a heading ‘The truth about Jesus, the saviour of the Israelites and the Whites’.

The interpretation of the circular was that Jesus was an ancestor for Jews and whites;

hence it was extraneous to African black communities.

The hierarchy of the Black Ancestor Church is made up of all traditional Chiefs, headmen,

shrine priests and territorial mediums (Ranger 1993:39). What is significant in this

particular Church is that it has also captured the shrines of the Mbona territorial

cult. Mbona is a cultic god of the Malawians (Ranger 1993:89). The Church of the

Ancestors has disrupted the celebration of the Mass, shouting that Christ was for the

whites but that Mbona (a cultic god) was the saviour for blacks (Ranger 1993:88). Below

are the central theological tenets of the Black Ancestor Church of Malawi.

1. They believe in the Mbona (Malawian cultic god), as mediator between God and

the living

2. They believe in communication with the divine at traditional shrine of their cultic

god

3. The Leadership of the Church is made up of the territorial spirit mediums

4. They believe that Jesus Christ is for Jews and whites

5. They do not believe in the Bible

6. They believe in exclusively black congregations without mixing with other races

(Ranger 1993:39).

It is important to restate the central research question: what makes a Church authentically

Christian? The Black Ancestor Church of Malawi has seriously gravitated from being an

authentic Christian Church to a New Religious Movement according to the criteria of

judging Christian spirituality adopted in this study. This criterion is that “Any Church that

does not proclaim Christus victor is a non-Christian movement” (Moodley 2008:79). Also

the Black Ancestor Church is a New Religious Movement because it appropriated

the Mbona cultic god as the mediator between the living and God, and adopted the

traditional shrines for Churches among other things. Members of this Church were once

members of the Roman Catholic Church and those who were African traditionalists who

had never been members of any Christian Church before (Schoffeleers 2013:264). For

Schoffeleers it was easy for this New Religious Movement to recruit members from

Roman Catholic because already Roman Catholic is more engaged with African culture

2013:255).

Thus far, this study has noted that the Herero Unity Protestant Church of Namibia and

the Church of the Black Ancestor Church in Malawi fit in the designation Non-Christian

Movements or New Religious Movements (NRMs). The simple reason for this submission

is that both Churches deliberately disregard the authority of the Bible and deny Jesus

Christ as central and normative for their Church spiritualities. These Churches have a

clear doctrine and teaching against the minority white community in their nations. These

churches also intentionally want to return to African traditional religion (ATR). It can be

argued that these Churches, in the process of reacting to colonialism and to missionaries’

negative approach to African cultures and traditions, overstepped Christian boundaries.

Examples are given of Churches from the Zimbabwean religious landscape which were

cited by other scholars as ‘non-Christian’ although they themselves claim to be Christian

Churches (Daneel 1987). These Churches present questionable Church spiritualities.

Examples are Guta RaJehovah (GRJ) (City of Jehovah) and Guta rampart (GRM), (City

of God). These two will be discussed in greater detail in the following sections.

3.7 Guta Ra Jehovah (City of Jehovah) Church in Zimbabwe

In the Zimbabwean religious landscape, Daneel noted a Zimbabwean Church Guta Ra

Jehovah (City of Jehovah) which presents a questionable Church spirituality.

Persuasively, this study notes that Guta Ra Jehovah is just a representation of numerous

Churches in Zimbabwe today whose spiritualities are disputed. A number of similar

Zimbabwean Church which shares the same theology with the Herero Unity Protestant

Church of Namibia and the Black Ancestors Church of Malawi.

Guta raJehovah Church was founded by Mai Chaza a former Methodist member (Daneel

1987:36). She founded Guta Ra Jehovah in 1954 in Zvimba District in Mashonaland West

Province. For Daneel (1987:36) “Mai Chaza’s Church departed from the genre of other

AICs in Zimbabwe with a greater margin.” Daneel observes that Mai Chaza is seen as

one of the Godhead where “She and Mwari (God) are seen as the original core creators

of the earth and the Great Zimbabwe ruins in particular” (Daneel 1987:36). This suggests

that Mai Chaza replaced Jesus Christ claiming that she was sent by God to deliver

Africans like Jesus was sent by God to deliver Jews. Daneel (1987:33) also noted

that Guta Ra Jehovah of Mai Chaza now based in the eastern Zimbabwe deliberately

replaced the Bible with a revelational book of its own and produced a heretical

reinterpretation of the Holy Trinity which deprived its claim of being a Christian Church.

In contrasting views, it can be argued that most AICs emphasise the history of their

founders; for instance the ‘Church history’ of Samuel Mutendi, of Zion Christian Church

(ZCC), the history of Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti of the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God

Africa, Forward in Faith (ZAOGA FIF) and the ‘New revelation’ of Johane Marange,.

However the difference is that these churches do not do that at the expense of the Bible

(Daneel, 1987: 252). For Daneel, this is not a grievous sin because even the early Church

had the Bible and the tradition of the Elders as additional sources. According to Daneel

church and the experiences of their respective leaders are used not as a substitute for

the Bible, but are introduced occasionally as additional sources of information,

substantiating Scriptures rather than contradicting them” (Daneel, 1987:252). Daneel

concluded by arguing that “of all the AICs, there is to my knowledge only one church

which indisputably replaces the Bible with another book, namely Guta Ra Jehovah

Bible (Anderson 2001:119). It is from this manual that preaching is drawn. The manual

includes a portrayal of a form of the Trinity which is totally unbiblical, in which Mai Chaza

is elevated to one of the three divine Persons who was present even during the creation

of the universe hence given a new name Musiki, the creator (Amanze 1998a).

Amanze (1998:101) noted that Guta Ra Jehovah’s lack of a proper doctrine of the Trinity

denied it the right to be designated a ‘Christian Church’ to a NRM founded on Shona

traditional religion has underwent a process of modernization by bringing into the

movements some Christian ideas. In Guta Ra Jehovah, it can be argued that the authentic

Christian message has degenerated and has been superseded to a point where one can

no longer speak of a Christian Church in the true sense of the word (Daneel, 1987:253).

In contrasting views, for Mapuranga (2013:5) Mai Chaza’s rejection on the use of the

Bible is because the Bible was used as the final authority by the western mission

Churches to oppress women. For Mapuranga (2013:1-8) there was also a rigid rejection

of women from taking up leadership roles in these traditional missionary churches, and

the justification for this was the Bible. It is against this background that Mai Chaza

forming Guta Ra Jehovah Church. Conversely, this study has theorizes that the fact

that; Guta raJehovah totally rejected the Bible; the inclusion of Mai Chaza as one of the

Godhead and the rejection of the salvific work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary led this

study to concur with previous scholars that this Church is a typical example of a non-

Christian movement in Zimbabwe. It can therefore be argued that Mai Chaza’s formation

of a separate church away from the Methodist church whose Bible she argued

‘prescribed’ the oppression of women was a rebellion against the perceived

marginalisation of women by the bible and in the church. Thus, below are central

theological beliefs of Guta raJehovah Church in Zimbabwe.

3.8 Guta raJehovah Church central spiritual elements of faith

1. They believe that Mai Chaza(Musiki/creator) is one of the Godhead

2. They believe in communication with God at traditional Shrine such as Great

Zimbabwe;

3. They do not believe in Jesus Christ for salvation of Africans

4. They do not believe in the Bible rather believe in their sacred writings

5. They do not believe in mixing with other races for worship rather it is an

exclusively Black Zimbabwean Church (Daneel 1987:252).

After Mai Chaza died in 1960, the Church split into two denominations, Guta Ra

Jehovah and Guta Ra Mwari. The study also intends to examine Guta Ra Mwari Church

to investigate on the authenticity of its Church spirituality.

Guta raMwari Church was founded in 1960 by Taxwell Tayali who claimed to be God

incarnate. Tayali was born in Zambia, formerly known as Northern Rhodesia, in 1920. He

grew up in Southern Rhodesia which is now Zimbabwe. He was one of the first members

to join Guta Ra Jehovah, founded by Mai Chaza, in its early months of 1954. After the

death of Mai Chaza in 1960, Tayali claimed that the Spirit of God which was in operational

through Mai Chaza was now working through him; hence he had become the host of God.

He founded Guta raMwari (the City of God) in 1960 in Bulawayo which is the second

largest city in Zimbabwe. Tayali’s autobiography and his preaching sermons are

presented by Hellen Tayali, his daughter, in a book: Guta raMwari: In my Own words,

Deeds and Life, Twelve lesions and Fifty-Two Chapters of God’s work (2008). The book

was written by Tayali before he died in a car accident in 2003 but was only published in

2008. It is viewed by the adherents of Guta raMwari as the Holy Book for Africans with

equal status to the Bible for Jews and Whites. This manual is different from Guta

RaJehovah Bible. In Guta raJevoha Bible only the deeds and sermons of Mai Chaza are

compiled while in Guta RaMwari manual - in my Own words and Deeds only the sermons

and the life history of Tayali is documented.

From an online book review, Lincoln Mathambo testified that Guta RaMwari Holy book’s

teachings should be “considered to be the most up to date word of God to humanity today”

(Mathambo 2010) Mathambo who is from Bulawayo attested to using the book all the

time so as to channel his life in the right direction and to remind himself that God is
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This is how we perceive Guta RaMwari, like Guta RaJehovah, coming up with their

Scripture and substituting the traditional biblical Scriptures.

Table 3: Examples of disputed AIC, their founders and the years they were
founded

Example of a Disputed AIC Its Founder Year

The Black Ancestor Church of Malawi Peter Nyambo 1954

Guta Ra Jehovah of Zimbabwe Mai Chaza 1954

Herero Protestant Church of Namibia Alfeus Kanambunga 1955

Guta Ra Mwari Church of Zimbabwe Taxwell Tayali 1960

The study observes that the above mentioned church organisations subscribes to a

completely different spirituality which attracted more questions particularly regarding the

authenticity of the form of their Christian spirituality. It has noted that the above

Zimbabwean Churches share the same theological thrusts with the Church of the

(1987) and Anderson (1997). Below is an overall outline of central theological tenets of

the disputed AICs discussed above.

3.10 The overall central spiritual elements of the disputed AICs

1. They do not read the Bible; when they do, they read it very selectively

2. Their membership is exclusively Black Africans

3. They do not believe in Jesus for their salvation

4. They use traditional objects for worship such as clay pots

5. They use traditional sacred places as worship centers.

This study has shown that the theology of Herero Protestant Church of Namibia, the Black

Ancestor Church on Malawi, and the two Zimbabwean Churches; Guta raJehovah Guta

raMwari upheld questionable Church spiritualities. These Churches have been labelled

non-Christian on the premise that they have willingly sidelined authentic traditional

Christian spiritual elements of faith and replaced them with African religious spiritual

elements of faith. This leads to the next section which unpacks exactly what constitutes

traditional Christian spiritual elements of faith. These central Christian spiritual elements

of faith add-up to the already stated criteria which was used by earlier scholars to judge

the spirituality of Herero Protestant Church of Namibia, Black ancestor Church of

Malawi, Guta raJehovha of Mai Chaza (those real name was Theresa Nyamushanya) of

Zimbabwe and Guta Ra Mwari Church of Taxwell Tayali of Zimbabwe.

remain unattended are questions like: Are these Christian Churches and what makes a

Church Christian? On that note are few traditional Christian doctrines have been selected

to judge the authenticity of these AICs spirituality as Christian or Not. Major doctrines

such as Christology; Trinity; Eschatology; Soteriological and the doctrine of Bible are

discussed below to judge the spirituality of the disputed AICs.

3.11 Orthodox Christian Central spiritual elements of faith

The central Christian spiritual elements of faith refer to the basic or core doctrines of

Christianity. These are features that help in differentiating a Christian movement from a

non-Christian movement. Without such a distinction, it will be very difficult to even argue

that such a movement exists. For Tyron (2005:1), although Church denominations might

differ in cultures and worldviews, they still possess some commonalities such as elements

of spirituality. One of the great pillars of Christianity is the mystical encounter between

humanity and Christ as Paul explains in (1Corithians 15:3). The following section

discusses the work and personhood of Jesus Christ. This is discussed because

Christianity is a Jesus movement hence a Church that does not teach about the life,

ministry death, resurrection and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Christology deals with the issues of the person and work of Christ (Amanze 1998:103).

For Macquarrie (1990:3), Christology is a discourse about who Jesus was and is and

what Jesus did and does. This study posits that every Christian denomination must have

Christ as its focal point in order to qualify as a Christian church. This is to say

without Jesus Christ as the central pillar of Church faith there is no Christianity to talk

about (Clarke 2011:4). Mugambi (1989:87) posits that a Christian is a person who has

accepted the Christian faith and made his/her own decision to become a follower of Jesus

Christ. In other words, to be Christian is to accept Jesus Christ and his teachings as

preserved in the Bible and maintained by the global Church (Mugambi 1989:87).

It is argued here that there are so many African Christological titles which developed over

years. For Nyamiti (1984), different titles given to Jesus Christ, particularly in Africa came

as a result of numerous tribes, languages, historical, social, political and economic

differences peculiar to each tribe and nation. However, what is critical in this chapter is to

showcase how the disputed AICs inculturated African traditional spiritual elements of faith

at the expense of Christian spiritual elements of faith. From what we have gathered so

far we have agree that there is no clear articulation of the basic tenets of Christian faith

such as the centrality of Jesus Christ in the all the sampled disputed AICs in this study.

The disputed AICs in Zimbabwe designate Jesus Christ as an ancestor for white and not

for black Africans while the undisputed AICs sees Jesus Christ as the Son of God,

Mediator between man and God, Healer and deliver just to mention a few.

salvation of their members who were predominantly Africans. These groups of churches

argued that Jesus was sent for the Israelites and the white community while their African

leader for instance Mai Chaza was sent to Africans (Gifford 2009:94). Christ was never

sent to Africans and hence was irrelevant for Africans. It is on these grounds that these

churches are excluded from authentic Christian churches.

The next section discusses another important element of the authentic Christian

churches which is the doctrine of Trinity. The doctrine of Trinity is central in this discussion

because the Christian God unlike Muslim God is a Triune God. As a Church historian, I

do not doubt that the doctrine of the Triune God which was central among the early

Christians soon after Jesus’ ascensions is no longer viable today. For Fowler this is

because the Church has gone through many phases including the Enlightenment period,

‘Age of reason’, where discussions about Christian God became a thing of the past, as

Mathematics and Science were promoted (Fowler 2013:3).

However, with the rate at which the world is becoming a village where one can find a

Muslim, a Hindu, a Chinese and a Christian community in one community, this present

study calls for a renewed interrogation and rethinking of the distinctiveness of a Christian

God. We posit that there is a dire need of a radical change in how contemporary churches

perceive of the doctrine of a Triune God and the implications of the Trinity for the

revitalization of the Christian Community. The danger is if that is not done Christian

churches will end up losing that which makes them Christian.

Early in the history of Christianity the Church was so passionate and very alert on what

Christians ought to know about their God. The Early Church professed that their God was

unique and different from any other god in other religions of the world. This is how a

number of Council meetings were called for to disuses the distinctiveness of their God

who is a Triune God (Fowler 2013:3). Councils such as the Council of Nicene A.D 325

and the Council of Constantinople A.D 381 were summoned to discuss about how God

as Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit relate to each other.

Thus the doctrine of the Trinity deals with the relationships of the perceived persons of

the Godhead that is God as the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son and the Holy

Spirit (Pannenberg 1968:181). According to the orthodox teaching of the Church there is

one God who exists in three persons as; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy

Spirit. The three persons are of the same substance, are identical, indivisible, co-equal

and co-existent; yet at the same time God the Father begot the son and from both together

precedes the Holy Spirit (Karl Rahner & Herbert Vorgrimler 1965:497). For Amanze the

doctrine of Trinity is evidenced in most AICs particularly in the baptismal formula (Amanze

1998:99). Further Amanze observes that many AICs baptize their new members by

immersion in water or in a pool in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

(Amanze 1998:99).

Churches from pagan movements. For Amanze, any religious movement that rejects

absolutely the idea of a Triune God is not a Christian Church but a religious movement

founded on traditional religion which has undergone a process of modernisation by

bringing into the movements some Christian elements (Amanze 1998:101). The study

has discovered that there are four AICs outlined in this chapter which do not recognize

the function of the Triune God. For instance in the Herero Protestant Church, there is God

- Family Ancestors and the Living members. In Black Ancestor Churches there is God

– Mbona - and the living members. In Guta raJehovah there is God - Mai Chaza and the

living members. And finally in Guta raMwari there is God - Tayali - and the living church

members. This suggests that Churches mentioned above have crafted their own doctrine

of the trinity that includes their Church leaders, traditional cultic gods as part of the God

head. Compared to the undisputed AICs, the practice of putting Church leaders as

Godheads, putting the cultic gods as conveyer belts to reach God explains how these

African Churches designated the disputed. The next paragraphs focus on their

eschatological views. By eschatological views this study pays attention on how these

Churches appropriate the gospel of the second coming of Jesus Christ to judge the world.

3.11.3 Doctrine of Eschatology

Eschatology as a doctrine in western scholarship is concerned with the ‘last things’ that

would take place at the ‘end times’. The word eschatology is derived from the Greek

words eschatos which means last, eschaton (singular) which means the end

or eschata (plural) which means last things (Amanze 1998:135). On that note, Amanze
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(Amanze 1998:135). It touches on issues like parousia, (the second coming of Jesus

Christ), resurrection of the dead, the Day of Judgment and the eternal reign of Christ.

Africans also believe that death is not the end in its self but the beginning of a deeper

relationship with the spiritual world.

For Mbiti Africans did not have this concept of the consummation of time followed by a

judgment day (Mbiti 1971:189). The primary focus of African Christians is to enjoy life

here on earth. Guti (2011:9) argues that people in Africa go to Church not with the

intensions of going to heaven but for their existential problems to solved first then they

will think of going to heaven later. This suggests that most AICs believe in the dual

eschatology the ‘here and now’ (realised eschatology) and the ‘there-after’ (futuristic

eschatology). However, though their eschatology is dual in nature the greater emphasis

is on the realized eschatology.

While other AICs believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ to judge the world, the four

sampled disputed AICs do not subscribe to that view. For them there is no second coming

of Jesus to judge the whole world because for them Jesus Christ was sent for Jews and

cannot be the judge of Africans. If he is coming to judge people, for these AICs, he should

be coming to judge Jews because it is they who killed him. Amanze observes that these

disputed AICs instead of waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ, advocated that

God had sent “Black Messiahs” to preach to Blacks as he did by sending Jesus to the

Jewish and other white communities (Amanze 1998:140). When these “Black Messiahs”,

their notion of the second coming (Moodley 2008:88). Though these Black Messianic

leaders might be dead by now, members of these Churches continue to remember them

in their songs (Moodley 2008:89).

The next section discusses the concept of salvation in the disputed AICs. We

presupposed that salvation as a concept differs from one religion to the other. The fact

that there is multiplicity of religions in the world, each with its own distinctiveness of central

spiritual elements of faith creates an obvious assumption that the concept of salvation

differs from this religion to that religion. We posit that each religion presents itself explicitly

to the world through its doctrine of salvation .For instance salvation in Buddhism is

different from Islam likewise Salvation in African Traditional Religion is different from

salvation in Christianity. Thus Hick argues that while there are various overlaps between

religious beliefs and practices there are also radical differences how they relate to the

divine, to the world around them. One key question in this discourse of salvation is do

people live only once on this earth or are they repeatedly reborn? (Hick 1988:293).

3.11.4 Concept of Soteriological beliefs in Disputed AICs

The word salvation connotes freedom from distress and the ability to pursue one’s

objectives (Ogunkunle, 2009:138). According to Aland (in Amanze 1998: 120), it is

derived from a Greek word soteria which means reclamation, deliverance, preservation

or rescue). It is a doctrine which deals with issues concerning human life or deliverance

from the Old Testament perspective.

First, salvation means welfare and prosperity (Joel 2:25):

I will repay you the years the locusts have eaten... You will have plenty to eat,

until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God who has

worked wonders for you never again will my people be ashamed (NIV).

Second, it means deliverance from battle. In this sense salvation is connected with divine

assistance rendered at a critical time of war as in Exodus 14; 14 “The Lord will fight for

you; you need only to be still” (NIV).

Third, it denotes being rescued from external evils and finally it means victory

(Ogunkunle, 2009:138). Borrowing this definition of salvation by the previous scholar this

present study argues from the research finding among AICs in Zimbabwe that their

stereological thrusts can be summarized in three fold hypothesis

1. Deliverance from poverty into prosperity

2. Deliverance from spiritual warfare

3. Living a victorious life both in this world of flesh and the after world of the

Spirit.

However, what is fascinating is that though the majority of undisputed AICs in Africa

presented salvation mainly as welfare and prosperity, as deliverance from spiritual battles

as being rescued from external evils and as means of living a victorious here and after,

salvation. For instance while other AICs postulate deliverance only through the sacrificial

death of Jesus Christ on the cross the above cited undisputed AICs condemned that

approach. For them Jesus Christ was never sent to black Africans. Even if they believe

that Jesus Christ died for these Churches Jesus Christ did not die for black Africans but

for those people oversees (whites and Jews). Chakanza wrote that the Black Ancestor

Church of Malawi denounced Jesus Christ’s mediatorship arguing that Jesus Christ was

an ancestor for whites (Chakanza 1959)

We have noted throughout this study that the disputed AICs have removed salvation

through Jesus Christ to other means. First, these churches posited that family ancestors

protect their people from dangers such as disease, droughts, famine, sorcery and

witchcraft (Amanze 2002:146). Apart from protecting family members, ancestors also

punish people who depart from traditional moral norms and values. This suggests there

is no end of time which is followed by judgment. One is judged immediately after one has

disobeyed the ancestors. It can be argued that these disputed AICs have been influenced

by African traditional spiritual elements of faith in the process of formulating their Church

spirituality than being informed by traditional Christian spiritual elements of faith.

We have noted that the undisputed theology is Christocentric. They read passages like

(Acts 10: 38) which states that, ‘How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy

Spirit and went around healing all who were under the power of the devil …’ Generally,

these undisputed AICs are characterized by a rigorous move from just being African

undisputed AICs are appealing to all nationalities because they emphasis salvation

through Jesus Christ.

In contrasting views these disputed AICs are limited and can not affect and effect other

Nationalities because for them their Churches are only for Black Africans ‘African

Ancestors Religion: Chipembedzo chaMakolo Achikuda (Chakanza 1959). Unlike

disputed AICs Gundani, noted that undisputed AICs are striving to move from being in

the periphery towards the centre. For instances these churches have now embraced

theological education and development-oriented projects that AICs members embarked

on, for many decades now (Gundani, 1989:139). In these undisputed AICs according to

Gundani (1989) salvation is about having a good life in this world which is understood to

mean deliverance from evil spirits to enjoy life here on earth then thereafter in heaven.

This last section of this chapter deals with the position of the doctrine of the Bible in these

disputed AICs, We have noted that the undisputed AICs theology is drawn from the Bible.

3.11.5 Bibliology

Mbiti suggests that the chief yardstick to determine the validity of any Christian theology is

the centrality of the Bible (Mbiti 1977:17-23). He further argues that, for those claiming

to be Christians, nothing can substitute the Bible. Thus, any Christian theology that does

not refer to the Bible in its teachings cannot be classified as an authentic church. Chitando

(2007:6) argues that one of the significant aspects of the Christian heritage in Africa has

been the centrality of the Bible. The Bible is read widely in African homes, schools,
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the message: the missionary impact upon Culture, has demonstrated how the translation

of the Bible into vernacular languages facilitated the tremendous growth of Christianity in

Africa.

Christianity developed to become what can be termed a truly African religion as Africans

were able to relate the biblical message with their socio-cultural repertoire as they used

the bible as a resource to meet most of the exigencies of life (Sanneh 1989:7). Phiri

(1997:23-28) argues that “there is no doubt therefore that the bible in AICs does not only

imply a literalist approach to the text but rigorous and reflective as the truth claims of the

Bible are applied to diverse African contexts. AICs are therefore churches which are not

only comfortable to declare the Bible as the word of God but take seriously do what the

Bible says that Jesus himself is the word of God. (Gunda 2014). As Dozier (1991:89)

says, “it is troubling for some to consider that God did not become incarnate in a book,

but as a person, Jesus of Nazareth. Further he argues that by engaging Jesus ‘life and

ministry and the cross and what it means to African Christians, is that the Bible becomes

a liberating text’ (Dozier 1991:89).

However, we have noted that the disputed AICs disparage the authority of Bible in their

theology. Those who read it do it very selectively, like someone reading the text with a

view of finding what suits his/her preconceived ideas. For instance, the Herero Protestant

Church of Namibia reads the Bible very selectively. The other three cited disputed AICs

do not at all read or refer to the Bible for their theology. Instead they have come up with

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movement that does not use the Bible as its base of theology should be treated with

suspicion. He said denominations might differ in the way they interpret the Bible; some

using literal interpretation like most AICs and some using historical criticism but not using

the Bible invites many questions (Togarasei:2014). This study observes that downplaying

the centrality of the Bible and the person and work of Jesus in these Church

denominations resulted in their being treated with suspicion.

3.12 Summary of the Chapter

Overall, this chapter observed that the sampled disputed AICs exhibit questionable

Church spiritualities. This submission was reached based on what these Churches have

inculturated to shape their Church spiritualities. First, the Black Ancestor Church of

Malawi was dismissed from the class of authentic Christian Church because of its

appropriation of African Traditional Shrine such as the shrine of the Mbonga god of Malawi

for their Church services. Not only did the Church appropriate the shrine, the Church went

further to accommodate traditionally sacred objects such as clay pots for religious rituals.

It was also argued that Black Ancestor Church of Malawi was a reaction to White

missionary Churches. The priests and prophets of this African Church are the traditional

leaders and Spirit mediums. Consultation of the black ancestors by the members of the

Black Ancestor Church of Malawi positioned this to argue that the Church is not an

authentic Christian Church. Arguably the role and function of Jesus Christ as one who

mediates on our behalf was replaced by veneration of black ancestors. The main reason

for their rejection of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is seen as an ancestor of whites. Jesus
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the Bible and Jesus Christ to Africans.

Another finding discussed in the chapter is the Herero Protestant church of Namibia who

inculturated the Holy Fire a practice commonly practiced by the African traditional

religious people of Namibia. The Holy Fire was the Herero Protestant Church holy of

holies a meeting place with the divine. Above all the Herero Protestant Church

encouraged Church members to continue venerating their ancestors. Again Christ’s

mediatorship for salvation of humankind was overshadowed by ancestor veneration.

A third finding is that the Zimbabwean Churches Guta raJehovah and Guta raMwari both

redefirinity to include Mai Chaza as one of the Godhead. It is against the background of

these findings that the next chapters discuss JMCN’s origin and spirituality. Chapter 4

discusses the nature of African spiritual elements of faith. African spiritual elements of

faith are discussed to investigate to what extent has the JMCN Church inculturated pre

Christian African spiritual elements of faith to shape their Church spirituality in Zimbabwe.

Chapter 5 discusses the origin and theology and geographical location of its headquarters

in Zimbabwe. This is discussed to test the sources of its theology and how the Church

selects its headquarters.

Therefore, this chapter has dealt with the spirituality of the sampled disputed AICs. We

note that the Churches are designated disputed AICs because they have removed the

central Christian spiritual elements of faith in their process of Africanizing Christianity.

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are discussed in this chapter because this study hypothesised that JMCN Church

spirituality is questionable because the Church inculturated African spiritual elements to

shape its Church spirituality replaced with the central African spiritual elements of faith.

This is what the Zimbabwean Church JMCN does as we will find out in Chapter 5an 6 of

this study.

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CENTRAL SPIRITUAL TENETS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION(S)

4.1 Introduction

It was noted in chapter one of this study that there is no homogenous definition of African

spirituality due to diversities of African cultures. However, what we refer to as African

spirituality in this study is the traditional Karanga ways of approaching the ultimate-being

that pre-dates Christianity. Karanga spirituality signifies the home-grown knowledge

system chivanhu chedu, our humaneness that includes the worship of God Musikavanhu,

in designated sacred shrines, veneration of ancestors and using of certain objects and

substances for worship (Turaki 2000). We argue in this research that what distinguishes

African spirituality from other spiritualities are these central elements of faith, elements

such as; ancestor veneration, reverence of certain sacred places, the use of certain

selected objects and following certain rituals and ceremonies.

Orobator claims that, long before missionaries came to Africa, Africans had already

developed various ways of expressing and celebrating their experience of God (Orobator

2008:142). To be precise, African spirituality denotes African traditional ways of

communicating with the divine that was handed down orally from one generation to

another by our forebears. For Nyamiti (1994:68), African spirituality is a phenomenon

shaped by Africans problems, needs and aspirations. This spirituality is expressed in

various ways and systems such as symbols, worshipping in certain sacred places, such

as pools, rivers, trees, hills and mountains. Wakefield (1983:16) defines spirituality as

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towards their ultimate concern. This is a way of life connected to the spiritual world. This

study posits that the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu have designated places that are

sacred to them which are characterized by the presence of traditional priest and

priestesses offering prayers and rituals guided by certain taboos. These places still exist

with chiefs as the priests of such places. Example of such places is

the Gonawapotera pool and Chivavarira hill of Chirumhanzu Midlands province in

Zimbabwe. These places are characterised by mythical stories, certain practices and

taboos that depict the manifestations of the spiritual world (Mbiti 1970:15). Thus, for Mbiti

(1970:16), the spiritual world of Africans is populated with spiritual beings, spirits, and the

living-dead all of whom play a major role in Africans’ well-being. It is the aim of this study

to investigate to what extent JMCN Church inculturated such African worldview to shape

its Church spirituality in Zimbabwe.

4.2 Rituals and Ceremonies

Rituals are religiously meaningful performances that members of that community perform

in appropriate circumstances, usually following a standard format (Lugira 2009:74). Thus,

rituals are tangible manifestation of a group’s belief systems. These rituals are carried out

in the events of an individual’s birth, naming, initiation, marriage and one’s death (Lugira

2009:73). Some rituals are carried out at communal gatherings such as harvest and

bringing rain ceremonies (Mbiti 1991). Some events are for the family and others are for

the nation. These events are religious, not secular. Members express their beliefs in

practical terms that include praying, sacrifices and offerings, rituals and observing
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ceremonies, harvest and birth of a child. These rituals are done in designated places such

as mountain, caves and rivers. For Maxwell (1999:198), places like mountains and caves

are sacred places because such places are associated with ancestral spirits because

they are burial shrines for chiefs. However, it has been noted that not all mountains and

caves are revered by Africans, but certain mountains, caves, trees, rivers and pools are

central shrines for African Indigenous religions. Mbiti observes that certain forests are

sacred places such that no one is allowed to kill a bird that hides in such places (Mbiti

1986:55). It was found out during fieldwork that, according to the Karanga people of

Chirumhanzu, most mountains and caves where chiefs were buried are usually the ones

used for these rituals. In a way, carrying out these rituals at these burial places connects

the living living with the living dead (Benyera 2015:13).

These places are not commonly used except for religious purposes. Some are man-made

features and others are natural and set apart for religious purposes in their original form.

Some shrines are for family and others for the nation e.g. family - grave yard, national

graves such as the Zimbabwe National Heroes’ Acre in Harare. Africans bring sacrifices

to sacred places where they pray and offer these sacrifices for accompanied with specific

requests and prayers. There are traditional priests who preside over the offertory

processes, clean the site, receive visitors and protect it from misuse. It is such sacred

shrines this study investigated to ascertain to what extent Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi embraced them for Church services. The study discusses Church rituals

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African Churches.

4.3 Objects of Faith

Mbiti 1975:19-30) argues that African spirituality is expressed in rituals, objects, symbols,

myths and customs. This study advances that there are certain objects, which are

uniquely African Traditional Religious objects. We have observed that the majority

religions have certain objects of faith that are used for worship. Muslims for example have

the Black stone in the ka’ba, a sacred stone believed that one’s sins are forgiven as one

kisses the stone during Ramadan (Zaehner 1982:179). Christians have objects of faith

such as the Pulpit, Crucifix, Temples and Church buildings.

Likewise ATR has its objects of faith such as wooden plates, religious rods and clay pots.

This study notes that metal objects are prohibited in ATR sacred places. Why? I presume

it is because they were brought by whites and thus not considered to be very traditional.

Thus, one is not allowed to take with him/her a metal object like a watch to a sacred place.

Therefore this study discusses JMCN religious objects in a bid to discover which African

traditional objects the Church has inculturated to shape its Church spirituality in

Zimbabwe.

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In African indigenous religions there are certain symbols or rather signs which are

decoded to mean manifestations of the divine in African’s daily lives. A symbol is defined

in this study as an emblem, a sign or gestures decoded to convey a religious meaning

which otherwise it does not depict at face value. These symbols vary from one community

to the other and also from time to time. It is essential to highlight that the examples given

in this study on African religious symbols are drawn from among the Karanga people of

Chirumhanzu in Midlands’s province of Zimbabwe. For example in Chirumhanzu, certain

movements of human body parts are decoded as non-verbal language of the spirit world

sending messages to the human world. For instance blinking of the lower eye lid depicts

joy whilst blinking of an upper eye lid depicts impeding sorrow. The appearance of certain

animals or reptiles to individuals is a message either of peace or of trouble. For example

the appearance of an African puff adder, chiva, or biris arietans shukukuviri is a sign of

bad omen or the death of a relative. This is how Kaoma posited that some snakes were

treated with respect, dignity as the manifestation of the deity among the Shona people of

Zimbabwe (Kaoma 2015:61).

Also a sound from an owl zizi, (strigiformes) is a sign of the presence of witches. Besides

sounds from animals and reptiles dreams are others means of the living and the dead in

African spirituality. For Daneel the dead communicate with the living through dreams

(Daneel 1971:99). Among the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu some dreams are taken

to mean impending bad happenings while others are taken to mean impending good

happenings. For example a dream while one is walking in a green healthy field for the

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means the acquisition of wealth. Again the study shall exhibit how the JMCN Church

inculturated these symbols and dreams as sources of their Church theology and

spirituality.

4.5 Myths and Legends

According to Eliade, myth relates to a sacred history that is a primordial event that took

place at the beginning of time (Eliade 1959:95), whereas a legend is a story or a narrative

that describes deeds of divine beings or heroes or supernatural beings (Degh 2001:42).

There is a general tendency to interpret myths as legendary false stories. This is where

mythical stories are taken as fictitious stories or fantasy hence no truth in them. However,

from a religious perspective, myths are interpreted as symbols conveying truth about

human existence or superhuman reality (Eliade 1959:96). They explain the

interrelationship between human beings and their environment. They also explain the

interrelationship between people and their gods and man and his physical

environment. From a religious perspective, a myth therefore expresses a way of being in

the world. It constitutes the history of the acts of supernatural beings, which history is

regarded as true and sacred. Myths provide models of all important human actions. For

Mbiti (1991:29) African knowledge about God is expressed in proverbs, myths and short

statements. What is important to note is that for Africans there is no myth about the end

of world since time has no end (Mbiti 1990:23). However, every other action tends to

have its model rooted in some form of mythology. Myths in the Shona Karanga worldview

are stories which depict a meaning of life. For instance we grew up being told if you sit at
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were stories pregnant with meanings. It was a way to say if you sit on cross road you can

be hit by a car. It is a form of poetry that proclaims the truth (Schilancestorbrack 2003:85).

Myths awaken and maintain consciousness of another world or a world beyond the

current. Myths enable religious people to live in a time beyond the current time (Mbiti

1991:29). Religious people possess a quest for understanding their origins, for example,

understanding the various accounts of creation takes religious people to the very origins

of the world (Mbiti 1991:30).

For Eliade (1957:96) myths are true stories because they deal with the sacred realities of

life. We argue therefore in this study that some myths were used to preserve nature while

others were used preserve the sacrality of the sacred places. Then, some myths were

used to teach moral lessons. We critically discuss how the JMCN substituted all western

Christian ways of teaching Church members advocating for Karanga traditional myths

and legends as shall be demonstrated in Chapters 5 and 6 JMCN of this study.

4.6 The Beliefs and Customs of the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu

The question of how God is approached in African traditional religion is central to this

study which postulates that there are certain beliefs and customs that are central in

African Indigenous Religion. In ATRs, Africans believe that God, Musikavanhu is

approached through ancestors in using African prayers performed by the elderly or

chosen priests or priestesses to invoke a blessing and benevolence for the individual, the

family or for the community at large. Moodley (2008:39) defined ancestors as the spirits
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Mbiti agrees and refers to the ancestor the living dead. In most cases the living dead act

as mediators between their families and God (Mbiti, 1997).

Priests and priestesses are selected to be guardians of people’s welfare and

subsequently entrusted with the custody of the sacred places. Accordingly, the indigenes

of Chirumhanzu believe that during decisive moments if they go to Chivavarira cave to

ask God’s favour through their ancestors, God will hear them. Today, Chivavarira is a

burial shrine for chiefs and respectable elders of Chirumhanzu district. This hill is

characterized by numerous caves where these men and women are being laid to rest.

Also religious ceremonies are carried out on this hill and at the pool downhill

called Gonawapotera. Consequently, the spirituality of the Karanga people of

Chirumhanzu is centred on these two sacred shrines. This study posits that sacred places

are not approached unceremoniously but there are certain prescribed ways to approach

such places. Therefore, this research seeks to discuss to what extent the JMCN Church

was influenced by Traditional African beliefs and customs more than it was shaped by a

Christian ethos.

4.7 Values and Morals

African values and morals are rooted in indigenous ideas that safeguard and uphold the

life of people in relation to others and the world around them (Mbiti 1991:22). They deal

with issues of truth, justice, love, right and wrong, good and evil, character, praise, blame,

integrity (Paris 1995:35). They help people to live harmoniously with one another, settle
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environment in a sustainable manner (Mbiti 1991:20). Values and morals may differ in

some societies but most of them are commonly shared. Again we will assess

how JMCN’s theology shaped by Karanga cultures tsika dzevanhu vatema (morals and

values of Karanga Africans). This study posits that African moral values, tsika, are part of

the scripture for the JMCN Religious movement. Some of the terms they use for

example vasadare (the one who presides over) as this study will showcase referring to

an elderly person who presides over ceremonies such as marriages and is derived from

Karanga term padare (where elderly people give counselling to young men in marriage).

Even when we look at how women greet male counterparts, one can depict a replay of

Karanga values and morals by the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church in

Zimbabwe today. Women kneel done or sometimes they bend down to show that they

are not equal to their male counter parts. Findings in this study show that people from

outside JMCN see this as human abuse. One lady a University student informed us that

Mwari aka chiva tsika dzevanhu vatema, God admired our African cultures hence our

kneeling to greet male counterparts is done ungrudgingly (Melissa, Interview: 23/06/

2014).

4.8 Causes of Death

Death, among Karanga people of Chirumhanzu, has remained mystical such that the

burial rituals and ceremonies for many years ago have resisted cross-cultural impacts.

The taboos and the order of events characterised traditional Karanga Chirumhanzu

funerals still persevere to this very day. For instance it is a standard norm in Chirumhanzu
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it is against this background that this study interrogates JMCN inculturation of traditional

Karanga death and burial rituals to shape its Church spirituality.

According to Moyo (2013:15) despite the causes of a death appearing to be very natural,

for the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu, death is always caused by evil spirits or human

magic and witchcraft, kuroiwa. Even if someone was hit by a car, the Karanga people will

still go to a traditional seer to investigate chadya munhu, what killed the person. This

points out that there is no natural death in the Karanga worldview, death is caused by

external forces such as sorcery, witchcraft and evil magic (Mbiti 1997:80). This is why

whenever a person dies, the Karanga seek for a cause of the of death kuenda

kugata (spiritual autopsy), (Benyera 2014) and in most instances, culprits are identified

and blame apportioned to them. There are various forms of punishment that are then

meted on the culprit, including but not limited paying fines in the form of livestock, cash

or being completely excommunicated from society (Moyo 2013).

In ancient Chirumhanzu rural community, those who were found guilty of bewitching

others used to be thrown into Gonawapotera pool situated along the Shashe River.

This practice which was a norm in the early 1880s was banned by the colonial government

through the enactment of the Witchcraft Suppression Act (Chapter 73) in 1899c

(Chavunduka, 1980:130). This study seeks to envisage how the JCMN conceptualized

causes of death. It will also discuss Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi’s ways of

dealing with the causes and prevention of illness. For Karanga people of Chirumhanzu

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pay mombe yeumai (a brides price cow for the mother-in-law) while the majority of

illnesses are caused by witchcraft. If one breaks oaths such as failing to pay mombe

yeumai the couple may be barren or bear children that die prematurely. This study will

shed more light on how the theology of the JMCN has been shaped by traditional

worldviews of the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu in Zimbabwe.

4.9 Burial rites of passages

There are certain prescribed burial sensitivities, rites and ceremonies practiced by the

Karanga people (Mbiti 1991:119). Proper care is given so as not to offend both the living

and the departed. These rites are not performed for strangers, thieves, murderers,

witches, and trouble makers (Mbiti 1991:120). These rites are normally performed by

selected elders. There are other people who are not allowed to touch or come near the

corpse. These include children, pregnant women or suspected witches (Mbiti 1991:118).

Burial takes place at the backyard of one of the houses in a family burial place or original

place of birth. The grave maybe rectangular, cave like, or a cave may be made for that

purpose (Mbiti 1991).

In ancient times, people would dispose of the body in the bush for animals or birds to eat

or kept in a house to decompose till only the skeleton is left for burial (Chidester 2012).

In many parts of Africa people are buried with certain of their earthly belongings such as

spears, bows, arrows, stools, snuff, cups, and plates some being placed on the grave

afterwards (Mbiti 1991:122). Thus, the Karanga people also believed that the departed
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good correct burial cannot be done without rukukwe rwemufi (mattress for the deceased).

Even though members of the family would buy an expensive coffin traditional reed

mattress, rukukwe must be laid down first then the coffin will come in after. We observed

some similarities, mutual borrowing of burial rites from both African religion and JMCN

Church of Chirumhanzu. Members are buried following certain rituals and styles that this

study seeks to investigate. Actually, there is systematic teaching

on kuvigwa kwemupositori (burial rites for a Masowe/Apostolic member) as this study

shall demonstrate.

4.10 Funeral Rites

A funeral occupies a central place in Karanga cosmology. The significance of a funeral

depends on the status of the deceased. The funeral of a child and unmarried person is

usually simple and not a complicated event. The funerals of chiefs or kings are national

or at times international affairs where daily activities are suspended until the person is

laid to rest (Mbiti 1991:121). The funerals of important people are fore grounded by a lot

of preparations. A great deal of resources are spent on such funerals which also take

days. During this luminal period at the funeral of a Head of State, religious groups attract

a lot of attention. When a chief dies the eldest son becomes the interim chief until the

selection of another takes place. At the burial of an elderly person due care is given to

send off the departed peacefully and promote the unity to continue between the living

dead and the living living (Benyera 2015). The burial is properly done such that the spirit

are not angered, in which case they might seek revenge on the living.
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will not be milked. Husbands do not sleep with their wives for a month. The dust in the

house where the corps was is swept and is kept in a clay pot for 21 days. After 21 days

that clay pot is broken up on cross roads. All these are done symbolically, for instance

husbands are not allowed to have sex with their wives because for the Karanga people

sex is meant for reproduction hence a child that can be conceived during this dark period

is considered a misfortune. Breaking the clay pot at the cross roads is a sign that

mourning days are over; members are now free to resume normal daily living. Thus, this

study will discuss JMCN Church funeral rites. The purpose is to discover to what extent

the Church has inculturated traditional Karanga spiritual elements of faith to inform their

Church spirituality in Zimbabwe.

Again after 21 days of burial the Karanga people organise what they call manyaradzo

(comforting) or Masuka foshoro, washing of shovels which were used during closing of

the grave. Beer is brewed and immediate village members are invited to come together

to drink and eat. We noted that 21 days after burial is symbolic. They believe that after 21

days the buried body should have that time pierced, kuputika. This piercing of the corps

is a sign of the spirit embarking on a new journey. The assumption is all this while the

spirit was hanging around the grave hoping perhaps the body will come back. But the

piercing of the corps is a sure sign that the body will never come back to life again, hence

a new journey has begun. The Johane Masowe we Chishanu yeNyenyedzi organise a

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be discussed in the following chapters.

4.11 The Hereafter, Nyikadzimu

For the Karanga people, the dead go to the land of the spirits, Nyikadzimu (Mbiti

1980:160). For some this place is underground while for others Nyikadzimu is far above

the sky (Chikukwa 2007). However, some Karanga people do not visualize any

geographical location of the dead since they believe that the dead continue to live in spirit

form among the relatives. For Opoku (1978:137), the dead are not cut off from the living

for they continue to reveal themselves in dreams or sometimes appear to their beloved

ones in visions, sometimes to give instructions, warnings or information. He adds that

Africans believe that the dead are also able to return to the earth to be reborn into their

families (Opoku 1978:137).

This is how Africans give their children names of the deceased. Closer to Christianity and

Islam, the Karanga also believe that the departed return to their creator where they

become intercessors and mediators between the living and the creator. This study deals

with how the JMCN members upheld such concept of continuous living of the dead as

described in this treatise. We posited that this concept of ‘the dead mediating between

God and the living is an ATR concept. In ATR community members believe that the next

world is invisible but very close to that of the living (Mbiti 1991:116). It is situated on the

same earth in the rivers, mountains, lakes, forests, homesteads, fields, domestic animals,

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revered by the indigenes of Chirumhanzu community.

According to the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu, the departed remain in the

cosmological neighbourhood of their human homestead (Mbiti 1991:122). They still

belong to the family of the living. The living believe that the departed remain close to

them. They up hold the view that the departed live in woods, forests, river banks, hills

(Mbiti 1991:123). For Mbiti (1991:123), these places are avoided and people cannot build

homes or cultivate fields there because they do not wish to disturb the departed in these

resting places. There is a close knit view of the afterlife concept among major religions of

the world; a view that human spirit continues to live even after this present life but in

different forms and places. Thus, this study grapples with the concept of the afterlife in

the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church spirituality. This will be discussed

when the study addresses the subject of the burial rituals for apostolic members,

kuvigwakwe mupositori.

4.12 Summary of the Chapter

In this chapter, we have summarised the beliefs and practices of the indigenes of the

Karanga people of Chirumhanzu in Zimbabwe. As has been shown, the Karanga people

of Chirumhanzu believe that God is found in Chivavarira hill and in the pool

Gonawapotera. Most prayers and traditional rituals are done in these two sacred places.

We also noted that certain objects are significant for traditional ceremonies, objects such

as mbiya and wooden rods for traditional celebrations while other objects are prohibited

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to inculturate Traditional African beliefs and practices of the Karanga people of

Chirumhanzu without demeaning the central Christian spiritual elements. It is on this note

that following chapter discusses the origin, theology and geographical headquarters of

the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe.

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JMCN THEOLOGY AND CENTRE OF OPERATIONS

5.1 Introduction

Chapter three discussed the spirituality of the disputed AICs. The study posited that the

listed Churches present non-Christian spirituality because the position of Christ was

muddled by the way these churches inculturated Africans spiritual elements of faith. For

example the Black Ancestor Church of Malawi was dismissed as an authentic Christian

Church because it inculturated the Mbonga god and its cultic centres, The Herero

Protestant Church of Namibia was also disqualified as a Christian Church because it

inculturated the Herero traditional holy fire as the meeting place with the divine, a

borrowed phenomenon from ATRs. The study highlighted that the above AICs fall outside

the bracket of authentic AICs, hence they were characterised in this study as disputed

African Churches. With this in mind this chapter discusses the location of the JMCN

Church’s historical background, its theology and its present geographical headquarters,

theology and doctrine. Its location, history, theology and doctrine are discussed to reveal

what influenced its Church spirituality.

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We noted from chapter 1 how JMCN that as a breakaway Church from the original Johane

Masowe we Chishanu Church. The main reason for this breakaway as highlighted before

in Chapter 1 was the inconsistencies and deviation of Emanuweri from the original

teaching of Johane causing people again to worship ancestors

(Gilbert,Interview:18/10/2014). Chapter I of this study revealed to us how Sandros

embarked on a religious pilgrimage back to the origins Seke Chitungwiza to revive the

original spirit of Johane Masowe Chishanu. Chitungwiza remained an icon for the Johane

Masowe Chishanu because thus where this Church first settled after the Johane Masowe

weChishanu members deported from South Africa as indicated in the first Chapter of this

study.

According to Engelke the Johane Masowe weChishanu branch of Nyatsime continued to

grow and attracting thousands of people from all corners of the country during the

leadership of Sandros ( Engelke 2007:79). Engelke describe Sandros as a liberal leader

whose theology was not very secretive as compared with Johane and Emanuweri.

Engelke Sandros could interact with all age groups and different races, even press for the

first time was able to interview him and some of the Church members about their faith, a

phenomenon that was never before during the leadership of Johane and Emanueri (

Engelke 2007:81). What is very important to note is that after Sandros died the Church

spitted into many groups. The one Johane Masowe weChishanu led by Madzibaba Nzira

went to Highfield which today is congregating at Coca Cola arena in Harare; the other

Johane Masowe weChishanu led by Micho went back to Mazowe where Emanuweri

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by Wimbo went back to Guruve in Mashonaland Central where up to this day the Church

has its headquarters there and the fourth group is the one that remained for a while at

Nyatsime and this is the Johane Masowe Chishanu inotungamirirarwa ne Nyenyedzi

(Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/2014).

The researcher of this study was aware that the history of the Johane Masowe Chishanu

is shrouded in broken inconsistent disjointed stories. Perhaps it is because the Church

does not have written documents. Another report that the researcher of this study read

from the Herald newspaper of 19 February 2015 “Johane Masowe Way of Worshipping

and Life: The Truth versus Myths” portrays a different historical background from the one

gathered for this research. However, what is undisputable in this study is the theology of

the Johane Masowe weChishanu because the information was gathered through

participant observation. We were very careful not to generalize our findings across all the

Johane Masowe weChishanu because though they seem to be the same there are

variables in their spiritualities.

We have outlined only four identifiable Johane Masowe weChishanu that our research

informants gave us, but it is clear that many groups emerged after the death of Sandros.

Therefore this Chapter interrogates the theology of the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe. We

noted that the doctrine of Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi is not complete

without mutumbi mitatu, three sacred leaders. Mutumbi mitatu is part of their confessional

statement tiri Johane Masowe weChishanu inotungamitrirwa yeNyenyedzi inotenda

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in three sacred leaders), (Mergury, Interview; 13/08/ 2016). Despite the fact that

Emanuweri was accused of misleading people, the JMCN Church believes in Johane,

Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi constituting the three sacred leaders. Asking them why they

believe in these three leaders, our informants told us that they don’t believe in them as

human beings, but they believe in the Angels operated in them (Moris, Interview:13/08/

2013). Below are the contribution each Church Father gave to the formation of JMCN

Church spirituality in Zimbabwe.

5.2.1 Shonhiwa Masedza (Johane Masowe)

According to Dillon-Malone (1978:3) Shonhiwa Masedza came from Gandanzara near

Mutare in Manicaland province. Shonhiwa Masedza introduced a complete new face of

Christianity in Zimbabwe. Baba (Father) Shonhiwa Masedza is credited of coining the

religious name masowe (wilderness) which became more popular in the mid-1990s in

Zimbabwe (Mukonyora 2007). Today, Zimbabwe is characterised by the mushrooming of

many white garmented churches whose religious shrine is masowe (wilderness),

recognizing Friday as the day of worship. He started this Church in the 1930s (Dillon-

Malone 1978:11). From the beginnings the Church looked insignificant and was

associated with those who were marginalised and poor people in society. But today the

Church has a diverse following comprising the educated and less educated, rich and poor

and is found in many African countries even in some parts of Europe and the Americas.

It is this Church that gave birth to numerous Vapositori Churches among which Johane

Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church belongs to.

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to a different audience. Masowe members argue that John the Baptist and Jesus Christ

were sent by God to overseas people mhiri yegungwa - that is the white skinned

community while Shonhiwa (Johane Masowe) was sent by God to the Black skinned

community to introduce chinamato chechipositori (Apostolic Church for Black

congregates), (Givemore,Interview:14/05/2014). This study argues that for Johane

Masowe weChishanu Church members, revelation cannot cross boundaries. In their view,

God deals with people and nations, exclusively, according to their spiritual,

epistemological, cultural and theological contextual settings.

Thus, Baba Givemore argues that Johane Masowe was sent to the lost souls of Africa

and not to the lost souls of Europe, kudzora mweya yakarasika mumativi mana emu Africa

(to bring back the lost Souls of black Africans) (Givemore,Interview:14/05/2014). Engelke

also confirmed that Johane Masowe established an African Church Masowe (wilderness)

weChishanu (of the Friday) whose followers are all dark skinned who refer to themselves

as Vapositori (Apostles) a designation now used by several other churches in Southern

Africa (Engelke, 2007:2). From its inception Johane Masowe weChishanu Church,

undebetably informed its adherents that the Bible was insignificant to African peoples.

Hence, the followers of Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches claim to be Christians

who do not read the Bible (Engelke, 2007:2). They claim that the Bible is a white man’s

book which the white man used to brainwash Africans and later colonise them

(Clive.M.Dillon-Malone 1978).

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arrival of white missionaries in Africa, Africans were not writers or book readers. It is

generally agreed that missionaries introduced reading and writing to Africans. This study

notes that the Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches apart from not reading the Bible

in Church, shun all inventions attributed to whites such as immunisation and modern

contraception methods (Machingura 2014:179). Machingura adds that Johane Masowe

radically proclaimed the message of withdrawal from all European things and the

destruction of all religious books including the Holy Bible (Machingura 2014:179).

Arguably the tension between blacks and whites emerged due to harsh conditions black

Africans were facing during the colonial era. For Masowe Church members, most of this

racial discrimination was as a result of what was written in the Bible. Africans were forced

to obey their masters (whites) as according to the Bible (Colossian 3:22, Ephesians 6:5

and 1 Peter 2:18).

Further the tension was also fuelled by Africans’ aspiration for leadership positions within

the missionary churches which they were being denied (Mukonyora 2007:11). Most

Africans were denied leadership and church position because they were perceived as not

obeying Bible laws such as that a man should have only one wife. Additionally the majority

of African church members were not educated according to European standards and

were therefore deemed unfit to hold church positions (Mukonyora 2007:10). This resulted

in the African people perceiving the Bible as an evil white man’s book. Consequently, the

disciples of Johane emphasis “live and direct” revelation from God without reading the

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white T-Shirts for male members while female members wear white skirts, white T-shirts

and should cover their heads with white scarves. Both men and women were also taught

by Johane Masowe not to keep long hair or to stretch their hair. Besides, Johane Masowe

introduced mbiya a key utensil to carry miteuro/prayers. After the death of Johane who

died of cardiovascular disease in 1973, (Dillon-Malone 1978) a new leader emerged

whose name was Mudyiwa Dzangara.

5.2.2 Mudyiwa Dzangara

Mudyiwa Dzangara, took over the leadership of the church in 1973, the same year Johane

Masowe died. Dzangara changed his name to Emanuweri following his claim that the

spirit which was once operating in Emmanuel (Jesus) the son of Mary, was now upon him

(Engelke, 2007:115). In other words Dzangara claimed to be the new Black Messiah for

Black Africans. He taught that God first sent to Africans Johane Masowe as a forerunner

and later sent Him (Emanuweri) to take over from Johane Masowe. Likewise, Mudyiwa

taught that John the Baptist and Jesus were sent by God to serve the white community

(Engelke 2007). Critics of this church movement question how Mudyiwa Dzangara came

to know about the two, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, when he did not read the bible.

They also question where he acquired such knowledge if he did not read the Bible. This

study maintains that while the Johane Masowe Churches do not read the Bible, this did

not necessarily posit that the members of this Church have never read the Bible in their

lifetime as most of them would have at one point belonged to other Churches that read

the Bible. This research study observes through interviews and participant observation
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these renowned mission Churches such as the Roman Catholic, Dutch Reformed Church

or Anglican Church before they migrated to Masowe churches. Some have read the Bible

in schools (Tawona 2015a).

Accordingly, during his term of office Emanuweri encouraged his members not to read

the Bible but to follow the teachings of Johane Masowe. Emanuweri also encouraged his

Church members to revive African traditional practices such as, brewing of beer, ancestor

veneration and polygamous marriages, practices which Johane condemned (Engelke,

2007:116). For him (Emanuweri), prohibiting people from such practices would inhibit

prospective members from joining the Church. Polygamy is a traditional African marriage

practice where a man is legally allowed to have more than one wife. Thus for Emanuweri

a man was permitted to marry up to maximum of six wives (Morris, Interview: 13/08/

2013). Emanuweri’s reason for supporting polygamous marriage was that, though

Johane Masowe did not teach members to have more than one wife, he (Johane) survived

with six wives. This dispute of Johane Masowe marrying six wives was also recorded by

Clive Mary Dillon-Malone in the book, The Korsten Basketmakers: A study of Masowe

Apostles, an Indigenous Church (1978).

Also veneration of ancestors was permitted by Emanuweri because, for him, one’s

parents will continue to be one’s parents, even when the parents are dead. Thus,

according to him, the dead parents should continue to receive respect from the living

family members. This is how today in the doctrine of the Johane Masowe weChishanu

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Nhamoyebonde (Nyenyedzi) are always remembered. Songs are composed in memory

of them. Emanuweri also revived the use of mbiya (small clay pots) as religious objects.

These clay pots are used as containers of muteuro (small religious stones, water from

sacred dams and honey for religious rituals). The origin of mbiya as a sacred object of

worship has a long history.

According to informants, mbiya was first used by Johane Masowe right from the beginning

of this religious movement. Baba Amos of Kwekwe narrated that, one Friday night in the

1930s, Johane Masowe was led by the Spirit to go and attend traditional ancestral

ceremony, bira in a village known as Mhondoro Ngezi near Norton town in Mashonaland

West province. That night it was a nightmare for the villagers because no spirit medium

received the word from the ancestors. Around 3am one spirit medium spoke ecstatically

saying “there is someone here who is a stranger (not the village man), we want to give

him time to tell us what brings him here”. Thus how Johane stood up to introduce himself

to the people, telling the people that he was sent by God to turn people from worshipping

ancestral spirits to worshipping of one true God. He asked everyone to follow him to a

Muhacha tree and requested mbiya from the Spirit medium for him to use for prayers.

Henceforth mbiya became an icon in all the Johane Masowe Churches. It is therefore

noteworthy that mbiya as a sacred object of worship in the Johane Masowe Churches

was borrowed from Karanga spirituality. The Karanga used mbiya for traditional ancestral

worship to pour beer and libation for the ancestors. This is how the Karanga way of

approaching the divine was inculturated by the Johane Masowe Churches in Zimbabwe.

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name) which denotes a sacred axis mundi (holy of holies), (see figure 2 of Chapter 6).

This is the most important sacred place, an axis mundi where prayers for the sick and

exorcism of evil spirits are done. The place is marked by certain shrubs and plants that

are grown there for religious purposes. An exhaustive discussion of kirawa will be take

place in Chapter 6 of this study. Mudyiwa Emanuweri is also remembered for introducing

the Ten Commandments (gumi remitemo) and laws and regulations (miko nemirairo),

(Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/ 2014). Additionally, Mudyiwa Emanuweri introduced full white

garments for both men and women. Before Emanuweri the Johane Masowe members

used to wear khaki three quarter shorts and white T-Shirts for men and white skirts, white

T-shirts and white head gear for women.

Figure 5.1: The full garments introduced by Emanuweri for Church members

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© University of Pretoria
The above portrait is an online posted Image showing the full dress introduced to the JMCN Church by the
late Emanuweri Mudyiwa. JMCN Church moved away from white T-shirt and Skirts for women and Khaki
Shorts and White T-Shirts for Men to full garments during the leadership of Emanuweri Mudyiwa.
https://www.google.co.za/search?q=Masowe&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=
X&ved=0ahUKEwjY7u2K7eHRAhWkAcAKHZ-9DjwQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=_Uwq5KAH95mBNM%3A

In 1989 Emanuweri died. Members of Johane Masowe weChishanu expected

Emanuweri to resurrect because Emanuweri had promised his members that he will rise

from the dead three days from his burial like what happened to Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, Emanuweri did not resurrect. According to the information gathered, the

majority of church members lost faith and backslid because Emanuweri did not rise from

the dead as he had promised (Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/2014). It is in the midst of despair

that Sanders also known as Sandros Nhamoyebonde, who was third in line in leadership

after Johane, moved from Guruve to establish another Johane Masowe weChishanu

branch at Nyatsime River in Chitungwiza (Engelke, 2007:127). Many church members

followed Sanders to Chitungwiza, while others remained to introduce a new Johane

Masowe weChishanu Mudzimu Unoera Church (Amos, Interview: 17/05/2014). This

Mudzimu Unoera (Sacred Ancestor Church was founded by one conservative follower of

Emanuweri, Baba Nyanhete who claimed that the spirit which was operating in

Emanuweri was now operating in his daughter (Nhambura 2015:4). This was done to

authenticate Emanuweri resurrection. These followers of Emanuweri interpreted the

resurrection motif of Emanuweri to be incarnation of Emanuweri in Nyanhete’s daughter

of Guruve, in Mashonaland Central province. According to the Herald newspaper (11 April

2015) the girl was six years old in 1989 when Mudyiwa Emanuweri died. The name of

Nyanhete’s daughter was since changed to Girl Jesus but her real name is Tepsy

Nyanhete (Nhambura 2015:4). This study observes that Johane Masowe Chishanu

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Chishanu Church in Zimbabwe.

5.2.3 Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde

Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde started preaching against the brewing of beer and

polygamous practices which were legalized by Emanuweri. For Sanders brewing of beer,

ancestor veneration and polygamous marriages were practices which were condemned

by the founding Father Baba Johane. Thus, Sanders became a shining star (Nyenyedzi)

that was leading people from darkness to light (Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/ 2014). The

church grew and many people became members of Johane Masowe Chishanu under the

leadership of Sanders. However, to date there are numerous religious groups designated

Johane Masowe Chishanu starting from Nyatsime in Chitungwiza province. This study

noted that more schematic movements emerged immediately after the death of Sanders

Nhamoyebonde in July 1994. It can be argued that these schematic incidences were as

a result of power politics within the Church. Father Sanders (Nyenyedzi) died and was

buried in Chitungwiza (Engelke 2007:89). The following year witnessed more Johane

Masowe Chishanu erupting in Chitungwiza. Today we have many Johane Masowe

weChishanu Church such as:

 Johane Masowe weChishanu Nyenyedzi minomwe

 Johane Masowe Chishanu Vadzidzi yekwa Wimbo

 Johane Masowe weChishanu nguvo tsvuku yekwa Micho

 Johane Masowe weChishanu Jerusarema

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 Johane Masowe Chishanu Chiedza Chavatendi and many more.

It is also against this background that Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church

emerged. It is quite interesting to note that Chitungwiza historically is the birth place not

only for Vapositori Churches but also for most powerful Zimbabwean Pentecostal

prophets such as; Prophet Makandiwa and First Name Magaya all from the Aquatic

complex in Chitungwiza. To date Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa is in the process of

building a massive Church structure for United Family International Church (UFIC) in

Chitungwiza.

5.3 The Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi in Chitungwiza

It was noted earlier in this study that this new Church emerged during the leadership crisis

after the death of Sanders in July 1994. This study also noted that Nyatsime (Chitungwiza)

was now the Headquarters of the Johane Masowe Chishanu Church in Zimbabwe

representing a shift from Mhondoro and Guruve. In an interview Baba Gilbert one of the

longest member of the original Johane Masowe and now a member of this newly

established church narrated in detail how the newly established church emerged. The

emergence of JMCN Church took place during a prayer retreat at Nyatsime in May 1997

(Gilbert, Interviews: 18/10/2014). Church members were divided over the succession of

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members of the Church; Baba Micho of Mazowe, Baba Godfrey Nzira of Mhondoro, and

Baba Wimbo of Guruve (Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/2014). It was during this decisive

moment that Baba Anthony of Gweru stood up and spoke ecstatically saying “those who

want to follow Micho, Nzira and Wimbo can do so, but the spirit is saying mweya haucha

gari pamutumbi sezvawakaita pana Shonhiwa, Mudyiwa kana Sanders” (the spirit is no

longer going to resides in an individual as his host like what he did during the era of

Shonhiwa, Mudyiwa and Sanders). He further stated that henceforth the Spirit was going

to use anyone available for the holy use”, (Gilbert, Interview: 18/10/ 2014). He continued

to say “no human flesh will lead this church but the star, Nyenyedzi” (Gilbert, Interview:

18/10/2014).

This is how the people who followed Baba Anthony rebranded their Church to be Johane

Masowe weChishanu ye Nyenyedzi in Zimbabwe. Others who followed Micho began

calling themselves Johane Masowe weChishanu nguvo tsvuku (red garments). Those

who followed Wimbo called themselves Johane Masowe weChishanu Vadzidzi (the

disciples) and those who followed Godfrey Nzira called themselves Johane Masowe

weChishanu Madzibaba. It is imperative to note that all these breakaway churches

maintained the designation ‘Johane Masowe Chishanu’. However, for identity purposes

some are Johane Masowe Chishanu Jerusalem, venguwo tsvuku (red garments),

Mudzimu unoera (Sacred Ancestor), Vadzidzi (Disciples), and many more. All these

groups and factions of Johane Masowe weChishanu observe Friday as their Sabbath

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the open spaces, masowe.

5.4 The etymology of the term yeNyenyedzi (of the star)

The study notes that Baba Sanders/Sandros Nhamoyebonde is the first person to talk

about seeing a star leading Masowe people. This happened in Chitungwiza at Nyatsime

River in 1994 (Engelke, 2007:150). However, the name Masowe yeNyenyedzi as a

church name was popularized by his disciples after his death. Baba Antony of Gweru and

Baba Tawanda of Chirumhanzu both from Midlands province popularized the name

Masowe yeNyenyedzi (Apostolic Church of the Wilderness led by the star) (Gilbert,

Interview: 18/10/2014). It is with this background that Father Antony and Father Tawanda

promoted the phrase ‘tinotevera Nyenyedzi’ ‘we follow the star’. This emphasis on ‘we

follow the star’ can be viewed as at the Church’s quest for an identity. This study argues

that ‘identity crisis’ is very crucial particularly in the light of the Zimbabwean religious

landscape where Churches are mushrooming nearly on daily bases. It is on this basis

that Baba Antony and Baba Tawanda, with the fear of losing members to Baba Micho,

Baba Nzira and Baba Wimbo emphasized that they were the real followers of the recently

deceased leader Sandros.

According to de Gruchy (2014:15) the quest for identity is the search for self-

understanding. This suggests that this millennium Church by designating itself as Johane

Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi, intends to send a signal to other denominations (white

garmented) that though they wear white garments like them they are not the same. The
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departed leader-Sanders/Sandros. In Karanga spirituality a recent departed elder

qualifies to be an ancestor and mediator between the living and God (Idowu 1996). This

suggests that the newly established church is heavily influenced by African spirituality.

It was also noted that “identity has to do with certain images, the way in which people

communicate who they are, the way in which the media represent them, and the way in

which others relate to them. (de Gruchy 2014). This implies that the quest for identity is

inextricably linked to the reason for one’s existence. It is from this understanding that

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church designed flags that have stars which

they hoist during prayers at Masowe. The reason for having this flag is to tell apart from

other Johane Masowe weChishanu and hence identify themselves to passers-by as

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church (see fig 5. the Kirawa Image in

Chapter 6).

5.5 JMCN Church Headquarters -Chirumhanzu

Data gathered revealed that in August 1998 JMCN church moved its headquarters from

Chitungwiza to a remote part of Gokwe district (Mergury, Interview: 15/10/ 2013). This

church stayed there for about two years before its final move to Chirumhanzu district in

May 2000 (Morris, Interview: 15/05/2013). JMCN was welcomed in Midlands’s province

from 2000 up to this day. This study observes that this new faith was accepted by the

Chirumhanzu people because the villagers had experienced spiritual attacks during the

night which they could not solve. During that time the only popular Church that was there

in Chirumhanzu was the Roman Catholic. According to Shoko (2008:28), the Roman
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The white Roman Catholic priests shared a different worldview with their African Church

members.

This is why Oborji (2005:2) observed that in spite of the influence of modernity and of

other world religions such as Christianity and Islam, the Karanga worldview continues to

be the determining factor in the people’s search for ultimate reality and meaning for life.

For Orobator (2008), the Karanga people are highly spiritual. For them nothing just

happens without being caused; further, and they believe in the world of spirits. The Roman

Catholic Church’s attitude towards witchcraft and sorcery was very dismissive of the

institution of witchcraft. This created a tension between the indigenes of Chirumhanzu

and the Catholic doctrine. In a Karanga worldview, witchcraft and sorcery constitute a real

and imminent threat against which one needed to be protected. Shoko noted an attempt

to mitigate this spiritual dilemma by one African Roman Catholic priest who was stationed

at Chinyuni in Chirumhanzu (Shoko 2008:27). The priest organised a prayerful group of

both men and women to cast out evil spirits from victims of witchcraft and sorcery (Shoko,

2008:27).

This group fasted every Wednesday, seeking power to cast out evil spirits from victims of

witchcraft and sorcery. However, that attempt was seen as misgivings by the Roman

Catholic superiors resulting the African Roman Catholic priest being transferred to Gutu

mission (Shoko, 2008:28) The name of this African priest was Father Augustine Urayai

Madyauta who was a resident of Chirumhanzu. As a priest stationed at Chinyuni, Father

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Driefontein Dioceses all in Chirumhanzu district. The group he had organised was called

‘Supper Roma’ (Shoko, 2008:28).

The study observes that it is this spiritual crisis that necessitates the acceptance of the

new faith in the district of Chirumhanzu district. Many people were attracted by the new

faith’s claim that tinoshandira (we pray for people and exorcise demons). Vengeyi

observed that there was an eruption of the phenomenon of kushandirwa (prophecy) by

so called prophets who performed ‘strange’ miracles (Vengeyi, 2013:29) in Zimbabwe.

These Churches fit into the fundamental African worldview of the cosmos, with its rigid

belief in innumerable spirits and powers (Chitando 2013:98).

It is against this background that any Zimbabwean church that do not subscribe to this

worldview and does not appreciate this phenomenon of the day ‘gift of prophecy’ is on

will lose members to the ones where prophecy is done. This is evidenced by the

continuous migration of Christians from so called mainline Churches to these newer

prophetic churches (Mpofu 2013:13). The study posits that it is now an ‘in thing’ for most

Zimbabweans to socialize themselves with churches which claim that they can provide

solutions for social, economic and spiritual ills such as healing of Human Immuno Virus

and Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (HIV and AIDS), give people prayers that

they can be promoted at work, deliver people from the spirit of barrenness, poverty and

misfortunes. Therefore, the arrival of Masowe yeNyenyedzi in Chirumhanzu with such a

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‘mweya kumasowe’ the Spirit in wilderness.

5.6 Geographical location of Chirumhanzu District

Geographically, Chirumhanzu district is located in Midlands Province in the southern part

of Zimbabwe. It is a rural district where subsistence farming and cattle rearing are the

main sources of livelihood (Masinire, 2013:15). This is the district that is situated at the

border of Midlands and Masvingo Provinces. The district consists of a majority of Shona

speaking people with a few Ndebele speaking people. The two provinces, Masvingo and

Midlands, are divided by a river called Shashe. Though the study has highlighted earlier

that Chirumhanzu is the birth place for Baba Tawanda Ndaidza, religiously Chirumhanzu

becomes an icon for Masowe yeNyenyedzi because of its two traditional sacred places,

Gonawapotera and Chivavarira hill. According to the key informant interviews, after the

Nyatsime baptism episode in 1997, the Spirit instructed the church leaders that time has

come for the Church to migrate to other places. At first Masowe yeNyenyedzi moved its

headquarters to Gokwe and baptize its members in a dam nicknamed Hokoyo (beware)

but the original name for this dam is Gwehava in Gokwe central 12km out of the township

(Bulawayo 24 News 2012). In 1998 converts were baptized in that pool. After the baptism

at Hokoyo, Masowe yeNyenyedzi spent the whole year not knowing where to take their

new members for baptism because the church claims to be led by mweya the spirit. It

was at their annual prayer (muteuro wegore) in Gokwe at the end of 1999 when it was

alleged that the Spirit said ‘go to Chirumhanzu and possess Gonawapotera and

Chivavarira hill’ (Tsitsi, Interview: 01/08/2014).With this historical background and present
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with the theology and doctrine of this newly established Church in Zimbabwe.

5.7 Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church Doctrine

A reflection on the Masowe yeNyenyedzi Church doctrine is by no means an easy

endeavour. There are an inconceivable number of different doctrinal views. This is due to

data collection that has always depended on members who claim that they were there

when it happened without proper documents or original testimony to refer to. This makes

this an extremely delicate and intricate undertaking. Apart from lack of evidence the

researcher was not allowed to take pictures or record videos during church services. This

research was almost abandoned because of the secretiveness of the church, but for the

assistance of friends who are members of this Church. They continued inviting us and

facilitating interviews. Thus this research was made possible by means of participant

observation and interviews.

The researcher of this study attended almost all critical conferences of the JMCN Church

such as; muteuro wegore annual prayer conference held in Masvingo heroes’ acre on 15-

17 May 2014; kuverengwa neNyenyedzi the census by the star conference, on 21-23

August 2014 in Gweru; rubhabhatidzo rweNyenyedzi (the baptism of the Star in the

Gonawapotera pool) on 16-18 October 2014 at Shashe river; rupawo rweNyenyedzi the

seal of the Star conference held in December 11-13 at Mapiravana in Chirumhanzu and

their Easter commemorations in lower Gweru on 2-5 April 2015. All these conferences

started on Thursday at 3pm and end on Sunday 12noon. During these conferences the
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participant observations, this research is a true reflection of what was gathered from

insiders of the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church in Zimbabwe. Thus, the

following passages discuss Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church doctrine.

The study maintains that in the process of Africanisation of Christianity certain Indigenous

religious elements must be avoided to avoid obfuscating authentic Christian spirituality in

the process. This suggests that any Christian Church must maintain fundamental

Christian doctrines for it to be regarded as an authentic Christian church. As alluded to

earlier on in this study, there are some selected fundamental Christian biblical doctrines

which differentiate Christianity from other religions of the world. These selected Christian

doctrines or tenets are efficacious in test the authenticity of the Masowe yeNyenyedzi

Church spirituality as Christian spirituality or has fallen out of the scope. The question

raised in this study is: is the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi spirituality

influenced by Biblical spirituality or by Karanga spirituality today? To answer this question

again, we need to use the same criteria used previous in this study to judge the spirituality

of the four sampled disputed AICs. The criteria for judging Church spiritualities as

Christian or non Christian ready; Does the Church; Accept the divinity of Jesus Christ

(Christology) Believe in the Holy Trinity; Believe the Bible to the True word of God; Believe

that Salvation comes through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; Believe in the

Second coming of Jesus to judge the world.

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section interrogates how the JMCN Church approaches to the above central selected

Christian spiritual elements of faith. Does it going fall into the same pit of the discussed

disputed AICs? This shall be discovered through the research findings as presented in

the next section of this Chapter.

5.8 JMCN and the Doctrine of Christ

The doctrine of Christ is commonly known as Christology. Christology is the discourse

about the person and work of Jesus Christ (Macquarrie 1990:3). This term is derived from

a Latin term Christus and from Greek Kristos meaning the ‘anointed one’ (Macquarrie

1990:3). Thus, Christus is a title and not a name. For van Niekerk, Christology can be

defined as;

1. What Christ teaches about God; or

2. What do we mean when we say that Jesus is both God and Man and that in Him

human salvation is realized? (van Niekerk 1982:4).

Thus Christology deals with who Jesus was and what Jesus did (Macquarrie 1990:3).

This study posits that the person and work of Jesus Christ is of central significance to

Christian doctrine. Christ is the historical point of departure for Christianity as he made

salvation possible for humanity. His death is sufficient for all sinners who have ever lived,

for it was not merely a finite human, but an infinite God who died (Erickson 1992:213). It

is against this background that any Church that does not present Christ as normative for

salvation offers a questionable Christian spirituality. Macquarrie posits that Peter’s

response to the Christological question ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ (Mark
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Church that claims to be a Christian must respond to this Christological question - Jesus

is the Christos without which there is no human salvation.

Thus, this study observes that Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi seems to have

replaced the doctrine of Jesus Christ with their spiritual leaders such as Shonhiwa,

Mudyiwa and Sanders. This position has been arrived at because for this Church

movement, Jesus Christ was sent by God to the lost souls of Israel and to the white

communities, not to the black communities of Africa (Amos, Interview: 17/05/2014). Thus,

for them God sent Johane Masowe, Emanuweri Mudyiwa and Sanders Nyenyedzi to

serve Africans hence the doctrine of replacement. For other AICs in Zimbabwe Jesus

Christ is seen as God incarnate to save all humankind. In contrasting views, the Johane

Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church sees Jesus Christ as the saviour for Whites

not for Blacks. This study observes that the term Whiteman represents all other

nationalities excluding Black Africans. Thus anyone who is not a Black African is referred

to as whiteman, including the Chinese, Arabs, Japanese and other non-Europeans with

fair skin.

This study observes that though these three leaders are all dead, Johane Masowe

Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church continues to revere them as sacred spiritual leaders.

During a key informant interview, one of the Church member said “tinotenda mitumbi

mitatu,” literally, “we believe in three divine bodies which are Johane Masowe, Emanuweri

Mudyiwa and Sanders Nyenyedzi for the salvation of Africans (Melissa, Interview: 17/10/

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between the living and God. This research posits that this doctrine of deification of human

Church leaders was introduced by Mudyiwa Dzangara who led the Church after Johane

Masowe. In his teachings Emanuweri Mudyiwa taught that dead family elders continue to

be inter-mediators between the living and God. Songs are composed and sung especially

for the muteuro wegore (annual prayer).

Baba Johane vana venyu vaunguna muvatungamire murwendo

(Father Johane your Children have gathered lead them)

Murwendo rune makwidza ne makwidza

(This journey which has ups and downs)

Baba Emanuweri vana venyu vaungana muvatungamire murwendo

(Father Emanuweri your children have gathered led them)

Nyenyedzi vana vako vaungana uvatungamire murwedzo

(Star your children have gathered lead them)

A close analysis of this song denotes that this African Church has developed a new

church doctrine that depicts a complete new way of salvation. The majority of African

Indigenous Churches follow the biblical Christian doctrine of salvation that says in part:

there is no salvation in any other name except through the name of Jesus Christ (Mbiti

1986:138). On contrary views, Masowe yeNyenyedzi believes that the departed leaders

mediate between the living and God. When other Christians believed that salvation was

made possible through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary, the JMCN posits

that Jesus was only sent to white communities and not to black communities.

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and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rather they have introduced a new doctrine tsoro

yaJohane replacing the passion narratives and Christus victor during their Easter

celebration. Tsoro ya Johane denotes a theological refection on to the salvific work done

by Johane Masowe, Emanuweri Mudyiwa and Sanders Nyenyedzi respectively. During

the JMCN Easter celebrations, a narration of how God used these three leaders to

establish an African Church is given on every Easter Friday. Composed songs in memory

of these sacred leaders are sung throughout the whole Easter weekend. Below is one

song sung during Easter celebrations.

Kwakatanga Baba Johane (There came Father Johane)

Ndokuzouya Emanuweri (followed by Emmanuel)

Kwazouya Nyenyedzi (lastly the Star)

Denga rose raombera (And heavens celebrated)

The content of the song and the doctrine of tsoro yaJohane are two important

considerations in this study which summarized the Church doctrine of the JMCN Church.

As other Christian Churches such has the Roman Catholic, Anglican Methodist, Dutch

reformed Church, inter alia, dramatize the passion narratives of Jesus by carrying a

wooden cross, the JMCN Church dramatize the release from the suffering of their spiritual

leaders from the then colonial government of Rhodesia by trying to introduce this African

Church chinamato chechipositori (Roswense, Interview: 04/04/ 2015).

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are unwavering proclamation of the word (Bible), proclamation of the risen Lord and

Savoir Jesus Christ, the belief in the holy Trinity and celebration of sacraments. Adding

to that Maposa & Sibanda (2013:97-109) posit that, “Christian Churches are normally

identified by acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour; by preaching a gospel that

is rooted in a clear doctrine of Christology and their thrust of soteriology concerning

human salvation is biblically inspired”. One of the study’s findings was that with the

criterion given above, Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church gravitated

away from this Biblical Christological position. The simple reason for this pronouncement

is that by and large the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church inculturated non

compatible African spiritual elements and denigrate the salvific work of Jesus Christ for

the human race. Thus this study submits that there is a doctrine of Christology in the

Masowe yeNyenyedzi Church which renders the church unauthentic.

It was also found out that the JMCN Church also redefined the theology of the cross by

dismissing the relevance of Jesus Christ’s death for the salvation of black Africans.

Though this Church acknowledges that Jesus was crucified and was buried they do not

subscribe to the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection motif of the Johane

Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church is different from the Orthodox Christian

concept of bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to key informant interviews

conducted in April 2015, Masowe yeNyenyedzi believe that both John the Baptist and

Jesus were just ordinary human beings whom God selected to bring salvation to the white

communities. For them, because both were killed by Whites, God was not happy and

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sent John the Baptist who was killed by whites, the argument goes. Later God sent Jesus

to proclaim good news to the whites. Again, the whites killed him. It was after all this that

God abandoned the white community in preference of Africa by raising three sacred

leaders; Johane, Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi. Today all the Johane Masowe churches do

not mix with rites. For them whites are the enemies of the gospel of salvation.

According to the church’s doctrine, after John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were killed,

God decided to send HIS spirit to Africa. This is how the spirit came from God and entered

an African man who was a shoe-maker, Shonhiwa Masedza Tandi Moyo in the then

Rhodesia to serve the black community. For Baba Moris (2014) mweya wakaburikira

pana Shonhiwa ne zuva reChishanu rinova zuva rakatambudzika Mwanakomana mhiri

yegungwa (the Spirit descended and struck Shonhiwa on a Friday the same day Jesus

was killed).

Thus, for JMCN Church, Friday is sacred day because this was the day God transferred

the spirit which was operating in Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph (both Whites) to

Johane Masowe (black) for the salvation of Black Africans. On that note every Thursday

from 3pm up to Saturday 3pm, Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi members

observe certain rituals such as not eating meat; not bathing and do not changing their

clothes. According to the interviews this ritual is known as in their semantic kubatidza

amai Maria kuchema mwana wavo wakabaiwa mhiri yegungwa (helping Mary the mother

of Jesus to mourn her beloved son who was killed overseas).

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Jesus is a practice borrowed from two worlds, the traditional African worldview and the

Christian worldview. First, the concept of not bathing is a practice borrowed from the

African worldview because neither in most African countries the bereaved do not change

clothes nor bathing until after burial. Secondly the practice of sitting around the fire is a

borrowed phenomenon from Christian worldview because for instance the Roman

Catholic practice what is called moto waPetros (fire of Peter) as they dramatize the night

Peter denied Jesus Christ three times before the cock crows. Like-wise the Johane

Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church sits around the fire from Thursday night till Friday

morning. This fire is sometimes referred to as choto chaPetrosi (fire of Peter) pacharara

or pazambara (no English equivalence) (Melissa: 2013).

Convincingly, the study observes that, Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi

Church’s interpretation of the passio narratives is different from other Christian

denominations. For instance, for them Jesus’ death was an accident of history. His death

was not God’s pre-ordained to serve human beings but jealous whites killed him.

However, they believed that the spirit which was operating in Jesus after his death

embarked on a journey to Africa. This spiritual journey is sometimes referred to as

wilderness journey, rwendo rwemurenje. This is the wilderness journey of the Spirit,

rwendo rwemweya murenje where the same spirit which worked through Jesus was in

search for a house in Africa. At first the spirit entered Shonhiwa then Mudyiwa and lastly

Sandros (Moris, Interview: 18/10/ 2014).

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by elements of Karanga spirituality. Generally, The Shona and the Ndebele people

believe in a different form of resurrection. They believe that the spirit of a dead person

comes back and dwells among the living, to look after the living; this is African spirituality

(Banana 1991:31). The human spirit cannot die but exists in spiritual form having physical

traits because it can assume a physical form through its possession of spirit mediums,

masvikiro (Banana 1991:31). Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church

therefore believe that the spirit which was in John the Baptist and in Jesus mhiri yegungwa

(overseas) is the same spirit operating in the three African human bodies, mutumbi mitatu

; first in Shonhiwa Masedza, Mudyiwa Dzangara then lastly Sanders Nhamoyebonde.

This study notes that resurrection in Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church

is not the resurrection of the body but it is the “re-introduction of the living timeless (spirit)

into the ranks of the family through spiritual presence” (Banana 1991:31). JMCN

members are taught that there is only one spirit that worked through Johane, Emanuweri

and Sanders/Sandros. The study argues that the fundamental theological belief among

all Johane Masowe traditions is that; if a leader dies will proceed to hold an influential

position in heaven and is accountable and responsible for interceding for the remaining

church members. Church leaders like Johane, Emanuweri and Sanders/Sandros are

believed to be now part of the angelic beings whose responsible is to help and guide

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church members.

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summarizes this belief. The song is called Pandimire pakaoma (I’m in danger). It goes

like:

Jehovha ndibatsireiwo Baba pandimire pakaoma (God help me I’m danger)

Verudzi rwangu vakandigare dare (my family members are planning evil against me)

Vane Chikwambo chinondisveta ropa (they have a goblin that sucks blood from me)

Vatsvene vanobva kudenga ndibatsireiwo (Holy saints from heaven help me)

VaMutinhimha ndibatsireiwo (Saint Mutinhima help me I’m in danger)

Baba vaChindenga ndibastireiwo (Saint Chindenga help me I’m in danger)

Baba Madziya ndibatsireiwo (Saint Madziya help me I’m in danger)

Baba Chimhundu ndibatsireiwo (Saint Chimhundu help me I’m in danger)

Ndinotambudzika chikwambo chinondisveta ropa (I’m suffering because there is a

goblin that sucks my blood).

The analysis of the song shows that all Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church in

Zimbabwean conceptualizes the concept of the resurrection of the dead from an African worldview.

According to this perspective, any family member who dies becomes an intercessor for the

remaining family members. The singer mentioned names such as Baba Mutinhima, Chindenga,

Madziya and Chimhundu. These are church leaders who died in recent years and are being called

upon to assist free the singer from the goblin’s afflictions. According to Mbiti (1975:69) the departed

of recent generations are called ‘the living dead’ and in some way they form a link in the chain of

contact between their living family members and the invisible God. It is against this orientation that

the JMCN sees Johane, Emanuweri, Sanders/Sandros like Chindenga, Mutinhima in song as

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© University of Pretoria
‘conveyor belts, helpers or assistants’(Mbiti 1975:69) in their spiritual journey. Therefore, the study

observes that Christ of the Bible’s mediatorship role especially in relation to life after death is totally

usurped by Shonhiwa (Johane) Mudyiwa (Emanuweri) Sanders/Sandros (Nyenyedzi) which makes

the person and work of Jesus trivial for the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe.

This study noted the demeaning and downplaying of the role of Jesus Christ for human salvation

in the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church. For Hearne (1990:89-96), any talk or action

about "inculturating" the Christian faith must be seen in the fight of the mystery of Jesus Christ and

not just as efforts to make a system or an institution more "meaningful' to people of different

cultures. This denotes that Christology is at the very heart of any Christian theology of inculturation.

Thus, by Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church lacking this fundamental doctrine of

the person and work of Jesus Christ, this study posits that its Church spirituality was influenced by

African spiritual elements such as veneration of the long dead African Church leaders.

5.9 The Bible in Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church.

African Christians observe the Bible as the inspired word of God. Most AICs uphold the

traditional view of inspiration which observes that the Bible was written by God through

human authors. God worked through human authors so that, what they wrote was that which

God intended to communicate with his people. In Greek inspiration is described as

theopneustos, which literally means "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16)(Black 2008:3-35). It is

on the basis of this definition that some theologians argue that this “God-breath” makes the

Bibles to be infallible or of limited inerrancy, which affirms that the Bible is free of errors as a

guide to salvation (Black 2008:3-35). This suggests that the Bible should be taken literally
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Churches. They normally preach from Revelation 22:18-19 where the Bible warns people not

to add or take away from the words of the book of the prophecy. Literally they interpret

Revelation 22:18-19 to mean ‘the Bible should be taken as it is and not to be interpreted’

(Togarasei 2009). For these AICs, the Bible does not contain scriptures, the Bible is scripture

itself (Gunda 2014:147). However, this study does not dwell much on how other AICs

interpret the Bible. Instead this study is more concerned about the position of the Bible in

JMCN Church.

It can be asked, why so much emphasis on the Bible? For Dickson (1995:47), the Bible is

the fundamental source of theology (Dickson, 1995:47). Dickson further argues that any

Christian Theology that does not refer to the Bible as its central source is fallacious. Mbiti

(1986:53), complements Dickson on that point when he said “the Bible is the principal

benchmark for determining the validity of any Christian theology professing to be African”.

Adding to that Holt (2005:13) argues that any Church spirituality that does not take the

centrality of the Bible and Jesus Christ as its norm presents a questionable church spirituality.

Fashole Luke quoted by Mugambi declared that “the Bible is the basic and primary source

for the development of African Christian Theology” (Mugambi, 1997:97). Chitando (2010:6)

argues that ‘indeed one of the significant aspects of the Christian heritage in Africa has been

the centrality of the Bible’. Most African Churches are therefore Churches who are not only

comfortable to declare the Bible as the word of God but also take seriously what the Bible

says that Jesus himself is the word of God (Gunda 2014).

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outrightly. This is because Johane Masowe taught them that the Bible is irrelevant to

Africans. Below is a direct quotation from one member interviewed by Dilon Malone:

He Johane preached that he was the Baptist sent by God to earth. He urged

everyone present to adapt the religion of their forefathers, to drink plenty of

kaffir beer and eat the meat blessed by our forefathers; further, that we should

burn the religious books of the European, as our forefathers did not have

books. He suggested that the Bible hymn books and the New Testament

should be destroyed, together with all other religious books. He promised that

he would carry out baptizing after which he would foretell the end of the World

(Dillon-Malone 1978).

This theology of Johane Masowe was later supported by a renowned Zimbabwe liberation

theologian Canaan Sodidho Banana. For Banana the Bible should be re written it has

become irrelevant to people in post-colonial communities. According to him, there are

portions of the Bible where the oppressor used to make other people suffer. He also noted

that the Bible was written for certain people in a certain community hence we need to come

up with our own Bible that speaks highly of our sacred Mountains (Banana 1993:18). Not

only did Banana subscribe to that view of disregarding the Bible. This notion of the ‘Bible as

the instrument of oppression’ was supported by Mapuranga (2013:1-8) who highlighted how

the Bible was rejected by African Women Church leaders such as Mai Chaza of the Guta

raJehovah Church in Zimbabwe. Mai Chaza rejected the Bible because for her it was used

as the final authority by the western mission Churches to oppress women (Mapuranga

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their position in favour of the Bible, but from the time of this research 2013-2016, the JMCN

were not using the Bible as a source of their Church spirituality.

Accordingly, the JMCN Church was in the process of compiling its own sacred Scriptures

(Tobias, Interview: 17/05/2014). The argument raised by JMCN Church members is that-

since there was a time when the Bible was not in existence as a written document but was

orally transmitted until a certain period when many eye witnesses were dying likewise it is

also important for them (JMCN) to start compiling the sayings of the spirit for future

generations (Tobias, Interview: 17/05/2014). They also maintained that the Bible was not

written with Africans in mind but was compiled as a historical book for the Ancient Near East.

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church members argue that the stories in the

Bible are irrelevant to Africans. Africans have their own story to tell, how they encountered

God in sacred mountains, pools, caves and under sacred trees.

During their Friday services, Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi always repeat and

remind each other on what was taught by Johane, Emanuweri and Sanders/Sandros. On

one occasion during I observed a certain old man stood up to correct members on how to sit

at Masowe (seating arrangement). He started by chanting the church slogan Rufaro kwamuri,

Rufaro kwamuri, Rufarooo (Joy unto you, Joy unto you, Joyeeeeee.) Then he proceeded:

Men and Women have we forgotten what Emanuweri taught us; how we

should sit at Masowe? We were taught that we should sit in straight lines

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heaven.” (Anonymous member: 2014).

After his address members of church started reorganising themselves into the proper seating

arrangement. The whole service which runs from 9am to 3pm is punctuated by songs, reciting

of their formulated Ten Commandments, gumi remitemo, the sayings of the spirit,

tsanangudzo dzemweya, Masowe law and regulations, miko nemirairo, which constitute the

teachings of Johane, Emanuweri and Sanders. The service will end with healing and

exorcism, kushandirwa. There is no reading of the Bible for they believe that they receive

‘live and direct’ (Engelke 2007:55) from God.

5.10 Ten Commandments, Gumi Remitemo

The study noted that although Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Churches rejects

the reading of the Bible, there are similar occurrences and Biblical references. A notable

example for Bishau (2010) is the gumi remitemo, Ten Commandments. Johane Masowe

Chishanu yeNyenyedzi observes the Biblical Ten Commandments with some slight changes

in the order and phraseology. Their Ten Commandments are as follow:

1. Do not have other gods before Me

2. Honour your Father and Mother

3. Keep Friday as a scared day of worship

4. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

5. You shall not murder

6. You shall not steal

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8. You shall not commit adultery

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour

10. Love your neighbour as yourself (Moris, Interview: 15/05/2014).

The implication of these Ten Commandments is that Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi accepted the centrality of the biblical Ten Commandments. By contrast, from

the data gathered from the interviews conducted, the Church insiders argue that the

similarity between the Ten Commandments in the Bible with Masowe yeNyenyedzi gumi

remitemo is a clear testimony that God’s revelation is in continuous process; as God was

with Moses so is He with African prophets and church leaders (Painos, Interview:

23/08/2014). These Ten Commandments are repeated over and over again and that

constitutes part of their main preaching. Gumi remitemo was introduced by Mudyiwa

Dzangara (Emanuweri). These Ten Commandments are part of the scripture in the Johane

Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church. Congregants confess their sins, those who will

be found missing the mark in accordance to Ten Commandments are also called upon by

the church leadership to confess to their sins. Congregants will confess to their sins in turns;

chanting the slogan then confessing their sins publicly. The common sins confessed were:

ruchiva (lust), hatred ruvengo, and un-forgiveness kusaregerera.

5.11 Dietary Laws (Miko)

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church observes certain dietary laws

rigorously. The dietary Laws are referred to as miko in Johane Masowe weChishanu
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deviates from miko (dietary laws), mutumwa (Angel) Gaburona (Masowe semantic) will

remove the protection from such individuals (Painos, Interview: 23/08/2014). Accordingly,

a true member of Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church observes the

following dietary laws among others:

1. They do not eat animals whose hoofs are not cloven

2. They do not eat animals which do not chew the cud

3. They do not eat animals that stay under the water that do not have fins or

scales

4. They do not eat meat that was dedicated to the worship of ancestors

5. They do not smoke or drink alcohol.

Again this study observes similarity with the Old Testament dietary laws given to Israelites

by God (Leviticus 11:1ff). This study argues that the above mentioned dietary laws must

be strictly observed in this new religious movement in Zimbabwe. During musangano

weNyenyedzi, the Star Conference held in Gweru, members were encouraged to

confess everything including sin of disobeying the dietary laws in one way or the other.

If you leave out sin unconfessed the Star, Nyenyedzi will not consider you as a registered

member in the Masowe spiritual world (Morris, Interview: 17/10/2014).

On a critical note, though Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church claims to

be a Christian church which does not read the Bible, yet their dietary laws and the Ten

Commandments are clear evidence that this new religious movement selectively reads

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Movement or what can termed a syncretic movement. A New Religious Movement is a

religious movement that promotes double standards in terms of its doctrine. In this case

Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi cannot be fully referred to as a Christian

church, neither can it be referred to as fully African Traditional religious movement hence

its classification as a New Religious Movement. Apart from the dietary laws Johane

Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church doctrine is centered on what is referred to as

mirairo paMasowe, General regulations.

5.12 General Regulations (Mirairo paMasowe)

There is what they call mirairo paMasowe (general regulations of Johane Masowe

yeNyenyedzi Church). It was found out that These Johane Masowe yeNyenyedzi Church

have the following general regulations;

1. Marriage laws, i.e. courtship and paying of brides price (lobola)

2. Burial rituals for a member

3. What to eat and what not to eat during funerals and fasting

4. What to wear for men and women during worship services

5. Seating arrangements at Masowe and their justification

6. Water baptism in sacred dams and pools.

The study also observed that these general laws and regulations in the Johane Masowe

weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church constitute the Church’s Spirituality. Members of these

new religious movements religiously observe and to these laws in addition to the dietary
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discussion on the spirituality of the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church in

Zimbabwe. The following section deals with the Johane Masowe weChishanu

yeNyenyedzi Church and its perspectives on the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

5.13 Johane Masowe and the Doctrine of (the Holy) Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity originated from the patristic tradition. Initially the doctrine

sought to reconcile particular understandings of Jesus Christ with monotheistic views of

God (Parker 1965). Thus, in the Trinitarian doctrine, God is three persons in one - Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. This term Trinity was first used by Tertullian (160-225, CE) (McGrath

1994:66). He was the first of the church fathers with a typically “western style”, and in

many respects he was the founder of the western theological tradition (McGrath 1994:67).

The idea of the Trinity came up because the early church was worshipping Jesus Christ

alongside His Father and the Holy Spirit. For the early church, Jesus was a unique being

who had come to save the people such that HE became the focus of worship (Parker

1965). Apart from Jesus Christ and God, the Holy Spirit was valued as part of the God-

head. The Holy Spirit was regarded by the church as representative of the resurrection of

Christ.

The Old Testament does not have an elaborate idea of the Trinity except for some few

glimpses of the Trinity (Genesis 1:2-2, Exodus 3:13-14, Number 6:22-27, Isaiah 6:3).

However, it is in the New Testament where one finds the idea of the Trinitarian God in its

totality. For example, in Mathew 28:19, it is stated: “Go ye therefore and make disciples
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for the person to be fully Christian one has to be baptized in these three persons: the

Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The same idea about the Trinitarian God is also

contained in II Corinthians 13: 4. Therefore, the New Testament gives us a clear

connection between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit is

mentioned, the Father and the Son are also mentioned (I Corinthians 12: 4-16, II

Corinthians 1: 20, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 2: 20-22, Thessalonians 2: 13-14, Titus 3: 4-

6, I Peter 1: 2). All these scriptures reflect the connection between these three Beings.

However, for the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi doctrine, Jesus Christ is not

considered equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. For them Jesus Christ was

not God but just a messenger, mutumwa waMwari of God. To them, Jesus Christ is just

like Johane Masowe, Emanuweri Mudyiwa or Sanders Nhamoyebonde Nyenyedzi. The

only difference between them is that Jesus Christ was sent by God to the white

communities while the three, Johane, Emanuweri and Sanders were sent by God to black

communities. Mabvurira et al. (2015:14) observed that the Johane Masowe we

Chishanu’s Trinitarian doctrine is shrouded by mutumbi mitatu such that even when they

give muteuro at most three is the dividing number. They give three stones to go and put

in bathing water for healing and cleansing from minyama.

It is against this background that the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church’s

Trinitarian doctrine is not aligned to the biblical Trinitarian teaching of God the Father,

God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is not God for them but is just like any

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vividly in their Church doctrine than Jesus Christ. Hence, for Amanze, any Church

movement that does not appreciate the divinity of Jesus Christ presents a Christian

spirituality which cannot be classified as authentic (Amanze 1998:56). In his study on

Christianity in Botswana, Amanze noted one Church Guta RaJehovah, a Church founded

in Zimbabwe by Mai Chaza where he found out that this Church presented a questionable

form of Christian spirituality due to its Trinitarian doctrine.

This conclusion was based on the Church’s teachings which centre around Mai Chaza

who was renamed Musiki/Creator as one of the God heads who was present during the

creation of the world (Amanze 1998a) Thus, for Guta raJehovah the Trinity comprises

God the Father, God Mai Chaza and God the Holy Spirit. It is in the same vain that this

study debates the JMCN Church spirituality. Comparing the Trinitarian doctrines

presented in the JMCN and in the Guta Ra Jehovah we concluded that these two

Zimbabwean Churches present questionable Church spiritualities. Christian spirituality in

simple terms is the spirituality of Christ of which JMCN and Guta Ra Jehovah rejected

contesting for live and direct communication with God the Father. The next section deals

with the doctrine of Salvation in the JMCN Church of Zimbabwe.

5.14 JMCN and the Doctrine of Soteriology

The etymology of the term soteriology is from the Greek words soter, “saviour” and

soteria, “salvation” (McGrath 1994:318). It is generally accepted that Christians believe

that through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary human beings
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investigates the doctrine of salvation in the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi

Church in Zimbabwe.

For most AICs the Old Testament was a precursor pointing to the coming of Jesus Christ

who was God incarnate to save human beings from their sins and the power of death.

Thus salvation is summarized in AICs as the spiritual and physical liberation or

deliverance of Church members in times of trouble during their earthly lives. Salvation is

thus expressed in such acts of healing, exorcising of evil spirits, enablement of the

individual self, fertility and promotion in one’s earthly ventures (Masondo 2014:3). It is

also expressed as deliverance from physical evils such as poverty and the general lack

of material provisions such as housing. It is on these grounds that the prosperity Gospel

Churches resonates with the populace hence its prominence in most AICs in Zimbabwe.

Scriptures such as (2 Corinthians 8:9) are literally translated to mean that since Jesus

Christ became materially poor today’s Christians need to become materially rich.

Salvation in these churches also denotes victory over one’s earthly enemies (Numbers

23-24). In most AICs enemies are witches and evil spirits which threaten good health,

prosperity and longevity of life.

Besides linking to the New Testament, AICs use and identify themselves with the Old

Testament’s literal teachings. Hence concerning revelation and salvation, God’s self-

revelation and agency are argued to exist in and through Jesus Christ. As such, the

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of redemptive history in most of these African Indigenous Churches today.

While other AICs put Christ Jesus at the centre for salvation this study observed that the

JMCN replaced the salvific work of Jesus Christ with the works of their Church fathers-

Johane, Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi. For them, God sent black Messianic figures to black

communities as he did sending the white messianic figures as John the Baptist and Jesus

Christ respectively. Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church invited strong

criticisms to itself particularly regarding their understanding and interpreting of the person

and work of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of Christology.

It has been argued that because of their overemphasis on the work of Johane Masowe,

Emanuweri Mudyiwa and Sanders Nyenyedzi, these Churches presented what can be

termed a weak Christology. Jesus Christ is not mentioned throughout JMCN Church

services. The over 50 sermons preached in the JMCN during all my participant

observation services, not even one sermon mentioned the importance of Jesus Christ.

Even in their prayers though they draw the cross sign like the Roman Catholic Church

does they do not mention the name of Jesus Christ. Additionally, the name of Jesus Christ

was not even called upon even when they prayed for the sick and those in need for

spiritual deliverance like other AICs do. As mentioned earlier on, there was no Bible

reading throughout the day during the church service. Instead of reading the Bible,

various preachers talk about the importance of the founders of the Church, Johane,

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the Lord’s Supper in any of their teachings and rituals.

5.15 JMCN and Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

It was argued elsewhere in these pages that African Indigenous Churches (AICs) present

authentic Christian churches. The reason for that submission is the finding that all AICs

are biblically oriented and worshipping the Christian Trinitarian God. This is the popular

subscription amongst many African theologians such as Chitando (2013), Gunda (2013)

and Maposa (2014). They argue that the worshipping of a Triune God is evidenced in

almost all AICs. These scholars argue that the earlier scholars who studied AICs

misjudged AICs as either post-Christian, Non-Christian or New Religious movements

because they failed to account for AICs’ legitimate concern of contextualizing the

Christian message into African cultural and religious background. For Clarke (2006:72)

AICs are in fact genuine Christian churches with a presupposed doctrine of a Triune God,

clear Christology, prominent pneumatology, and a realised-futuristic eschatology.

Earlier paragraphs of this study demonstrated that JMCN Church completely substituted

the mediator-ship role of Jesus Christ with their African spiritual leaders. It was also

highlighted that the Church presents a Trinitarian doctrine that is not original but rather

adulterated. The major criticism raised in this study against the JMCN Church spirituality

are; neglecting Christ for salvation; neglecting the Bible for Church Theology and

neglecting Lord’s Supper a sacrament that reminds Christians that Jesus Christ died and

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doctrine of Pneumatology in the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe.

From data collected through key informant interviews and participant observation, the

study observed that the only doctrine of Pneumatology dominated in the theology of this

Church movement. The bulk of the time during their church services were allocated to the

Spirit, which in their religious semantic is termed nguva ye tsanangudzo (time for

explanations). This event is second to what they call nhoroondo ya Johane (the call of

Johane Masowe). This call of Johane Masowe is for them the major preaching of each

day as they gather at Masowe (open space for worship). They take turns to remind one

another about the spiritual journeys of Johane Masowe, Emanuweri Mudyiwa up to the

time of the star (Nyenyedzi).

After this long service members of the Church embark on a short break as they prepare

for another long section of tsanangudzo dzemweya a session that normally takes three

hours while members sit and listen to the Spirit. In similar manner, vakokeri vomweya

(those with the gift of prophecy) will be given turns to tell the congregation what they claim

to have received from God. For Engelke (2007:55) the doctrine of Pneumatology is very

central in all Masowe Churches as they emphasize “live and direct” communication with

God. Engelke further argues that Masowe tradition is unique in making the claim that God

communicates with his people through the spirit (mweya) (Engelke 2007:56). This study

prescribes to the view that the doctrine of Pneumatology is at the heart of the JMCN

resulting in the doctrine of the Bible, Trinity and Christology being sidelined.

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The central argument of this study is that the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe in its efforts to

inculturate African spiritual elements of faith into Christianity created for questioning its

authenticity. Following the description given in this study, it can be concluded that the

JMCN replaced the doctrine of the Bible; the doctrine of Christ; the doctrine of Biblical

salvation and the doctrine of Trinity with African spiritual elements. The Johane Masowe

weChishanu yeNyenyedzi in its process of inculturating African spiritual elements of faith

ended up minimising the centrality of the gospel by ignoring the death and resurrection of

Jesus Christ; downplaying the role of the salvific role of Jesus Christ; denying the doctrine

of Trinity and neglecting the authority of the Bible. For them Christ of the Bible was sent

by God to white communities and not to black Africans. The following Chapter deals with

sacred places, religious rituals and objects of worship used by the JMCN Church. This

following Chapter presents some of the study’s key findings and it also shades more light

on the Church spirituality.

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INCULTURATED AFRICAN SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS IN JMCN CHURCH IN

ZIMBABWE

6.1 Introduction

This chapter examines the central research question which is the inculturated African

spiritual elements in the JMCN Church spirituality. The notion of inculturated African

spiritual elements in the JMCN Church spirituality is the centre of this study because

spirituality of any religious movement is displayed in its sacred places, rituals,

celebrations, sacraments, religious objects and symbols; which will be focused on in this

chapter. The JMCN Church’s elements of inculturated African traditional aspects such as

sacred places, ritual, celebrations, sacraments religious objects and symbols are

discussed to ascertain whether the JMCN Church’s spirituality is aligned with other AICs

Spirituality. This study does not dispute the fact that there is no homogenous and singular

Christian spirituality since there is non-singular Christianity but Christianities (Ukah

2007:11).

There are many Christian spiritualities, like Anglican, Pentecostal, Catholic and AIC

spiritualities. The study postulates that there are certain elements or tenets which should

continue to be at the centre of any Christian spirituality regardless of space and time.

These are the doctrines of Christ (Christology), Trinity, Soteriology, doctrine of the word

and Pneumatology (Moodley 2008:76; Amanze 1998a:55). This study observed that what

constitutes an authentic Christian spirituality is such AICs maintained the majority, not all

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ecclesiology, Trinity and soteriology (Amanze 1998:63). This is not the case in the case

of JCMN Church.

6.2 Inculturated Incompatible African Spiritual elements

There is a general consensus among African theologians such as Kofi Appiah Kubi

(1979) that AICs took a major step in contextualizing Christian gospel by selectively

inculturating compatible African spiritual elements into their Church liturgies. Appiah Kubi

who studied AICs in Ghana. Observed that most AICs in Ghana such as Church of Christ

in Africa (CCA), Church of Messiah in Ghana (CMG) and, the Celestial Church of Christ

(CCC) all in Ghana have made a conscious attempt to revive or perpetuate selected

aspects of local cultures to inform their Church spiritualities Kofi Appiah-Kubi (1979:118).

For Appiah-Kubi, within these AICs Christ continues to be at the centre of human

salvation. Amanze adds that Jesus Christ is seen by the AICs as the mediator between

the AIC members and God. The Bible is also read and interpreted from an African

perspective (Amanze 1998a). Chitando (2004) argues that this initiative was taken to

make Africans Christians feel at home in Church. This suggests that AICs presented a

Christianity influenced by African traditional institutions and belief systems (Amanze

1998b).

This form of Christianity is referred to as African Christianity in this study. African

Christianity therefore in this study is a brand of Christianity that is African in nature but

continues to be in tandem with the rest of the Christendom. What makes an African
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spiritual elements discussed in this study such as, the divinity of Jesus Christ; Holy Trinity;

doctrine of the Bible; salvation through belief in Jesus Christ and belief in the second

coming of Jesus to judge the world. However, it was noted that as other AICs maintain

the central traditional Christian spiritual elements of faith, the disputed AICs disregard

them and consciously inculturate incompatible African spiritual elements of faith

Therefore we argue that in the process of inculturation only accommodated ‘selected’

compatible African spiritual elements, like translation of the Bible into local languages

(Dickson 1995:45), accommodation of local music instruments in Church services (Mbiti

1976:27), accommodation of the African worldview of ancestors to explain that Jesus

Christ is the “Proto-Ancestor” (Bujo 2003:113), accommodating the Trinitarian God, Christ

Jesus being the incarnate God, is the best way so as keep what makes a Church

Christian.

Incompatible African spiritual elements are defined in this study as the sine qua non of

the sacrosancta of African Traditional Religion. These are central spiritual elements that

cannot be borrowed by any other religion in the process of religious dialogue. In other

terms, these are the core spiritual elements that distinguish ATR from Christianity or from

Islam in Zimbabwe. As alluded to earlier, every religion has its own unique central spiritual

elements. For instance in Islam there are central rituals: places of worship; celebrations;

a certain seating arrangement Muslims follow different from other religions of the world.

The theology of a Muslim is guided by the Holy Quran while Christian theology is guided

by the Holy Bible (Mbiti 2008). This explains that what constitutes genuine Islam as

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ATRs and Christianity possess their own unique spiritual elements that make them

unique in this setting of religious pluralism. These are referred to in this study as non-

compatible spiritual tenets. We argue that such spiritual tenets are incompatible for

religious dialogue because they are the landmarks of any religion. For example, a Muslim

cannot take Jesus Christ to be his/her Saviour and continue to be identified as a Muslim.

This idea is borrowed from Hierbert Paul’s theory of bounded set theory (Hiebert Paul

1994). According to this theory, there are certain boundaries or elements that separate

religions. Thus, elements such as African forms of worship and rituals, African traditional

shrines (sacred places), African objects for religious ceremonies, certain African taboos

and the respect for ancestors (Mbiti, 1980:77) are designated in this study as incompatible

African spiritual elements that cannot be borrowed by any other religion, either by

Christianity or Islam.

Critical questions for this study are: what to inculturate and not to inculturate? Should

African Church inculturate incompatible African spiritual elements such like respect of

ancestors, praying under selected traditional sacred trees, using traditional sacred objects

for worship and initiating Church members in traditional sacred pools and dams and retain

the designation of a Christian Church? This study posits that certain religious spiritual

elements should be avoided in this process of inculturation. The argument being made in

these pages is that the difference between African Christian spirituality and ATR is their

central spiritual elements of faith.

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do not possess any sacred scripture, compared with Christianity and Islam? To respond

to this Mbiti argues that, though African Tradition Religion has no written scripture, African

spirituality appears in different forms and settings (Mbiti 1980:56). For him African

spirituality is a response to situations in life such as calamities, birth, death or wars. This

is how certain mountains, rivers, pools, caves and trees are central to African spirituality.

Hence the situation where there are certain mountains, hills, rivers, dams, caves and

trees that are sacred shrines for ATR. These specific places were separated and become

distinctly different from profane space due to certain happenings or manifestations of the

divine (Eliade 1957). This is the reason why early scholars’ referring to Africans as

‘animists’ because they saw them praying to their god under certain trees, caves and

rocks. This study has demonstrated that African spirituality is in the history, hearts and

experience of people. African spirituality is applied to a situation as the need arises.

Hence Africans live their spirituality as circumstances prescribes. Therefore, we argue in

this study that JMCN Church ‘inculturated’ certain selected traditional sacred shrines,

certain traditional rituals, certain traditional religious symbols and certain traditional

African objects to inform their Church spirituality in Zimbabwe.

6.3 Inculturated African Traditional sacred Hills, Mountains and Rock

Sacred places are central to most religions. For Eliade a sacred place is the rendezvous

between human beings and the divine (Eliade 1959:25). Thus, a sacred space functions

as the focal point in most religions. For instance, Muslims congregate in Mosques and
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church buildings and some African Indigenous Churches congregate under certain trees.

Eliade (1959:26) argues that, every sacred space implies a hierophany, an eruption of

the sacred that results in detaching a territory from the surrounding cosmic milieu and

making it qualitatively different”. Arguably, a sacred place is different from an ordinary

profane space because it is the manifestation of the divine (Eliade 1957). Likewise, JMCN

has its own sacred places.

Examples of such places are; Chivavarira hill in Chirumhanzu, Mawanga Mountain in

Domboshava and DomboraMwari in Epworth. These are some of the African traditional

sacred shrines which the JMCN Church appropriated as their religious places for prayers.

The study examines how and why Johane Masowe churches willingly turn such old

African traditional shrines to be their holy shrines?

6.3.1 Chivavarira hill of Chirumhanzu District

Chivavarira hill is situated in Chirumhanzu district at the boarders of Masvingo and

Midlands provinces. This particular hill appears to be ordinary to the natural eye, yet it is

a sacred shrine for the community of Chirumhanzu. Old Shona novels such as

Gonawapotera (1978) and Nhume yaMambo (1988), depict the sacredness of the hill.

According to these two Shona novels Chivavarira became a sacred hill from early 1890s

during the tribal wars between the Ndebele and the Karanga people of what Mutasa

(1988) termed Chiri-muhanzu. The Karanga people of Chirumhanzu used to hide in the

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women, young men and cattle.

The term Chivavarira’s etymologically is derived from a Shona word kuvavarira which

means (striving to reach the place of refuge) (Musoni 2016:10). It was however, noted

through interviews that even to this day, the local people of Chirumhanzu testify to and

confirm the sacredness of this hill. The critical question is: what makes the hill sacred that

has attracted the JMCN Church esteemed it the same way it is revered by the indigenes

of Chirumhanzu today? Below is the portrait of the Chivavarira hill.

Figure 6.1: Chivavarira sacred hill

This photo was taken by the researcher showing the sacred hill Chivavarira. The researcher was shown
about 23 caves used as graves for Chiefs and Headmen of Chirumhanzu district. At the centre of the hill
situated the religious Shrines for Chirumhanzu residents. This cave is used for religious prayers and rituals
today.

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© University of Pretoria
Mbiti posits that African spirituality unlike Islamic spirituality and Christian spirituality is

not found in a book or scripture but is found in sacred places such as hills, mountains,

rocks, rivers and trees (Mbiti 1991:20). These places are jealously guarded and certain

taboos are followed when one approaches such places.

Three years of visiting Chivavarira and randomly interviewing the indigenes of

Chirumhanzu gave the researcher the conviction that the hill continues to be a holy shrine

from past generations to this generation. Thus, the sacredness of Chivavarira is not

legendary or fictitious but it is a place that attracts people from all walks of life coming for

various religious rituals. The hill continues to be a sacred shrine for the indigenes of

Chirumhanzu even in the aftermath of 1890s tribal wars because of two important

phenomena. First, Chivavarira is a sacred shrine for the indigenes of Chirumhanzu

because of the numerous caves which the locals used to hide during tribal wars. These

caves were turned into burial shrines for Chiefs and respected family elders. Second, on

top of the Hills is a big cave which is being used for religious ceremonies by the local

people (Zvarevashe, 1978:10).

From the interviews carried out, it emerged that since the beginning of the year 2000 until

2015, the traditional leaders of Chirumhanzu were uncomfortable because their traditional

shrines were taken by the JMCN Church and the African Apostolic Church (AAC) (Chaka,

Interview:19/12/2014). Concerted efforts to bar these Masowe Churches from using the

cave failed. These two African Indigenous Churches took turns to visit the sacred hill

religiously every year around the same time. Each year the African Apostolic Church

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in October. Further to that, these two Churches; the JMCN and the AAC erected religious

centers near the hill.

Paul Mwazha is originally from Chirumhanzu before his family migrated to Guruve

(Mwazha & Mwazha 1997:1). This is the reason why today the AAC has bounced back

to the original root of its founder, to the sacred Chivavarira hill. Similarly, the national

leader of JMCN, Baba Tawanda Ndaidza is from Chirumhanzu, Mapiravana (Magret

Interview: 17/05/2014). Obviously, Baba Ndaidza and Mwazha knew about the sacrality

of Chivavarira from their childhood. This historical background of these two African

Indigenous Church leaders plays a very pivotal role in supporting the argument that the

use of Chivavarira hill by these two Churches is not an accident of history but a well

calculated religious move.

During their visit to the place in August and October respectively, an advance team of

vabati vemweya, those gifted with the spirit, will go ahead for seven days to prepare for

the religious visit. According to key informants the advance team would spend those

seven nights praying in the cave while during the day they will be at their designated

centres down the hill. It was not clear whether this was done in order to persuade the

spirits of the hill not to hinder them from conducting their religious rituals. Though fire is

not allowed near the hill, even cutting of trees, on several occasions the Chief would find

fire-wood and ashes in the cave, which is a sign that these churches were in the cave for

their religious rituals. Asking why these African Churches forcefully appropriated such a

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it was is with Israel, certain mountains and rivers are sacred, so too with Africa. Baba Gift

in an interview further noted that Chivavarira hill is a sacred place because God is

believed by the locals to have his inhabitants in the cave and in the pool Gonawapotera

(Gift, Interview: 17/10/ 2014).

This takes the discussion back to the central research questions of this study which are:

should Christians go to renowned ATR shrines in search for God and do Christians find

God in African Traditional shrines. These questions are raised to suggest a theological

prolegomenon so as to undergird future religious dialogues. For undisputed AICs such

places are not desirable for Christian church services. Though many AICs pray on

mountain tops, they do not specifically go to renowned African traditional mountains for

prayers. Rather they go to any mountain in their proximity. Some AICs members go to

mountains on which their founders encountered a revelation. An example cited in this

study is ZAOGA FIF with the Mt. Chipindura in Bindura (Maxwell 2007:72) now turned to

be gomo reZAOGA, the ZAOGA mountain. Mt. Chipindura became sacred because

Ezekiel Guti, the founder of ZAOGA Church claimed to have encountered God on this

mountain as was praying in a cave (Guti 2014:23). It is also imperative to note that not

only AICs select mountains for worship. In Zimbabwe, the Anglican Church annually visits

Bernard Mizeki hill in Marondera district, Mashonaland East province for prayers where

one of their influential priests, Bernard Mizeki, was laid to rest.

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uniquely AICs but also some missionary churches have the same practice, particularly

those in Zimbabwe. It can be argued that the concept of visiting mountains and hills for

prayers is a borrowed phenomenon from both Old and New Testaments. For example, in

the Old Testament Moses prayed on Mt Sinai and in the New Testament Jesus invited

his disciples to go up the mountain for prayer (Matthew 14:23, Luke 6:12). However, what

is not common among other Christian Churches in Africa particularly in Zimbabwe is the

deliberate attempt to revive or perpetuate selected traditional sacred mountains and hills

for church prayers and church services. JMCN Church’s appropriation of Chivavarira cave

represents a new approach towards the practice of inculturation. Chivavarira cave is used

by the indigenes for religious ceremonies as evidenced by the presents of African

Traditional paraphernalia such like wooden clay pots, traditional tobacco used for

traditional rituals, sacred traditional linen, maretso, used for traditional celebrations,

wooden rod and traditional spears are all kept in this cave. It is in such a cave that the

JMCN Church and AAC also go for prayer retreats. Below is the portrait of the Chivavarira

cave.

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The photo, taken by the researcher 19 December 2014, depicts the entrance to the Chivavarira cave.
Picture there shows Chief Chaka in dark suit followed by his body guard Mr. Mhazi. A closer look in the
cave reveals stones arranged to beyond no one is allowed to cross. On the right is a pool the JMCN Church
used to tie their religious flag during their all-night prayers.

The JMCN Church holistic approach to this sacred cave Chivavarira is fascinating in the

sense that they do not go there with a motive of vandalising the places and turning them

into new sacred places for denoting Christian churches. Rather the church has inherited

everything found in the cave as using for worshipping their God. In this cave there are

sacred objects for the indigenes of Chirumhanzu such as wooden plates, clay pots,

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shown on this portrait

Figure 6.3: Example of religious objects kept in Chivavarira cave

The photo, taken by the researcher 19 December 2014, depicts the Chief Chaka showing us religious
objects kept in the cave. Among the objects are the black and white clothes, wooden rod, clay bowl, wooden
bowl and traditional tobacco.

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The photo, taken by the researcher 19 December 2014, is showing Chief Chaka and Mr. Mhazi standing in
Chavavarira cave. On the extreme right are ashes remained in the cave after the Church used the cave for
all-night prayer.

The JMCN Church did not only grab Chivavarira and Gonawapotera Chirumhanzu sacred

shrines. We noted that DomboraMwari in Epworth is another shrine the JMCN turned to

be their place of worship. Below is a discussion of another notable traditional sacred

shrine that was appropriated by the JMC churches called DomboraMwari Epworth in

Harare.

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This is one phenomenal place that continues to attack people of different faiths - the AICs

and the Shona traditionalists. DomboraMwari, literally God’s rock, is situated in Epworth

in Harare outside the residential area of Epworth. This rock is a 318 metre flat topped

rock and the largest physical feature in the area. Vambe (2008:69). In his book, The

hidden Dimensions of Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe (2008) perceived a

potential religious contestation besides the political Murambatsvina of 2005 one which

resulted in rendering many people from Epworth residences homeless (Vambe 2008).

For him the Christian faith predominantly of the white garmented churches compete to

control the place while the Shona traditionalists claim historically and culturally rightful

owners of the rock (Vambe 2008:69). The reason for this contestation is that historically

the rock was and continued to be a sacred shrine.

Mythical stories have been told about the rock and its surroundings. Firstly, it is believed

that on top of the Rock there is an incredible sight of a footprint indicating that somebody

walked across it before the molten lava set. If one imagined the temperatures of molten

lava as it was discharges out of an active volcano, then one would obviously infer the

footprint can only be God’s hence the name DomboraMwari. Accordingly, DomboraMwari

was formerly a traditional sacred place for the indigenes of Epworth (Gundani 2007:146).

Secondly, on the bottom of the rock there was a Musasa tree where people could be

served with Sadza and meat(Vambe 2008:69) Below is a portrait depicting Mapositori

praying at DomboraMwari (See Fig. 6.5 overleaf).

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This picture was taken by the researcher on 29 July 2016. It is showing the JMCN Harare branch
attending their Friday service at DomboraMwari, an African Traditional sacred shrine.

What is important to note is the repetition of Chivavarira religious contestation resurfacing

again in Epworth Harare. This denotes that the Chivavarira conflict was not an accident

of history but a welcome calculated JMCN theological move. They do not just convert a

profane space into a sacred venue; they revive the already declared sacred places by

other religions a typical example of a syncretic fundamentalist religious denomination.

However, today the numerous Apostolic Churches have forcefully grabbed the shrine for

their prayers.

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JMC Churches in Zimbabwe have not only taken over Chivavarira and DomboraMwari

sacred shrines but many more. These Masowe Churches also appropriated Mawanga

Mountain in Goromonzi district, Mashonaland East province for their religious purposes.

Mawanga Mountain is a renowned sacred shrine for the indigenes of Goromonzi district

from time immemorial. It is against this background people from different parts of

Zimbabwe come to this shrine for healing and deliverance from evil spirits (Kawadza

2015). This mountain which stretches from Chakabvapasi and Mushayapekuvaka

villages to Chinhamora on the northern boundary is now a religious icon for both Masowe

Churches and traditional healers. According to the Herald of 17 January 2015, on one

end of the mountain was a Johane Masowe Chishanu prophetess and on the other end

of the same mountain was Sekuru (Spirit Medium), both were drawing equal huge crowds

(Kawadza 2015). The prophetess, Madzimai Tabeth whose real name is Marjory

Charuma confessed that she was using the power that was coming from the sacred

mountain to heal the sick and exorcise demons (Kawadza: 2015).

Figure 6.6: Portrait of the Mawanga Mountain

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© University of Pretoria
In this photo sourced from the Herald of 17/01/2015 depicts the Mawanga Mountain where a big sacred
cave is being shared between a Traditional healer Sekuru Sibanda and A JMC Prophetess Madzimai
Tabeth for exorcism and healing powers. www.herald.co.zw/1-mountain-2-religions/

It is posited that the reviving of old sacred shrines in search for power by the JMCN

Churches replicates the ethos of the 1950s Black Ancestor Church of Malawi and the

Herero Protestant Church of Namibia. This study demonstrated that the above cited

churches redefined African traditional shrines and traditional African practices to inform

their church spiritualities. For instance, the Herero Protestant Church accommodated the

notion of the holy fire (Kandovazu 2009) which is an African traditional way of ancestor

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(Schoffeleers 2013).

This wave of inculturating traditional sacred places continued resulting in more newly

established AICs appropriating more traditional sacred places. What is noteworthy is the

continuous thriving of AICs to redefine traditional African sacred shrines into church

centres. In 2014 a new AIC was founded in Chitungwiza. According to the 20 May 2016

Kwaedza newspaper edition, a Church called The Power of the Holy Spirit Ministries

International (POTHS) or Deliverance Centre Church (DCC) whose Founder is Apostle

Farai Rukweza was founded in Chitungwiza’s Unit A (Mapupu 2016).

It was also found out that when people hear about a new Church being founded, what

quickly comes into their minds is a building or an open space (masowe). Surprisingly, in

Unit A in Chitungwiza, DCC Church members turned a traditional sacred cave into their

Church centre. The particular hill housing this cave is known from time past as a sacred

shrine for the indigenes of Seke Chitungwiza (Mapupu 2016). The cave was used for

religious ceremonies such as mapira emhuvura, rain making ceremonies, and mapira

ekutenga vadzimu nekuda kwegoho, harvest ceremonies. This cave contains paintings

of bushman images which are drawn on the walls of the rocks, wooden plates, clay pots

and spears. Apart from this hill being used as a sacred shrine for religious rituals, because

of its big cave at the centre, the Kwaedza newspaper crew reported that there are

numerous caves in this hill which are now burial shrines for Chiefs and religious leaders.

This study has noted that Unit A, Chitungwiza hill is similar in function to Chivavarira hill

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comfortable about sharing their sacred places with other religions hence a contestation

of the holy shrine. Apostle Rukweza was granted permission to transform the sacred

place into a Church by the indigenes of Chitungwiza. Below is the portrait of the entrance

into the traditional shrine turned into a Church by DCC.

Figure 6.7: Entrance into the cave, which was turned into a Church Centre

This photo taken by the Kwaedza crew on 20 May in 2015 depicts the entrance to the Unit A cave which
the DCC church turned into its centre. In the photo the one standing far right is the founder of the Church
Apostle Rukweza. <www.kwayedza.co.zw › NHAU DZEMUNO>

Apostle Farai Rukweza (33) the Founder of this Church in an interview by Kwaedza

newspaper, posited that his coming to this cave was a result of God speaking to him

through dreams many year ago, well before he became a Christian in 2008. He claimed

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(Mapupu 2016).

Apostle Rukweza told Kwaedza that he saw in a dream praying and healing many people

in this Hill. On the portrait above a chain has been used to demarcate the sacred pace

from profane space. Also, a sign in scripted ‘Last Bust stop’ is by the entrance into the

cave. Asked by the Kwaedza crew what was the significance of the signage ‘last Bus

stop’, Apostle Farai Rukweza responded that through entering into the sacred cave, all

problems are solved. The Kwaedza crew highlighted that there is also another sacred

pool in the hill believed by the Church members to be a curative pool. Tellingly, water

from this pool is drawn to heal all types of sicknesses and diseases. However, the

researcher did not get an opportunity to authenticate these claims.

Examination of the appropriation of traditional sacred places by AICs in Zimbabwe today

constitutes a new concept which this study termed ‘back to the beginnings’. The AICs’

understanding of traditional sacred places as meeting places with the divine is a dominant

feature in their theology and spirituality. There is a strong belief that Mwari anogara

muzvimbo dzaiyereswa nemadzitateguru edu, God is found in these sacred places and

not anywhere else. This is how JMCN among other revived the old sacred places for

Church services and rituals. Below we discussed the inculturated traditional sacred trees

by the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe.

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There are certain trees which were used for religious purposes in Zimbabwe from time

immemorial. For instance, trees like Muhacha (hissing tree), mukondekonde (candelabra

tree), and mutarara, (powder-bark gardenia). The above-mentioned trees are sacred

trees in African traditional religions. Muhacha is one of the trees that grows big and is

always green even during drought sessions. It has dark green leaves and egg-shaped

fruits. According to information gathered the tree’s dried leaves were used by traditional

healers to treat chikoshoro, terrible cough. A traditional healer will mix muhacha’s dried

leaves with hot water as tea leaves to give to their patients. It is common even to ordinary

community members that muhacha tree is a sacred tree. According to traditional

mythology the tree was also used as a luck charm to bring back lost lovers (Aschwanden

1989:69). If a girl whom you love has turned her back on you, you just need to go to a

muhacha tree and take a small stick, put in your pocket as you go to persuade her to

consider you as her lover again (Aschwanden 1989:70).

Therefore, it can be stated that both traditional healers and the Johane Masowe Churches

have high beliefs that muhacha tree is no ordinary tree. This is reinforced by the

customary rule that no one is allowed to cut down muhacha tree. According to the history

of Johane Masowe Chishanu, the Church started under the hissing tree in Mhondoro

Nevanji in the 1930s before it spread to other parts of the country (Tawona: 2015). This

was supported by what was gathered from interviews that Shonhiwa Masedza (Johane

Masowe) during one early Saturday morning led a group of people who followed him from

a traditional night ceremony into a bush and sat under a hissing tree (Andrea, Interview:

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song is the most common song among all Johane Masowe Chishanu Churches. The song

is commonly known as Hossana mukuru (long hosanna). Thus, from that incident Johane

Masowe Chishanu members believe that if they pray under a muhacha tree they will be

heard by God. This study observed that most of the Johane Masowe Chishanu Churches

believe that bad spirits are easily cast out under the hissing tree or by burning muhacha

leaves in their homes. Asking why Johane Masowe Chishanu Churches always want to

associated with such trees, Baba Emmanuel Mudarikwa, a prophet responded, “these

are the only trees that you find green throughout the year hence they provide a good

shade (Mudarikwa, Interview: 23/08/2014). Obviously, the trees provide good shade but

what about mukondekonde and mutarara trees? These trees do not provide shade but

still occupy a very significant position in the JMC Church spiritualities.

Mukondekonde is the other of the draught tolerant trees that remain green even during

very dry sessions. The Mukondekonde tree produces milk like juice which bird trappers

use to trap birds for relish. The juice which the tree produces from its trunk is ideal for

bird hunting as it sticks thereby trapping birds. Also, mythological, it is believed among

the Shona people that traditional healers use the mukondekonde juice to trap witches.

In an interview Tsitsi testified that mukondekonde is very central in the Church spirituality

because the tree does not wither and is drought tolerant symbolizing their spirituality

which is always giving life to the people (Tsitsi, Interview: 01/08/2014).

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6.6.1 Gonawapotera sacred pool

Water baptism is the initiatory religious rite for most Christian churches. The ritual is a

sign of commitment for new members. It is also a public declaration that one has joined

the new faith. Symbolically baptism depicts the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It

is against this background that we discuss the Christian practice of baptism from a JMCN

perspective, highlighting its significance and purpose. This study has highlighted that

since 2000 JMCN baptism was conducted at one central place along the Shashe River in

Chirumhanzu. The river is the borderline for Masvingo and Midlands provinces.

This river is central to this thesis because it is in this river that the sacred pool

Gonawapotera is situated. The pool is to the right side when crossing Shashe River

towards Beitbridge from Harare. According to Zvarevashe (1978:13), witches and thieves

used to be drowned in this pool as a death sentence in the 1890s. Unfortunately, many

lives perished in the sacred Gonawapotera pool (Zvarevashe, 1978:14). Traditionally, any

person who would be appointed to be the future king for the people of Chirumhanzu was

supposed to swim across the pool (Zvarevashe1978:14). The belief was that if the

prospective king has the divine a mandate, the water spirit, njuzu would protect them from

being devoured by crocodiles (Zvarevashe 1978:26). Therefore, what makes the pool

sacred is the belief held by the locals that water spirits inhabit in the pool (Chief Chaka:

2014).

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morning, but upon getting closer the pool, the clothes would mysteriously disappear into

the pool (Chief Chaka, Interview: 19/12/ 2014). Hence the pool remains sacred up to this

very day (April 2016) because of the water spirit which is believed to inhabit in the pool

(Chief Chaka, Interview: 19/12/2014). The custodians of African Traditional Religion

jealously guard the pool for their religious rituals. This is why Shoko (2008:61) observed

that in the traditional religious context, mythological pools inhabited by njuzu, the water

spirits, are viewed as sacred and associated with curative powers (Shoko,

2008:61).Water and stones from such sacred places where njuzu inhabits are taken as

muteuro (small rock pebbles used for healing and exorcisms) (Shoko, 2008:61). It is in

such a pool that Masowe yeNyenyedzi baptised its members from 2000 till this day (April

2016). We attended the Masowe yeNyenyedzi annual prayer meeting muteuro wegore in

Masvingo, where Madzimai Margret, a prophetess of about 45 years of age stood up to

give a word of prophecy. She told the members that water baptism will continue to be

held at Shashe in Gonawapotera as long as members continue to follow what the spirit

says (Margret: 2014).

The study demonstrated that Gonawapotera was chosen to be the baptismal pool

because it is believed to be inhabited by water spirits. We observed that JMCN is the only

Church among all the JMC Churches in Zimbabwe that exercises water baptism. Other

Johane Masowe members do what they call kugeza munyama, washing away bad luck

in the same pool (Melissa: 2016). For Melissa all members must go through the process

of being cleansed from bad luck. The member must dress up in white including the inner

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head narrated Melissa. However, for JMCN rubhabhatidzo rweNyenyedzi, the star

baptism is only conducted in African traditional sacred dams, rivers and pools. It is not by

coincidence that members are baptised in such sacred places. We have noted through

research that before they moved to Gonawapotera sacred pool, members were baptized

first at Nyatsime in Chitungwiza then Hokoyo Dam in Gokwe, all these are sacred places

for ATR and they will be discussed in greater details in the next section.

6.6.2 Nyatsime pool and Hokoyo dam

Nyatsime sacred pool is situated in Chitungwiza, 45 kilometres south east of the capital

city, Harare. Etymologically the term Nyatsime means the owner of the pool. This

suggests that the pool is not just an ordinary pool to the locals but one which belongs to

someone and this someone is none other than the water spirit. Since Nyatsime is a

traditional sacred pool no one is permitted to do laundry for soap is not allowed in such

sacred waters (Chief Mutema: 2014). In 2010 a young boy allegedly disappeared in

Nyatsime pool as he was playing with his friends. The residents of Chitungwiza with the

help of town council searched for the victim but in vain. It was after the consultation of

traditional leaders that the boy resurfaced on the waters of Nyatsime but was already

dead (Chief Mutema: 2014). It is in this pool that the JMCN Church baptised its first

members who had moved away from the original JMC Church. The first baptism took

place in 1997 soon after the death of Baba Sandros who had established the JMC branch

at Nyatsime (Engelke 2007:55).

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Hokoyo dam is situated in the Gokwe about 12km outside the town again in the Midlands

Province (Bulawayo 24News 2012).The common name for this dam is Gwehava dam but

because of some mysterious happenings Chief Nemangwe informant up-to-dated us that

the dam is nicknamed Hokoyo (Nemangwe, Interview: 23/10/2013. The term Hokoyo

literally means beware. This term, beware, is a warning denoting that some mysterious

happenings occur in the dam. According to key informant interviews, the dam was given

that name because many people had mysteriously disappeared in the dam. Unlike

Nyatsime and Gonawapotera, the residents of Gokwe are allowed to go fishing in this

dam, but certain taboos are to be followed. One such taboo is that one is not allowed to

go alone for fishing and that one is also not allowed to remain alone fishing while others

have gone home (Chief Nemangwe, Interview: 23/10/2013). These mysterious

happenings were also recorded by the Bulawayo News 24 that Gokwe township

continues to face serious water challenges despite the completion of the construction of

Gwehava Dam amid revelations that authorities are failing to draw water from the dam

owing to water spirits (Bulawayo 24News 2012). The News reported that the angry water

spirits which at times take the form of a large snake, block the pumping of water by either

causing electrical faults that damage the pumping system or would simply coil itself inside

the pipes.

It is in such dreadful dams that JMCN Church baptises its Church members. Madzimai

Mergury informed us that after the Nyatsime baptism of 1997 the JMCN Church

conducted its second baptismal ritual in Hokoyo/Gwehava dam in 1998 (Mergury,

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conducted in such dreadful dams and pools or rivers that are said to be the inhabitants of

water spirits, the response was that baptizing people in such places result in members

acquiring curative powers to heal and acquire protective powers to fight evil spirits

(Mergury, Interview: 25/10/2014). While it is important to inculturate the local cultures into

the Christian message this study is concerned with the influence of ATR in the JMCN

Church particularly on especially when it comes to their understanding of baptism being

only conducted in African traditional sacred places.

6.7 Inculturated African Traditional Rituals in JMCN Church spirituality

6.7.1 Burial Rituals, kuvigwa kwemupositori

This study posits that the JMCN Church’s death and burial rituals are deeply rooted in

African spirituality. Thus, the study found out that these rituals were guided by African

worldviews of life after death, the spiritual powers and mediatory role of the deceased.

However, it was noted that certain African traditional death rituals were discontinued.

These include, but are not limited to the killing of an animal during funeral gatherings

known in Shona as mombe yenheedzo (Benyera 2015). Throughout the funeral

gatherings mourners eat dried fish and vegetables. Apart from the discontinuation of the

ritual of animal killing this study observed rituals of mutual fecundation, which is a revival

of African traditional death and burial rites by the JMCN Church.

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to be accepted by God. During muteuro wegore members are taught that they should

pray that when death comes, it must not come to them through unnatural means such as

murder, car accident or long illnesses. According to their teaching, anyone who dies in

any of the above manners haana kufa rufu rwemupositori did not die appropriately.

Ostracisation is worse for Church members who commit suicide. Data gathered from key

informant interviews revealed that one who commits suicide is not accorded a Masowe

yeNyenyedzi burial ritual. For the JMCN certain rituals are done during post and after

burial. While other Johane Masowe weChishanu church members cannot be buried in a

coffin for JMCN Church it is not important whether one is buried with or without a coffin.

However, what is mandatory is the process called rukukwe rweMupositori.

Literally rukukwe is African traditional mattress made-up of reeds. However, for JMCN

rukukwe comprises of mahapa (water lilies), nhokwe and shanga (water reeds and

rushes). These three items are spread in the grave before the deceased is lowered into

the grave. This ritual is only performed only for members who have died rufu

rwemupositori, a natural death. Thus, if one committed suicide the above rituals will not

be followed. The sacred song Hosanna!! Hosanna again is not sung during burial. There

is no memorial service for someone who commits suicide. The Nyaradzo, memorial

service is very important because this is when the prophets inform the beloved members

of whether the deceased has gone to heaven or is still wandering. If he/she is still

wondering, certain rituals and prayers are done to plead Mutumwa Gaburona (Angel

Gabriel) the gate keeper to open the gate (Israel, Interview: 13/08/2016). The gate keeper

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Emanuweri or Nyenyedzi signalled Mutumwa Gaburona to do so. The idea behind this is

that, only the immediate dead members who hold higher position in church can negotiate

with Mutumwa Gaburona to open the gate of heaven. After these ritual prayers, members

are informed that the deceased had finally succeeded in joining the saints such as

Johane, Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi. Nyaradzo ceremony usually takes place 21 days

after the burial.

The concept of correct death is a borrowed phenomenon from African traditional religion.

According to Bourdillon, the person must have had a good death for him/her to be

accorded a proper burial ritual and ceremonies. By ‘good death’ Bourdillon is referring to

a death which is not caused by accident or suicide (Bourdillon 1987:209). Apart from

correct death, in ATR there are after burial rituals. Two key after-burial ritual are Masuka

foshoro or Nyaradzo and kurova guva. These rituals are done to qualify the deceased as

the family ancestor, thus bringing back the deceased’s spirit to look after the remaining

family (Benyera 2014). In JMCN nyaradzo ritual, can be undertaken from the time that

relatives are informed by the prophets that the person has gained zororo remweya

meaning he/she has gone to heaven. From then one becomes the mediator for his family

pleading with the madzidza to allow other family members to become members of Johane

Masowe. This is how even the three spiritual leaders of this Church Shonhiwa Masedza,

Mudyiwa Dzangara and Sandros Nhamoyebonde though all dead are still revered by

Church members.

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Marriage is understood by Africans as the meeting-point for three layers of human life,

the living dead, the living living and the living unborn (Mbiti 1991:104). The living dead

are the roots on which the living stand and the living are the link between the living and

the living dead and the living unborn are the for future generations hence marriage makes

it possible for them to germinate and sprout (Mbiti 1991). This is how the living dead are

involved by the Karanga in their traditional African Marriages ceremonies. For instances

during the paying of bride price, lobola, the money is placed in a wooden plate or a clay

pot, mbiya, to show respect for the ancestors, the living dead. Normally paying lobola is

contracted in a kitchen in rural areas. The kitchen, which is usually a thatched round hut,

is considered a sacred shrine for most Karanga people.

Traditional prayers are recited in the kitchen by the eldest family member while kneeling

barefoot at what is called chikuva. Chikuva is a place in the kitchen where water gourds

are kept. Apart from the kitchen possessing a place which constitutes a sacred shrine,

the kitchen also denotes authority for a married woman. It represents the core of the

maternal spirit among the Karanga people. In ATR maternal spirits are feared because

they are believed to cause more harm than paternal ancestors. This is evidenced by the

African concept of kutanda botso. Kutanda botso occurs when a person wrongs their

mother; the maternal spirits will cause that victim to suffer until a diviner is consulted and

appeasement rituals are carried out. The diviner will advise the victim to put on sack-

clothes and move around confessing that they wronged their mother. This exercise is

called kutanda botso. As a result, every African woman is honoured and given due

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price cattle due to the mother, more than anything on lobola form. Mombe yeumai is a

token of appreciation due to the mother of the bride before the two are pronounced

husband and wife. This mombe yeumai besides being a token of appreciation is also a

means of appeasing the maternal ancestors so that they bless their daughter so that her

marriage does not fail.

According to information gathered during research, if this cow dies before it gives birth,

the son in law will buy another cow to replace the dead one. After it has reproduced once

or twice, the cow is then slaughtered in another set of rituals called nyama yemakunguwo,

literally meaning meat for crows. Three families are invited (the son in law’s family; the

family of the in laws and the family where the mother in law was born) for a ritual called

nyama ye makunguwo. This ritual is called nyama ye makunguwo because when the cow

has been slaughtered meat is shared among the three families and a certain portion of

meat is left for crows to eat. This portion eaten by crows represents a meat offering to the

maternal ancestors.

For this Church mombe yeumai must be paid first before paying other forms of lobola

such as the father’s bride price known as rusambo. JMCN teaches that by failing to pay

this cow, one will be inviting barrenness or stillbirths in the family. Thus, members of the

Church are taught to pay mombe yeumai to avoid angering the maternal ancestors. This

study posits that the way this Church values mombe yeumai exhibits the high influence

of African spirituality informing the JMCN Church spirituality. For JMCN money cannot be

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of appreciation for the mother in law so much that the mother in law can be given the

money equivalency of a cow. This is not the case with the JMCN Church where a cow

must be bought and presented. It is on these bases that this study concludes that mombe

yeumai is no longer taken as a mere token of appreciation but a means of appeasing the

maternal ancestors among the JMCN Church as it is in Karanga traditional religion.

6.8 Inculturated traditional religious objects in JMCN Church spirituality

6.8.1 Objects at the religious holy place pakirawa

JMCN developed new semantics that are not found in any English, Shona, Ndebele or

any local language dictionaries. Kirawa is one of the most popular words in the JMCN

Church. It denotes a demarcated place pa Sowe were members of the Masowe

yeNyenyedzi gather for religious rituals (kushandirwa). There are certain objects and

certain plants that are found at a Kirawa. The place is marked by stones surrounding the

place. No one is allowed to walk into the Kirawa except through an open entrance which

is the only entrance to the place. Certain rituals are followed at the entrance such as that

one should kneel down, touch the forehead, chest, left and right shoulder (the crucifix

sign) prayerfully. This is followed by certain confessions before one enters in the kirawa.

This process in called kupinda pachikero (going through the scale). All prayers are offered

facing to the east (kumabvazuva). From the interviews held, it was found out that praying

while facing east has religious connotations. For them mercy and grace comes as the sun

rises from the east (kumabvazuva kunobva tsitsi nengoni). Religiously, facing to the east

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Prophetesses always face the western direction as they administered religious rituals

(kushandira). Similarly facing the west has a religious connotation. For Masowe

yeNyenyedzi, evils spirits come from the west (kumadokero). As the sun goes down evil

spirits are believed to take over and afflict people throughout the night hence prophets

faced that direction so that they could fight against these evil spirits (mweya ye

kumadokero).

Figure 6.8: Example of a kirawa

This picture depicts a typical kirawa. Traditional objects of worship such as clay pots, mbiya, are clearly
visible in the background.

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miteuro. These clay pots, mbiya, played a very significant role in defining Masowe

yeNyenyedzi spirituality. Mbiya is an African traditional household utensil used as either

a storage container for beer and other products such as animal blood used for traditional

religious ceremonies. Even on marriage ceremonies money for lobola is placed in the

clay pot or a wooden plate. Clay pots are found at kuchikuva, which is the equivalence of

where plates and pots are displayed in a typical rural Karanga kitchen. This place is an

axis mundi, where African prayers are offered at this revered area in a hut. During these

traditional rituals, family elders put traditional tobacco into a clay pot and kneels pachikuva

to offer prayers to their divine. Children are not allowed to sit on this sacred area in the

kitchen. In some the Karanga African communities, of Chirumhanzu, if a family member

dies, the corpse will be placed pachikuva over night before burial.

Likewise the JMCN members kneel before the clay pots as they offer prayers. Small

stones for religious rituals are kept in these clay pots. In Karanga traditional religious

rituals elderly people kneel before chikuva place where clay pots are displayed in the rural

kitchen. Even the dead body is laid near chikuva the whole night before burial. We argued

that kneeling before a clay pot for prayers by JMCN Church is a borrowed phenomena

from Karanga spirituality. During their prayers all members kneel facing east and those

with spiritual problems will be given small stones to use from mbiya. Again water for

prayers, muteuro, is also kept in these clay pots. From the interviews, these small stones

and water are taken from sacred rivers, nzizi dzinoera, pools such as Chinhoyi caves,

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(Nicholas, Interview: 23/08/2014).

Upon investigating the significance of mbiya Baba Nicholas noted that mbiya is significant

because it was used from historical times by Karanga ancestors for many functions such

as food storage. Thus, originally mbiya is an African household utensil which has been

incalturated by the Masowe Churches (Nicholas, Interview: 23/08/2014). He reiterated

that the Spirit admired our culture, our household utensils and our old way of worshipping

the divine (Mweya wakafaririra tsika dzevanhu vatema) (Nicholas, Interview: 23/08/2014).

Baba Andrew supported that view stating that from the day Johane Masowe founded the

Church, he started his ministry with mbiya and a rod under a muhacha tree in Mhondoro

(Andrew, Interview: 13/08/2015). Another important religious object used by JMCN

Church is a rod, tsvimbo.

6.8.2 Tsvimbo, the rod and related sacred paraphernalia

Another important object Masowe uses at the kirawa is the rod known in Shona as

tsvimbo. There are numerous types of religious paraphernalia which those presiding over

Masowe use for the different rituals. The study argues, for example, that these rods are

different depending on what the spirit instructed. For instance there are rods from a

traditional tree called wild gardenia, mutarara. Normally in African traditional religion, the

tree branches of mutarara are used to cover the grave immediately after burial. It is

believed by the Karanga that the branches of mutarara tree chases wades off witches

who would come to take away the dead body during the night. Therefore the study opines
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of driving away evil spirits among the members. Thus, the use of mutarara rod is a

borrowed phenomenon from African spirituality.

Another type of a rod the Johane Masowe uses is the one from a bamboo tree,

mushenjere. Again this rod is for specific individuals according to the directives of the

spirit. During certain church services, there will be as few as five members having the rod

among congregants numbering thousands. The bamboo tree rod is a special type of rod

that represents JMCN Church spirituality. Rules and regulations are to be adhered to in

order for one to continue having such a rod. The study observes that the rod itself is a

plant plucked from the river bands from a bamboo tree. From time immemorial, Africans

from my tribe were discouraged from using this bamboo tree for firewood or any other

household chores as the tree is regarded to be sacred. The belief behind this practice is

that such trees are associated with the water spirits. It is on such trees according to data

collected from key informant interviews that mysterious clothes will be hung and upon

one advancing towards the river the clothes mysteriously disappeared (Chief

Chaka,Interview: 19/12/ 2014). This study posits that Johane Masowe use this bamboo

rod as a point of contact with mysterious water spirits for curative powers. From the above,

he study concludes that, it is one of the main reason why the Masowe yeNyenyedzi

Church baptize their members in sacred dams and pools.

This study also observes that the majority of the Masowe yeNyenyedzi male members

carry the rod from a tree called mutema masanhu (no English name, botanical name

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to be a big tree that birds hide in from the elements. Ironically, the tree does not bear any

fruit yet provides a very good sanctuary from the elements. One key finding about the tree

is that dangerous snakes are not found in that shady tree which is unusual to other shady

trees. Only snakes like shanga nyoka can be found in such trees. These snakes are not

poisonous or harmful such as house snakes, shanga nyoka are found in and around the

tree. In the Karanga worldview, harmless, non poisonous snakes are not allowed to be

killed. These ‘protected’ snakes include shanga nyoka. The Karanga people of

Chirumhanzu believe that this snake represents one’s immediate ancestor. For the

Karanga people, ancestors are believed to take different forms as they communicate with

the living.

The study can conclude that the use of rods from such trees such as; mutema masanhu,

mutarara and the bamboo tree denotes an inculturation of African spiritual elements in

the JMCN church spirituality Zimbabwe. African spirituality as argued by Mbiti is found in

such trees. Apart from using such rods, all the JMC Churches uses mbiya for their

religious rituals as argued before. Thus, mbiya is very central in defining Masowe

spirituality. One informant noted that:

We use mbiya to disguise evil spirits so that the evil spirits think we

are together though we are against them. He said whenever evils

spirits sees mbiya they will leave us thinking we belong to them while

the opposite is true (Gift, Interview: 05/05/ 2014).

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of faith with mbiya, rods caved from sacred trees, stones and waters from sacred dams

and pools. Additionally, the Church preserved many of traditional African rituals such as

funeral rites and marriage. It was found out that it the Church found it reasonable to

inculturate Africans funeral rituals, sacred objects of worship like mbiya and cave religious

rods from sacred trees for their rituals to make Christianity an African religion.

Africanisation of Christianity is a defendable idea chiefly because Africans received a sore

Europeanised Christianity (Paris 1995:38). For Paris this is the only way Christianity can

become an African religion; hence Africans can give devotion to something that resonates

with their cultures. However, this process of Africanisation of Christianity does not imply

the absence of the reverse, that is, the ‘Christianization’ of African religions (Paris

1995:38). It is against this view that it was concluded that indeed there was the

inculturation of African Spiritual elements in the JMCN Church spirituality. The JMCN

Christianised African religions in their process of trying to Africanize Christianity. The

adjudication of the authenticity of JMCN spirituality will not be attempted in this research.

The rationale is that Christian spirituality judgments must be elaborated on and not solely

be viewed as deductive and prescriptive. Considering the symbols in the JMCN it can be

argued that JMCN is an authentic Christian Church, presenting authentic Christian

spirituality. Below is the discussion of the JMCN Church symbols.

6.9 Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church symbols

This section explores the key JMCN Church symbols namely the cross and the star.

These two are central symbols in the church’s spirituality. What is interesting to note is

that the Cross and the Star as religious symbols were never used to represent one religion

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to represent that religion. Surprisingly JMCN put them together to represent their Church

spirituality.

6.9.1 The Cross

The symbol of the cross was widely accepted by almost all Christian denominations. This

study observes that all the Johane Masowe weChishanu Churches have images of the

cross on their sacred clothes and Church flags. We argue in this study that JMCN is

identified among AICs because of these cross images which are central to the Church

spirituality. The cross is seen on members’ uniforms particularly those who operate in the

prophetic offices known as vabati vomweya. Besides these cross images, the JMCN

Church draw a cross sign at the beginning and at the ending of each prayer session

ritualizing the beginning and ending of each ceremony. Some Johane Masowe

weChishanu Churches went further to make wooden carvings and designs form of small

crosses representing the crucifixion, like the Roman Catholics have rosaries. These small

crosses are put at their door posts and even under their pillows during bed time.

However, though the cross images are prevalent in this Church, we learnt that JMCN

does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church also does not

believe that Jesus died a vicarious death. For them Jesus was killed by white people

from overseas. So the cross in the JMCN saves just as a remembrance for the suffering

and work of their three spiritual leaders Johane, Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi. The cross

sign and images were borrowed from the Roman Catholic but representing different
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have cross images, imitating the cross sign of the Roman Catholics, they congregate on

the Fridays, the day supposedly to be the day Christ was crucified; hence, it qualifies to

be designated as authentic Christian Church. They even commence church services from

Thursday around 3pm till Sunday 3pm which serves as a memorial service for Jesus who

was killed (Duson, Interview: 04/04/ 2014).

According to the data gathered it was found that the JMCN Church members do not bathe

from 3pm on Thursday to Sunday. They do not apply deodorant, perfume or any other

fragrant oils. They also do not eat meat during these days known as kubatidza amai Maria

kuchema Mwanakomana that is, helping the mother of Jesus to mourn her son who was

killed overseas. This will suggest that JMCN Church of Chirumhanzu borrowed the use

of the cross from the Roman Catholic though the Catholics are not known of not bathing

from Thursday but some Roman Catholics members do not eat meat on Fridays.

Figure 6.9: A portrait of the JMC church service in UK

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© University of Pretoria
In the picture above, Church members are seen singing Hossana Hossana with a white cloth spread before them.
Three crosses stand in the picture represent mitumbi mitatu, Johane at the centre, Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi on either
side. Again, there is mbiya a symbol of their spirituality. Sometimes the clay bowl contains water or small stones.
https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiTpre18O
HRAhVFSRoKHc2XAT8QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Frelzim.org%2Fmajor-religions-zimbabwe%2Fafrican-
indigenous%2F&psig=AFQjCNHFcxVS2mAxlecSBfxhDUDxeFTisA&ust=1485591132092201

The cross symbol dominates the JMCN Church spirituality. However, the combination of

the cross and clay pot, mbiya typifies syncretic movement hence the notion of undoubted

New Religious syncretic movement. New Religious Syncretic Movements are Churches

that advocate double standards. These churches are neither here nor there, they use the

cross but denying the Christian significance of the cross. They make wooden crosses

from African Traditional sacred tress such as mutarara.

6.9.2 The Star

Apart from the cross, Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi Church displays the

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shrines. These flags play a very significant role for JMCN Church spirituality as they act

as their spiritual antennas for connecting to the religious signal. The flags are hoisted high

above all objects around the place so as to receive the spiritual signals. More importantly

flags serve as a trademark for the church since Masowe churches are many and follow

different doctrines. Therefore, the star symbol on the flag is a primary identifier to the

people that this is the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi, inotungamirirwa

neNyenyedzi, John of the wilderness that is led by the star Church. It is very possible to

find more than 10 small groups of white garmented Churches in one open space. These

small white garmented groups represent different JMC Churches. The star on their regalia

and church flags distinguishes the JMCN from other JMC churches.

The star also represents the angel that guides the church, Mutumwa Nyenyedzi who

leads JMCN Church wherever the Church is. It has been noted through this study that

almost all the apostolic sects subscribe to certain a Mutumwa angel. Some believe in

Mutumwa Maikoro, Angel Michael and some in Mutumwa Eria and Angel Elijah. However,

in the JMCN, three Angelic beings are mentioned all the time. These are Mutumwa

Nyenyedzi, Mutumwa Gaburona and Mutumwa Edah (an explanation will be given later).

We noted that Mutumwa Nyenyedzi is the Archangel for this church. Therefore each year

there is a conference, musangano weNyenyedzi mandatory for all JMCN members.

Members from Botswana, Burundi, South Africa and other African countries gather

together during the month of August to attend this conference in Mkoba 19, Gweru in the

Midlands province. Key informants noted that the conference was special because it was

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Nyenyedzi.

One can also note that this is the first time Star is used in a Christian denomination. We

used to know that a star and a crescent are found in the Islamic religion. Surprisingly the

star and crescent are also found in the JMCN Church. This becomes confusing whether

the church borrowed this from Islamic faith or African traditional beliefs since the church

does not read the Bible. In the Karanga traditional Religious beliefs a star and crescent

are central religious symbols. A crescent is a half moon and in the Karanga religious

beliefs when the moon is half-size it means something good is coming and usually when

you see a star moving very fast if you are not married your life partner will come from the

direction the star goes. From interviews the star represents an angel of the church. We

have also noted that the JMCN Church have many other central angels that constitute

their spirituality.

One of these is Mutumwa Maikoro, the Archangel Michael who is considered to be God’s

angel of war. This angel operates through selected and very few prophets within the

Church hierarchy. During their religious rituals like muteuro wegore or Jorodhani pana

Shashe (Jordan at Shashe), one prophet leads the congregation and this must be a

prophet guided by Mutumwa Maikoro who is also the Angel of revenge and death. All

members of this Church were reported to be afraid of this person who they believe to be

overshadowed by Mutumwa Maikoro. This person is always identifiable by wearing a red

garment while everyone else wear white garment during such ceremonies.

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during musangano we gore, “Tichifamba naEdah, guided by Edah. Edah is the rod which

was handed down to the Church leaders from Baba Sandros Nhamoyebonde. This

suggests that although Sandros died and was buried in July 1994, he left a rod that leads

the JMCN Church members. The rod is used during water baptism ceremonies, for

deliverance during muteuro we gore and the rod is also used to count people during

kuverenga neNyenyedzi. This rod is like a magnate that when the prophet points it at a

member in the queue, the prophet can detect whether the person is afflicted with demons

or not. This rod is therefore central in the church’s spirituality as it is efficacious in

administration of key church functions such as healing of the afflicted.

During Muteuro wegore which was held in Masvingo Mucheke in 2014, many congregants

fell down after being pointed at by this rod while standing in a queue. However, another

informant said Edah is an Angel sent by God to Africans, like Jesus Christ was an Angel

sent to whites (Edzayi, Interview: 18/10/2014).Though it was not clear who Edah was, it

can be concluded that Edah is the sacred rod that was handed down to the JMCN by

Baba Sandros Nhamoyebonde to be used for religious rituals. It resonates with other

narratives where a rod was handed down to the future generation from the founders of

AICs. In Zimbabwe we know of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) with svimbo yaSamueri

Mutendi. Stories are told that Bishop Dr Nehemiah Mutendi the son to late Samuel

Mutendi is using the rod that his Father used for religious purposes. Thus, below is a

portrait of the late Sandros holding the rod supposedly referred to as Mutumwa Edah.

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This picture was taken from the memorial programme of events which is held in July every year to remember
this great Father of faith in the JMCN Church. Every July the Church hosts a memorial service at Sandros
grave in Seke Chitungwiza cemetery. The picture above depicts Sandros Cryson Nhamoyebonde carrying
the sacred rod (supposedly Mutumwa Edah) for the JMCN Church today. Even though this great leader
has departed His rod remains with the Church. The rod is used during muteuro wegore to cast out demons
and during Jorodhani pana Shashe. The rod is always in front of their Church possessions especially on
Joridhani pana Shashe.

This study observes that this rod continued to be a sacred rod from the time of Sandros

throughout to this generation in the JMCN Church. The same rod is used during national

gatherings such as annual prayer, the star census conference, water Baptism at Shashe

and lastly at the Rupawo rweNyenyedzi conference.

The following paragraphs deal with the religious commemorations in the JMCN Church.

These are discussed because they constitute the centrality of any spirituality. Spirituality

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spirituality is also celebrated in songs, rituals and symbols that show the energising spirit

animating the community to move together in response to God (Constable 2003:10).

6.10 JMCN Religious Commemorations

Memory and remembering is a key concept in almost all religions. Mbiti posits that a

repeated word or action is powerful since it is spoken in a dramatic fashion and repeatedly

(Mbiti 1991:131). We argue that the act of memorising certain passages of scriptures,

doctrines and teachings is at the centre of any religion. Jesus taught his disciples to

repeatedly re-enact the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him (1Corinthians 11:24).

Thus, this study discusses the celebrations in the JMCN Church. The reason for

discussing these celebrations is to understand what is at the centre of their celebrations.

The analysis is guided by Jesus’ command that Christians should always commemorate

HIS, death, burial and resurrection. This study posits that Christian spirituality can be

called Christ spirituality because there is no Christ (ian) spirituality without Jesus Christ.

Following are the key JMCN celebration this study selected to discuss:

1 Muteuro we gore, annual prayer

2 Musangano we gore, annual conference

3 Pasika, Easter Conference.

6.10.1 Muteuro wegore, annual prayer

The JMCN Church holds five annual celebrations and these are:

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2. Easter conference following the Gregorian calendar,

3. Annual Conference held in August,

4. Water Baptism Conference in every October and

5. Seal of the star conference held every December.

Thus, Muteuro wegore is a common conference in most JMC Churches. What differed

were the ways in which these celebrations were done. For the JMCN Church the Annual

prayer is very important. The other name for this muteuro wegore is Musangano weku

pitsikwa kwemadzidza/ no proper English translation but could mean-final release from

Evil spirit).The meaning of kupitsikwa kwemadzidza, is held during the annual prayer and

is a conference to convince the ancestors, madzidza to allow its family members to

constantly, faithfully subscribe to JMCN spirituality (Amos, Interview: 17/05/2014). Baba

Amos argued that as long as one is not permitted to follow this new faith by his/her

ancestral spirits, the person will certainly not continue in the new faith (Amos, Interview:

17/05/2014). It was noted that the highest selling point for this Church is by first instilling

fear into the people then convert them to be their Church members from henceforth they

will be beholden. Many people in this Church are afraid of mweya ye kumadokero, mweya

ye madzidza, spirits of the dead and goblins. A key informant stated confidentially during

muteruro wegore that:

kana madzidza asina kukutendera kuti uroore unongoona musikana

anga abvuma zvakana naka ave kuti haachadi (unless ancestral spirits

permitted you to marry, promising love relationships just fades).

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promotion unless their ancestral spirits desire it to happen. Accordingly, during muteruro

wegore commemorations vabati veMweya will persuade family members’ ancestors to

allow the said member to get married those who want to get married, get job promotions,

and job-seekers to get jobs. During these negotiations between the living and the living

dead some congregants were informed by the prophets to go and make peace with their

parents and in laws before any spiritual intercessions could be undertaken on their behalf.

Some congregants were asked to go and appease their angry ancestors so that they

could be delivered and get married, get jobs and be promoted. An analysis of the annual

prayer revealed that the mediatorship of Jesus Christ was demeaned as Prophets

negotiated with family ancestors. We argue that this process of persuading the family

ancestors for the promotion and well-being of its members seems to be deviating from

traditional Christian doctrine on salvation through Jesus Christ.

6.10.2 Easter commemorations in the JMCN church

Easter commemorations became a worldwide event within the Christian liturgical

calendar. The purpose of this commemoration is to remember the passion, death, burial,

and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Messages on the passion, death, burial and resurrection

of Jesus Christ are energetically proclaimed throughout the holy week which usually

begins on Holy Thursday ending on a resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday). Some

churches dramatise the events that led to the death of Jesus Christ and how he was

crucified on the cross. Apparently, the purpose of this ritual of the re-enactment is to

capture the minds of the congregants on how their saviour suffered and eventually died
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services will end with a celebration of Holy Communion.

However, while other Christian denominations commemorate the death, burial and

resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter, we have noted that the JMCN Church, celebrate

‘Easter’ with a difference. For them ‘Easter’ is the time to remember the ‘Fathers of Faith’,

i.e. the messianic leaders whom God raised to give leadership and guidance to the

church. Every Easter, the JMCN Church commemorates deliverance from evil spirits

which was made possible through the charismatic leadership of Shonhiwa Masedza

(Johane) (founder of the original ‘Church’, Mudyiwa Dzangara (Emanuweri), second from

Johane and Sandros Nhamoyebonde (Nyenyedzi), third from Johane. This

commemoration is commonly referred to in their semantics as tsoro yaJohane, literally a

three tier game which is played in turns. Hence for them Johane came to introduce the

religion, then followed by Emanuweri and lastly by Sandros hence the notion of tsoro

yaJohane.

This study observed that though this church commemorates Easter, the passion death,

burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ was removed from the centre of the event and

replaced by Johane, Emanuweri and Sandros. The main purpose and significance of

Easter commemorations has been overshadowed, inviting more questions regarding the

authenticity of the church’s Christian spirituality. We argue throughout this study that

JMCN Church spirituality seems to have deviated from the central Christian spiritual

tenets in many ways. We thus posit here that the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi

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reason is based on the fact that the commemoration of salvation that came through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christus victor which was replaced by remembering of the

work done by Johane, Emanuweri and Sandros during Easter commemoration. For the

church tsoro yaJohane is ‘the’ gospel. We have also noted that every Friday tsoro

yaJohane or nhoroondo ya Johane, the history of the Church is the main sermon that they

preach. After nhoroondo ya Johane, the JMCN Church have what they term tsanangudzo

dzeMweya, prophecy. These two tsoro ya Johane and tsanangudzo together with Gumi

remitemo, Miko ne murairo form the theology of the JMCN Church.

It is against this strong emphasis in the JMCN Church doctrine that Baba Gift in an

interview spoke boldly that JMCN Church members are not Christians but simply

followers of Johane Masowe/tiri vadzidzi va Johane (Gift, Interview: 05/05/2014). He adds

“Christianity is a religion for whites, we follow the teaching of Baba Johane hence we are

his disciples (Gift, Interview: 05/05/2014). This was supported by Baba Tawona in his

defence of the religion of the Vapositori in an online article “Johane Masowe Way of

Worshipping and Life: The Truth versus Myths and Lies” (Tawona 2015b). In that article

Madzibaba Tawona said, “I mentioned before that we, of Johane Masowe yeChishanu,

are not Christians”(Tawona 2015b).

6.10.3 Annual Conference, Musangano Wegore

The last conference discussed in this study is the Annual Conference, Musangano we

gore. This conference is held in the month of August annually. The main purpose of this
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every country attend this conference. The conference venue changes from one place to

the other and from one country to the other. In 2014 this conference was held in Mkoba

19, Gweru, in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. This conference is sometimes referred

to as musangano wekuverengwa ne Nyenyedzi, the star census conference. Members of

this Church believe that Mutumwa Nyenyedzi should always take a routine count of true

members of JMCN who have followed the doctrine genuinely throughout each year. Thus

gumi remitemo and miko nemirairo, Ten Commandments and rules and regulations are

the key elements of their spirituality. Anyone who had disobeyed one of the laws cannot

be counted by Mutumwa Nyenyedzi.

Much time is devoted to confession of sins from Friday and Saturday while congregants

wait for the counting process to commence on Sunday morning. Members will be in two

long queues one for men and the other one from ladies. Unlike other conferences, the

International leader Baba Antony normally presides over the counting process. The JMCN

sacred rod, Mutumwa Edah is used to count members in the queues. Something to note

is the presence of Baba Antony (International leader) at this conference. We could not

have access to interview him because he was surrounded by his subordinates and was

virtually inaccessible. His presence shows the magnitude of this conference in the JMCN

Church. Baba Antony is now staying in Botswana where he exercises a tent-making

ministry.

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to be held sometime in December after Jorodhani pana Shashe. The seal of the star form

what we gathered through interviews is the time members of the JMCN are given a mark

to show that they are true members of JMCN Church. Upon enquiring the type of a mark,

and where the mark is inserted on members, the response was that, the seal was spiritual

and not physical.

Again this study posits that the role of Jesus Christ for salvation of humanity has no place

in the JMCN Church. Mutumwa Nyenyedzi is at the centre of these celebrations. We

observe that throughout these celebrations, the JMCN do not celebrate the Lord Supper,

Holy Communion and Jesus Christ message is not preached. The emphasis is on

following the Gumi remitemo miko ne mirariro and Rule and Regulations.

6.11 Summary of the Chapter

In this chapter we offered some inculturated African spiritual elements. A special focus

was paid to the JMCN’s sacred places, rituals, objects, symbols and celebrations. These

elements were discussed to respond to the main research question: To what extent

should AICs inculturate African spiritual elements to shape their Church spirituality in a

bid to have African Christian spirituality without obfuscating the central Christian spiritual

tenets? Hence, in summary this research which is based on participant observation and

interviews brings to the fore the following observations, uncertainties and contests.

First, the JMCN Church has appropriated the central African traditional shrines of the

Chirumhanzu indigenes i.e. Chivavarira hill. This is a concern because the locals are not
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Chivavarira by the indigenes of Chirumhanzu was work in progress (April 2015). Also a

critical concern in African Christian spirituality is: Should Christian Churches go to African

traditional sacred mountains and hills in pursuit of spiritual powers? Second, the JMCN

church gravitated more towards African tradition religion by initiating their new church

members into sacred pools such as Nyatsime, Gonawapotera and Hokoyo in the name

of baptism. Arguably, these cited examples of pools, dams and rivers are believed by

locals to be sacred because they supposedly inhabitants of water spirits. Baptising

Church members in such places in quest for curative powers from water spirits is a course

of concern.

Third, while the JMCN celebrate Easter, they do not believe that Jesus Christ died for

human sins. According to the JMCN, Jesus was just killed by white people from overseas.

Their ritual gathering during Easter is just to help the mother of Jesus to mourn her son

who was killed by whites and Jews. We observe that JMCN Church also do not believe

in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rather after whites killed Jesus, God took the

spirit which was operating in Jesus and put it in Shonhiwa Masedza first then into

Mudyiwa Dzangara, secondly and lastly into Sandros Nhamoyebonde for the salvation of

black Africans. For them God could not have sent a white person (Jesus) to give salvation

to blacks.

Fourth, the Karanga people of Chirumhanzu use clay pots for religious ritual. They revere

the Muhacha tree as sacred place. So this study posits that JMCN’s use of such objects

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Fifth, the JMCN Church believe that their Church is led and guided by three Angels,

Mutumwa Nyenyedzi, Mutumwa Gaburona and Mutumwa Edah. However the fourth

angel is the angel for war, thus Mutumwa Maikoro. This theology of African Angels leading

the Church is contestable terrain in Christian spirituality for it seems to have substituted

mediatorship and Lordship of Jesus Christ over His church. The challenges raised in this

study are: How to rebrand Christianity in African cultures without clouding and dropping

the essential Christian spiritual elements? Is there any room in Christian theology for

Christians to persuade their family ancestors to allow members to become true Christians,

and how should it be done? With these questions raised, the following chapter gives the

concluding remarks of this research study based on the findings: Is JMCN Church

spirituality Christian or not.

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CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

7.1 Introduction

This chapter is the climax of the study. It is organized in three sections which look at the

following areas: conclusions of the study, study contribution and areas of further study.

The research study analysed the extent of the inculturation of African spiritual elements

in the JMCN Church in Zimbabwe. This was accomplished by answering the following

research questions:

1. To what extent have the JMCN Church of Chirumhanzu inculutrated African

spiritual elements of faith?

2. How valid is the assertion that JMCN Church spirituality has deviated from

authentic Christian spirituality?

3. What are the setbacks of Africanisation of Christianity with some AICs

Christianising African Traditional Religions in Zimbabwe?

7.2 Conclusions

This section presents the study conclusions. The format of the section follows that of the

study objectives. The first conclusion is on the inculturation of African elements by the

JMCN Church.

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This study found out that there were five basic elements that defined African spirituality

which are:

1. Veneration of ancestors

2. Rituals in sacred shrines

3. Use of ritual objects in worship

4. Strong belief in the world of spirits

5. Strong belief in mystical powers.

This research has shown that out of five Karanga pre-Christian spiritual elements of faith,

JMCN inculturated four basic Karanga spiritual elements of faith. The evidence for this

conclusion is based on the following beliefs and practices of the JMCN Church in

Zimbabwe. First, we have noted that the JMCN Church sacred places are those

renowned African traditional sacred shrines. Examples cited in this study are the

Chivavarira hill, the DomboraMwari rock in the Epworth Harare suburbs and the Mawanga

mountain of Goromonzi Chinamhora District all in Zimbabwe. Praying in these sacred

places is not an accident of history but it is done in search of the intervention of the sacred

powers that are associated with these places.

Second, JMCN Church initiates its new church members in sacred traditional pools such

as Nyatsime and Gonawapotera. It has been shown in this study that the cited pools are

revered by the locals because they believe that such pools were residence of water spirits,

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the waters equipped with curative powers. Basing on that belief the JMCN initiated its

members in such dreadful pools.

Third, the church uses sacred traditional objects of faith such as mbiya, makate, wooden

rods caved from sacred trees like mutema masanhu, mutowa, and mutarara. The use of

these objects proved that the church spirituality is heavily engrained in African spirituality.

Fourthly, JMCN’s emphases on paying of Mombe yeumai in particular is an indication

that its spirituality is heavily steeped in African Karanga worldviews. Mombe yeumai in

particular is paid to appease the maternal spirits which are feared by most traditional

Shona people of Zimbabwe. Maternal spirits unlike paternal spirits can cause untold

suffering in a newly married couple. It can cause stillbirths and other misfortunes in

marriage. It is against this background that the JMCN emphasis on mombe yeumai on

their marriage rituals.

Fifthly, it was also found out that the JMCN Church follow traditional African burial rituals

for example in what they call rukukwe rwemupositori, using mahapa, nhokwe ne tsanga.

It is on these grounds that JMCN is classified in this study as a disputed African

Indigenous Church.

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Christian spirituality

There are five central doctrine/ elements that characterized authentic Christian spirituality.

These are:

1 Christology

2 Bibliology

3 Trinity

4 Soteriology

5 Eschatology

The JMCN Church observed none of the five central Christian theological/spiritual

elements listed above. In lieu of these it was discovered that JMCN developed an

alternative set of spiritual elements which were borrowed wholesomely from African

Traditional Religions. The following JMCN Church spiritual elements were studied and

found out that the Church removed the central universal Christian spiritual tenets with

certain pre-Christian beliefs and practices.

First, JMCN replaced the mediatorship of Jesus Christ with its own Church Fathers

Johane, Emanuweri and Nyenyedzi. The reason for doing this was that Jesus Christ does

not qualify to mediate black Africans to God since he (Jesus Christ) was a white man from

overseas. For them logically only black Church leaders whom God sent for black Africans

have the capacity to mediate for black African Masowe Church members.

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This removal of the Bible by the Church posited that the Church presents a non-biblical

spirituality. This becomes an important issue because Christian spirituality is a bible-

based spirituality. As we have Islamic spirituality from sacred scripture the Holy Quran,

the Bible is a key source for authentic Christian spirituality without which the Church

presents a questionable spirituality.

Third, JMCN Church presented a strange Trinitarian doctrine. In their Trinity there is God

the Father, three Church Fathers and the Holy Spirit. Thus their Trinity has been distorted

by their doctrine called tsoro yaJohane. Tsoro yaJohane is a teaching that states that

salvation for Africans was made possible by the salfivic work done by Johane Masowe,

Emanuweri Mudyiwa and Sandros Nyenyedzi. Salvation was made possible only through

mitumbi mitatu (three sacred Holy Fathers).

In this study JMCN Church spirituality has been presented as a questionable Church

spirituality because the Church does not believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ to

judge the world. While other Christians believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ/

parousia, JMCN does not teach or believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is

so because they do not even believe that Jesus Christ came once to save human beings

hence they cannot believe in his second coming.

226

deviates from universally accepted Christian spirituality. This happens to the extent that

JMCN spirituality is closer to African Traditional Religion than to Christianity. Below are

general responses given during interviews showing that the Church deviated from being

an authentic Christian Church to another syncretic religious denomination in Zimbabwe:

Table 4: General overviews of JMCN insider’s Responses during Interviews

Interviewee Response Date Position

Gift,. M. We are not Christians, tiri vadzidzi vaJohane; we 05/05/2014 Member

are followers of Johane Masowe.

Moris,. M. Christians follow the teachings of Jesus from the 13/12/2013 Member
Bible, but we follow what the Spirit said to us
through Baba Johane.
Givemore,. K. Jesus Christ was sent by God to people of Public Relations
oversees, mhiri yegungwa and not to Africans. 17/10/2014 Officer in JMCN
Amos,. M. Jesus Christ had his disciples, but Johane Masowe Public Relations
has also us as his disciples. 17/05/2014 Officer in the
JMCN
Marjory,. S. Christians go to Church, we don’t go to Church we Prophetess in
go to the wilderness, kumasowe. 13/08/2015 the JMCN

Melissa,. G. I know that Jesus was sent by God to the whites, University
but they killed him. This is the reason why mweya 13/08/2013 Student,
akati tisabate musoro varungu, we don’t trust Member of
whites, we don’t convert a white person. JMC.

Israel,. M. Christians re-enact the suffering, and subsequent Church Member

death of Jesus Christ through a ritual of Holy 13/08/2015
Communion but we do not do Holy communion.

Gilbert,. C. At first God wanted to serve the white community 15/05/2013 Church leader in
by sending Jesus Christ and John the Baptist to Bulawayo
them, Now is the time for black Africans to be
served hence God sent Johane, Emanuweri and
Nyenyedzi.

227

The Africanisation of Christianity is not a new concept. It is one that was developed in

order to render the Church in Africa more appealing to indigenous Africans. However,

JMCN ended up appropriating most if not all of its central spiritual and worship practices

from African Traditional Religion. This accommodation of African spiritual elements was

substantial to the extent that instead of the orthodox Africanisation of Christianity, what

we found was the opposite - the Christianisation of African Traditional beliefs and

practices.

7.3 Study Contributions

The study set out to determine the extent to which JMCN inculturated African spiritual

elements of faith to shape its Church spirituality in Zimbabwe. The major contribution

made by the study was the documentation of the theology and spirituality of JMCN Church

in Zimbabwe. Apart from documentation of the theology and spirituality of the JMCN

Church, this study was also set out to discuss the criteria for evaluating authentic from

non authentic Church spiritualities in an environment where almost everyday a new AIC

is emerging in Zimbabwe.The criteria though not water-tight presented in this study was

that- ‘an Church that does not take Jesus Christ and the Bible as normatives for its

spirituality is presenting a questionable Church spirituality’. This was a grey area that

needed some exploration particularly in the Zimbabwean religious landscape which this

study did.

228

There are various areas that still need to be explored. This study only analysed the

inculturated African spiritual elements by JMCN Church and left out other aspects that

still deserve to be explored. These include but are not limited to the following: Church

governance in the JMCN Church; the causes of the numerous breakaways in these

Churches. We only looked at the inculturated African spiritual elements in the JMCN;

other scholars can also look at the same topic but in other various Johane Masowe

Churches as this study as shown that Johane Masowe weChishanu is not a homogenous

Church but has numerous Church denominations using the same designation.

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6. Baba Godfrey, S., 55years, Vasadare (leader) in Masowe yeNyenyedzi Church (15
May 2014, Annual Prayer Mucheke, Masvingo.
7. Baba Moris, M., 31 years, Masowe yeNyenyedzi member, 13 Decembers 2013,
Gweru Midlands.
8. Baba Nicholas., 39 years, a member of Johane Masowe Chishanu Church 23 August
2014
9. Baba Tobias, Z., 61years, a member of Johane Masowe Chishanu Church, 17 may
2014, Mucheke, Masvingo.
10. Chaka, J., 65 years, Chief in Chirumhanzu District, 19 December 2014,
Chirumhanzu, Midlands.
11. Chaka, M., 50 years, Chief’s Wife, 19 December 2014, Chief’s residence
Chirumhanzu, Midlands.
12. Chief Seke Mutema, 78 years, 22 December 2014, Seke Village, Chitungwiza.
13. Chief Nemangwe, M., 77 years, 25 January 2013, Nembudzia, Chinhoyi
14. Mudarikwa, M. 50 years, a Prophet in the Johane Masowe Chishanu Church, 23
August 2014, Mkoba, Gweru.
15. Goredema, S., 62year, Vasadare(Leader) in the JMCN 14 December 2013, Madeira
Mine, Mashonaland Central Province.

246

© University of Pretoria
16. Painos, J., 46 years, a member of Johane Masowe Chishanu Church, 23 August
2014, Mkoba, Gweru.
17. Melissa, G 29 years, a member of Johane Masowe, a University Student at
Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, (ZEGU), 12 November 2014, Bindura,
Mashonaland North Province
18. Madziva, S., 45 years, Prophetess in Masowe yeNyenyedzi Church, 25 October
2014, Chirumhanzu, Midlands.
19. Tsitsi, M., 38years, a Prophetess in Masowe yeNyenyedzi, 1 August 2014, Mkoba,
Gweru.
20. Margaret, S., 36years, Prophetess in JMCN Church, 17 May 2014, Mucheke,
Masvingo.
21. Roswense, J., 35 years, a member of Johane Masowe Chishanu Church, 04 April
2015, Lower Gweru.

247

1. Who was Johane Masowe?

2. What are the differences between Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi and

other Johane Masowe Chishanu Churches in Zimbabwe?

3. Can you explain in how the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church split

from the original Johane Masowe Chishanu?

4. Why did you to join this Church?

5. Are there central sacred places for the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi

besides just praying at an open space?

6. What source(s) of scripture do Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi use?

7. Is there a difference between the works that Johane Masowe did to Africans

with the work Jesus Christ did overseas?

8. Can you explain the concept of tsoro yaJohane (central teaching of the Church)?

9. Why is the pool Gonawapotera and Chivavarira hill attracting both AICs and the

Indigenes of Chirumhanzu?

10. In your opinion can the Johane Masowe weChishanu yeNyenyedzi qualify to be

called a Christian Church or just a fundamentalist of Johane Masowe movement?

11. What is your comment on the Masowe Churches being accused of using the

power from water spirits, njuzu for deliverance and healing of the church

members?

248

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