The Tent-Maker, Bishop Jakazi (Part 2)

30 Dec, 2016 - 00:12 0 Views
The Tent-Maker, Bishop Jakazi (Part 2)

The ManicaPost

(continued from last week)
Morris Mtisi Post Correspondent —

“Bishop why have churches stooped so low as to underestimate the minds and intelligence of their ordinary members? Some pastors are now selling ‘anointed’ maize cobs at S10 each, anointed pens for students to ‘pass’ examinations without reading, anointed bangles to protect and bless their bearers. What items are not anointed today in these churches? Big business, isn’t it bishop?

Yes the question is long but unequivocal.
Then the bishop opens his mouth to answer. “Mr Mtisi I am a tent-maker. Like the apostle Paul who did God’s missionary work but privately used his hands to eke out a livelihood, I work. I am a farmer. . .very passionate about farming and I do all sorts of income generating businesses away from my church work. I am not an extortionist.

I don’t extort money from church members. I work. I am not scared of mud and dirt. It does not kill. There is clean money in dirty soil. I am a bishop, but I am a tent-maker like Paul who made tents away from his missionary call-ups. If there is too much work to be done in the church, I stop ‘tent-making’ and get busy with missionary business. Paul did exactly that. ”

“Bishop Jakazi, do you ever have opportunity to share this wisdom with your colleagues and friends in the various church ministries?”

“I do whenever I can. Some listen to me, and take me seriously, others don’t. And that often leaves me very unpopular.  But I do tell them that church leaders must work and stop desperately depending on charity from poor church members who themselves have nothing. I do not admire extortionists who squeeze poor member’s empty pockets in the name of the Bible. What the Bible says is very clear: tithe and offer! If you are not, you are stealing from God. And we must follow the Bible to the letter.

But sometimes, the harping on this scripture is not driven by necessarily a deep understanding of the scripture more than by the politics of the stomach.  Nzara chaiyo inogona kukonzera hushumiri hwakakakwa pambambo yemari dzevatendi. It is not a sin for a bishop, a pastor or whatever church leader, to work; to use their talent or gift to make money. Use the soil even.

Many leaders I know worldwide are successful business people and they use their prosperity to sponsor church projects and programmes. They don’t expect the church to feed their families or sponsor their livelihoods. They financially support the churches they lead instead.

Indeed a tent-maker! And indeed a practical minded man of cloth who says, “Sometimes I am very unpopular for being so crudely truthful and practical in my understanding of the scriptures,” said Bishop Jakazi. Also a very brave man, isn’t he, to call a spade a spade?

And we are now at Gombakomba. The Youths are already waiting. I fetch my Bible and 40 copies of Health & Wellness (Mark A. Finley & Peter N Landless) to donate to the youths. The facts are not only for Seventh Day Adventists.

Though it is the Seventh Day Adventist book of the year, it is for all of God’s creation to know about health secrets that will change lives. The 120 pages teach how good nutrition heals the body and boosts the mind; how purpose increases resilience; how love and forgiveness mend the heart. (Contact me if you want free copies.)

We walk from the car and head towards the youth conference room. In a few minutes, I will be talking to the youths about the challenges they face at home, at school, at university and at church as youths living in a tough and difficult world today.

A young multi-talented 21 year old youth living and studying in Melbourne Australia, Tinaye Zenenga, says in his book The Wise Youth, “It is so tough to survive in the 21st century world. Today we live in a world that cries out for answers to deep-seated and often intractable problems. Ours is a selfish and materialistic age that desperately needs spiritual direction.”

What a flurry of words of wisdom from a young man as young as 21.
Tinaye advises in his book almost prophetically, “God wants us to communicate priceless spiritual knowledge to a darkened and deceived world. The challenges of the 21st century world are so complex they are difficult to overcome without the wisdom of GOD.”

And that is precisely what my mission was at Gombakomba that Saturday upon the youths of Bishop Jakazi’s Evangelical Anglican Church.

Details of my presentation to the youths can be read on Matters of Faith next week. Don’t miss it! Meanwhile may the good Lord keep us healthy and wise to His counsel.

The message propounded in this 3-part series and meant for many pastors is, “Be tent-makers.”

APOLOGY:
In Part 1 of The-Tent Maker’s story, I called Bishop Jakazi’s assembly as The Evangelical Anglican Church International. Please note that his assembly is the Evangelical Anglican Church(without INTERNATIONAL). The ‘international’ part went away with the wind in the church- breakaway drama. The error is thus corrected and the embarrassment or confusion caused sincerely regretted.

The views expressed in this article, please note, are not necessarily of The Manica Post or of a particular church. Morris Mtisi writes independently as a writer, a social commentator and as independently as he views matters of faith impacting his personal Christian life, his relationship with his God vis-a-vis  Christianity in general today. You can contact him on email>[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> or call him on 0773 883 293 also Whatsapp number.

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