Every Sunday, innumerable churches open their doors to the public and gladly invites everyone to fellowship with them. A lot of church-seeking folks and adventurous people will definitely attend.
But, how do they know what they’re walking into, things like what will the clergy talk about, the kinds of people who attend the church and most vitally, the things they believe in.
Well, we help you on that with our weekly Church Service reviews dubbed His House Review.
With this, we share the unvarnished truth about a church from the perspective of an outsider, paying particular attention to its History, Doctrine, Reception, Punctuality, Service proceedings, Offertories, Praise & Worship and any other things that may come into the surface during our visit. This will help churches to better understand how to reach outsiders and grow in a major way.
That being the case, last Sunday we paid a call at a somewhat novel Christian denomination called the New Believers Church of All Nations, and here we set forth what we observed there.
History
New Believers Church of All Nations is led by a young man named Prophet Jason Foggan who stemmed from Zambia. The young sect is very new in the country as they established it in the later part of 2017. One insider, we spoke to after the Sunday service said that the church is big in Zambia. Sad to relate, we could not find any record of it on the inter-web.
Desultorily, from the bits and pieces, we gathered during the service; the church came into being in Zimbabwe with the surfacing of the adventitious enthusiastic prophet Faggon. Little is known of him except that the celebrated Nigerian Apostle Johnson Suleman, founder and president of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide and Professor of World Evangelical Mission unearthed him during one of his tours in Zambia. Prophet Foggan to this day still refers to his God as the God of Apostle Suleman, which obstructively gives us the impression that his sect might be an uncorroborated branch of Omega Fire. Perhaps.
So, after the hallowing by Suleman, Jason Foggan continued to minister and prophesy upon many people’s lives, so he said. For all that, it was his encounter with Nyashanu from the Upperroom Ministries that landed the unkempt Foggan in Zimbabwe for the first. Nyashanu, therefore, invited him to speak at one of their conferences, where the juvenile man of cloth delivered an epic show. Mayhap, that’s where his dalliance with Zimbabwe can be traced.
Fast forward to 2018, Prophet Foggan has a church in the country and is married to a Zimbabwe woman Dadiso. He is known for his rare flair for prophecy.
Doctrine
Just like its history, the doctrine of the church is gnomic and we could not find any written form of it anywhere online by the time of publishing. Withal, since it is a Pentecostal sect, and the things and practises we behold during the fleeting service, they believe in the Holy Trinity, cross, Bible, the contemporary prophecy, speaking in tongues and any other supplementary things Pentecostal churches believe in.
The church also has a hierarchical structure, consisting of elders, evangelists, pastors and prophets.
Punctuality
In black and white, their church service begins at 2 pm and runs up to 4 pm. Despite how short that may appear, New Believers Church of All Nations is not among recommendable punctual Christian sects. Their service started minutes away after 2 and it ended minutes away after 4. This exasperating time management practice is pervasive in the Pentecostal community.
Reception
Their reception was not really that warm or outstanding. Yes, very few people introduced themselves to us, but it might be out of suspicion. And, during service, they did not ask if there were any individuals joining them for the first time like, you could go home thinking you went unnoticed. Perhaps, they are still figuring things out as they are pretty much fledging in many areas.
Praise & Worship
The church believes in contemporary means of worship that is fast dance songs, energetic moves, deep worship songs and what not. Yet, just like some activities during the service, they appear to ride on popular choral ditties we hear in many Pentecostal Churches. That is a good one, considering that even newcomers can just hop on.
Some songs, however, were sung fairly well, but others were delivered at a pace so gruelling to catch up, an indication that maybe they do not invest considerable time in pre-service rehearsal.
The Service
Few people attended the service, and we were told that most of them have gone to vote in the ZANU PF primary elections. The leaders and service facilitators would constantly remind congregants that they will progressively grow and do much for the Lord regardless of their church miniature size.
The church began with devotional prayers led by a relatively young man casually dressed but well versed in the scriptures to convince us that he reads and understands the bible a lot.
They have testimonies time where various people stand and share their stories. Among those who shared last Sunday was this elderly politically involved woman who did not flinch at confessing that her son was running for a Parliamentary sit in Chivi. Vitally important, her son promised to do an awesome lot for the Church. We did not get to hear if he was going do it if he wins the elections or lost. To us, it appeared like a prayer request stunt.
Prophet Foggan preached, and he read from the book Genesis 31: 29. His theme was The God of Your Father Spoke Last Night.
The first part of his sermon was contretemps, as he was met with technical faults (mic glitches). Add to that interpretation went bad (the preacher preaching at a fast pace for the interpreter to catch up), the prophet’s level of enthusiasm and that will amount to some kinda of confusion.
That aside, from his sermon we were quick to catch him on record saying Zambian women are not expensive as compared to Zimbabwe in terms of bride prices. According to the prophet who is married to a Zimbabwean woman, in Zambia, you can marry with $700 or $800, a rare case here.
Offertories
They give offerings. They had like two ridiculously large baskets at the front where congregants go to put their offerings.
By the narrowest of margins, the church, however, is struggling to meet its rentals and things like the prophet’s transport costs around town. And to meet this pressure, some congregants on Sunday proposed to pay tithes, which is an unsung practice at New Believers Church of All Nations.
Tailpiece
Overall, we enjoyed the visit to New Believers Church of All Nations but we cannot be in the back of beyond from the truth to say that most of the things they do are try and erring, except maybe for the preaching. That is meant in the most polite way and bearing in mind that they are still dawning.
The church is seeker-friendly, nevertheless. We just hope that they put their house in order quickly and ensures that everything goes well. We would love to see this church representing its name well as Believers Church of All Nations. To attain that, it has to be a church of passion. Visitors will love to feel that in everything from the friendliness of the congregation, to the message of the pastor.
