So much has been said about Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) leader and founder, the charismatic self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri.
Mystery surrounds the South African-based religious preacher. It could be about people saying his actual name is Chipiliro Gama or others who believes that his journey in the ministry of the Word kicked off three years ago.
It turns out that the Major 1 — as he is revered as by his followers — is very much aware of the allegations, lies and inaccuracies around his personality, and is out to dispel such.
In one such move, the prophet has shot down in flames social media reports that projects that he came out of the blue in 2017.
Bushiri recently shared on Facebook an old picture of a young him and a group of girls when he appears to be preaching to them. The caption of the image reads:
“Someone posted “Bushiri recently started preaching in 2017 and is already popular. There should be some powers he gets from the dark world.”
Well, his post was so ridiculous, that even his followers laughed at the absurd accusation on the comment section.
It is very pathetic to see someone who really needs salvation choosing to judge a person who he has never met or seen.
In this picture, I was preaching to my fellow high school students. It did not start in 2017, it actually started way back before that, when I was very young, Sir. In that picture, I was 16.
The power behind my growth in ministry is in accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal Savior, and working out my own salvation. I would advise you do the same!”
Research by this writer yielded that ECG, as it is known now, came on the scene sometime around 2010 in Mzuzu, Malawi in 2010 when Bushiri grew famous for his “accurate prophecies”.
Bushiri said in 2012 the ECG started off with just 35 congregants.
By 2015, when he arrived in South Africa to lead the church, there were around 200 members. By year-end, he had about 15000 registered members.
In 2018, he went on a whirlwind tour of the world to win souls for Christ, claiming over 2 million converts.
Appearing before the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) to testify over a church accident that happened in December 2018 and killed three women while injuring at least 17 other congregants, the ECG leader told how he founded his ministry in northern Malawi.
“The church began its operations in Malawi in 2010 and over the years it expanded through the establishment of branches in different countries, among others Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, the US, India, and Australia. Operations in South Africa began in 2012, formerly constituted and legally registered with CIPC,”
Bushiri said.
To this day, Prophet Bushiri has grown his denomination across 178 countries.
“I then joined the South African (branch) as the general overseer later in 2015. As of today, ECG has branches in more than 178 countries. All these branches are governed by an umbrella body, the ECG International Church, which has its headquarters in Pretoria. I am the president of the church,”
he added.
Thank you for reading this article till the end. Hallelujah Magazine is an African Christian lifestyle outlet committed to publishing reliable, trusted, quality and independent Christian journalism. Our journalism is free from commercial bias and is not influenced by wealthy people, politicians, clerics or shareholders. We are rooted in reality, ad-free and reader-supported. Your contributions from as little as US$1 make this work possible. We also value our readers’ feedback, suggestions and opinions. Do you have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments below. Do you like this story? Share it with a friend as sharing is caring!
