The Sunday News
OVER 20 000 members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church from Bulawayo and beyond thronged Barbourfields Stadium yesterday afternoon to welcome their world leader Mr Ted Wilson.
Mr Wilson, who was accompanied by his wife Nancy, has been in the country for the past two weeks where he has been preaching in Chitungwiza at a seminar dubbed “Revelation of Hope”.
Similar seminars were also running concurrently in different parts of the country with different preachers.
Yesterday Mr Wilson rounded off his visit to the country with a church service in Chitungwiza in the morning before travelling to Gweru for another church service, finishing his tour with another service in Bulawayo in the afternoon.
For the Bulawayo service the cleric was accompanied by Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko and his family who are also members of the Seventh Day Adventist church.
Mr Wilson received a thunderous welcome from the church members, before VP Mphoko accompanied him to inspect a guard of honour that was mounted by Adventurers, Pathfinders and Senior Youth sections of the church.
Welcoming Mr Wilson to Bulawayo, VP Mphoko said the church in Zimbabwe should enjoy the freedom of expression that is guaranteed in the national constitution.
VP Mphoko also chronicled the history of the SDA church in the country, outlining the amount of development work the church had done in the country.
“The Seventh Day Adventist church started here in Bulawayo near Solusi in 1894. In the southwest region from Limpopo to Zambezi it has a membership of more than 230 000 people.
“The church has built 52 schools both primary and secondary, one university, three clinics and one orphanage. It has embarked on a number of activities to promote healthy lifestyles such as the health expo held in Chitungwiza.
“I welcome you to Bulawayo and I must say to the church enjoy the freedom of worship,” he said.
Mr Wilson delivered a sermon in which he warned people against joining churches for reasons that are not prescribed in the Bible.
He said people should use the Bible as the benchmark to judge false churches from true congregations of God.
“I may be asked why I am a member of the Seventh Day Adventist. There are many reasons. One of them is that my church believes in everything that is said in the Bible. If a church does not believe what is in the Bible then you should not belong to that church. Don’t join a church because you enjoy how the pastor preaches, but join a church because it preaches what is in the Bible,” he said.
Mr Wilson also baptised several people who converted to the Seventh Day Adventist church after his sermon.
The church service was graced by a number of high profile dignitaries among them the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Bulawayo province Cde Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo and former Matabeleland South province Governor Cde Angeline Masuku.
