CHURCH WANTS PASTOR STOPPED FROM ‘STEALING’ CONGREGANTS

MBABANE – An evangelist has been taken to court for allegedly coercing congregants to turn against their pastor.

Elmon Mfikile Fakudze has been taken to court by the New Gilgal Church in Zion, after he allegedly started planting anarchy in the church and further ‘stealing’ members to join his ‘new church’. So serious is the situation that the church reported the matter at the Siphofaneni Police Station. The court has since issued an order directing Fakudze to forthwith stop evangelising and/or presenting himself as a pastor in the church.  The court ordered that in the event he wished to come and attend church services, he would be allowed to do so as an ordinary member.

Luke Mamba, who is the founder of New Gilgal Church in Zion, informed the court that in his quest to leave the church, Fakudze recruited a fraction of members to leave with him to the new church that he had professed to have formed. He alleged that by so doing, Fakudze had created division and caused a serious rift between the elders and some members of the church.  According to Mamba, the members of the church who had left with Fakudze were being considered as traitors to the gospel. “Should this matter not be heard as one of urgency, there is a reasonable apprehension that there will be bloodshed as Fakudze is branded a traitor, a man who has no best interest  of the church and a man who is hell-bent on exacerbating anarchy  and division among the church members,” contended Mamba.

He highlighted that a chunk of the members of the church had joined Fakudze’s church. Giving a background of the matter, Mamba stated that on or about 2006, through its directors at the time, the applicant (New Gilgal Church in Zion) acquired a piece of land at Macetjeni, through the Eswatini traditional system of kukhonta. He said the sole purpose of acquiring the land was to set up its headquarters (Sinothi) and further expand the vision of the gospel.  The success of the church, according to Mamba, was the expansion and being supervisory to its seven branches namely; Gigal, Antioch, Dikapol, Ethembeni Church, Ekuphileni, Ekukhanyeni and Ecinisweni.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: