Story by Mercy Bofu-Matinha
GOVERNMENT has called on church leaders to play a more active role in driving development projects aimed at improving livelihoods across communities.
The call was made during the Easter Conference of the Bethlehem International Church held in Gutu, which attracted hundreds of congregants.
Addressing the gathering, Minister of State for National Security, Honourable Lovemore Matuke, who is also a ZANU-PF Politburo member, urged churches to remain active partners in national development initiatives.
“As a Government, we are encouraged by the role that our indigenous churches play in supporting development within our communities and at the national level. Bethlehem International Church is among our indigenous churches that continue to pray for peace in our country.
“I urge you to be part of the development trajectory that our government is taking, led by President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa. Right now, we are working on the Constitutional Amendment Number 3 Bill, and the church has been supportive because they understood the route that we are taking to improve governance within our country.”
Leader of the Bethlehem International Church, Archbishop Edborn Gwatidzo, said as a church, they continue to pray for peace and unity in the country, working with the government in improving people’s livelihoods.
“As a church, our role is to pray for peace, unity and development in our country. We want to thank our government for supporting our indigenous churches by giving us freedom of worship, and as Bethlehem International Church, we do not take that for granted. We work with the government.
“They have been very supportive in ensuring we have places to worship, we worship freely, and we benefit from their development programmes. Again, we support all the development programmes that our government is implementing in our communities because our congregants are beneficiaries of those programmes, and we continue to encourage them to be part of those development initiatives,” he said.
Government says the church plays a critical role towards socio-economic development of communities, and President Mnangagwa is on record acknowledging the significant contribution by the church to national development.
