Important lessons from Zanu pf

Sometimes we do not realise the lessons God wants to learn because we are preoccupied with other things.
The following are great grand lessons for us if we remove our blinkers and learn.

1. The principle of the centre of power.

 Zanu pf has the first secretary and president of the party as the centre of power. This means
everything rises and falls based on him. In most democracies, this position is a bone of contention.
This position may be viewed as stifling other voices and also not encouraging diversity. Yet since
1963 the party still exists and has endured a lot.
 As the church of God we can learn the principle of the centre of power. The centre of the Church
is Jesus Christ. All our activities, thoughts, opinions, teachings, inclinations must rise and fall on
this Centre.
 Also, in an apostolic house, we must have a centre of power. We must honour, not worship, the
founding apostle or bishop of that house. He must be seen as the centre from which direction,
vision is cast from.
 Historically all houses that have grown from one generation to another have a central figure guiding
them. He may be dead but any that touch his bones are quickened by his vision and perspective and
are running strong even today.

2. The principle of the constitution.

 The party emphasises its constitution and endevours all members to run by it.
 Any apostolic house will also note that to do well, one has to have a strong culture of aligning with
constitution.

3. The principle of loyalty.

 Except for recent times, zanu pf is well known for a strong loyalty to its members. They will not
allow one of their own to be savaged, arrested or accused.
 They are known for fierce defence of each other. They have undying loyalty which sometimes
nauseates.
 Any church with such a culture will do well. These men prefer to deal with each other in the dark
but will never allow any man to savage on of them.
 Sadly there is no loyalty to our leaders or even to each other. This is a good thing to learn from
them.

4. The principle of grassroots starting.

 Anyone who wants to be a leader is supposed to start from the grassroots. Unless you have
grassroots support you are not respected in zanu pf.
 Many non-constituent MPs suffer the ridicule and being told you have no backing. The leaders even
go as far as compare how many votes a person has.
 As a church it is time we have a return to honouring men and women who have started from the
grassroots. Men and women who have authentic works which can be numbered and enumerated, not
appointees who are gifted but no works.
 We all must have a grassroots beginning. We must rise up the ranks through genuine promotions
based on genuine works.

5. The principle of history and the ideology of the liberation struggle.

 Aren’t we all sometimes annoyed by the constant reference to history and the liberation struggle
that Zanu Pf does? Don’t we all feel like saying the war is over can we move on?
 Yet this is the foundation and basis of the nationalistic movement which runs our country. They
want us to know how we started so that, according to them we know where we are going.
 As a church, here is the question; what doctrine have we held to and have we maintained as
fundamental?
 An apostolic house will need to have a firm grasp and upholding of the fundamentals of the faith.
We need to be blunt on these matters until the end of the age.
 It is sad we are found as churches changing every time and season. There must be something we
must be so rock solid on we ensure that our children are indoctrinated in it.
 I believe the party assumes that if people know what made them, maybe they will think like them.
 In the same manner, people who will be passionate about an apostolic house are those who will be
taught and exposed to the fundamental tenets of the apostolic house.

6. The principle of the liberation sacrifice.

 Oh, we know this one. We have been told over and over how people died and were imprisoned. Today
we even make jokes of it.
 While we laugh at this we do not realise something very powerful here. Zanu is emphasising the
power of sacrifice. The country came due to sacrifice.
 If the church is to advance and go very far, we need to emphasise the death and suffering of our
Lord. We also need to teach and promote the need to suffer to advance the gospel.
 We all know Zimbabwe was born after a struggle, which has blood loss as part of its history.
 We have far important blood which was spilled by our Saviour! We have sin washing blood in our
faith!! Wow!
 Why are we not teaching people the power of the Cross? We need to teach men and women the
need to sacrifice to go far in the kingdom. The need to pay a price to do something worthwhile.

7. The principle of the rural vote.

 Much of the success of the ruling party is based on the rural vote. Without the rural vote the
ruling party would have long been buried under.
 In a way the party has understood that a vote is a vote regardless of wherever it comes from!
 May we as a church be worried about souls no matter their location. May we seek souls everywhere.
May we evangelise every area. May we get numbers saved even in places which we do not like. May
we scale the mountains and valleys looking for a soul.
 The party once lost in all major cities but still won the elections!
 May we go out of comfortable cities and get real numbers among those not as rich, not as
flamboyant.
 May we also defeat the devil by getting the rural vote.

8. The principle of indigenisation.

 Of course many of us have a bone to chew with the ruling party on this one! We still say the farms
would be producing if we had whites on them don’t we?
 Yet the idea was noble, own land, farm it, own your crop.
 As a church today we need to have growth from our own hard work.
 Missionaries planted many churches, it’s true. Missionaries founded many works its true.
 What have we done? How many churches have we planted. May we be that generation which will
plant churches and grow works.
9. The principle of rejecting foreign aid [IMF and World Bank]
 Conventional economics will reveal this looks like a very bad direction to take. Most think tanks will
tell you this was disaster and wrong etc etc.
 As a church and as apostolic houses we need to learn to self-finance and self-propagate.
 It’s time the church stops looking to foreigners to promote its projects.
 We need to reject foreign aid tied with conditions and grow the church!!

10. The principle of looking east.

 This is the opposite of what everyone is doing. Everyone is looking west. The logic of the world is
facing west. In fact it looks absurd to look east.
 But a closer look shows that the most powerful economies currently are in the east. We have china,
japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, India. These are powerful entities which we can’t
ignore no matter what.
 As a church there are conventional places where everyone has been looking. It’s time we turn
around and change. There is new giants God has raised who are shaking the world today in the faith.
 Any apostolic house which doesn’t shift its focus and view will not grow and proceed in this season.

11. The principle of celebrating important days.

 Eish! How we have forgotten! I remember when independence or heroes day come, they play those
songs with pictures of liberation heroes and also soldiers marching. There is one statement they
always say and write; “LEST WE FORGET”.
 Due to forgetfulness, we do not remember important dates, important people, and important events
in our walks with God!
 As such we are lost, we do not have bearings, and we end up arguing against our leaders and critical
figures in the faith!

12. The principle of honouring heroes.

 I am always amazed that the party ensures that they honour their sons who are luminaries among
us.
 As apostolic houses and the church, we need to honour and respect many who have gone before us
and learn from their example. It is sad we do not act to tap into the experiences of the older saints
or those who have finished their races so that we catch a thing or two.

13. The principle of longevity.

 Appointments, promotions as we have noted are somehow given to cadres who have been around
long.
 The old seem to be continually called on again and again even when there are other seemingly
qualified cadres on the side-lines.
 We notice here that the party emphasises the virtue of loyalty and long suffering and service.
 As churches, we need to catch this. Unless we do this, we will appoint juniors who are gifted but
can’t be controlled due to lack of loyalty.
 Longevity we note is prized in this party. As a church we need to promote longevity. We need to
culture a spirit of consistently standing behind one banner for life.
 We need to have men we can count on and after many years can still number among us.