Apostolic church opens up about its beliefs
Zim worshippers say God protects them in the veld
On Sundays, the Johannesburg velds are covered in white, with congregants immersed in spiritual practices many urban South Africans are not familiar with.
After many attempts by Sowetan to speak to church leaders about the principles of their faith, the Johane Masowe Jerusalem congregation in Orlando, Soweto, finally agreed.
“This church has been here since 2009, but I am not sure when the church was founded,” said a congregant, who identified himself as Madzibaba Mperedise.
He also said the church was originally from Zimbabwe.
The team was quickly stopped by an anxious figure of authority.
“Please do not come beyond this point with your shoes on, this is a holy area,” he said, refusing to identify himself.
According to Mperedise, who is also an elder, the church boasts 150 members with 12 elders and five prophets.
“We meet on Sundays from 9am until 2pm, thereafter we pray for people. We meet again on Thursday at 3pm and cross night until Friday at 3pm,” Mperedise said.
“It was seen by the Holy Spirit that we should worship in the open. We will not move unless the Holy Spirit tells otherwise. Also, buildings have to be paid for and you find that our people don’t have money.”
The elder responds to the criticism of not reading from the Bible: “We use the Holy Spirit. The Bible was written by the Holy Spirit; it is here even now. The congregation can read the Bible at home for their own knowledge, but when they are here, we do not use the Bible,” he said.
The boys sit with their fathers, while the girls sit with their mothers.
“It was seen by the Holy Spirit that women and men should sit separately. When we are not mixed there is less distraction and we can hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.”
“When we preach, we start with the Ten Commandments, then the rules of the church.
“We believe all things come from the East. So when we pray we face there.
“We wear white cloaks because the angel that appeared to our founder, Johane Masowe, informing him to start the church was wearing white.
“We do not allow the congregants to wear black and red clothing. Pastors wear red for a specific reason and on special occasions,” Mperedise added.
“The men cannot have dreadlocks, gold teeth and tattoos, and we also encourage women not to wear nail polish, earrings and make up.
“We believe when you do these things it’s like you’re saying God made a mistake when he created you. Love yourself as you are.”
Mperedise also added that the congregation did not eat snakes, horses, ducks, rabbits, mopane worms and prawns, among other foods.
“I pride myself with being a Christian. Our church helps us and protects us from illnesses and bad things,” said one of the female congregants, Madzimayi.
Another congregant who also called himself Madzibaba said they were not deterred by the rain. He explained: “If it rains while we are here we continue until the rain stops, the rain cleanses us in a way. [But] if it rains before we leave our homes we do not come.”
When we asked about their similar names Mperedise said:
“We don’t know each others names and surnames here, because we do not use them.”
He said they would be meeting on the same spot from today until Friday to celebrate Easter.