OUR JOURNEY OF FAITH
Our church journey began in Dzivaresekwa in November 1995. It was from these humble beginnings that the church started to grow. On 9th November 1995, the first official church service was held. Mlibazisi Ncube, at the age of 21 and others in attendance conducted the first official church service in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mutusva in Dziveresekwa, marking the commencement of an incredible journey and counting. Many people gave their lives to Jesus Christ and became part of the growing congregation, which was eventually named Living Hope Christian Church.
The earliest church services were held in homes, particularly at the home of the Mutusva family. As the church grew and more people came to faith, the congregation moved to larger venues to accommodate the increasing number of people.
In 1997, the church in Crowborough was planted out of Living Hope. A few men who were living in Kuwadzana began meeting together in the home of the Kondowe family. As the group grew, they eventually moved to Crowborough North, where the church continued to grow as many more people joined the meetings. This became the beginning of what is now known as Tabernacle of Worship Church (TWC).
Initially, both Living Hope Christian Church (LHCC) and Tabernacle of Worship Church (TWC) were part of a denomination known as the Church of Christ Holiness. In time, both churches became autonomous local churches.
In June 2016, the City Site was planted marking another significant step in the growth of the church. Then, in 2021, the eldership team made the decision to adopt a multi-site model, creating a new expression of one church meeting across different locations. In 2022, the Hatcliff Site was planted.
Looking back, it has been a remarkable journey of faith in the Lord. What began with a small group of believers meeting in homes has grown into a church with multiple sites, many leaders, and a growing community of believers committed to following Jesus and making Him known. We are deeply grateful for God's faithfulness throughout the years and for every person who has played a part in this journey.
Our vision continues.
We desire to see more churches planted across Harare, throughout Zimbabwe, and into the nations. We believe the best days are still ahead as we continue to raise and release leaders, disciple believers, strengthen local churches, and advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
From humble beginnings in Dzivaresekwa to a growing multi-site church—we celebrate God's faithfulness and look forward with faith to what He will do next.
WHO ARE WE?
- We are a community of believers who love Jesus with a heart to grow and fill the whole city and nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- We are a church that meets in many locations [sites] across the city of Harare.
- We partner with New Covenant Ministries International Trans-local Team
OUR VISION
- To be a base church that lives for God, making Him the centre of our lives while touching lives and transforming communities with the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
WE EXIST :
1. To raise a people who know their God:
• A people who love God with all their heart, soul and mind. (Matthew 22:37)
• A people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, (Acts 2:1-4) with the evidence thereof: i.e. Fellowship with and being led by the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, power and boldness in the Spirit.
• A people who have a sound theology and understanding of God and His ways. (1 Timothy 4:16, 1 John 4:8)
2. To raise a people who know they are called:
• A people who know who they are in Christ Jesus and who is Christ is in them? (Ephesians 1:18-23, 2:8, 9, 3:10)
• A people who willingly and selflessly invest their lives to see God’s kingdom advancing. (Matthew 6:33)
• A people who respond to God’s leading with radical obedience and in so doing play their part. (Ephesians 4:16)
3. To make disciples of all nations by reaching out. Acts 1:8
• Our surrounding areas, cities, towns and rural areas.
• The nations of the earth across our borders.
• And the end of the earth
OUR VALUES
- A Christ centered people, in everything we make Jesus Christ the center of our lives and worship.
- A Holy Spirit filled and Holy Spirit led people. (Acts 1:8)
- A whole Bible theology, our aim is to be a radically word based people. (Deuteronomy 4:1-4)
- A people of prayer, personally, in groups, in all meetings, with fasting and warfare. Acts 2:42)
- A people of faith and power (Hebrew 11:6).
- Bringing all to maturity. (Hebrews 6:1, James 1:4)
- Friendships and family not just function. We are a community of believers with covenantal relationships in Christ Jesus. (Acts 2:45)
- The priesthood of all believers, we believe everyone has a part to play in the body of Christ, its not a one man show. (1 Corinthians 12:21)
- Everyone trained to be a leader. We believe leadership is not just for church but for all facets of life. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
- A people of character. (Psalm 78:72)
- A Kingdom minded people, we don’t live just to attend church services but to impact communities. Being a christian is an everyday call. (Matthew 4:17) A mission driven people with the mandate to make disciples of Jesus Christ from all nations. (Matthew 28:18)
Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers [elders or bishops] and deacons:
This scripture is a great example of God's model for church structure. In it we see (a) saints, (b) overseers, and (c) deacons mentioned. There is also a fourth group mentioned here – Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, representing a trans- local team with Ephesians 4:11 gifts.Biblically we believe there are two leadership offices in the local church which are Elders and Deacons (Philippians 1:1, Acts 6:1-7 ). These together with the saints function together as one team to fulfill the vision that God has given the local Church. Elders are responsible to govern the local church.(Acts 20:28, I Timothy 5:17)
• We believe elders are the highest human governing authority in the local church.
• They have the responsibility to guide, guard and govern (shepherd) God’s people in the local church.
• The eldership team is accountable to the Trans-local team, and in the case of TWC we partner with New Covenant Ministries International (NCMI).
Deacons work together with the eldership team to administer the affairs of the church. And any other Biblical ministry to God or to man can be carried out by the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9). Each and every one of us has a calling in life let’s move to perfection of what God has for us. If it’s singing sing, if it’s preaching preach, if it’s helping
others help, its encouraging encourage. (Romans 12:5-8)
FUNCTION
We differ in terms of function as illustrated in Philippians 1:1. Here we see Paul and Timothy working as a team in trans-local capacity writing to overseers or elders, deacons and saints at Philippi. Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31, Ephesians 4:4-8,
Ephesians 4:11-16
LEADERSHIP IS BY EXAMPLE
• We live in the future and we lead our people into that future. 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1Peter 5:1-4, 1 Timothy 4:12
Leaders Called & Appointed by God Leaders are recognised through the delegated authority of man. Elders by
apostles, deacons by elders, apostles by elders and other apostles.
(Acts 14:21-23, Titus1:5-6, Acts 6:1-7, Acts 13:1-4, Acts 1:20-26)
Leaders lead from the front (John 10:1-21), they fear and serve God by serving the people. On the other hand people fear and serve God by serving their leaders. They don’t fear or worship each other. (Mathew 20:26-28). The motivation is the call and purpose of God for the church. The leader imparts this through covenantal relationships and frees people to be what God has called them to. The biggest leadership qualifications are character, lifestyle and the call of God. Through it all, God’s Word is our final authority for all life, faith & conduct.
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1. We believe that the 66 books of the bible are Holy Scriptures and are fully inspired of God and we accept them as the supreme and final authority for faith and life.
2. We believe in one God who is eternal and exist in Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe that Jesus Christ was born of the Father conceived by the Holy spirit,born of the virgin Mary and is true God and man.
4. We believe that Jesus died for our sins and that we are justified by our faith in Christ Jesus.
5. We believe that Jesus Christ arose from the dead with his body, he ascended toheaven and He presently live as our High priest and Advocate.
6. We believe in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
7. We believe that all that repent of their sin and receive the Lord Jesus by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.
8. We believe in the resurrection of both the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed, and the eternal punishment of those who have rejected the offer of salvation.
9. We believe in the Lord’s Supper as the partaking of the emblems symbolic of the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of His sacrificial death, until He comes.
10. We believe in water baptism by immersion in the water as a confession of identification with Christ in burial and resurrection.
11. We believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit, empowering and equipping believers for service, with the accompanying supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.
12. We believe in the fivefold ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher.
13. We believe in child dedication and not child baptism.
14. With regards to sexual behaviour, we believe in godly relationship between man and a woman within the confines of Word of God and lawful matrimony. As per the stated of sexual behaviour is the inherent requirement for membership with
Tabernacle of Worship Church.
Acts 2:41- 42 (NKJV)
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 5:42 (NKJV)
42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
As a church we believe it is scriptural to assemble together regularly to worship, to teach, to encourage, to comfort and to mobilize each other towards our God given mission. We believe we are a community and family of believers, this is what underpins the programs in the life of the church. Below are some of expressions of church, we believe they form our God given wineskin (Matthew 9:16-17).
1. Prayer Meetings
We believe prayer should be a value to every believer hence we also value our prayer meetings. We trust by doing so we are modelling a life of prayer corporately and individually. At least once every week we meet to pray together which we encourage every member of the church to be part of.
2. Small Groups
We require every member of the church to be part of a small group. These are important for discipleship, shepherding and mobilizing for the church for mission. Small groups are a great way of church expression and it is through these groups that we list our members. We have two types of small groups namely Life Groups and Connect Groups.
Life Groups are our home groups where people meet in homes at least once every week. Connect Groups are special interest groups such as Four:12 Youths, young adults, men’s, ladies, couples, mature singles, the golden generation etc. These meetings enables us to teach into deeper issues that affects people.
3. Sunday Celebrations
This is when we come together as one big family to worship our Lord in celebration and fellowship. This is also for equipping and envisioning.
4. Corporate Events
As a church with multiple sites, occasionally we have events that we do together for re-envisioning and fellowship. These re events such as Advance Conferences, Apostolic Weekends, Thanksgiving Sundays etc.
5. Serving
We believe in the priesthood of all believers hence we expect our members to be part of our many serving and ministry teams. We don’t believe in just church attendance but rather we ought to participate in what God is doing in the life of the church (1 Peter 2:4-5)
6. Generosity
We believe it is scriptural for members to give financially or in kind for the advancement of the Kingdom. The day to day operations of the church are financed through the generosity and kindness of its members. Biblically we see four kinds of giving. Namely; tithing, freewill offerings, alms giving and apostolic giving.
7. Missions
We are a mission minded people, hence we encourage all our members to participate in mission initiatives such as evangelism, apostolic trips and church planting. As a church we believe God wants us to look beyond the four walls of our buildings and venues and go into the towns, cities and nations of the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Members can participate by going, giving and praying towards, mission trips. However, we strongly encourage every member to emphasize on going on mission trips.
8. Leadership Training
We believe everyone must be trained to be a leader. Leadership is not just in church but is required in all facets of life such as family, business, community, government etc. (Ephesians 4:11-16). We are a Kingdom minded people, we don’t live just to attend church services but impact communities, understanding that being a Christian is an everyday call. (Matthew 4:17)
When one become a member of Tabernacle of Worship Church it is important to understand you are not joining a cruise ship where you can just come, attend church and be served. Rather we are on a battleship, we exist to advance the Kingdom of God. Mere “church-going” was never in God’s plan for you. He wants you very closely knit with a group of dear friends with whom you can share your life like what we see in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37.
🛐 WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
1. Attend: Small Groups, Prayer Meetings, and Sunday Services.
2. Serve: Join a ministry team above.
3. Go: Be part of mission trips.
4. Give: Be generous.
🛐 LIFE / CONNECT GROUPS
• Home Groups
• Kids For Christ
• Worship Team
• 4:12 Youth (High Scholars)
• Impact (Young Adults)
• Women of Virtue (WOV)
• Real Men
• Over-comers (Mature Singles)
• Couples Fellowship
• Golden Gen (Grandpas & Grandmas)
🛐 TEAMS
• Ushering Team
• Admin
• Proclaim (Missions & Evangelism)
• Media & Sound
• Follow Ups
• Community Missions
• Intercession
• Building & Development
• Catering
