Sinokubonga Nkala
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
ON a Sunday morning in October 1995, six individuals joined a couple who felt called by God to establish their own ministry focused on harvesting souls for Him.
At the time, Bishop Collin Nyathi was comfortably employed as the Finance Director at one of the city’s largest engineering firms, Hogarths Engineering, while his wife, Dr Sarah Nyathi, served as a Human Resources Manager at a local beverage manufacturing company.
They began their worship at their home in Sunninghill. What started as a small gathering of eight members at 20 Onslow Drive has since grown into a global ministry, boasting over 850 branches worldwide, nearly 29 years later.
Furthermore, the church today registers a significant milestone with the official opening of a 10 500 -seater auditorium, believed to be the biggest “church auditorium” in Southern Africa.
In an interview with Sunday News, Bishop Chemani Tuturu who joined the church in 1998 shared the journey of Harvest House International Church (HHI) since its establishment in 1995.
“HHI started in October 1995 at No. 20 Onslow Drive in Sunninghill, Bulawayo. Bishop Dr Collin Nyathi, together with mum, Bishop Dr Sarah Nyathi started the church at their home and on that day, there were only eight of them.
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“Four or so weeks later, the church moved on to the Bulawayo Theatre, and we stayed there for several years, from 1995 right up to the year 2000.
“The church began to grow. I joined the church in 1998, and when I joined we were about 70 of us and by the time we got to the year 2000, we had reached about 350. That is when we bought a building, along George Silundika and 13th Avenue,” said Bishop Tuturu.
He said they then renovated the building with the upper auditorium and a ground floor.
“We divided the ground floor into two, with the other being offices and the other part being a smaller auditorium. We began to plant churches in 2001. The first church we planted was in Gweru, then we followed up a year later with Kwekwe and Harare. That was in 2003 and I was sent to go and plant many churches in Harare.
After that, we planted another one in Masvingo followed by another one in Mutare. By 2011 we had reached 70 churches and the churches were getting scattered everywhere. We had churches in South Africa, planted churches in Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia,” said Bishop Tuturu.
He said those branches began to grow and by 2018, when they embarked on the 10 500-seater auditorium they had actually reached about 800.
He said they were running towards a target of 1 000 branches by 2020.
“Unfortunately, then came Covid-19, but when you look at the number of churches that we have, and the countries where our churches are found, they include Zimbabwe, Lesotho, South Africa and Botswana has well over 20 churches. In Namibia we have around 22.
“South Africa has close to 30. Then we have a church in Tanzania and churches in Ghana. We also have a church in UAE. We have a church in India, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Australia,” said Bishop Tuturu.
He said currently, they have 850 branches and could have had far more than that had it not been for Covid-19. –@nyeve14
Online Reporter
