The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi Post Correspondent
THE Seventh Day Adventist Church youths in Mutare led by example over the Easter Holiday when they cleaned Meikles Park and left it unusually litter-free and thoroughly clean.
From a youth camping that was held from April 14 to April 16 at Hillside Camp Site, the Adventist youths marched Christian-soldier like, singing beautiful Adventist songs, into the city centre from downtown flyover where they were addressed by the Adventist Church leadership and officials of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
Addressing the Adventist youths and the public, president of the Seventh Day Adventist East Zimbabwe Conference, Pastor Musara quoted scriptures and reminded the audience that God wanted clean people and clean environments.
“The Adventists’ Christian agenda of choosing Health and Wellness is paramount and scripturally relevant. Today, we gather here today to clean up this park and demonstrate that as a church we are serious advocates of hygiene, health and cleanliness of both ourselves and the environment,” said Pastor Musara.
Speaking on the same occasion, director of Youth, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty- East Zimbabwe Conference, Pastor Joshua Muzira, said the Adventist Church was not only cleaning the environment for the day, but donating garbage bins to EMA.
“We are donating bins today so that the public stops throwing litter out of moving cars and depositing trash all over and anywhere. More (bins) are coming as we gear up our Keep Mutare Clean Campaign,” said Pastor Muzira.
Receiving the litter-bins on behalf of EMA from the Adventist president- East Zimbabwe Conference, Mrs Nunurai Dhlakama, herself an Adventist, said the Seventh Day Adventist Youths had become role models.
“The Seventh Day Youths have illustrated outstanding good citizenship and challenged youths in other churches to exhibit citizenship responsibility through community service,” she said.
“We feel proud to see church youths engaging in voluntary community service campaigns. This shows that the Seventh Day Adventist is not only concerned about scriptures and going to Heaven, but also Health and Environmental issues. We want to thank all the youths who have participated and their leaders and organisers,” she said.
Pastor Muzira added: “This is not the first time Adventist youths have led clean-up campaigns in and around Mutare. They have cleaned up bus termini in the city centre before. After this Meikles Park clean-up we are going to Sakubva Bus Terminus. The Adventist initiated clean-ups will continue until a lesson has been clearly taught and learnt.”
The Youth clean-up campaigns befittingly introduce two Adventist weeks of spiritual clean-up in Mutare ending April 29, 2017 a door-to-door outreach programme called MUTARE LIVE WITH HOPE in which Adventist missionaries from far and wide seek to light-up the eastern-border city with evangelical fire.
MUTARE LIVE WITH HOPE organised into a network of family or house evangelism centres seeks to leave every resident hopeful that from a distance God is watching and that one day soon, and very soon, His son Jesus, is coming to take home those who have passed the test of salvation.
