PUBLIC GATHERING BILL BAD FOR THE CHURCH – CLERGY
Today again I am saying this Public gathering Bill is bad for the church. The President must not sign this Bill into law until some concerns are truly resolved.
In the Bible, Luke 14:23 says:
“Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.’” (NKJV)
“And Jesus went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.” — Luke 13:2
Politicians in power such as MPs, and Councilors have given themselves the freedom to meet with people in the community and public places without a permit, and yet they locked the clergy in the church walls.
Are we truly a Christian Nation? You cannot call yourself a Christian Nation and at the same time you take away from the Church the very thing that grows and advances the church.
Jesus himself preached in the streets. He healed more people in the highways and streets than in the synagogue. He ministered on the roads side, on the sea shores, in the mountains and in the houses to multitudes without a permit.
I demand that the same way the MPs and Councilors are exempted from getting a permit we too the clergy must be exempted as we go about our daily duties. We don’t go and preach a political party or cause confusion. We go about transforming lives through the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
We have done cell meetings of 30 people without a permit before, we have done meal fellowships of 100 people outside the church buildings without a permit. We have done door to door evengelism where we have gathered 5 to 10 people and led them to Christ in public places without a permit before. Should that be taken away from us as we go about what God has commanded us to go and make disciples of all Nations?
To those Christian leaders who helped draft this bill, I will say you failed God, you failed the church, you failed the Kingdom of God, and you failed Zambia as a Christian Nation. You failed to shine the light in the Darkness. You failed to be the salt of the earth where it mattered the most.
Dr. Emmanuel Banda
Dip. Theology, B.Th. M.Th. D. Min. PG Adv. Leadership Cert. PGDip (Leadership in Community Development