Engenas lekganyane biography of barack

African-initiated churches

"ZCC" redirects here. For the church in Japan, see Zion Christian Church (Japan). For the indoor arena in the Philippines, see Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum.

The Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is one of the largest African-initiated churches operating across Southern Africa, and is part of the African Zionism movement. The church's headquarters are at Zion City Moria in Limpopo Province (old Northern Transvaal), South Africa.

According to the 1996 South African Census, the church numbered 3.87 million members. By the 2001 South African Census, its membership had increased to 4.97 million members.

History

After being educated at two Anglican missions, Engenas Lekganyane joined the Apostolic Faith Mission in Boksburg. He then joined the Zion Apostolic Church schism and eventually became a preacher of a congregation in his home village during late World War I. After falling out with the ZAC leadership, Lekganyane went to Basutoland to join Edward Lion's Zion Apostolic Faith Mission

Engenas Lekganyane founded the ZCC after a revelation which Engenas Lekganyane is said to have received from God on the top of Mt Thabakgone in 1910. After splitting from Lion, Engenas Lekganyane used his home village of Thabakgone, near Polokwane (Pietersburg), as the headquarters, with about twenty initial congregations in the Northern Transvaal, the Witwatersrand, and Rhodesia. In 1930 Lekganyane began building a stone church there. After clashes with his chief, Engenas Lekganyane was expelled with his church still unfinished. Determined to obtain land, he eventually purchased three farms in the Polokwane area. Maclean Farm near Thabakgone would eventually be renamed "Moria," the ZCC's headquarters. The ZCC was officially registered in 1962 after the government's reluctance to recognize one of the continent's larges

The Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is one of the largest cults in Africa. Born out of the early Pentecostal movement, the ZCC believes that its leader, Barnabas Lekganyane, is a prophet of God endowed with supernatural powers (signs and wonders). He is venerated as the church’s mediator, with worship songs and prayers being made in his name. David Beakley, founder of Christ Seminary, a TMAI training center in South Africa, describes the ZCC as “a dark cloud of paganism mixed with Scripture that hangs over Southern Africa.”

Every year, the ZCC hosts an Easter conference not far from Christ Seminary’s base in Polokwane. On average, some 2–3 million people congregate annually to hear from—and worship—their leader, Lekganyane.

But there was another conference held this Easter. It was not held to venerate the name of some modern-day prophet but to exalt the name of Jesus, the only name given unto man whereby man must be saved.

After 20 years of teaching men in South Africa, there are now Christ Seminary graduates holding their own conferences throughout the country. This Easter, five such graduates and their respective churches came together to hold a conference that lifted up the true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Rather than promote their own ecstatic prophecies and supernatural powers, these brave men stood against the rising tide of heresy and modeled for three days something that South Africa desperately needs: verse-by-verse expository preaching from the Holy Bible, the only true power of God unto salvation.

This conference hosted by TMAI graduates is a remarkable testimony to the work of God in South Africa. Though the ZCC’s influence permeates nearly every village and township, exerting strong pressure to accept and join, God has delivered these men and their churches out of such darkness as they have come to see the light of Scripture and the p

Founder of the Zion Christian Church (1885–1948)

Engenas Barnabas Lekganyane (c. 1885–1948) was the founder of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). He first formed the ZCC in 1924, and by the time of his death the church had at least 50,000 members. Under the leadership of his descendants the ZCC has gone on to have more than a million members primarily located in southern Africa. It is now by far the biggest of the various Zionist Christian sects that account for roughly half of all Christians in southern Africa.

Early life and education

Engenas Lekganyane was born at Mphome Mission in the Haenertsburg region of the Transvaal in the mid-1880s. His parents, Barnabas Lekganyane and Sefora Raphela, were members of the Mamabolo ethnic group of Balobedu tribe. The Raphela family were the first Christian converts among the Mamabolo and had been instrumental in getting a Lutheran mission established by the Berlin Missionary Society in 1879.

Drought, disruptions, and the violence associated with the South African War in 1899, led the Mamabolo chiefs to abandon their homelands for some years. The Lekganyanes appear to have left with them, but then returned home when the Chief purchased Syferkuil Farm in 1905 next to the original reserve.

Soon after the move back, an Anglican missionary built a mission and school called St. Andrews adjacent to Syferkuil. This was the school where Lekganyane received three years of education, which had been disrupted in the previous decade. During this time Lekganyane spent considerable amounts of time working on construction projects, including the building of a church, a school, and a dam. He did not choose to receive baptism or confirmation as an Anglican, although many members of his family, his future wife, and many residents of Syferkuil did.

Then he met the tshoma's family in Botswana during the South African war. The tshoma's family brought him to saf