‘Let’s focus on salvation’

The Seed of Abraham Pentecostal Church has been around since 1994, but little is known about the church. James Chimpweya finds out more about the church from Pastor Evans Khobidi.

What are the fundamental beliefs of Seed of Abraham Pentecostal Church?

Our church believes in four pillars; namely, worship, education, evangelism and salvation. We believe in worshipping God in truth and spirit. We also believe in educating our members so that they are able to carry on the vision of the church to reach out to many souls. Evangelism is one of the key pillars because without reaching out where people are we will not have the church. Churches are fond of preaching the gospel of prosperity and leaving out salvation which should be the key word if people are to inherit the kingdom of God.

When was the church established?

The church was founded in 1994. The headquarters are in Ndirande, Blantyre. We have a membership of 1 500. As a church, we don’t believe in numbers, but that people should take the vision seriously and move with it.

Do you believe in life after death?

As a church, this is what we teach our members because without life after death there is no need to preach the gospel of salvation to people. We preach about the resurrection of the body and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. This increases our faith that when we die we will live again.

There is this phenomenon in Malawi whereby we hear every day about this or that preacher coming from outside the country. Does this mean Malawi does not have enough preachers?

This does not mean we cannot preach. In fact, the people we have in our church were saved through our own messages, but we have to expose our members to new tongues; hence, the coming of foreign preachers. As Malawian pastors, we also go to other countries and evangelise. This is an exchange programme churches do.