WALTER MAGAYA'S PROPHETIC HEALING AND DELIVERANCE (PHD) MINISTRIES AND PENTECOSTALISM IN ZIMBABWE: A PRELIMINARY STUDY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ECUMENISM

• Published in: Studia historiae ecclesiasticae Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 73 - 86
• Main Authors: Chitando, Ezra, Biri, Kudzai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25.11.2016
• ISSN: 1017-0499; 2412-4265
• DOI: 10.25159/2412-4265/829

At the time of writing, Zimbabwe was in the midst of an intriguing expansion of the Pentecostal prophetic sector. There had been a notable increase in the number of predominantly young men exercising the gift of prophecy, healing and deliverance since 2009. After Prophets Emmanuel Makandiwa and Uebert Angel had captured the national imagination, Prophet Walter Magaya entered the scene with gusto. His Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries threatened to overshadow his “fellow workers in God’s vineyard”. In this article, we locate Magaya’s PHD Ministries within the broader context of the post-2008 Pentecostal prophetic movement. We describe PHD Ministries, paying attention to the religious, socio-economic and political context in Zimbabwe. We draw attention to the ecumenism that is emerging within the prophetic and healing sectors of Zimbabwean Pentecostalism. Overall, we argue that this is a phenomenon that demands serious scholarly attention. The focus on Walter Magaya’s PHD Ministries is motivated by the fact that it has attracted thousands of people at its weekly Sunday services in Waterfalls, Harare, Zimbabwe. Further, in 2015, Magaya took his brand of Pentecostalism to Botswana and South Africa. This article addresses the theme of ecumenism to question the dominant narrative that places emphasis on tension, rivalry and competition within Zimbabwean Pentecostalism. It analyses how Magaya deploys it to deflect attention from himself and to project a more progressive view of himself.