Glory Ministries
International Church Council Of Glory Ministries
Bishop’s Report To The International Annual General Meeting
Date: 28 December 2022
Venue: Habitation Of Hope
Theme: 1 Samuel 16:1: “And the Lord said unto Samuel, how long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons.”
Introduction
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I stand to present our 2021-2022 Bishop’s report to its Annual General Meeting.
Arising from the scourge of the covid-19 pandemic our district has come out alive but many adjustments still need to be done to raise the ministry to surpass its former glory prior to the scourge.
Body
We will look at the progress of the ministry under the ministry’s 12 key result areas:
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| Glory Ministries 2022 President's Report To The International Church Council |
Due to the scant flow of the reports from the national offices it is difficult to come up with proper statistical data of the membership that we have as of now. However, judging from some of the churches that were closed during the Covid-19 era and reports of how people have been slowly trickling into the churches it seems we have lost some numbers withing the year. However few churches within the annum seem to have grown more than the past year, a few notables are, Zambia’s Kapiri Mposhi local Church, Cape Town District (South Africa), Bethel District and Rammah Zion District (Zimbabwe). Durban has had a balanced membership while Hebron District was razed to the ground.
2. Financial growth
We have seen an upsurge in the inflow of money in terms of our finances though there are new and pressing demands which have since been a drain to the much-improved financial in-flows. We still have a challenge with some not conforming to the norms and standards set by our internal auditor, Pastor Admire Musakwa. I ask us to refer to our International Admiration Finance Report for a detailed analysis of the same.
3. Spiritual growth
The measure of spiritual growth that informs me for the purposes of this report is based on:
a) Church attendance and participation
b) Tithing and giving
c) Marriages and/or weddings
d) Active ministry work and;
e) Personal and cooperate prayer
Based on my personal analysis of these, I see steady and pleasing growth spiritually in the ministry. This goes without mentioning that we still need to regain the spiritual momentum we had managed to raise prior to the Covid-19 times. It would seem to me that there has been a chasm has been created between our spiritual ministers and their superiors based on :
a) Superiors not really playing a parental role and caring for juniors.
b) Juniors who feel that superiors are only out to destroy their faith and work.
This has affected our spiritual well-being as times of meeting for spiritual upliftment dwindle as some of these meetings were decentralized by the Bishop.
4. Leadership Development and personal growth
I am happy to report to the board that many Overseers have taken up the initiative to train their leaders, especially at the beginning of their leadership terms. However, on the whole, it can be noted that our leadership training has taken a nose-dive. The school of ministry is not showing any signs of revival and the delegated leadership training and meetings are many times not happening at all. The Father’s House initiative is bankrupt as many times when the meetings are called, most ministers give excuses for not attending.
We also need to be very deliberate about teaching individual personal growth. Alongside the spiritual aspect, we need to teach and allow professionals in the church and beyond to minister to others on how to take over different mountains and do so exceptionally. The Sunday service preaching has tried doing so, though.
5. Assembly performance
I will not refer to this. Rather I will give a summarized personal view of the nations where our members are present:
Bahrain: the church has been closed here after a number of issues happened with the leadership and followers. The pastors have since left the ministry.
Botswana: continued financial and moral support streams in but we are still unsure of the plans to start assembling there in our name.
Mozambique: very little is being reported from this end of the year.
South Africa: while very difficult financial challenges, especially to the welfare of the Overseers, the church remains resolute and pushes for greater things. Their Tiyambuke Leaders’ conference was a resounding success
United Kingdom: the growing numbers of members we have there are hopeful that a move from Africa will help initiate a vibrant church there.
Zimbabwe: the church here has also remained resolute despite a discernible decrease in the morale of the leadership. The church keeps pushing and forging ahead.
6. Organizational capacity
A clearly defined organogram has been availed. A lot of structures and policies have been put in place. However, on this we still have a challenge with managing change as people keep asking after the same things that have been taught, resistance to change, and in some cases outright sabotage of the systems. I guess using secular and political gimmicks to achieve goals in the church is a show of failure in using godly influence to move the church forward. We also need to educate people on the way things must be done. We are still to finish rolling out the policies and well as polishing some others. The way some things are being rum needs to be aligned to the constitution as some divert from the constitutional dictates. The constitution itself needs to be revised as some of its provisions may not be relevant in regard to the changes in time, growth, and social climate of the church.
Our national, provincial, and district offices need to be empowered and themselves be properly constituted. In some cases, we have of a one-person “committee” or a powerless committee where all decisions are made by one person and others simply follow.
7. Quality of services
On the whole, our quality of services is basically low. Over 80% of our services are held without or with little or no proper public address systems, or musical instruments, and time management is a big problem: both starting and finishing times. This is also true of additional gadgets such as overhead projectors, pulpits, and others The quality is also affected by our lack of proper places of worship that give the outlook that we expect. Thumbs up to Kapiri who now have a place of worship of their own.
8. Marketing and advertising
With the exception of a few assemblies, most of our assemblies have no active marketing and advertising hands that push for people to know them and invite people to their services. Most national offices are not even noticeable online, do not have any presence, and rarely advertise any of their events online. Most are not present on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
9. Structuring and layout
Please refer to number 6.
10. Properties procurement and asset management
Thanks to our great members, leaders, and administrators, we have managed to obtain a number of properties. May we refer to the Admin report for proper asset registers. The biggest problem we have is with the management of such assets. While it seems that Zimbabwe has the greatest number of both movable and immovable properties it seems South Africa is better placed in both registering and being accountable for both.
I am happy with a few Harare churches that are pushing to procure church stands. Conversely, it is sad to note that the majority have never moved a finger in that direction. All our national offices ha
Our building committee has failed to rope in the building of other stands and has done little this year in the movement of the building at the ministry’s headquarters. The building in Zambia has gone on without the eye of the committee.
11. Calendar of events
The calendar has been fully constituted and will be shortly available to all of us from the office of the Secretary-General.
12. Financial Report
Please refer to the Admin/Financial reports
Conclusion
I would like to thank you all for the great effort and work you are putting in to raise the standards of ministry high. The selfless sacrifices of many of us here present are touching and should never go without mention. Your contributions are priceless and highly appreciated. May the lord richly bless you. I am making a call to you that you stand, pray, finance, and push the mandate more as we prepare for greater things in 2023 and beyond.
Thank you, tatenda, ngiyabonga, twalumba!
Compiled by: Apostle Pride Sibiya
(Bishop: Glory Ministries).
