Strong support for Israel among religiously committed Christians has long been an American phenomenon. Now a group of British clergy, led by a Pentecostal pastor named Oliver Manyemba, is seeking to change that. Manyemba’s Christian Watchmen over Zion (CWZ) is rapidly recruiting members and making its presence felt. Ari Soffer writes:
Born in Zimbabwe, Manyemba was active for several years in some of the more established Christian Zionist organizations in London, but noticed a frustrating trend: while longstanding groups were indeed working hard to fight in Israel’s corner, they were doing so without reaching beyond a very narrow demographic base of white, middle-aged (or older) Church of England Christians. Millions of potentially sympathetic Christians, most notably among black and South Asian communities, were not being reached, and Manyemba resolved to fix that.
[CWZ] is non-denominational, with members spanning the gamut . . . from Roman Catholics to [adherents of the] Church of England and Eastern Christians. But CWZ’s core constituency and driving force is the rapidly growing Pentecostal movement, particularly among the African and Afro-Caribbean communities.
Its objective is to reconnect Christians to authentic Biblical teachings—most importantly, the place of the cause of Israel or “Zion” and Jerusalem as a central focus of Christian belief. And its success in just two years has been staggering, drawing in thousands of grassroots members along with an ever-increasing number of churches. . . .
“In Zimbabwe, when we prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, we thought of our families or our village. But that’s not what God had in mind—He was talking about the real, physical Jerusalem!” Manyemba explains.
Read more on Israel National News: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/200125