If the church stands by and folds its hands, the corruption and evil in society will only grow. In a modern world, historical creeds and confessions are seen as outdated and retrogressive by the masses. But, unbeknownst to those starved of such delicacies, they are of importance because they serve as a guide and standard of historical and biblical theology. The men and women who have gone before us understood the importance of the Lord’s Day, they upheld it as holy and took time to rest and worship God, we must, if we are to be impactful for Christ take heed and follow suit lest we lose our children and their children to the ways of the world.

In the Southern African country of Zimbabwe, Harare lies as a rapidly growing capital city that is bursting at the seams. Many years ago the population was officially estimated at 2 million. A few more censuses have been taken since then, but it is hard to come up with the true figure as the Government of the land is inadequately resourced to effectively carry out a successful census of the people of Harare, not to mention Zimbabwe! The population is something to behold, especially on Sundays. Yes, that’s correct, on Sundays!

Normally, weekdays in big cities are characterised by the hooting of cars and the calling out of touts who are either selling oranges and apples or directing the masses to their ‘ride home’. The CBD sounds like a symphony of migrating bees, there isn’t much space to maneuver and everyone is in a rush to get somewhere. Sadly, this too is the status quo of Harare on a Sunday. When the rest of us are coming from gathering with the Lord’s people, the CBD is busier than ever. I could be accused of making sweeping statements or judging wrongly, but based on what has been happening on the ground, the hoards of Hararians are not coming from church, but are trading! In other words, for many people, the best day to go for any sort of shopping is a Sunday.

I suggest two possible contributing factors for this:

1. The Domino Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdowns 

The COVID-19 shutdowns deserve to have their own chapter in church history. For many, this was a confusing time – churches split, people lost relatives and friends to bitter feuds, fights and death. It was not long after the pandemic spread that churches all over the world including our beloved Zimbabwe were shut down by overreaching Governments. The effects of these measures had devastating consequences for the church. Some professing Christians to this day have not gathered with the saints. Priority lists got shuffled; buying, selling, and getting ahead of the pack became a good enough reason to put gathering with believers on the back burner. The church was said to be ‘unessential’, thus the ‘essential’ took precedence as common practice.

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