Church Splits As Pastor Marries His Secretary Four Months After The Death Of His Wife.

Reverend Amon Chinyemba, pastor of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Zimbabwe, caused a rift in the church after he had married his secretary four months after his wife died.

According to a report by H-Metro, Reverend Amon married his secretary, Nyaradzo Chibhememe, at an elaborate ceremony held in Hatfield by Rev Manyika. It is said that Reverend Chinyemba belongs to the AFM faction headed by Reverend Cossum Chiangwa.

The wedding ceremony left several mixed feelings as they wondered if it was fitting for Chinyemba to marry too soon after the death of his wife, Siphiwe Chinyemba.

While the two are speculated to be romantically involved before the reverend's wife died in August, others said that the Reverend married too soon because he needed a wife to qualify for the presidency of the AFM next year.

However, AFM's spokesperson for Reverend Chiangwa, Reverend Peter Kefias, denied the assertion and further insisted that there was nothing wrong with the wedding because Reverend Chinyemba had followed all the cultural and traditional protocols of his wife's death.

He said;

“Rev Chinyemba had no pressure to marry his new wife Nyaradzo Chibhememe who has been widowed for the past 20 years.

“The two fell into a relationship for one and half months before tying the knot and his three daughters-Prudence, Patience and Precious-are grown-ups and married.

“Yes, Prudence was supposed to be married according to custom on 12th December 2020. The date was moved to next year to allow the wedding to take place.”

On the belief that Reverend Chinyemba was romantically involved with his secretary before his wife died, Kefas revealed that Chinyemba had tried to marry a widow from another ZAOGA Pentecostal church.

It was gathered that he turned to his secretary after the widow's marriage arrangements had not worked out.

The spokesperson added;

“Rev Chinyemba’s marriage was not a secret and at one time he met Dr Ezekiel Guti with the intention to be allowed to marry one of the ZAOGA widows, but it was not God’s will. (sic). 

“He saw it best to take his secretary as his wife since she has been widowed for some years and he took AFM Council co-workers as part of his bridal crew.

“Those who are making noise about this wedding could of the other faction as you know that the AFM split is still pending before the courts of law.

“We would like to suggest that church politics is at play here and might be the other faction members who are up to tarnish Rev Chinyemba’s name.”