The Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM) has deferred the Youth Conference that was scheduled to be held at Rufaro Conference Centre in Masvingo in April.
In a notice seen by Pindula News, the church said the move is one of the strategies adopted to counter the negative impact of low revenue inflows. Reads the notice sent to all Provincial Chairmen, Provincial Secretaries, Provincial Overseers, and Provincial Treasurers:
NATIONAL LEVIES AND FUNDRAISING
Calvary Greetings.
Due to the challenges faced by the Church over the past three years which include a barrage of court battles setting up of new structures, clearance of legacy issues and so forth, the Church was not in a good position to mobilize adequate financial resources to meet all its obligations and has in some instances, been inevitably lagging behind on meeting its commitments.
At its recent meeting, the National Executive Board noted that the revenues being generated and remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, are currently below expected levels, and not covering all the costs of the Church. It is against this background that the National Executive Board resolved to take some drastic measures to counter the negative impact of the above and implement a program of interventions for the purpose of extinguishing the growing debt burden and re-align costs to income levels.
Some of the interventions approved for implementation by the Board include:
a) Deferring March/April Provincial Spiritual Conferences, the National Youth Conference and National Ladies Conference. The rationale for the deferment is to reduce the impact of levies of these conferences on the revenue generation efforts of Assemblies. Separate communication will be issued with details of when these conferences have been rescheduled from the relevant offices.
b) Implementation of an urgent manpower audit with a view to rationalize the number of the Church’s employees.
c) Wage freeze in USD under the current wage levels.
The Board has further resolved that all Provinces shall be levied an amount based on the principle of equity, to raise the required funding according to the attached schedule.
We regret any inconveniences caused by the changes, which we anticipate will yield long-term benefits to the Church and key stakeholders. We appeal to all Provincial Boards and Leadership to ensure that the levied amounts are collected and remitted promptly. We look forward to the unwavering support of our formidable Church Membership to overcome this temporary challenge. Your efforts in this endeavour are greatly appreciated.