Bishop Shikwambane agog over new status
Bishop Shikwambane now Arch Bishop Dr Shikwambane
Benson Ntlemo
World renowned cleric Bishop Hoveni Robert Shikwambane of the High Dimension Christian Fellowship in Malamulele, Limpopo Province, has received double honour.
The 81 year old was last week honoured by the Living Faith Ministries Inc. based in Duluth, Appleton in the state of Wisconsin in the United States.
A certificate was presented to him at the event in his church in Malamulele a week ago.
Messages on the certificate presented to him by the organization’s president Dr Billy M Ferg and vice president Reverend Dawn S ferg said: “Hoveni Robert Shikwambana said Shikwambane was awarded the degree “after satisfactory examination of his service to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
”He is awarded the doctor of divinity with all rights, privileges, immunities, and honours thereto appertaining. In testimony whereof they have the honorary diploma to be sealed with the seal of the ministry subscribed by the only authorized officers of The Living Faith Ministries, Inc. on this day of 1 October in the year of our Lord 2021.”
The honour has gone down very well with many people in Malamulele who have seen the pastor’s hard work over the years.
One of the people who appreciated the gesture was Dr Willy Maswanganyi, the leader of God’s Fire church at Mdabula also in the Collins Chabane Local municipality in Limpopo .
Dr Maswanganyi was one of the people who sent a proposal and requested the honour to be bestowed to the bishop.
“My father is the legend who selflessly worked hard for the community and I was overjoyed when he was finally honored,” said Maswanganyi.
“As someone who was honoured by the very same institution and others, I asked myself, what about my father?”
“I said my father deserves a higher honour than me and that is done with the position of an Arch Bishop,” said Dr Maswanganyi.
“This is the testimony of the great work God used him to accomplish,” added Dr Maswanganyi.
The arch was also elated. “I have been overwhelmed with emotions to find that someone like me with my broken English is honoured in that way,” he said.
“I was not aware that people were seeing what I was doing over the years,” said Arch Bishop Shikwambane. For years I was serving God and changing the world,” he said.
Born at Mafarana village outside Tzaneen on April 14 1940, his turning point was when two people gentlemen dressed in brown visited his home and talked to his father.
“Who is your shephered?,” they asked, his father Nelson Shikwambane.
When the old man talked about the boy who was looking after his sheep, the men asked about his personal shepherd, God.
“When they went out of our household, I followed them but out of the gate I do not know how they ended up. Since then I became born again although I had no Bible at the time,” said the Arch who thinks the men were angels and they were not coming for his father but for him.
He left school at Standard 1, now grade 3.
He sought admission to study at the Central Bible College and was grated conditional admission, despite it being without any recommendation from any church.
After enrolling in 1976 and completed in 1977, the AFM Church appointed him as a pastor on a 6 months’ probation and God directed him to Malamulele.
“Operating from a tin shack, I was the laughing stock but after some time people ate humble pie because I also bought cars and a bus.
In 1979, the late Pastor Reinard Bonke who was from Germany came to Malamulele and roped Shikwambane to his Christ for All Nations team, preaching at crusades and praying for people.
Shikwambane later established 61 churches in 81 villages.
In 1982, he furthered his studies with the attendance of the whole year evangelism seminar at the Roberts University in the United States of America.
While in the US, a junior pastor was assigned to minister to his churches.
He later sought permission from his church to expand his territory and preached in neighbouring Mozambique where he planted 35 AFM branches.
He resigned in 1992 to start his international mission work.
In his missionary work, pastor Bonke also invited him to a Europe tour where they preached in Finland and Germany.
He was also invited to teach in Holland with Billy graham. He also parched in Switzerland and Israel.
At home in Africa, he has preached in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.
He currently conducts mission work with Living Word Ministries and Faithnet in South Africa where he does mission work in five African countries.
He is the provincial manager of 85 churches and a spiritual father of more than 20 pastors.
He is the leader of High Dimension Christian Fellowship in Malamulele with 5 branches.
