The past twenty to thirty years in the history of Zimbabwean
Christianity have witnessed the emergence of a new breed of Pentecostalism
that tends to attract the middle and upper classes urban residents. This
paper presents findings from a case study of one such movement, the Family
of God church. It describes and analyses the origins, growth and development
of this church as an urban modern Pentecostal movement. The first
section of the paper discusses the origins and development of the church
focusing on the life of the founder. The second section focuses on the teaching
and practices of the church. The church’s doctrines and practices are
here analysed to find out the extent to which these have been influenced
by the socio-political and economic challenges in the urban areas. The paper
concludes that the modern Pentecostal movement is meant to address urban
needs.