Madagascar, Home to 'First Shincheonji Church of Jesus Signboard Replacement', Experiences Growing Culture of Peace
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As of mid-October, 13,874 churches in 85 countries have signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Shincheonji
Church of Jesus, and 1671 churches in 43 countries have joined Shincheonji Church of Jesus and replaced their church signage with 'Shincheonji Church of Jesus'.
To change church signage means moving to a new denomination.
In Madagascar, where Christianity is divided into numerous denominations and instances of police and soldiers being deployed to suppress riots within churches are not an uncommon occurrence, one church pastor has witnessed a positive change to the once-chaotic reality of the religious community since changing the church signage to Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
After witnessing the Zion Christian Mission Centre’s 100,000 Graduation Ceremony in Daegu Stadium in November 2022 through social media, Pastor Rakotoniaina, who leads churches in the southern part of the island and was dismayed by the corruption worsening within the domestic church and church members falling away, desired change. In his words, “I concluded that the solution lay in the growth of Shincheonji Church of Jesus.” Pastor Rakotoniaina then drove for several days with his fellow pastors to Shincheonji Church of Madagascar (operated by the Simon Tribe of Shincheonji Church) in the capital, Antananarivo, to request changing denomination and signage.
Afterwards, in January 2023, Pastor Rakotoniaina took down the sign of the church he belonged to and replaced it with the sign of Shincheonji Church of Jesus. At that time, 33 churches changed their signs at the same time, and as of August, the number increased to 40 churches.
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Since changing church signage to Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Pastor Rakotoniaina says, “The loud sounds of 'Amen' and praise coming from the church every day have caused residents to become interested and inquire about Shincheonji Church of Jesus.” The local response is that the vibrant and peaceful culture of Shincheonji Church of Jesus is having a great influence on the local community.
To date, local pastors who completed the Zion Christian Mission Centre course taught about 5000 church members and an atmosphere of curiosity about Shincheonji Church of Jesus is forming in the regions where the church members belong.
In a land slow to develop due to the conflict between ethnicities and religions, a time of healing has come. The Shincheonji Madagascar Church in Antananarivo pledges to unite a society and religious circles riddled with conflict.
Note: An MOU in this context is an agreement that fosters mutual growth of the church, because it enables churches to have the revealed theology of Shincheonji Church of Jesus taught to respective church congregations through Bible-based material provided by Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Shincheonji lecturers are sometimes dispatched to the respective church, and at other times, respective church pastors who study and complete the revealed theology from the Zion Christian Mission Centre through an intensive 6-8 month Bible course - from Genesis to Revelation inclusive - go on to teach their congregations the revealed theology of Shincheonji Church.
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