Impacting the economy through worship: A framework for faith communities as agents of sustainable development

Impacting the economy through worship: A framework for faith communities as agents of sustainable development

Crispen Tirivangani

Issue: Vol. 7 No.8 2026 Article 1 pp. 2180 – 2190
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2026781Published online 29th September 2026

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ABSTRACT

Religious gatherings in sub-Saharan Africa — among them the Mufaro of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe, the Rufaro of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe, the Mbungo of the Zimbabwe Zion Church (ZZC), and the conventions of the United Family International Church (UFIC) — draw hundreds of thousands of worshippers each year. The economic, social, and environmental footprints these events leave behind are vast, yet they remain largely untapped as instruments of national development. Methodologically, the paper adopted a qualitative desktop research approach, combining thematic document analysis of academic literature, institutional reports, and grey literature with a structured search and inclusion strategy, triangulated across academic, governmental, and international-agency sources. The findings reveal a sharp divide between the small number of faith communities that have invested in planned, infrastructure-equipped convention sites and the majority that continue to gather in unserved bush locations, with associated deforestation, water contamination, and public health risk; they also identify pioneering models, such as UFIC’s Life Haven and elements of the ZZC convention infrastructure, that demonstrate the FBEDF’s feasibility. On this basis, the paper recommends coordinated action by faith community leadership, national government, and development partners, including the adoption of environmental charters, the designation of major gathering sites as development priority zones, and targeted investment in master planning and capacity-building. The paper’s principal contribution to scholarship is the FBEDF itself: the first framework to integrate environmental, infrastructural, theological, and economic dimensions of faith-based development specifically for Zimbabwe’s underserved apostolic and Zionist church context, extending a literature that to date has concentrated primarily on Nigerian and South African faith-based development models.

Keywords: Worship, Economy, Development, Religious, Sustainable.

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ABOUT AUTHOR(S)

Crispen Tirivangani (Rev.) is a PhD candidate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where his research focuses on New Testament Parables and the intersection of faith, community development, and economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. He serves as Deputy Chaplain at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe, and is an ordained Pastor of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe. His work bridges practical pastoral ministry and academic inquiry, with a particular interest in how African faith communities can become relevant change agents.

TO CITE ARTICLE

Tirivangani, Crispen. “Impacting the economy through worship: A framework for faith communities as agents of sustainable development.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 7, no.8 (2026): 2180- 2190 https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2026781