At least nine churches recently participated in the choral competitions hosted by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches Budiriro fraternal Community in partnership with Heal Zimbabwe Trust.
The competition which took place at the Anglican Church in Budiriro 2 brought diverse community members from 9 different churches in Budiriro.
Some of the churches that participated are The Salvation Army, Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, CPCA Anglican Church, Reformed Church of Zimbabwe and United Church of Christ Zimbabwe.
The choral competitions are an annual contest where different churches that fall under the Zimbabwe Council of Churches Budiriro fraternal community come together and compete in choral competitions with the objective of fostering a culture of peace and tolerance in the community.
“The initiative comes against a backdrop of violent clashes in Budiriro in June between members of the Apostolic Sect and the police. The platform presented an opportunity for interaction and promotion of non violent resolution of community conflicts.
“Churches in the past have been used as mediums of conflict resolutions in communities but of late reports of intra and inter party conflicts have been reported hence the need to make strides towards bringing churches together as community torch bearers who champion peaceful coexistences amongst communities,” reads part of the statement by Heal Zimbabwe.
The partnership is part of Heal Zimbabwe’s strategy of building synergies with local community peace building structures for the promotion of sustainable peace. The initiative will be spread to other areas especially rural areas which are most affected by political polarization and intolerance acknowledging that churches can play a pivotal role in uniting communities.