Samuel Mutendi

Bishop Samuel Mutendi (c.1890-1976) was the founder of the Zimbabwean branch of the Zion Christian Church, which under his leadership grew to a membership of 250,000 at his death, and which is believed to be three times larger today and one of the largest religious organizations in the country. As the religious leader responsible for the popularization of Zionist Christianity into Zimbabwe, he is arguably the most influential religious personality in the country's history.

Mutendi was born in the Bikita region of Zimbabwe, apparently to a family descended from the Rozvi royal line. Before the late 1920s he went by his birth name of Samuel Moyo, but later changed it to Mutendi as his stature as a leader was increasing. According to autobiographical sections of his sacred writings, Rungano Rwa Zion Christian Church, Mutendi was born prematurely and was expected to die. The name "Mutendi" is a shortened colloquial reference to his eyes opening after being left for dead by his family members.

Mutendi was literate even though he never attended school. He was taught to read and write by a male relative. In his early adulthood he took a job with the British South Africa Police and was stationed at Chegutu. According to the Rungano, Mutendi was visited by the Angel Gabriel in 1913 at a time when he was not religious. Further visions, especially after 1919, encouraged him to seek a religious path and foretold his rise as a religious leader. In the early 1920s Mutendi quit his police job and returned to Bikita, where he joined the local Dutch Reformed Church mission. Mutendi felt compelled to preach as a layman, but his accounts of his visions and his calls for converts to experience "fire baptism" were unacceptable in the conservative DRC. During this time, three acquaintances of Mutendi's ventured to South Africa as migrant workers, and were converted to Zionist Christianity in the Transvaal. Mutendi then heard of his friends' experiences, and went to South Africa himself with a colleague named Andreas Shoko. During their time in the Transvaal, Mutendi and Shoko were baptized by Engenas Lekganyane—then a member of the Zion Apostolic Faith Mission.

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