Ezekiel Guti was a distinguished academic cum religious leader in Zimbabwe. He is the founder of the Forward in Faith International Ministries which has branches in Zimbabwe and abroad.
He was also chancellor and founder of the Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University. He was affectionately referred to as Baba Guti (meaning Father Guti).
Guti died on 5 July 2023.
Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti was born on 5 May in 1923 in an area called Ngaone in the small town of Chipinge in the Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. He was married to Eunor Guti who is also a religious leader in the church.
The couple had a child together, Ezekiel Junior Guti who was also an evangelist in their ministry. Guti Jnr died in December 2018.
Guti held a number of degrees from different academic institutions. He held a Bachelor of Christian education and Doctorate from Northgate Graduate School, from Zoe College USA. He also had the following qualifications: BA; MA; D.D; D Min and PhD in Religion.
Between 1948 and 1949, Guti travelled to the then Salisbury (now Harare) where he met a man he had been shown in a dream who explained and baptised him. He started to speak in tongues.
He preached in Mbare but was to be chased from the church after getting extensive press coverage. In 1958, he ministered in Highfield, in an Assemblies pf God church started by a South African pastor who had been chased from his own church. Guti too was later to be expelled from that pastor’s church as the leaders the pastor had left on his return to South Africa had not liked him.
The church is now a big empire, operating in 106 countries worldwide. It has diverse investments, including 120 dressmaking schools in Zimbabwe, bible schools, colleges and vocational training centres, hospitals and clinics, primary and secondary schools, and so many other properties in various countries.
In 2010, ZAOGA FIFMI celebrated its 50th anniversary, where Guti addressed a crowd of over 50,000 believers in Zimbabwe at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
The event was broadcast live on Ezekiel TV, a Christian television network broadcasting from South Africa, found by Guti and wife.
On the international arena, Guti has accepted invitations to preach and teach in several African nations, Europe, USA, Asia-Pacific countries, and the Bahamas. He has spoken in Bible schools, colleges, universities, and on Television and Radio programs.
Guti has founded bible schools in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Zambia, and Mozambique where he has trained over 4,000 pastors from more than 55 nations. He also founded the Forward in Faith Orphanage Center, F.I.F Children’s Ministry, F.I.F College and High School Ministry, Gracious Women’s Fellowship International, along with the Husband’s Agape International Fellowship. He oversees over five thousand pastors and evangelists worldwide and is a great intercessor, a man of love and compassion, with a hunger to win souls to Jesus Christ.
Guti is also well known for performing miracles, and in 2009, a prominent singer, visually impaired and former Jairosi Jiri Band member, David Mabvuramuti, who had only six per cent vision due to the hereditary illness retinitis pigmentosa, was able to see for the first time in his life after Guti prayed for him.
In July 2020, Archbishop Ezekiel Guti was listed, in the BSR of 18 July 2020, as a beneficiary in the 2007 RBZ Farm Mechanisation Scheme, as a result of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme.
The data is analysed by recipients origin:.
- Mashonaland provinces had the most beneficiaries, both in terms of numbers and value.
Mashonaland East got US$47,5 million,
Mashonaland West US$44,7 million
Mashonaland Central had US$34,2 million.
- Two Matebeleland provinces had a combined total of US$13,9 million.
- Masvingo US$26,4 million,
- Manicaland US$18 million
- Midlands US$14 million.
Archbishop Ezekiel Guti, is listed under the thematic group “The Clergy”. He is listed as owing US$116,693.00.
Guti was behind the establishment of Mbuya Dorcas Health Centre in Zimbabwe.
In December 2010, ZAOGA was granted a licence by the Zimbabwean government to set up the Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University in Bindura in Mashonaland Central Province.
He has also funded a number of children;s homes, orphanages, old people’s homes, health service centres and academic institutions including ZEGU.
Guti has written a number of books majoring on Christian life. Some of the publications are as follows;
A Wise Man
Lessons from Life and Ministry
Prayer of a Righteous Man.
The History of ZAOGA FIF.
The Book of Remembrance
Human Beings Cannot Change Without Pressure
Maturity Which Comes by Knowing the Ways of God
New African Apostle
Foundations
Two Ways of Knowing God
Effective Preaching that draws People to God
Church and Political Responsibility
Principles of the Doctrine of Christ
Understanding your Angels
Laws and Responsibilities of a Leader
Leaders Manual for Home fellowship groups or Cells
Defending your Blessings
Secret Wisdom in time of difficulty and the power of words
Why is it that Some Believe the Gospel and others Do not
Strategies for Saving marriages for this generation
Believers guide for Blessings
Pathway to Praise & Worship
Maturity, which comes by knowing the ways of God
My Yoke is easy
Charitable Deeds
Do you want to know what people expect when they come to church?
ZAOGA Sunday Morning Bible Study
So now I am an Elder what am I expected of?
ZAOGA Ushers Manual.