Borrowdale Community Church (BCC) began not with a building or a budget — but with a challenge and a prayer. In December 1999, after a Sunday service at Mbare Community Church, Pastor N. Mnkandla looked at the Mount Pleasant home group and issued a call: take the gospel to the northern suburbs.

That home group, which met at the residence of Mr Norman and Mrs Euphemia Sachikonye and was led by Mr R.R. and Mrs C. Ranganayi, responded not with immediate action, but with intentional prayer. Members gathered every Sunday afternoon and drove through the proposed neighbourhood, interceding for a pastor, a venue, instruments, chairs, a children’s programme — and for the souls of the people who lived there.

On Sunday, 9th July 2000, the pioneering families were prayed out from Mbare Community Church. One week later, on a cold Harare morning — 16th July 2000 — Borrowdale Community Church held its inaugural service at GG’s Restaurant at the Borrowdale Racecourse. The message, preached by Pastor Mnkandla, was drawn from Matthew 4:18–19: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”