DR. MACHENGETE CHALLENGES THE MEANING OF SUCCESS IN NEW BOOK

By Nelson Geje

Dr Pastor Andrew Machengete is inviting readers to reconsider how they measure a successful life in a new book that connects achievement with purpose, faith and the difference a person makes in the lives of others.

Redefining Success: Purpose, Faith, and Impact Beyond Wealth will be launched on 21 November 2026 at Batanai Gardens in Harare.

For anyone who has worked hard yet felt left behind, the book offers a hopeful starting point: a person's worth cannot be reduced to a salary, possessions or public recognition.

“Success must be redefined before it can be rightly pursued,” Machengete writes in his author's note.

Machengete, the national secretary for evangelism in AFM in Zimbabwe, presents success as faithfully becoming and doing what God created and called a person to be and do.

His approach places responsibility alongside ambition. Education, enterprise and professional achievement have value, while the methods used to pursue them, their effect on others and their cost to personal integrity also matter.

Across 13 chapters, he examines purpose, small beginnings, character and the use of money. The discussion extends to adversity, relationships, leadership, family and community responsibility, health, legacy and finishing well.

The examples bring these ideas into everyday life. A graduate developing skills while waiting for employment, or a parent whose sacrifices receive little recognition, can find reasons to value progress that attracts no public applause.

The chapter on adversity offers particular encouragement to readers rebuilding after disappointment. Machengete separates a failed undertaking from a person's identity and encourages honest reflection, support and the next practical step towards recovery.

He makes room for grief and acknowledges that losses may not be reversed as people hope. Perseverance involves learning to move forward with greater wisdom and help from others.

The book also invites readers to examine what their ambitions are doing to their relationships. It asks whether those closest to them receive attention and care, and whether leadership helps other people grow.

These themes speak to circumstances familiar to Zimbabwean readers, including unemployment, informal enterprise and migration that separates families. Machengete also examines the pressure to display prosperity when private life is under strain.

Reflection is accompanied by action. Readers are encouraged to test their sense of purpose through a manageable 90-day project, review how they use their resources and identify relationships that need attention.

One exercise asks readers to keep a monthly record of income, obligations, debt, saving, development and giving. Another turns reflection on adversity into a small action that can be completed within seven days.

Scripture, reflection questions and closing prayers accompany the teaching, giving readers a framework they can return to as their circumstances change.

Redefining Success follows Machengete's first book, Discovering, Nurturing and Exposing Hidden Treasures: A Narration of Handeyi neVhangeri Kumusha, which recounts his early hardships and the ministry's work of developing overlooked gifts in rural communities.

That earlier account recalls how, while studying in South Africa in 2008, he shared bananas and leftover food with hungry Zimbabweans. The episode provides a practical illustration of the service the new book asks readers to value.

His wife, Pastor Zithulele Machengete, is a pillar of his strength and a partner in his ministry. The earlier book describes her as prayerful and compassionate, recounting how her home sheltered disadvantaged people and how her support helped sustain Handeyi neVhangeri Kumusha.

Her contribution gives personal context to the new book's emphasis on relationships and the people whose support makes a life of service possible.

For readers seeking a Christian guide to purposeful achievement, Redefining Success is a must-read. Its practical exercises encourage them to recognise their gifts and make deliberate choices about how to use them.

As the Harare launch approaches, one question from the book captures the challenge it places before its readers: “Who becomes stronger because I lived?”