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Our Story

Forty-six years of building.

One guitar, $700, and a country in change. From the onset, we sought to build a community of believers that love God and serve all people.

Chapter One · 1980

Two missionaries.
One city. One calling.

Celebration Church International was founded by Pastor Tom and Pastor Bonnie Deuschle in 1980. From the onset we sought to build a community of believers that love God and serve all people, from the homeless to refugees to street people.

Our mission is to transform lives and reform nations — through building people, building dreams, building the Kingdom of God.

"It was more or less like breaking new ground. It was something that had not been seen before. We had different races come together and all become part of something far greater than ourselves."

— Pastor Tom Deuschle · Early Years

Chapter Two · 1989 – 2003

Building By Faith.

Not long after starting the church, we sensed that God was leading us to put down roots in the local community of Harare. Building a home to base from became an exciting faith journey.

Over a fourteen-year journey of construction, the Celebration Centre became a religious and cultural tourism site. The process began in the late 80s; in 2003, the building was complete. The building was paid for in its entirety through the generous giving of its members — accomplished while the local economy was entering its most notorious period of hyper-inflation.

Years to build

3,800

Seats in the Centre

100%

Member-funded

Chapter Three · The Sound

Forty years of worship,
led from this house.

For forty years, Pastor Bonnie Deuschle has led the music ministry — a sound to accompany the message of the movement, the message of reformation.

The music has reached millions: national leaders, refugees, prisons, disadvantaged communities, and congregations across Africa, America, Europe and Australia. Most of the songs were written out of the experiences we faced as a nation and as a congregation.

▶ Open the Worship Room

"The people I formed for Myself shall declare My praise."
— Isaiah 43:21

Chapter Four · The Movement

From one house in Harare
to four continents.

Eighty churches and counting. Some are mother-funded plants, some are satellites of older campuses, some are diaspora congregations gathering in living rooms. All of them sing the same songs.

50+

Zimbabwe

Mother house · Borrowdale + Highfield + 50 satellite campuses

View campuses →

Mozambique

Across the central provinces and the southern corridor

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Zambia

Lusaka and the Copperbelt

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South Africa

Cape Town, Johannesburg, Bulawayo-adjacent border

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Malawi

Northern, central, and southern regions

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UK · USA · Australia

Diaspora congregations gathering monthly

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Find every Celebration campus →

Chapter Five · The Founders

Pastor Tom & Pastor Bonnie Deuschle.

Pastor Tom Deuschle

Founder & Senior Pastor

Arrived in then-Zimbabwe in 1979 with a guitar and $700. Founded Celebration Church International with Bonnie in 1980. Has led the church for forty-six years, preaching weekly from the Centre in Borrowdale and visiting Celebration campuses across Africa, Europe, and the Pacific.

Pastor Bonnie Deuschle

Co-founder & Music Ministry Lead

Co-founded Celebration with Tom in 1980. Has led the music ministry for forty years, teaching praise and worship across Africa, America, Europe, and Australia. Author of The Great Connection. The voice on every Celebration album from 1985 to today.

The Call

"You don't see the church as a congregation. You see the church in individual people's lives. People are the problem, but then people are the solution as well."

— Pastor Tom Deuschle

CELEBRATION CHURCHES

INTERNATIONAL

Since 1979.
Building people, building dreams,
building the Kingdom of God.

Worship

Sundays