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The well-known nightclub is dead quiet on Sunday morning, after revellers have had an all-out binge the previous night.
But then it suddenly explodes at mid-morning, with triumphant shouts of “Hallelujah, Amen” emanating from the dance floor.
Residents of the suburb are always taken aback by the sudden change of characters at the place. This is when the night club turns into a church! Welcome to Calitoz, a night club that transforms into a place of worship on Sunday mornings.

Each Sunday, church members quickly clear the trash from the dance floor to make way for a church service a few hours later.
Imagine a pastor passionately preaching to a congregation that is facing rows of neatly arranged bottles of alcoholic beverages.
That is exactly what happens at Calitoz Night Club where church services are conducted right inside the bar.

This fascinating scene in Avonlea is typical of many other areas where Christians are increasingly worshipping in bars.
This has sparked debate, with some condemning the practice, while others say there is absolutely nothing wrong with such arrangements because God does not dwell in physical buildings.
Well-known gospel preacher and commentator Bishop Noah Pashapa said it was improper for Christians to use bars for worship.

He said churches must try by all means to shun areas that are spiritually at variance with the gospel.
“Places such as beerhalls are associated with crime and drugs, they are diametrically opposed to the God of the Bible,” said Bishop Pashapa.
“I think Christians should shun those places as they are linked to the spiritual occult.”

Bishop Pashapa said by worshipping in bars, Christians would be patronising a venue designated for a purpose that creates unnecessary spiritual conflict.
He recommended multi-purpose venues, such as community halls, for church services.

But it appears as if it is no longer an issue for a church to share the same premises with a bar.
It all started with churches acquiring movie houses and turning them into places of worship.
Actually, a number of former movie houses in the city are now vibrant, with church services taking place almost each day.

But it seems that the latest trend shows that the churches are now targeting bars.
Earlside Hotel in the city’s Avenues area at one time hosted both a church and a bar.
The situation was actually worse at the place, in that patrons would drink beer at the premises, while a church service was going on.

Earlside was once turned into a brothel, but the practice stopped when a prostitute was murdered by an unknown assailant in her room.
In Mutare, for example, the situation is quite bizarre, where the Sports Cafe Night Club operates on the ground floor, while church services take place on the second floor of the same building.
A vendor at Avonlea Shopping Centre, Ms Merit Musonza, said the church had been hiring out Calitoz Night Club every Sunday since last year.
“The venue is used as a church on Sunday mornings and reverts to being a nightclub in the evening and the subsequent days,” he said.
“I am also a Christian, but I find it improper for a church to use a bar as a place of worship.
“Many people in this area are actually wondering why a church would do such a thing.”

Ms Musonza said the idea of worshipping the Almighty in a bar was taboo as it was against the morals of Christian tradition.
She said she could not stomach the idea of worshipping God while surrounded by crates of beer and other remnants left by revellers the previous night.
The situation is set to worsen with the Harare City Council indicating that it has run out of space for building of churches.
The council’s then finance chairperson, the late Mrs Ruth Kavhunika, said during the presentation of the 2011 budget last year that the provision of land for building stands remained a challenge within the city council.

The city council then resolved to engage Government to address the land shortages.
Even though there are mixed reactions concerning the sharing of premises between bars and churches, some ministers of the gospel have no problem with the practice.  
A pastor with World Church of Faith, Mr Nesbert Gwata, said there was nothing wrong with using nightclubs to worship God.
He said the Holy Spirit was more powerful than any other forc. As such, there was nothing wrong from a spiritual point of view to worship in any place.

“Of course, it is a tricky situation in that the Bible says we should not associate with the things of the world,” said Pastor Gwata.
“But on the whole, there is nothing wrong except from an image point of view.”
Pastor Gwata said the nightclub would likely be the loser if prayers were banned.
“The power of the Holy Spirit overrides everything and I believe the nightclub is the one that is likely to lose its business because of that power,” he said.

Some of the church leaders criticised the exorbitant commercial rates levied by the city council on churches that hire community halls.
Such high rates, they said, forced the churches to look for alternatives, including bars.
The general secretary for the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Reverend Lindani Dube, said churches were resorting to beerhalls and nightclubs due to a lack of alternative places of worship.
“Given a viable option, I am certain that churches would not opt for such places like bars,” he said.
“Of course, as evangelicals we dream of beerhalls being converted to conference centres as people turn to Christ in great numbers and as people resort to seek solace in Christ than in beer.

“However, for churches who currently use such places normally there is an effort to create a preferred environment which is less destructive to liturgical processes.”
Rev Dube said that the other challenge was that places like schools and community halls were now being run commercially and most churches could not afford the rentals.

“My humble plea is that the concerned authorities treat churches as entities which add value to the moral and spiritual fabric of the community than treating them as profit-making entities,” he said.
But it remains to be seen if the churches would sustain the new practice of worshipping in bars without attracting the wrath of other Christians.
Apart from beerhalls and nightclubs, churches share other facilities with worldly functions that have nothing to do with God.
Perhaps many other churches will simply follow the practice by apostolic faith sects that worship in open spaces.