Two Countries, One Faith

Young adults from the United States and South Africa find family in each other while partnering on an International World Changers mission project in South Africa.

A Hospital in Need

It’s tough to run a hospital without consistent electricity and water. Yet for decades people have flocked to this rural hospital in Zimbabwe, knowing they’ll receive good care and won’t be turned away if they can’t pay. A die-hard doctor and his family want to preserve the legacy.

A Time to Heal

In the tension surrounding Ivory Coast’s presidential stand-off (and the years of civil war leading up to it), people were victims of intimidation, curfews and stray bullets. Now, Christians give thanks to God and pursue reconciliation as life slowly returns to normal.

World’s Newest Nation

A spirit of excitement resonates among residents of South Sudan, poised to become the world’s newest nation on July 9, 2011. As independence day approaches, Christians anticipate more opportunities to share the Gospel and worship freely.

Off the Grid

It’s not often a family of four drops everything to disappear off the grid for three months. But that’s exactly what this small-town, Idaho-native family did, crossing coastlines and cultures to share God’s word in a small village in Senegal.

Years Not Wasted

Many college students stop going to church and ignore the things of God. “Those are a lot of wasted years,” says an advocate for Fusion, a program that combines discipleship and missions. “… Fusion was designed to … catch them in that very critical time in their lives…”

Unthinkable Forgiveness

In Rwanda’s genocide, thousands were hacked to death by machete, women were violently and repeatedly raped, and children’s heads were smashed into brick walls. Today, survivors are choosing to forgive those who mistreated them and killed their families.

No Time for Comfort

“It doesn’t matter how much I sweat,” says a worker with the Hands On program in Senegal. “It doesn’t matter how many days I go without taking a shower. It doesn’t matter if I have to eat something I don’t like. … All that matters is the Gospel.”

Caught in the Crossfire

“I murdered people, and I raped women, and I enjoyed it,” says a former rebel solder in eastern Congo. With the help of local pastors, he and hundreds of other soldiers found forgiveness in Christ. But they, and their victims, still struggle with what they’ve done.

Gospel Explosion

The Gospel is spreading like wildfire in rural Zimbabwe, where 700 people accepted Christ and six new churches started in the past year. A church planter says it’s the first time he’s “seen local community take ownership for the Gospel and understand their responsibility to share the Gospel.”

Glorifying God in Turmoil

As uprisings in Africa escalate, Christians are seeing God make Himself known in the midst of chaos. “We who are outside of the situation pray for and are partners with people inside the situation, and God is working through both of us to make Himself known,” says a seminary professor. Learn how you can pray.

Step by Step: Changing a Nation

A pastor adopts a troubled street kid. A couple stays pure till marriage. A smiling AIDS victim encourages patients at the clinic where she now works. Step by step, believers in Zambia are changing the makeup of a country with one of the world’s worst HIV/AIDS pandemics.

Nations Divided

President vs. president. Muslim vs. Christian. North vs. south. Throughout Africa political, religious and ethnic conflicts are dividing nations, and believers are calling on the global Christian community to pray for their countries.

A Christmas Greeting

Celebrate Christmas Africa style with this thoughtful rendition of a holiday classic. The drummer boy gladly offered what little he had to honor the newborn King. This holiday season, what gift will you give Him?

Beacon of Hope

Amid towering trash piles and open sewage, a small, tin-framed church is bringing hope to a Nairobi community. First Eastleigh Baptist Church trains former prostitutes and impoverished community members to start small businesses, and is seeking to share God’s love with Muslim neighbors.

World AIDS Day

Life’s not so sweet in Sweetwaters, a rural South African community where seemingly every yard is filled with graves. Many adults have died of AIDS, and children are left to care for their households. December 1 is a day to remember those suffering and learn ways we can help.

The Church Meets in Africa

Four thousand participants from 198 countries gather in Cape Town, South Africa, for perhaps the widest and most diverse gathering in the history of the church: the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.

First Contact

Centuries ago, Arab traders traveling by dhow brought Islam to Africa’s eastern coast. Now missionaries in Mozambique are using a dhow to spread the Gospel along those same shorelines.

People of the Rainforest

“Adventure evangelists” trek the rainforest of Madagascar, searching for hidden villages and assessing villagers’ challenges. Later, they’ll return to meet human needs while sharing the Gospel.

Back for More

Semester missionaries in “the great thirst land” of Botswana eagerly return the following year to pick up where they left off: planting new churches, encouraging young believers, and starting work in new areas.

Orphan Ministry

In Johannesburg’s squatter camps, AIDS is killing off a generation, and orphans are growing up virtually on the streets. Meet two women providing, love, care, counseling and provision of physical needs for these children.

Gospel Art

For centuries women in Africa, Asia and the Middle East have used henna, a temporary tattoo drawn onto hands, arms and legs, to beautify themselves. In east Africa, henna is used to illustrate and tell Bible stories — symbols in the drawings remind women of stories they’ve heard and help them tell others.

In Their Own Words

Throughout Africa, missionaries are planting their lives among unique people groups and demonstrating what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Here, in their own words, they share the joys and challenges of cross-cultural work.

To the Ends of the Earth

“Ends of the earth” is sometimes overused in mission circles, but eastern Niger really does feel like the most remote location on the planet. “The Gospel hasn’t made it here yet. That’s why we have to be here,” says a missionary. “…“Not everyone gets that opportunity, to be the first person to tell someone about Jesus.”

South Africa Is Still Here

The prayer of IMB urban missionaries in South Africa is that God would use the soccer World Cup to draw attention to the lost people of the nation’s cities. IMB missionaries minister in five cities that were hosts of the 2010 World Cup: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

World Cup Ministries – Part II

South Africa is the first African nation to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a soccer tournament that many deem the most anticipated sporting event on earth. Christians are taking advantage of this to share Christ in local communities through soccer clinics, big screen showings, and more.

World Cup Ministries

South Africa is the first African nation to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a soccer tournament that many deem the most anticipated sporting event on earth. Christians are taking advantage of this to share Christ in local communities through soccer clinics, big screen showings, and more.

Forty Years of Influence

Franklin and Paula Kilpatrick worked among Zambian Christians as publishers of Christian literature, as teachers, as church planters and as leaders, friends and counselors for forty years. They retire next year and feel like they could keep doing what they are doing another forty years.

Unopened Hearts

Ibrahima Dieng has heard the Gospel many times, he is no closer now to being a Christian than he was ten years ago. He is typical of many residents of Dakar, Senegal, a city that is 96 percent Muslim.

A Better Alternative

IMB missionary Alan Locke and his team have started various ministries to build relationships and community with Sowetans. From coaching boys’ soccer teams and teaching girls’ clubs to leading abstinence and Christian living trainings, the missionaries are making an impact with the Gospel.

Reaching Mungiki

Kenyan pastor Michael Kabochi’s life is regularly threatened by Mungiki, a quasi-religious sect that’s synonymous with machete killings, rape and organized crime. But, Kobochi bravely shares the Gospel with Mungiki, claiming, “The blood of Jesus was shed for them as much as it was for me.”

Fighting Neverland

Chronic conflicts in Sudan have led to food shortages, a damaged economy and a lack of access to basic health services, education and jobs. Young IMB missionaries are using HIV/AIDS awareness, hygiene projects and other methods to share the Gospel and meet community needs.

Human Trafficking

Raped and kicked out of home, “Lisha” turned to a boyfriend who eventually forced her into prostitution. Transferred to another pimp and coerced into moving, she’s far from home and desperate for a way out. But with the coming of the World Cup, human trafficking will only increase in South Africa.

Violence in Nigeria

Over the past several years, churches in Jos, Nigeria, have been shaken by violent outbreaks in which both Christians and Muslims were killed. Over 500 are dead after the most recent attacks in March, 2010. Pastors struggle to know how to encourage suffering congregations.

Fusion

Students spend a semester in southern Sudan putting into practice the previous semesters classroom learning of sharing about Jesus in harsh environment.

Africa Water Crisis

Baptist Global Response helps to relieve difficulties in obtaining potable water through pumping and filtering projects.

Healing Bodies, Healing Souls

All over the world, Christians use a variety of means to share the Gospel of Christ and reach the lost. For First Baptist Church of Alexander City, Alabama, hosting medical clinics opens the door to minister to both physical and spiritual needs.

“We escaped with our lives.”

The entire town, including the market area, was looted. All the food supplies were burned. In the end more than 10,000 people ran from Akot, Sudan, and the surrounding areas to seek shelter in 13 nearby villages.

Doll Maker

Kate Ncube hand makes and sells dolls of 17 southern Africa tribes, or people groups. “I enjoy learning about other cultures,” Kate said. “It gives me a lot of insight and helps me understand a person. To understand them, I must understand their culture!”

Mountain Men

Weeks without a bath. Blizzard conditions with only a coal stove for warmth. Layers of clothing that just get changed around every couple of days. Life is rough for three short-term missionaries in the mountains of Lesotho, but it’s worth it for the chance to share Christ’s love.

African-Americans Reaching Africans

Broadview Church is a pioneer — one of the first African-American congregations to tackle the challenge of taking the Gospel to an unreached people group in western Africa. “AfricaStories” will chronicle their journey, beginning here with their first vision trip.

Soccer in Soweto

An interschool soccer tournament in a South African township provides missionaries with opportunities to build relationships, impact a community and share the Gospel.

Just Another Way to Die

If things don’t change, the Basotho people of Lesotho may cease to exist in less than 26 years. They’re dying of AIDS — some by choice, since contracting HIV entitles them to government help. In this impoverished mountain area, AIDS is just one more way to die.

Life on the Streets of Nairobi

About 20 boys sleep on the streets of Nairobi’s Riverside. Some are orphans, some were abused, some were kicked out. Walk alongside Oscar, who’s beaten and tortured by the other boys. And meet Eunice, who’s burdened to help the boys despite some hateful actions.

Presidential Visit to Ghana

President Barak Obama challenges citizens of Ghana to take responsibility for building a better future. Hear Ghanaian Christians’ reactions to the speech, and explore the faith of this nation’s God-centered business people.

Amazing Grace

Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle is a haunting relic of the slave trade, but it’s also a beacon of light in a bustling tourist town. Here, reflections on evil turning to good, not only for the castle but also for a slave ship captain who penned the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

African American Challenge

African Americans have a strong and proud history in international missions. But in the last century that’s often what it’s been – history. Missionary Troy Lewis challenges the African American church to consider its heritage and continue embracing the task of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Zimbabwe: Attitude of Gratitude

Political and economic turmoil have resulted in hunger and hopelessness for many Zimbabweans. But a food distribution project spurred a cycle of giving that brought comfort and hope to some widows, a Christian publishing house and a school.

Map

The map below pinpoints locations featured in our stories, along with a summary of the stories told from there. (Please note the markers are not of specific locations but just general representations of where stories took place.)

Gospel Explosion

Gospel Explosion

Gospel Explosion

by Melanie Clinton
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Posted April 26, 2011

MBERENGWA, Zimbabwe – She steps out of the tarp-lined watering trough, resting her bare feet in the dirt below. The water streaming off her skirt turns the earth to streaky mud, but those gathered around don’t seem to mind. They’re lifting hands and voices in joyful praise. A butterfly flits through the crowd and delicately lands on the mess of mud and grass – another symbol of life reborn.

In March, Filina Fichani and 73 others were baptized in celebration of the new life they’ve found in Christ. They’re just part of more than 700 people in Zimbabwe’s rural Mberengwa region who’ve decided to follow Christ since March 2009.

In Shauro, the village where the baptism took place, seemingly every new believer can testify to remarkable transformation because of their life in Jesus.

Fichani used to carry snuff around her neck, which she utilized to make the ancestral spirits manifest. “She was really deep in this traditional worship,” says Reverend Isaac Mabvumba, the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe evangelist who helped start the church in Shauro. “You could see her face [was] heavy, but now you can see she’s free, happy.”

Another new believer, Misheck Mamvura, was a self-proclaimed drunkard and a high-ranking leader of an established African cult. “I didn’t have love for any other people and was not concerned about them,” he says. “I now know and understand how to take care of my family.”

Mamvura and 11 members of his family were baptized in the watering trough along with most other attendees of the new church, which meets under the trees near Shauro’s school complex.

None of the baptism participants seemed to mind being immersed in a trough typically used by cows – it was the best place to hold a lot of water. It took well over an hour to baptize all 74 people, but no one seemed to care – participants were more focused on celebrating the occasion than fretting over the unusual conditions or the increasingly intense sun.

No one even seemed bothered when other villagers approached the trough with wheelbarrows full of jugs, “interrupting” the ceremony to pump water for their chores. Just like the pump, the new believers want their faith to be part of everyday community life.

In the past year, six churches have started in Mberengwa. It’s an explosion of faith much like those in the book of Acts – people accepting the Gospel so fast the church planters just stand back in amazement at what God is doing.

“To witness God’s Spirit at work and to be able to join Him is an absolute thrill,” says IMB missionary Gregg Fort, a grin cracking across his face.

Fort says it took 14 years for him to start six churches in another area of Zimbabwe, and none have the vitality the Mberengwa churches have. A group from one village will attend a service in another village, get excited about what they’re hearing, and ask for a church to start in their own area.

“It’s the first time in my experience where [I] have seen local community take ownership for the Gospel and understand their responsibility to share the Gospel,” he says. “… Life change there has been more rapid and deeper in terms of community than I’ve ever seen.”
Several church members testify that since they’ve become followers of Christ, their family relationships have been restored and they’ve experienced a deep desire to love others.

“We didn’t have love, we were not united as a family,” says grandmother Sikholiwe Ngwenya. “But ever since we accepted Christ and started coming to this new church, we are now united, we are now one family, we’ve got more love. … I’m so glad there’s light in my life.”

Even ethnic divisions are breaking down. Most of the believers in Shauro are Shona (Zimbabwe’s largest ethnic group), but other churches are predominantly Ndebele. In Mberengwa the two communities are separated by a river, and historically the two sides have not cooperated. Now when someone from an Ndebele family across the river dies, Shona church members attend the funeral and help support the grieving family. The groups also work together to start new churches.

Those who’ve experienced this new love and unity are more than willing to share it with others. After the baptism service in Shauro, a church member shared Christ with three neighbors and invited them to attend a showing of the JESUS film that night. Before the film even started, the three men decided to follow Christ, and after the showing, four more men gave their lives to the Lord.

“The work in Mberengwa is different from other places,” says Mabvumba, who’s been a pastor for over 20 years. “… I’ve traveled around Zimbabwe, but when I get to Mberengwa … you can just feel that zeal, you know? … The response is high and those people really mean it.”

Fort shares about a new believer who “just walks and talks to people,” including the headmen of local communities. “We’ve now got invitations from several headmen to start churches in their area,” Fort reports.

Neither man claims credit for the movement taking place in Mberengwa – they attribute it to an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit.

“God chooses divinely that He’s going to pour out His Spirit,” Fort says, “and when you see a movement of God’s Spirit and you get to go in in faith and belief, you just get to watch God creating tremendous life change.”

Based in Africa, Melanie Clinton is a writer for IMB.

3 Responses to “Gospel Explosion”

  1. Sandra says:
    May 3, 2011 at 9:18 am

    I am so overwhelmed by this testimony of God moving in Zimbabwe. I have at times over the last few years dispared to even pray for my country Zimbabwe, feeling the the weight of sin , lawlessness and injustice was far too great, i.e not knowing where to start in praying for my nation.

    This story has made me realise two things: (1) That God is far greater, stronger and able to change lives and situations than we give him credit for. (2) The change required starts indeed with each life that comes to christ, experiences his love and grace and passes it on as is happening in Mberengwa.Praise God for faithful men and women such as yourselves. Stay Blessed!

    Reply
  2. Melanie Clinton says:
    May 9, 2011 at 3:31 am

    Sandra,

    Thanks for your comment. I’m so blessed to hear that you were encouraged by what is happening in Zimbabwe. I, too, grieve over the situation there and have not always known how to pray. It is easy for me to focus only on a nation’s social, economic or political situation. Through this trip to Zimbabwe, God reminded me that He is most concerned with the individual: how each person can decide to worship Him and to love those around them, regardless of their circumstances. In Mberengwa, it’s so evident that people are focusing on what really matters – the Gospel.

    Reply
  3. Randy Windham says:
    May 11, 2011 at 11:56 am

    How exciting to hear how the Lord is moving in Zimbabwe! I have many friends who live in Zim who are also on fire for the Lord. (They live in Plum Tree & Bulawayo). To hear how the Holy Spirit is moving in the hearts of others, especially how the Shona and the Ndebele are helping each other is fantastic! Thanks for sharing this story!

    Reply

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