Dear brothers and sisters,
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith… But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
~ Philippians 3:7-9 13-14
We are so thankful that in His perfect love and wisdom, God has allowed us to serve together with you for another year! Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom! We are so blessed and encouraged by you sharing your life and walking together with us.
Life is so short and too fast! May He continue to fill us and enable us to keep pressing forward towards Him and towards our eternal home with Him. And may He help us to bring many Home with us.
African Leadership 2016 Annual Report
African Leadership exists to mobilize churches and individuals and release their inherent God-given potential through their participation in building the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Africa.
God is always doing a new thing – Indigenization of Children’s Church
Over the years, because of the tremendous need, African Leadership has done a lot of children’s ministry. However, with little local church involvement, it has been challenging to develop and maintain a maturing ministry to the children as they grow older.
Since last year, Pastor Mfundo’s church as a whole has made a greater commitment to adopting children’s church ministry. Throughout the week, individual church members go out as teachers to operate children’s churches. Both the teachers and children can continue to grow within the church. It has been awesome to see this ministry develop more through a local church – it’s what we have longed for! It is part of the process of indigenization (the local people developing their own cultural expression and lifestyle of Christianity) and this may be the model that the local church at large has needed to see. This year, we hope that more local churches will also realize the necessity, responsibility and blessing of integrating children’s outreach/ministry into the ongoing life of the church. We believe that, then, children’s ministry (through the local church) can have a lasting impact on children’s lives as well as their communities.
Showing God’s Love in Hard to Reach Places in Madagascar
Last year in Madagascar, we built four more primary schools for a total of 10 up to date. Two more will be finished in April. It’s so exciting to see! We will continue to build as God leads and provides with $25 000 per school.
We have built 4 medical clinics, 2 are completely finished, 2 are on the way. We continue to reach out to rural areas difficult to access (no roads) to provide education and health care. We provide the supplies and the builders for each project and the villages provide assistants and stones from the river. In this way, we build relationships and partnerships with the local people in their communities.
In one place where we helped to build a medical clinic, we dropped off the supplies (cement, iron bars and sand) 20 km from the village. Every two villagers used bamboo sticks to carry one 50 kg bag of cement at a time for this distance. It took 4-6 hours with many villagers moving the supplies by foot. African Leadership has built one boat for transporting materials, building and training medical practitioners. One clinic can only be accessed by helicopter and it’s amazing to look down from the helicopter! Pastor Ohm will visit that location again this month.
Thousands of difficult to access areas far away still need schools (including preschools) and clinics. If anyone is willing to contribute, we will continue to build these desperately needed resources for the people in the name of Jesus. We pray that as we serve them and share His Truth, they will come to know the True and Living God.
Character First in Primary Schools
Character First is a program that helps students build the character and confidence needed for success in life. Praise God that we finally have permission from three primary schools to invite 5 children per class to camps (retreats) held outside of school in order to deepen their understanding of what they have learned through the Character First programs which we do regularly at their schools! It is indicative that the schools trust us to take care of their children and help them in their lives.
Changes for Lucky and Chicken
If you have come to serve with us, you have probably met two of our precious brothers Lucky and Mcebisi (“Chicken”). They have been involved with our children’s ministry and many other ministries since they were children themselves. Over time, their roles are changing for the Kingdom. Please pray for them as they seek God for His next steps, His direction and His purpose in their lives.
Vacation Bible Schools
10 areas, 3 times, 1500 children in 2017
Last year we did Vacation Bible School in 5 different areas simultaneously. This year, through Pastor Mfundo’s church, we hope to do 10 areas 3 times through the year – during March Break, Winter Break (summer in North America) and Spring Break (our autumn). We expect one to two hundred children will show up in each area. There will be teachers’ training and much preparation. Please keep this outreach ministry in prayer.
Preschools Thriving but Teachers Need Training
Over the years, we have built 31 preschools. Approximately 500-600 kids have graduated every year (about 10-20 kids per school). Every preschool is running well independently. Last year, we built two more preschools – one is complete and one is almost complete. We also provided 200 mattresses for the preschools. We will provide another 200 before winter (our summer) this year. Please pray for someone to come and train the teachers as we did not have any teachers’ training in the past year and it is a really huge need.
Books + God = 476 Trained & 81 New Ethiopian Refugee Churches in 10 years
About 10 years ago, African Leadership translated and provided our Bible training material to the leaders of one Ethiopian refugee church. Since then, we have provided 5000 books to train 500 Ethiopian refugee pastors (10 books/pastor). According to their report last year, since we begun to provide books, they have completed training for 476 pastors and church leaders and 81 churches have been established. The Ethiopian Church has requested another 5000 books to train more pastors so we are planning to print more material this year. Last year, we invited all the pastors to come to Cape Town for a special seminar with us. Fifty-eight came and we were able to encourage one another and build connections.
Building the Church through Bible Training Graduates
This past year, the graduates from Africa Theological College (our Bible college within Khayelitsha) had a joint graduation with one satellite Bible class in Mossel Bay – a total of 17 graduates. There were many graduations at other satellite classes as well. Praise the Lord for His amazing work and we pray that many more pastors and church leaders may be thoroughly equipped to teach God’s Word!
His Love through Food Parcels for Families in Extreme Hardship
Last Christmas, African Leadership shared the love of God by providing 150 families with food parcels – 70 families in Thabo Mbeki area, 80 in Dloveni (Monwabisi Community). The focus was on jobless single parents facing much hardship with many children.
His Hope through School Uniforms for No Income Families
In February last year, we provided school uniforms for approximately 150 children. We will do it again this year for another 150 kids. We are currently waiting for the communities to provide the list of children with jobless parents who struggle greatly to provide uniforms (a requirement to attend school) for their children.
Short Term Mission Teams Serve
Last year, we had 12 short term mission teams, who served in South Africa (Cape Town and the Eastern Cape), Madagascar and Lesotho. They were involved in many ministries for example, new preschool buildings, evangelism, Vacation Bible School, prison ministry…etc. A 25 member German brass band was sent by African Leadership Germany who visited 5 primary schools, an orphanage and did evangelism. They encouraged many Christians, gave their testimonies, shared the Gospel and made good connections with the schools. One thousand to one thousand five hundred children gathered at each school to listen. Because of their ministry, we now have access to one more school for Pastor Mfundo to teach the Character First program. Praise the Lord!
For the Kingdom,
Africanleadership.info
Charitable Organization #: 860 327 667 RR0001