Baptism in Mberengwa Resettlement Area

Excited shouts and laughter could be heard as people from 4 villages in South Central Zimbabwe walked swiftly toward the baptismal site.


The drizzling rain and temperatures in the upper 60's could not dampen the enthusiasm of the 97 new Christians awaiting baptism in a ditch filled with runoff rain water.


Two pastors entered the water then led the new believers in a hymn, a scripture reading, and prayer. As the names of the new believers were called, they lined up and waited for their turn as they watched the baptism of others before them.


Among those who were baptized were young children, teenagers, as well as young, middle-aged and seemingly ancient adults.


One elderly gentleman could barely walk from shaking so badly with Parkinsons, but he was determined to publicly demonstrate his new life in Christ.



The head men of two of the 4 villages were baptized as well as the headmaster of the local school.


The joy on the faces of the new believers was evident as they came up out of the water.





In African culture, baptism is very significant. It publicly demonstrates a person's willingness to break with his traditional religious beliefs and practices.


"Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away, behold new things have come." (II Corinthians 5:17 NAS) Pray that these new creatures would truly leave their old ways and ancestral spirits behind and learn to walk in the Spirit of the Living God!

Tongaland

Before school let out for the April holidays, Gregg Fort and our pastor from Mkoba asked the headmasters (principals) of the schools in town to identify the 100 most needy school children to receive exercise books. After praying with the students, the books were distributed to the students.



These exercise books are simply books of bound notebook paper for which the Baptist Publishing House has been printing covers. The notebook paper and blank covers were supplied by Baptist Global Response. The covers have different messages, but they all speak of moral purity and tell the students how to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We used cultural stories to teach biblical truths.After praying and thanking God for His provision for these students, each child was given his/her books.



Even though school is out right now, we are still busy delivering the exercise books. The books in this picture were delivered to a pastor in Tongaland who will see that they are distributed to the students in the 5 schools near his church when school resumes in May.



While Gregg was in Tongaland distributing the books he was excited to see that the pastor had an excellent harvest of maize from the seeds we distributed last year which were also supplied by Baptist Global Response. (In this picture you see a raised hut full of maize.)

We are so grateful for people all over the U.S. who contribute to Baptist Global Response to help meet the very real needs of people in Zimbabwe. Ministering to people’s human needs helps them understand that you care for them and gives you the credibility to discuss their spiritual needs with them as well.



Pray with us that the harvest of souls among the Tonga people will be as fruitful as this year’s maize crop has been in Tongaland. We are also anticipating an outreach into an area known as ‘Denmark’ sometime in the next several months in this area of Tongaland.