So Many Villages

Recently we had a group of volunteers from Virginia in our home.  Their excitement to share all that God had done during their time in southeastern Zimbabwe in a rural area near Birchenough Bridge was contagious!  

Team members Chris Webb (front right) and Chris Hale (center) are from Gracelife Baptist Church in Christiansburg Virginia.   This church partnered with Zimbabwe several years ago to help us reach the Ndau.  Jonathan White, (front left) is the pastor of New Testament Baptist Church and Curtis Bryant represents Woodland Heights Free Will Baptist Church.   Also pictured is Tino, their driver and guide.  

The team shared how they did village to village evangelism.  The villages here are not large.  Each village contains a family unit often including grandparents, parents and children.  In the evenings services were held and the people they visited were invited to come.  The first night about 50 people came, but by the last night over 250 were in attendance.  During the week 46 people prayed to receive Christ.

They also enjoyed spending time with local school children and were invited back by the headmaster (principal) to come and teach the children again next time they come!

Curtis, at age 83, was remarkable.  Three months ago he met Chris Hale at a spiritual retreat.  Curtis had been sensing that God had something for him to do, but until this point had no idea what it was.  Chris felt led by God to invite Curtis on this mission trip.  Curtis said, “I didn’t even hesitate!  I just said YES!” 

Curtis was able to keep up with the group and was very sensitive to the needs and pain of those he encountered.  One lady in particular he remembered that he prays for everyday was an older woman who was no longer able to walk and who is in a great deal of pain.  He asks that you join him in praying for this woman – for her physical as well as spiritual healing.

Jonathan recalled that on the first day of visits they met a woman and her husband.   The woman was a believer but being submissive to her unbelieving husband had stopped going to church.   Jonathan witnessed to the man and he was convicted and prayed to receive Christ.   He came to the services each night with his wife.  His wife was beaming.   He had stopped drinking and other bad habits.   It was a powerful testimony to the community.   Please pray that he continues to keep off the old sinful nature and allow his new spiritual self to live in obedience to God and mature spiritually.

 “We had an interesting encounter in one village,”  said Chris Hale.   There was a man in the village whose father had been won to the Lord by earlier missionaries.  But none of his children had ever become believers.   We witnessed to the son who was now the head of this village and he prayed to receive Christ.   He immediately began to share the gospel with knowledge and authority to others.  He obviously had been taught the Bible by his father and knew it even if he was not a believer.   It is possible that this man could potentially become the leader of this new church. 

“What I saw that blessed me the most was our team unity,”  shared Chris Webb.  “Before this trip we did not all know one another, but God united our hearts and minds.”  

 

Another highlight for Chris, who is here for the third time, was getting to spend time with a young man he met on a previous trip who is a new believer.  This young man is hungry for God’s Word, for fellowship with believers and for doing God’s will.   He is another potential church leader.  

 

Jonathan remembered walking up to the top of a small mountain in the area where they were camped.  “Looking out over the valley filled with so many small villages we never got to was something I’ll never forget.”  

Pray that God would raise up laborers for the harvest among the believers in Zimbabwe who are obedient to Christ’s command to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES. . .

The Church Beyond the River

Pastor Tim Hight of Gracelife Baptist Church in Christiansburg, VA recently came to Zimbabwe with Randy Aldridge, staff member with the Virginia Baptist Convention as an evangelism and church planting strategist. Gracelife Baptist Church has adopted and engaged the Ndau people of Zimbabwe and have been coming several times a year. On this trip, the men came to teach evangelism, discipleship and church planting to the church leaders of the Chipinge - Chimanimani Baptist Association.

About 50 church leaders came to participate in the training which was carried out at the local primary school near Birchenough. This is a rural area of eastern Zimbabwe best known for the Birchenough Bridge which was the longest single suspension bridge built in Africa.

(The bridge spans the Save (sah vee) River Bed which remains dry except during the rainy seaon. The Bridge is seen in this picture overshadowing the Birchenough Hotel. Ralph Freeman, the bridge's designer, was also the structural designer on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and consequently the two bridges bear a close resemblance, although Birchenough is only two-thirds as long as the Australian bridge. It was built by Dorman Long and completed in 1935.[ At a length of 1,080 feet (329 m) it was the third longest single-arch suspension bridge in the world at the time.)

During the first evangelism training session Randy used the new Three Circles Witnessing Presentation which is being put forward by the North American Mission Board. (See www.namb.net and search Three Circles.) This presentation was easy for the participants to learn. After the training session, participants divided into teams of three and went out to witness in the community. Pastor Tim teamed with a church leader and businessman who also happens to be blind. The man learned the presentation by memory and shared it with his neighbors (man in white shirt and brown pants in back of picture), while a friend drew the circles in the sand.

Another team found a group of soccer players whose game came to an end when their ball deflated. After the witnessing presentation to the team, about 20 soccer players prayed to receive Christ in addition to their coach!

One church leader had brought a soccer ball to the meeting and he loaned it to the team after that so they could finish their game! The coach told Pastor Tim that when he comes again he wants volunteers to come to the school where he teaches to preach the gospel to all the students!the The coach brought several friends with him to the services.(Seen here on the left is a friend, in the middle is the coach and on the right is Randy.)

One night he brought his aunt who was a traditional religious practitioner. That night she prayed to receive Christ. Later she brought all the items she used to practice divining and interacting with the spirit world to the local pastor and he helped her burn them all. At the time of the meeting, the local pastor had been leading a small church on one side of the river. He had been feeling the need to plant a new church on the other side of the river and organized for the meeting to be in the new area. Local people were invited to participate in evening worship services with the leaders. The local community was very responsive to the invitation. Pastors Tim and Randy stayed at the nearby Birchenough “Hotel” and even the manager, cook, and assistant manager of the hotel came to the evening services. (Pastor Tim with hotel staff.)

On the final night of the meeting over 150 people came to worship. There were so many that they could not fit into the classroom and had to meet outside. The following morning, Sunday, another large worship service was held and a new church was initiated at Birchenough.

Altogether 43 people came to know the Lord in 3 short days due to the evangelistic efforts of the church leaders. Pastor Randy, who was in Zimbabwe for the first time, said, “I’ve never before seen such evangelistic fervor. It is very exciting to be a part of this.” Most of the local community had an opportunity to hear the gospel. When the associational meeting was over, Pastors Tim and Randy went with the local pastor to another village where the pastor feels a church needs to be planted.

They were able to witness to several people and have a worship service there. Several men came to know the Lord and there is an indication that there is great potential for another church plant here.