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Partnership Report

International, Global

INT02 - Sowers International - AFRICA


Report Date: February 13, 2019

Sowers Update January 2019

 

New Year’s Greetings. As we look back over 2018 we are so thankful to the Lord for you all. Your prayers and encouragement are such a blessing. Thank you so much.

We have seen God at work in wonderful ways and as you can see from the figures below many people have come to know the Lord in Central and East Africa in the twelve months to the end of July. From August 2017 to July 2018 in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique:

new church plant

* 566 teams held 1780 open air meetings
* 85,470 people heard the Gospel
* 28,145 people were counselled
* 17,084 people were followed-up
* 8,588 people joined churches with SOWERS teams and many more joined other churches
* 94 new churches were planted (photo is of recent church planted in Malawi)

These are conservative figures and include some who were reached through door to door visitation in Zambia. 

Recent Events

New Translations

making a difference

One of the reasons that the work has grown in Central and East Africa is having the manuals and other materials in the local languages. This is ongoing. The picture, right, shows Fred, Robert and Richard with Christine editing the Luganda Level 2 Manual and Digest 1 in May 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda.

Currently manuals are being translated into Swahili for Tanzania, Alur and Luo for Uganda and Kinyarwanda for Rwanda. Please pray for those translating, typing and proof reading that the work will be done accurately and for Christine Sexton as she finalises each manual. 

Income Generating Projects

Currently, three income-generating projects are assisting the ministry financially in Central and East Africa. They are the tent project in Uganda, a chicken layers project in Zimbabwe and a broiler project in the Luapula Province in Zambia. SOWERS Headquarters has approved further projects for Zambia and funding for one of them was sent to Zambia in December. With the income being sent from SOWERS Headquarters decreasing over the past nine months, more national incoming-generating projects are badly needed. 

Elections

Elections across the world can cause disruptions and this has certainly been the case in Zimbabwe. The country has been experiencing many problems since the elections in July.

In 2019, there will be elections in a number of countries in Africa including Malawi in May and in Mozambique in October. Please pray for peace leading up to and during the elections and after the results are declared.

Stories from the fields

changing lives

When we had the demonstration open air with pastors of Hope Church Planters Association, most of them were overwhelmed with the results of the open air. Among these pastors there was a certain pastor of an African church who was not born again. Thank God that during this open air he gave his life to Jesus. Blackson, Malawi  

Two Baptist churches have been started at Ch** and Mc** villages. And we thank God for offering a piece of land to the church at Mc** village and we have already made a shelter. The village headman helped us with the piece of land and materials to build the shelter. 

Another interesting story is the conversion of two drunkards and chamba smokers during open air meetings. Mateyo, Malawi 

Mr Peter M. works as a Watchman at a Cotton Company. He was a drunkard. One day he attended an Open Air Meeting and as he was drunk, he caused a lot of confusion. After taking him aside, we gave him a tract and he went home.

Two weeks later, Mr M. met some of the team who conducted the meeting near his working place.  He said to them, “You gave me a book. After reading it the desire to put things straight with God has grown on me.” The team members were delighted and led him to Christ. He now wants everyone to know Jesus who sets people free. Wallace, Zambia  

Some are asking “could it be true, is he sincere, what is he after? Has he really changed?” Some are rejoicing especially his wife; she is testifying of the power of the gospel that “Indeed the Lord Jesus has come to set the captives free.” At first, she struggled to come to terms with reality, because she was always at the receiving end of domestic violence from her drug abusing and alcoholic husband. 

The husband broke the news to his wife that he had made a decision to follow Christ at the shopping centre.  He said he saw and heard someone preaching using a brush, and painting pictures. The wife could not get it because she had never heard anything like that. Eventually, when the husband pulled a counselling booklet from his pocket, she gave her husband the benefit of the doubt.  The former abuser is now a committed member of Faith Ministries.  Edmund, Zimbabwe

 

Changed Lives

In October we received testimonies from the Coordinators telling us how last quarter people’s lives were changed by the Gospel as National Sowers reached out to their communities using the SOWERS Program. Here are some of them:

Mr Luchembe is 74 years old and he was a drunkard and heavy smoker. He married six wives and had fifteen children. In 2011 he started going to church but his life did not change until this year when he attended a SOWERS Seminar at Kapampa. He accepted the Lord at the open air meeting at the end of the Seminar. The next day he brought his wife to church and testified to what he had done in front of many people. He is now a blessing to his family and is witnessing to the older people in his community.

In Kabwili, seventeen students were being trained at Level 1. As the lesson on testimonies was being taught, many of the students realised they were not Christians and eleven gave their lives to the Lord.

grateful for Bibles

In N’dabwi, a chief has come to the Lord and joined the church.

Six Anglican churches have been planted this year in northern Tanzania and two Baptist churches have been planted recently at Chalilma and Mchinzanja in Malawi.

The church, right, is one of more than 50 churches which received two Bibles each this year from a friend in Australia. The Bibles are in the local language and are proving a real blessing.

 

Plans for the Future

During the Christmas/New Year period, Emmanuel from DRC was able to get the three visas he requires in order to travel to Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo. While in Abidjan, Côte, d'Ivoire, he will give some training to and commission the new board that has been established there. During his two weeks in Togo he will launch the ministry teaching Level One and Two seminars. He will depart Lubumbashi on February 16th and return on March 18th.

 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Safety for all Sowers
2) Emmanuel and his family as he travels for a month
3) The many people who have come to faith
4) The newly planted churches
5) Elections in Malawi in May and Mozambique in October
6) Funding for income-generating projects
7) Those working on new translations
8) Senior Sowers and their families:
Zambia: John, Stephen, Titus, Wallace, Puta, Benedict, Mpundu.
Malawi: Godfrey, Blackson, Amos, Mateyo, Patrick, Oswald
Zimbabwe: Edmond, Mussa, Delight, Tsitsi
Mozambique: Macheso, Ibrahim,
Uganda: Deo, Richard, Mary, Fred, Ronald.
Kenya: Emmanuel, Tobias
9) Wisdom for Emmanuel and Deo as they spearhead the development of the work in Tanzania and Rwanda
10) Funds for Bibles, bicycles, printing, sketchboard kits and sleeping bags

 

Thank you so much for your interest and prayers. Please keep praying.

 




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