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Update from Anthony Chitambala2019 was a wonderful year. God saw us through many challenges and we also received many blessings. We celebrated our first anniversary on 15th December and we are looking forward to a new addition to our family this March. My wife finished her Bachelor's Degree in Missions and Education. I will also be finishing my studies with South Africa Theological Seminary this July.
For the first time since the Youth and Community work started, we had good financial support. Thanks to Africa Hope Mission who supported us in Sports Ministry and Camps, and Bright Hope World with the School Ministry.
I have been involved in two different types of training for youth leadership: one is the Matrons and Patrons Training while the other is the Youth Leadership Training.
Both trainings focus on training leaders to mentor, disciple and nurture young people in their walk with Jesus Christ. The Matrons and Patrons Training has a special emphasis on elderly leaders of the youth groups in the church mentoring young people while the Youth Leadership Training focuses on young people leading fellow young people and how they can make their youth meetings meaningful and impactful.
In addition to training leaders in various places, I also teach in the main academic program at Samfya Bible School, particularly the Youth Work and Ministry Course.
The impact of Scripture Union in schools today may not be felt as much as it was decades ago. We have often heard stories from older and mature Christians that testify that they got saved through their Scripture Union encounters but sadly this has changed over the years and Scripture Union is less active in schools.
For the last few months, I have been involved with Chibolya Secondary School where I have been meeting with the pupils and making Christ known to them. When my wife did her teaching practice there, she helped to organise the pupils but since she left the school, the response from the teachers has not been an encouraging one. On the other hand, the response from the pupils has been encouraging and I look forward to building more relationships with them and see how far the Lord can take us this year in 2020.
Many young people in the community have nothing much to do when they are not in school. Unfortunately, in our community many young people cannot afford to be in school. This then results in much free time for the young people who spend most of it engaging in different vices. Besides this, we are living at a time when the world has seen many young people are moving further away from God.
Sports has given me an opportunity to reach out to many young boys and girls with hope that through our lives (my wife and I), and through our talks and interaction with them, they will find and build a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. From this group, we also help those who are not in school by providing them with education services such as payment of school fees, uniforms and books. We hope and pray that God will provide resources for our boys and girls to get back into school.
Last year we were privileged to have our young people in the Sports Ministry and also Scripture Union, attend a Boot Camp in April where we focused on Knowing God. The young people in Sports also attended the GLO Camp in Ndola last December where we focused on Renewed Transformation. These camps have not only provided young people with the message from God but they have also been exposed to other youth (particularly the GLO camp) and also to life outside of Samfya as some have never travelled out of Samfya.
By God's grace, this year we have an invitation to take our young people to the Teen Street Camp organised by Operation Mobilisation Zambia. We also look forward to the Children's Camp this April 2020.
Every child deserves an education in an environment that is conducive and healthy. Many young people, especially girls living in the outskirts of Samfya, find it hard to access secondary education. They come from distant places like the islands and rent small rooms in places that are not very healthy for them and worse still, they begin to head these homes themselves with no adult supervision.
Many have become vulnerable to sexual abuse by those with money as they look for a better life. Most of them cannot afford to be in boarding school because of financial challenges and many young girls fail to complete school: some would give up, others get pregnant, and others stop due to financial constraints. Many spend their time away from school looking for work to get them food for the day or books for the term.
My wife and I feel the need to work with these young people and see how we can help provide some parental guidance and assist in many areas of their needs. We cannot reach out to too many of them but we can start with one.
We are grateful to God that some of the boys in our football team are finishing their secondary education. The challenge though that most young people face is what to do as they wait for their results and going to college or university. We hope to engage our young people in Discipleship Trainings such as the 6-month Gap Year Course at GLO, Discipleship at Operation Mobilisation, Outreach Programs or our Home Discipleship meetings that we hope to start with others who are still in school but can manage to find time.
We hope the Lord will provide enough to do much to help our young people get to know God rather than spend their whole year doing nothing, which is dangerous because that has the potential to push them away from God, and adopt undesirable attitudes and thinking.
1) For wisdom, guidance, good health and provision for our personal and ministry needs
2) For continued planting of seeds in the lives of our young people in the community
3) For safe delivery of our baby
4) For us to have a deeper relationship with God