It was 2010 when the Lord put in my heart a desire to serve him, the desire sparked by the pastors who didn’t want to serve in the township context. Townships are places with many problems. One of the problems is broken families. I grew up in the township. I never witness many godly families. What you see most is people who live together who are not married. These are called families. Those who are married also don’t give a good example of godly marriage. I remember, when I was getting married, not receiving much advice from my uncles. Part of the reason is that none of them was married.
Therefore, after my Bible training, I was convinced that, if we are to see godly churches in the townships, we need to have godly families. I still believe that this is how we will change the township context.
It is not good for a man to be alone
In the beginning of our church plant, I emphasised the importance of having godly families. At that time, it was hard to emphasise something when their majority were single. The Bible teaches us that faith is the substance of things hope for. Our hope was based on the word of God, which does not change. Furthermore, the word of God is powerful. Since we started this work, we now have ten families.
The single person is passionate about the things of God
Many young people in the township grow up out of broken families. As a young church with young families, we’ve been intentional in reaching young people. We started in high school. It is good to see that some of those young are leading their families in the ways of the Lord. One of those young people is Zamo. The Lord save him when I was preaching in one of the secondary schools. Zamo was raised by a father who was a traditional healer. He came to Daveyton after the death of his father. Little did I know that the lord was working all things for good. He opened the eyes of Zamo while I was preaching.
Later, Zamo testified that the reason in came to Student Christian Organisation (SCO) was for ladies. He did not know that on that day was his appointment with the Lord. Zamo now is living in Daveyton with his family. His desire is to lead his family well. He is working hard to provide for his family. On his off days, he goes to church with his wife to clean the church.
Another couple that the Lord has blessed with marriage is Sister Fezeka and Brother Martin. Sister Fezeka was raised by her grandfather, who was not married. She was never encouraged to get married. I remember her telling us that she does not want to get married. Over the years, the Lord has been gracious to Sister Fezeka. He has softened her heart to consider marriage. She eventually decided to get married. I do believe that part of the reason she did not want to get married is because of the marriages that she observed in the past. But as she was observing marriages in the church, she realised that a Christian home is different than a worldly home. During her wedding day, her grandfather said, “I am more confident in this church. Our children are not lost.”
God desires all men to be saved
When we started preaching in Daveyton, we had a Bible study at Mrs Kwababa’s House. Mrs Kwababa is an old lady. Her children and grandchildren are coming to our church. She was the only one who was not attending church. She never came to church in the five years of having a Bible study in her house. In July, we decided to go around to different family homes for Bible study. The purpose was to share the gospel with their family members as the believers requested the Bible study to come to their homes. We went again to Mrs. Kwababa house. Mrs. Kwababa was always welcoming, but she never committed her life to follow Jesus. One particular Wednesday, she had an appointment with the Lord.
After Bible study, Mrs. Kwababa said she wanted to say something. She confessed that she wanted to surrender her life to the Lord. We were so encouraged that our church members there are living their Christianity in their homes. I remember when one of Mrs. Kwababa’s granddaughters got married. She told us that we are really shepherding these young people well. Since Mrs. Kwababa confessed Jesus, she’s now in a membership class. She is so faithful in her old age. Indeed, the Lord keeps recruiting people to work in his vineyard. It doesn’t matter whether he finds them early in the morning or before the sunset.
Older women training younger women
My wife was invited this year to go and teach about godly womanhood. She has taken these invitations with open hands. It was a blessing to see hear wrestling with the text to get an appropriate message. Sometimes, as we teach the word, we don’t pay attention that our members they do listen in how we teach the word. They also want to be faithful in teaching the word.
Women’s Day Conference: Godly Womanhood (Session 2) (1 John 5:1–5)
She is also being an example the way she serves other ladies at church. We used to be the only ones cooking when we have an event at church, but the ladies decided to bring and share. Now we see church events are no longer a burden for one person or the leaders. The ladies have taken the responsibility. My wife has been very instrumental in leading them by example. We also heard that some younger ladies have discussed the need to be trained in cooking so that they will serve their husband better. These women are looking at women at church. Some of them they don’t have parents who have trained them, but they’ve been learning a lot from the woman at church. Indeed, this is what Paul tells Titus: that older women should teach younger women to love their husbands.
We are not fighting against flesh and blood
The church is a people—a picture of the bride of Christ. The enemy knows that a church that will keep on preaching to the community is where God’s people meet. Having been stopped for a while by the community, we have decided to commence with the building. We have gone to the court to ask what we should do with the opposition. The court has advised us to build a place for a security guard so that we may know who are the perpetrators of this violence in the community.
They also advised us to ask the help of the metro police to be available when we do the work. We were so encouraging to hear that what we are doing is not against the law of the country. We also went to the municipality. Their advice was we need to keep praying. They said some people from the community went to them and tell them that they don’t need the church there. But the municipality told us that they told those people that the plan is approved and there is nothing they can do about that. The advice from the municipality was that we must do our work quickly, which is the only way to silence those who seek loopholes to stop the church building.
Pray with us
- Please continue to pray that the Lord will add to his church those who are being saved.
- Pray that the Lord will strengthen the young marriages in our church.
- Pray that the Lord will provide more funds so that we may complete the building project in time.
- Pray that the Lord will save those who are opposing the church.
- Pray for me to have the strength to serve the Lord faithful and to finish my race and to finish well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this report and pray with us.
In Christ,
Chris Mnguni