“For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy Name.
Let Your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
Psalm 33:21-22
New Year, New Chapter
Greetings from Lusaka Zambia!
We are back in Zambia. This past month was a month of big changes for us. Preaching, people, packing, farewells, travel and settling in was the order of the day.
We thank God for His goodness and for opening the doors for us to be back in Zambia again to continue our missionary work with SIM and REACH-Zambia.
2023 has started well and we have been received into a wonderful team of other missionaries who have made us feel welcome. We feel ready and poised for an exciting and hopefully effective year of ministry in Lusaka.
New Chapter in Ministry and Mission
Michael and I are now serving with Christ Church Lusaka and will be filling some much needed roles in the church. Reverend Paul Kayumba (rector of CCL) had his hands full with preaching, leading, discipling, teaching explore, as well as a full-time job lecturing at Africa Christian University. He welcomed our assistance and has already made use of Michael in leading the service this past Sunday. Michael will be assisting with preaching, leading, teaching the GWC Explore course (George Whitefield College introductory theology course), and helping with music.
Christ Church Lusaka is the very first Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church in Zambia (REACH-Zambia). It is a great privilege for us to serve in this church with these brothers and sisters.
Currently Christ Church Lusaka has no children’s ministry and furthermore the current venue doesn’t really make room for that. This is something that is a deep concern for me personally as well as for Pastor Paul. I have been tasked to look into this and will be working with a team to develop some sort of programme over the next couple of months. There are other women in the church who also have a passion for children’s ministry so I look forward to working with them to develop the children’s ministry.
Settling in at SIM
We have now been in Lusaka since 18 January and have more or less settled in. Last week we moved out of the SIM guesthouse and into our beautiful and comfortable “permanent” home here in Lusaka.
We completed the orientation programme with SIM Zambia and are now looking forward to getting stuck into the ministry awaiting us here. There are still a few administrative things that need to be done and we still need to go to Chavuma to fetch our belongings which are still stored there from last year’s ministry there.
Preaching and Farewells
Our last two weeks in South Africa were quite busy before we could leave for Zambia.
After our December deputation trip to Durban (read more…), our January schedule on return to Cape Town was full of preaching and farewells. Michael had great opportunities to preach at Southern Cross Church for two Sundays in a row as well as at Westlake Community Church.
Our home church (Tokai Community Church) arranged a farewell breakfast for us on Saturday morning and then commissioned us again on the last Sunday before our departure to Zambia.
This was a massive blessing to us. We are overwhelmed by the love and support of our sending church.
Grateful Vehicle Dilemma
Lusaka is very big and our ministry here require us to travel many kilometres across this city and country.
We are very grateful for the use of a borrowed vehicle here in Lusaka. It has enabled us to be where we need to be and get around. The only trouble is that it is working out to be prohibitively expensive as we are paying the equivalent of about R9 per kilometre for the use of the loaned vehicle.
This is underlining more definitively that we need to get our own vehicle as soon as possible. Please pray with us for a vehicle for personal and ministry purposes.
Faith despite Finances
In the first week of January it still seemed impossible that we would be able to return to Zambia on the 18th as we had hoped. The financial goals that SIM had set seemed so far out of reach that we doubted. We prayed and we talked to people but still we were falling short. Then suddenly we received an email from SIM saying that we are good to go and can book our tickets!
What does that mean? Did we reach our target? Has the money come in?
Yes, money did come in! This is certainly a great joy to us as it confirms the missionary call. However, we did not reach the target budget required, there is still a shortfall.
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For… your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”
Matthew 6:30-33
Grateful and Trusting for Provisions
We are so grateful for our amazing team of supporters who are financially partnering with us monthly to enable us to serve as missionaries here in Lusaka. We thank God for you daily!
However, we are still in need of more financial support. So if you are able to join our team and help grow God’s kingdom here in Zambia, please would you prayerfully consider partnering with us. (Please reply to this email if you would like to join our financial support team).
We know that we can trust God for the shortfall in our monthly budget and to provide finances for us to purchase a vehicle to use here in Zambia.
Praise God For:
- Thank the Lord for the provision of a loaned vehicle for us to use until latest June.
Pray For:
- Pray for us as we return to Chavuma in the next month to go and fetch our belongings.
- Pray that God will open the hearts of people to support the work that God is using us to do here in Lusaka, Zambia.
- Pray that God will provide our own vehicle for us to use here in Zambia.
- Pray for us to settle well into our new ministry roles both at Christ Church Lusaka and SIM Zambia.
We are missionaries serving with SIM-Zambia. We rely totally on donor support to keep us in the mission field.
Please would you prayerfully consider supporting us financially. You can direct your support to us through SIM or directly to our personal South African bank account. Find out how you can support us here: