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Watch Pioneering Stories: Zimbabwe, Africa
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PIONEERING STORIES:
ZIMBABWE, AFRICA
Hi, my name is Belle Wolter and this is Lance Wolter, and we’re just going to share a little bit about our journey into Zimbabwe.
In 2014, I was invited by one of the Bible colleges that I’ve been helping to teach, and help in their bible college in Zimbabwe. The college is designed for poor pastors that don’t have enough money to go Bible college themselves. Through doing that and volunteering there, I also got to meet some of local pastors and actually meet the national leader of that particular bible college. And when they heard about Hope International core values, especially the heartbeat of planting churches and training pastors, and wanting to reach every village of every nation around the world, they were really inspired by the vision, really inspired by our core values, and wanted to become part of what we’re doing.
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So we started early on, with just a handful of pastors and a few others. We’ve been training them and developing them, equipping them in leadership skills, in character, in doctrine and also just our core values of Hope International Ministries, so that they can replicate the heart and soul of the family of churches that we are internationally. So that as they become part of Hope international Ministries anyone from around the world could go and visit them, and say, “Oh, they’re just like us. They’re just another church just like Hope International Ministries.
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And so now that they’re at the stage where they’re excitingly planting churches and they’ve planted across the border now into Mozambique, and they’ve also planted across the other border into South Africa, and we’re starting to see them getting momentum in their life groups and in their discipleship, even to the point where one of their youngest met, youngest leaders was about 12, 13 years old when he first started his life group, and within the first 12 months was able to grow it to multiple complying standard and that became a great challenge for even our adults to say, “Wow, if a teenager can do that, I can do that too.” So multiplication is happening in Zimbabwe because of the desire of people to just apply the biblical principles that we take for granted in Hope International Ministries.
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And I think that’s a really key point, something that tremendously encouraged me was this incredible tangible hope. We’re called Hope International Ministries, but when you actually see it come alive in the hearts of people, it really just invigorates and causes that vibrancy. So what actually happened was that we were noticing, I guess a little bit of an immaturity in the way they would handle the finance, because they’ve never had the experience to, you know, handling money and finance. And so I guess through that 3 or 4 year period, when we were working with them and discipling them in financial stewardship and you know, just being accountable, and those just little things that we don’t talk about. We’ve actually just recently seen them just come into a greater fullness of that, and as a result, a greater joy in just walking in integrity, and saying, “Oh, this is what it means to actually walk in integrity and to feel that joy and that blessing of it.
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And that really touched my heart, because I was like, “Wow”. Because I think we’ve seen miracles. I saw my first HIV healing there, which was incredible, but the greatest thing that gives me hope is when the heart of man can change, because we can see miracles, we can see churches, we can see all this stuff and funding in schools, that’s great, but ultimately, if we’re going to change the world and make a difference, it’s Jesus’ command to fulfil the great commission, is by making disciples of the nations.
Really what’s needed there is love, and the heart of man to trust one another and change. That’s very difficult to do. If we can see that happen, and that brought me almost tears to my eyes. When we just came back from Africa, we bonded and we grew closer and I that’s how God’s growing His family. It’s not just another Hope Church, but it’s like our hearts are starting to link together, and it’s like, oh I’m now understanding you, and you’re now understanding me, even though we speak a different language, but it’s this universal language that binds our hearts together of hope and love, which is so awesome.
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That’s right. So where we’re at now, also with the churches, we have 3 different groups of churches in different areas. And together that’s 7 churches in total inside the nation, but as I mentioned also, 2 churches have been planted outside the nation. One into Mozambique, and one into South Africa, so in total about 9 churches from that initial group. So it’s pretty exciting times. Continue to pray for us, that we can see the life groups continue to grow in their ability to not only see souls saved, but disciples made within the life groups, and also multiplying of those life groups and churches. Praise God!
By Ps Lance & Belle Wolter
HIM Southern Africa
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