Sharing Christ in Word and Deed!

Every year as it comes and goes is characterised by painful challenges, victories and defeats, joys and sorrows and above all the evidence of God’s providence. One of the obvious painful challenges has been the lack of progress on the School of Ministry property that we bought and was corruptly sold to a second buyer, another Church. This development had negative implications on the take off of the school of Ministry in 2008. We have however of late decided to engage the other church believers in the hope that we will be able to resolve the case out of court. We are highly optimistic that the impasse will be overcome soon. In the interest of making sure the School of Ministry is launched at the beginning of the coming year we have made alternative arrangements for premises from which we will launch the school. Thanks to the generosity of a brother and sister in the church who have offered us their house for that purpose. We will not relent on pursuing avenues that will help us break the impasse on the school of ministry property. As I have been interacting with different pastors within the Independent African Church I have seen the obvious reasons why the school is a critical need.

The current scenario in Zimbabwe with official inflation standing at 231 million percent has no precedent in living memory. Services and goods are atrociously expensive and way beyond the means of many. Most sewer systems have collapsed in most towns and there have been reports of cholera outbreaks in some towns and as the rain season approaches the problem could escalate. People are drinking raw unprocessed water in towns like Chinhoyi and have started dying in big numbers. Clean water has been one of our major problems and we are having to resort to asking for water from neighbours who sank boreholes on their premises. Until we are resourced enough to sink a borehole on our premises we will have to continue asking for clean water from neighbours.

The political logjam has continued unabated but we remain optimistic that a resolution will be found soon. Most schools have shut down because teachers have down their tools demanding better wages. Hospitals are empty of medicines and professionals i.e. doctors and nurses. The situation is totally out of hand and we constantly need prayers to keep us going.
 

Grace Fellowship Africa has been able to come through with tuition fees help for Dominique Fragosa. Dominique is one of the ten Angolan refugee kids we looked after for over four years while we stayed in Cape Town. Dominique has done well in his University studies and GFA is proud to be associated with him through providing financial assistance as the Lord enables. Angelique another of the ten kids is also currently studying for a degree in tourism at the University of the Western Cape. These kids have shown resilience despite unfavourable conditions they found themselves in when they were unceremoniously kicked out of Rainbow House.

Establishing the Great Commission School of Ministry is not something we are at liberty to compromise in this coming year. Obviously there will be some financial challenges but we are trusting God for provisions. I also hope as the Lord enables us to undertake at least two leadership training trips to Malawi next year. It is still my hope and dream that once we make a success story of the Zimbabwe initiative we will be able to repeat the same program in Malawi. We will also explore ways we could replicate the I CARE program here in Zimbabwe since the need for that kind of facility is there.

Yours in His grace.

Pastor Gift Makumbe

Executive Director