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Prayer requests and praises
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We praise God for:The growth of the Church of the Nazarene on the region in wisdom, stature and in favor with God and man. We request prayer for:(For the most up-to-date requests, go to the website with the link above.)
Mali - fighting
The family of Rev. Listard K Domoya who passed away on January 6. He served as a pastor and DS of the Malawi South and Mozambique Milanje Districts.
The family of Rev. Felix Chitambala, pastor of the Mulundu Church of the Nazarene in Zambia (Luapula Northern District). He died on January 1 after a very short illness. He has left behind his wife, Nelly, four children and two orphans who live with the family.
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Explore the Africa Region
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Come to the website: www.africanazarene.orgCheck out our Facebook pages! Click the logo for the language you prefer to read: Portuguese, English or French.
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Prayer and fasting: Hungry for God
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The Eastern District RSA ( Africa South Field) conducted a season of prayer and fasting. The emphasis was passed from zone to zone as in a relay race. Each zone was given a period of time for the emphasis.
 | | Rev. CS Ndlovu |
The district superintendent, Rev. CS Ndlovu reports: "God united our pastors, church board members and changed our district gatherings into mighty revivals. All 60 churches in the district took part. Never underestimate the power of prayer. People who hadn't talked to each other for years were brought together as brothers and sisters. Relationships that were broken have been restored. God is moving in our district in mighty and magnificent ways. I have seen youth and children hungry for God."
Is this something your district could do?
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Vision 2013 -- by Filimao M. Chambo
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From the Regional Director's Desk:
At the end of church year 2012, the Church of the Nazarene Africa Region reported 568,491 total members, over eight thousand organized local churches and preaching points and 127 districts. This represents over 130% growth from 2001 to 2012.
 | | Dr. Filimao Chambo |
As we celebrate the expansion and growth of the Church in Africa, we are continuing to prayerfully implement strategies to strengthen the existing work of the Church; strategies that will enable the church to continue to mature into a strong, firmly established and progressive holiness movement in Africa. Secondly, we strive to maximize the implementation of agreed upon regional strategic principles; to further advance God's Kingdom in all peoples groups in Africa, with special attention being
given to the areas were we do not have mission work yet.
To accomplish this, the Africa Region Mission Team (RMT) and Regional Advisory Council (RAC) are calling the church to return to the message of holiness of heart and life. The Celebrating Holiness Initiative, which we began in 2012, was designed to be a catalytic Initiative for Holiness Revivalism on the region. We received encouraging feedback from local churches and districts that were a part of the Celebrating Holiness 2012. Many new conversions from sin were reported as a direct result of this initiative. Many people were sanctified. Individuals, local churches and districts were transformed. In a recent district assembly, in Eastern District, South Africa, Rev. Solomon Ndlovu, district superintendent, reported 17.4% growth in membership as a direct result of the implementation of this initiative (see article above).
It is my prayer that in the year 2013, all local churches, preaching points, districts and fields and educational institutions will partner with us in implementing the Celebrating Holiness Initiative. My prayer is that the Lord will rekindle in us the passion, "to preserve and propagate Christian holiness as set forth in the Scriptures" (Manual 2009 - 2013).
I invite you to partner with me to encourage and amplify the necessity of local church, district and college revivals, holiness discipleship, holiness evangelism and holiness leadership development, to impact the church on the region with the Great Commission of Jesus Christ as a first priority in the functioning of the Body of Christ.
May we catch on fire to make Christlike disciples afresh! The measure of our success should be the conversion of sinners, restoration of those who have fallen from grace, the entire sanctification of believers and the development of strong, stable and progressive holiness congregations on the Region.
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Africa Work & Witness: KZN to Bisho -- by Rev. Cheri Kommel
| Grace Church of the Nazarene on the KwaZulu Natal District (RSA) went to Bisho, South Africa on the newly proposed Kei District in the Eastern Cape from January 2-5, 2013. The team worked to create a self-contained guest flat at the district center as well as making several repairs to the church.
The 12-person team came with qualified electricians, plumbers, and construction workers together with other volunteers from the church. They started with a room at the district center without any amenities, including electricity, and created a livable flat. They installed electricity, supplying an electrical distribution box, switches, and plugs. A bathroom including shower, exhaust fan, toilet and basin; and a kitchen area with sink and counter area was provided. A geyser (pronounced "geezer" -- hot water heater) was also installed to provide hot water in both the bath and kitchen areas. The Grace Church Work & Witness team completely financed this project. This local church, which does not have a church building of their own to worship in, has demonstrated their Christ-like Spirit of sacrificial giving and serving.
 | | Grace W & W team |
The initiative for the project was motivated by the need for extension education for pastoral training on the proposed district. The renovation of the room will provide accommodation for those going to the area to assist in such training, district growth and development in conjunction with the Africa Regional Strategies.
The team from Grace Church has also done similar projects in Lesotho District supplying water to the district superintendent's house and the district center building.
Africa South Field is extremely grateful to the Grace Church team for the contribution they are making to the Kingdom of God, for the work they do, as well as the example they are setting for other churches to embrace. Grace Church under the leadership of Pastor Reeves Moodley is leading the way and helping to define "Mission Service." Our prayer is that other churches on the South Field will follow their example and become involved in offering to God our resources and skills to build His kingdom here on earth.
Editor's note: If your church or district has done or is planning an Africa to Africa Work & Witness project, please share your story.
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The most extravagant act of worship-- by Matt Marshall
| A quick overview of the biblical narratives in which God calls a person for a particular task will quickly reveal a wide range of unusual locations and circumstances. So it should not have come as a surprise when I answered my cell phone, while performing janitorial duties in an office in Jackson, MS, to hear a voice say, "How would you like to come help us in Africa?"
Three action-packed months later, we were on a plane for Johannesburg, South Africa. Being sent out as volunteers in such a short amount of time was nothing short of a miracle. Our home church, Dayspring Community Church of the Nazarene (Clinton, MS) and the Mississippi District were the channels God used to accomplish this miracle. We had been asked to serve at the Africa Regional Office by assisting with clergy development and by teaching courses in the biblical languages in the Africa South Field.
One of the primary reasons we had been asked to serve the Africa South Field was that Southern Africa Nazarene University in Swaziland needed a Greek teacher. Since we are based in South Africa, the only way to
 | | SANU - Greek class |
arrange for the class to be offered was to schedule it as a two-week intensive. While such a format works well for many subjects, the idea of learning a language in such a short time was a daunting proposition for the students. Also, Greek had not been offered at SANU for a couple of years, thus increasing the class size; and the students would be learning Greek in their second language, English.
Several educators familiar with the situation had asked me if I thought they would be able to learn anything in just two weeks. Despite my enthusiasm for having the chance to teach the Greek course, my days leading up to the start of the intensive were filled with many gloomy scenarios of how the logistics of the course might conspire to form an educational catastrophe. However, by God's grace, this fretfulness was proven to be in vain.
What I had not taken into account in my prognostications of woe was the passion and commitment of the Swazi students to study God's Word. The class began with thirty-eight theology students; thirty were already pastoring churches. After I laid out the course and the difficulties we might encounter, the students responded by giving more commitment and effort to learning than I previously would have thought possible. Although we were meeting for eight hours every day, it became a common occurrence for study groups to meet for several more hours throughout the evening. After these extra study sessions, the students would return to their rooms to complete the daily homework. This typically kept them awake into the early hours of the next day.
As I asked them why they wanted to study Greek, the overwhelming majority of them answered, "We want to be able to understand God's Word more clearly." At the end of the two weeks, the students were already beginning to translate verses out of the New Testament. Their excitement was palpable and, despite the ending of the course, they continue to study so as to be prepared for the second semester of Greek in a few months. 
It was a truly humbling experience to be able to call myself their teacher. These students undertook the task as though they were fulfilling the most extravagant act of worship toward their Savior.
For two weeks, I witnessed a beautiful melding of the Christian mind and heart. One moment stands out above the rest as representative of this occurrence. One morning during the short devotional time, I suggested we start by singing, "Malibongwe" ("Let Him Be Praised"). As the voices of thirty-eight African pastors joined together in torrent of unrestrained praise, the classroom was transformed into a sanctuary.
I'm convinced that if we could somehow capture the essence of that moment in which the pastoral heart and mind were united, living and glorifying God for a unified purpose, the world would be changed. And thankfully, it is already happening in Africa.
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God knows my heart's desire -- by Lisa Johnson
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 | | David and Lisa Johnson |
I always seem to stand in awe of God when I see how He has gone before me and provided something I wanted before I even knew I wanted or needed it. Several months ago I felt the Holy Spirit urging me to go deeper with my prayer life. Although I have always prayed and seen the importance of prayer in my life, I felt something was lacking and told the Lord I wanted to spend more time with Him in prayer but wasn't quite sure how to go about it.
I began to search our library to see if we had any books on prayer. Being unsuccessful, I looked on-line and found one by Aletha Hinthorn called, Boldly Asking. I was very excited because I have read other books by Aletha that God used to change my life. I was very eager to read her book, but I realized that I would have to wait until someone could send it from the United States.
However, a few days later, as I was cleaning out one of my desk drawers, I came across a book that David had brought back with him from our home assignment. We stayed with his mother and in the bedroom where we slept, David found a book he thought was mine and stuck it in his carry on. Upon returning home, David handed me the book. I looked at it, realized it wasn't mine, and decided it must be his mom's. After talking to her, she told me to keep the book. I then put the book in my desk drawer thinking I would look at it later. I had not thought about or even looked at it again until two months ago when I found it. I picked up the book and saw the title for the first time, Lord, Teach Me to Pray, by Kay Arthur.
As I looked at the title it was as if God was saying, "I knew you wanted a book about prayer and here it is." I was so excited and began to cry. At that moment I could feel my Father's love for me and I knew His desire was for me to grow deeper in my prayer life, too. God had heard the cry of my heart and had gone before me when He had David put that book in his carry on. I have finished the book now and am currently reading the book by Aletha Hinthorn that I received for Christmas. I am excited about my new prayer life and the things God has taught me through these two books. God is so good!
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2013 will be a very good year for the Africa Region. Coming up in the next issue: A report on the National Evangelism Campaign in Cape Verde and more. Praise God!
Amy Crofford,Out of Africa editor
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