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October  2014 - Issue 1
In This Issue
The Zanner Institute
Where God Guides and Provides
Testimonies from Camp VIctory
Going into our Island
Prayer
Pray for those affected by the Ebola crisis. May they have a large dose of wisdom and compassion.
 

May we continue to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Praise God for the new believers in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Madagascar as a result of evangelistic outreach. May they continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of God.
 Regional Conference 2015
Africa Church of the Nazarene members - To register for the conference, click  here

Pray for the preparation for the regional conference. Many details remain to be worked out.

Information tidbits
During the Nazarene 2012-2013 assembly year, 80% of the membership growth came from 7 of the 140 reporting world areas. Two of those areas - Benin and Mozambique - are part of the Africa Region. --From the PML

The first edition of the Africa Journal of Wesleyan Theology is now available online  the in the Wesleyan-Holiness Digital Library. Check it out here.
 
Explore the Africa Region
Come to the website:www.africanazarene.org
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   @NazAfrica


Chunullrch of the Nazarene - Africa Region
Le Coin Nazaréen
Noticias Nazarenas

The Zanner Institute - by Balibanga Katambu Jacques
The Zanner Institute is becoming one of the best schools in Goma (DRC) and we have the best result in the state exam. It was an achievement of the whole school.   

The secondary school which became the Zanner Institute was founded in 1992 by the initiative of local leaders who were looking for an educational solution for orphans, street children and other vulnerable children. In following years, wars in the region affected the education and the social life of many families.

In 1996, other local leaders and I reorganized the school and built rooms with planks and roofs of sheeting. We recruited some volunteers and the school was supported locally by the district.

In 1999, four classrooms in brick and an office were built in partnership with the Zanner family, the parents and the district. The school now offers three majors for the children who range in age from 11 years old to 19 years old. When they graduate, they receive a diploma from the government upon passing the state examination. Zanner Institute graduates can attend university immediately.  

The head master, Mister Anaclet Malangulo Muloba, has said that he is proud to be director of the school because he can see how God is working in the lives of our students. Also because we have finished a new building with six new classrooms and offices for the chaplain, disciplinarian, and director of academic affairs.

We have 731 students (327 girls and 404 boys). The number is growing day-by-day because parents continue to come with the kids to be registered, but we can't accept all of them. Today, about 70% of the students would be considered vulnerable children.

We also thank God for the new building because now we will have room for the ITN-NTI (pastoral education) classes to be regularly taught. God has blessed us. 
Where God Guides and Provides - by Florence Tinevimbo Mungure
Vacation Bible School (VBS) is our biggest outreach program at Avondale Church of the Nazarene (Zimbabwe). The SDMI leader automatically becomes the VBS director. We run this program every year in August. God has been so faithful, as this program continued to run even when our country suffered a serious economic meltdown. The theme for this year it was "Wilderness escape...Where God Guides and Provides" based on the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. 

VBS is meant to reach out to children between the ages of 4 and 12. We train up children in the way they should go. We have seen friendships formed and we have witnessed young kids surrender their lives to the Lord. We have also seen young children showcasing their God-given talents through art and craft as well as the various sports and games that they play. In their daily lessons, they are taught memory verses to help them keep the Word of God in their hearts. It is such a joy to see so many kids gathered together to learn about God.

The 5-day program wraps up with a celebration service where the children present what they learnt throughout the week. The children enjoy every moment of VBS, from the music, the art and craft, the lessons and activities, as well as, the sports and games. These kids are not only from our church, the majority are actually from other churches. We also take 10 kids from Emerald Hill Children's Home, which is an orphanage not too far from our church.

The children are taught to give during VBS and whatever they give goes to Emerald Hill Children's home and Saffron Walden for the benefit of underprivileged children. These items are presented on the celebration Sunday.

The volunteers are also from different churches and are committed to see the work of God going forward. We work with a team of about 45 every year who help out in different areas. We have such an amazing team and most of them are also products of VBS, so it's reproducing itself. Glory to God!

 Vacation Bible School brings everyone in our church together to work as a team. Most members get involved through giving or volunteering to help before, during or after VBS. We decorate the church according to the theme, so all those decorations have to be finished before VBS and pulled down after.

We have received overwhelming support from our congregation and other well-wishers and that has helped to keep our VBS afloat. We have many testimonies on how the Lord has been with us in this program and we are trusting that He will continues to sustain this program till He comes.
Camp Victory (part 1) - by Rev. Chipiliro & Annies Kadyamaliro Charle
We are the pastors of Chiimba Nazarene Church (Malawi) which hosts "Camp Victory." At first we only involved Nazarene youths from churches in the area. Seeing the impact of the camp, however, non -Nazarene families started asking if they could send their children to
Obstacle course
the camp. Instead of denying them, we saw that God wanted us also to reach outsiders.

This year we hosted eighty youths from August 3-27.  God helped us to reach those who are in darkness with the light which we have. We were able to evangelize in different places and many people came to Christ and during this camp. We also went to help work at a Christian hospital for a week while counseling and evangelizing patients.

Testimony of the coordinator: The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together... (Hebrews 4:12-13). I give all praises to Almighty Father for the successful camp which we had this year. Challenges were there that if the LORD were not to our side or if we had lost trust in Him, we would have failed to continue the camp for the whole month.
Atikonda Charlie,
Camp Coordinator

Do you know what makes life confusing? It's when you can't determine if things are signs for you to give up... or just a test to see if you can hold on longer. God helped us to understand all the situations, run this camp, and be able to evangelize many people. During the camp, seventy-seven people accepted Christ. We wrote down their names so that we can pray for them.

I saw God speaking in the lives of people and people responding positively to His Word. The Word of God is powerful and God wants us to carry it and reach the lost souls. I cried in my heart, to see people ignorant of the Word of God and to see that we were not able to reach others because of the limited time we had.

Other village leaders were calling for us to go and evangelize, but we failed to reach all. The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the workers are few. Yes, we can't really evangelize everyone, but everyone can evangelize someone. Let us take part in spreading the Word of God. Let us be strong and faithful Christians. Problems should not stop us from serving God. Problems or struggles are not there to tell me that God does not exist, but remind me that the devil is at work and I need to stand. May God bless you as you serve Him diligently.

A camper's testimony: My name is Tiwonge and I am from Malingunde, Lilongwe. I am twelve years old. What a great time I had at Camp Victory. I have met many new friends
Tiwonge
who I would never know otherwise. It is during this time when my life has been saved. I am now a new creature and I am happy that God used me also to reach others during this camp. I was able to speak to patients who are feeling pain, but through God's power, I had courage to witness for Christ and pray for others. I learnt many things during this camp - ways to evangelize, carpentry, puppets, brick laying and many other things. This will help me in my life because these skills, will bring me finances when I will practice them and I am glad that now I have got many skills. I know how I can reach someone and I will do my level best to use these skills to win my friends to Christ. It is my prayer that God should give me courage to even reach my school with the gospel. I was rude at home and disobedient to my parents, but my family will see a change in me and I will tell them that I am now saved.

Editor's note: Camp Victory (part 2) will have three more testimonies from Camp Victory.
Going into our Island  - by Thérèse Ravelomanantsoa
After receiving training about Nazarene Mission International, our leaders spoke about how we could practically go into our island (Madagascar) and spread the Gospel. We decided to apply what we  had learned with an evangelism team of anyone who was willing to go.

At district assembly, we shared the idea with people in church and asked them to save money for transport. The first area selected was Morondava. The cost of the trip would be about two month's salary of most of our people in church. The local church in Morondava would provide the accommodation and food. After prayer and fasting, we had 50 people commit to go.

In the wee hours of the 25th of August, two buses were loaded with people and luggage and after a time of prayer, these buses started on the 640 km, 15 hour trip from the capital city of Antananarivo to the southwest city of Morondava, on the Mozambique Channel.

While there, we spent much time going door-to-door in the mornings and doing street evangelism in the afternoon. We have a well-trained group of young people who are able to share dramas and testimonies on the street. The evangelism continued into the evening as the JESUS Film was shown one evening and teaching on the dangers of the prosperity gospel were shared on another evening. The people's enthusiasm was refreshing.

Throughout our week in Morondava, we visited more than 200 homes. We presented the Gospel to 119 children, 124 youth and 296 adults. The promotion team counted 78 people who accepted Jesus in the street and 32 youth at the beaches. The local church now has a great responsibility to feed the new-born Christians. People desire to know the truth, and they have asked us to come back and teach them God's Word.

In the Morondava church family, there is a couple - Charles and Joely.  Charles is blind. They have the gift of creating songs and singing. The church had an evangelism concert with Charles and Joely, and the money collected helped with half of the expense of the food and accommodation of the Evangelism team. Charles is called to be a pastor and plans to pursue this through the school of extension in Madagascar.

Street drama
In Morondava, we met several people whose lives were touched by Jesus. One family was selling alcohol to make ends meet because the father, who worked far away, hadn't sent any money. Someone shared the Gospel with them and they felt compelled to no longer sell alcohol. Even in the first two days of their decision, this was very difficult as many people came to buy and they could have sold some and earned money. They struggled those first two days and on the third day, the father of the family finally sent enough money to sustain them for awhile.

There are many ways that God showed himself during this time, even from having his hand on the bus as we traveled. We thank God for this opportunity and plan to go to Nosy Be, in the far north, next year to also do outreach and evangelism there.

This issue marks the end of my second year as Out of Africa editor.
Thank you for the support and stories.
Amy Crofford, editor