The Whisper That Echoes Through Africa Read online

  The Whisper That Echoes Through Africa

  The Story of Missions in Africa

  Shirley Nyasha

  The Whisper That Echoes Through Africa

  The Story of Missions in Africa

  Shirley Nyasha

  copyright©2014

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the author, publisher and Copyright owners.

  All rights reserved

  All scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers

  Copyright©2003

  Dedication

  To my nephews and niece

  Shingai, Tatenda, Jacob and Noami

  May you walk into the fullness of what God has for you.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to all those that have through the years, supported me financially and through prayer. You have made a huge difference in my life, and through your friendship, love, encouragement, prayers and gifts I have stayed this long in missions.

  Peter and Debi Drypolcher (and big little sister Katie) for the wisdom, advise and dedication to seeing Africans released into their destiny among the nations.

  Randy and Jane Rhoades, for the commitment you have made to each and every African Missionary you met, and always made time for each one. The training in Support Raising has being very valuable and relevant for Africans. Thank you for taking time to study and research, the notes from your teaching have being very helpful in also putting this book together.

  My Family: Mom, Dad, Jackie, Carol, Wesley, Wendy, Jon, Shingi and Tatenda who have stood and believed in me, supported me, even when they sometimes also didn't have. Thank you for the love prayers and support. Thank you Wendy and Jon for going through the drafts and reworking them.

  My friends: Mona Marimo Nduku, was so instrumental in my walk in missions, the prayers, encouragement, and always telling me I can do it and encouraging me to write this book, when I first shared with you about writing a book.

  Rudo Mundawara, thank you for always checking in on me to see how I am doing, the encouragement and prayers

  Jennifer Thebe and Pamela Kudiwa who have been with me and walked with me during part of this journey as we served together in missions. Thanks for the laughs when things were hard and also through the good times.

  My hero’s in the faith Enock and Fadzai Phiri, full of wisdom and people of prayer. Your walk with God is encouraging to watch and see. I pray for many more like you.

  The Schatz Family, Brenda,Rick, Jadie, Jerica, Jentry Jakota, Jurney, Jedrick your generosity has blown me away, you have being a great source of hope and encouragement during the dark days.

  Brian Mulipah, my consultant and Editor; thank you for all the advise and helping to get this out. You made it so easy!

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgement

  Preface

  Part 1

  Chapter 1: My Story

  Chapter 2: Call to Missions

  Chapter 3: The Bible and Missions

  Part 2

  Chapter 4: The Church & Missions in Africa Today

  Chapter 5: The First African Missionaries

  Chapter 6: Modern Day Missionaries

  Chapter 7: Why its Africa’s Time

  Chapter 8: Issues Affecting African Missionaries

  Part 3

  Chapter 9: Support Raising

  Chapter 10: Local Church and Mobile Church

  Chapter 11: Building a Support Team

  Chapter 12: Your Part in Foreign Missions

  Preface

  ***

  "A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over

  to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall

  into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story."

  - K.P. Yohannan

  ***

  This book was birthed out of my experiences of walking with God as an African missionary. It is based on my experiences and experiences of many other missionaries that have being brave enough to take up the call for missions, the joys, the struggles and the victories. My dream is to one day see an army of African missionaries taking the Gospel to all the places of the world.

  For many, missions are a thing of the past, where foreigners came to our country with the Gospel. In Zimbabwe now, everyone wants to be a business person - if not a pastor. Rarely do I hear any of our youth say, “I have a call to missions.” There is something missing that is not being handed down to the next generation in terms of missions.

  At the beginning of each year as people post their hopes are for the coming year, most are self–centred; what they are expecting from God, the year of bigger and better things, etc. Sermon after sermon in the church is about walking in greater relationship with God, and living a life of prosperity and comfort. Rarely do we hear about persecution, the unreached peoples that still need to hear the Gospel, or a call to sacrificial living for the sake of Christ and obedience. Is there something amiss with our Gospel? Is the teaching and preaching of today becoming latest fad on what is preached on a Sunday? Our Gospel has become inward focused and not outward. We want the blessing, but not willing to step out from our comfort zones to bless others. I hope this book challenges you to look beyond yourself, and think of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who have not heard the gospel, or who are being killed for their faith.

  Chapter 1

  My Life Story

  ***

  "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

  - Jim Elliot

  ***

  A year after I became a Christian, I knew God was calling me to serve Him in ministry. I became involved in children’s ministry at my church; but still something within me kept nagging me to pursue another area (I had no idea what it was). I began praying and looking at the different opportunities available to get training in ministry. My sister, Wendy had just gone through a year with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and I had enjoyed hearing about her experiences, and how God was using her and her team. I also longed for those experiences with God. I began praying and contemplating whether this was something, I could pursue. During this time a team from Kings Kids South Africa visited Zimbabwe, on a short outreach. I got to meet with them and ended up joining them in their ministry. Throughout this time God was confirming to me that ‘missions’ was the area I was to be involved in.

  As I have always had the desire to travel, I decided I would do my Discipleship Training School (DTS) outside my country. I sent applications to YWAM Centres in different countries that were on my list of places to visit. As I prayed for God to show me which place to go to, I had a vision of the streets of Amsterdam, when driving along Samora Machel Avenue in Harare. For me who had no clue as to what I had experienced I was overwhelmed when that same afternoon I arrived home to see a information package from the YWAM Amsterdam base. On the front of their brochure was the same street of the vision I had earlier. This was confirmation for me that I was to go to Amsterdam.

  My Discipleship Training School, was starting in April, and I started preparing for the school; I had to raise money for the Visa, tuition fee and flight - which I completely didn’t have (I needed about US$2500). It was a lot of money in Zimbabwe then, but I determined to do this trip by faith, and trust God each step of the way.

  While in communication with the Amsterdam base, I was told to write letters to raise funds and wrote to a lot of companies that I knew to be Christian owned. Eac
h one turned me down. April came and the DTS passed. In moments of asking God if I heard him clearly God asked me “Do you believe you are going?” I did believe that I was going.

  A few months before the September School was to start, the school leader called to ask if I was still interested in doing the DTS. If so, I had a scholarship for the lecture phase for the September DTS - and if I really knew, God had called me to do the school, to come and continue trusting God for the outreach. This was all new to me, but I was seeing my relationship with God go to a different level as I spent time in prayer, seeking Him; and seeing how God was opening doors and providing for me.

  People would ask me when I was leaving and I would give them the date. One week before the school was due to start, I still had nothing - yet by faith, I was prepared to go. I was due to leave the Sunday and by Friday afternoon, I still had nothing! I happen to go to my sister Caroline’s work place, and at the same time, she was getting her commission for a sale she had made. To cut the long story short, I ended up getting the money from her, and immediately started running around trying to get a flight ticket! Being a Friday at the end of a working day most places had already closed. We managed to get hold of the travel agent I had booked my ticket with, which had already closed; and after explaining that I now had the money, he agreed to meet me on a Saturday to make the payment and collect the ticket. This guy went out of his way to meet us in his own time on a Saturday morning. That was the beginning of many experiences of trusting God.

  I began to have a slightly clearer picture of where and what God was leading me towards with my time in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and yet, at the same time, was blindly taking my first steps into missions. When I say blindly, I literally mean blindly, as there was no one to explain how to go about building a support team or preparing for entering missions. I still had no idea what being in missions involved. I knew what I had seen and experienced but they were a lot of missing pieces. I then spent one year with YWAM in Harare, and then went on and worked with my church for another three years. At the end of the three years, God was now leading me to return to YWAM and missions. I started looking at options regarding places to go to, and I knew I wanted to stay within Africa. I saw how youth from other countries came on mission trips and have amazing encounters with God, seeing Him move in amazing ways. I started praying about our youth in Africa. In view of the fact that we also did not have a lot of Africans that would even consider getting involved in missions, this became a heavy burden on my heart. What would one day be our inheritance as a country, as a continent?

  Psalm 2:7-8 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

  This became a verse of great significance for me. I then joined the Frontier Missions Centre in Harare as the Operations Director, and began to see the great need for mobilising Africans for missions and raising awareness for missions within Africa.

  Over time Psalm 2:7-8 became the cry for my personal life. I wanted a nation as an inheritance. I wanted a nation that God would call me to serve, that I would give my life to. In my involvement with mobilization for missions, people would come to me and say, “I have a burden for this country and I feel God is calling me to this country or people group”. After each mobilization event and each youth meeting, I would still pray and ask God, “When are you going to give me my nation?”

  One day God said to me, “I have given you nations, not a nation.” I began to realise for every nation I was committed to in prayer, where I was mobilising people to go, those nations were part of my inheritance! For years, India and China have being countries I have prayed for and longed to minister in - countries I found to be very fascinating and intriguing. When I see their cultures, their food, their flavour, I see God’s beauty and creativity within the nations. Despite that, I have travelled extensively on missions’ trips, but God has not yet opened the door for me to step on their soil to minister. However, I know one day before the throne some people from India and China will be there because I gave my time to pray, to mobilise, and to give the little I could for someone else to go there.

  This journey of missions has both been one of both great pleasure and great pain, with disappointments. There have been times of great challenges in my faith and relationship with God, even to the point where I have questioned whether my decision for missions was worth it. Here are some of my thoughts from my journal.

  Some of my Journal entries:

  Friday 7 May

  So often in life, we doubt our relationship with God. When things do not go as we have planned, the first thing is to doubt. We doubt that we hear Him, and we doubt his presence. The more we focus on those doubts the further we move away from God. The more His voice becomes quieter and silent. All along, He is talking to us; He is with us. The more we doubt the more our hearts become hardened to hear his voice. We then need to come to that place of renewing our relationship with God, seeking him as we first did when we first came to him. Knowing He is in control. To come to that place that Job said, “Though you slay me I will still trust in YOU.”

  I have being waiting for God’s breakthrough in my finances, which has been for a long time, which had also caused me to harden my heart in order to protect myself from disappointments and the feeling that God would not provide for me. It is something that I have felt for a long, long time. I have had two years of dryness and unfruitfulness; many plans have not worked out as intended.

  I just felt God ask me whether I would continue to trust Him if He were not to provide. Yes I would, He has my life in control, and I do know He will come through for me – it may not be in the way that I expect, but do know he comes through for me.

  I feel like the disciples felt when they said to Jesus, we have nothing to go back to. Jesus was all they had, and it is the same with me. Jesus is all I have, nothing else matters. Should I ever doubt my love for God? No! He has my all already. He is my All.

  I have realised that I have things that I have gone and done myself, and asked God to bless, things that have not being connected to the vine. Lord, help me to walk connected to the vine; that I will be connected to You fully and to walk in the things that You have for me.

  Saturday 29th May

  The last two weeks for me has been extremely frustratingly hard. I got to the point where I was saying: “Lord, I will snap if any more pressure is put on me. There was no more elasticity for the rubber band to stretch!” Sure God was there and constantly gave me the encouragement, gave me the strength when I thought there is no way. Again, God showed me He was my helper and deliverer. I wanted a way out, I wanted to see and hold my ticket in my hand, and I was getting tired of waiting for His provision. I would cry and have the joy I needed to for the day, but that joy did not change a thing. It was not the joy to say I have the ticket. I had incredible times with God and still those times would not change the situation. I was stuck in the situation. However, God was in control. I wanted things done in my timing and the way I had planned it and still nothing would change.

  Guess I just have had my two weeks of forty days in the desert. If I had been in Zimbabwe, it would have being easy for me to settle and hang around. It would not have being a big deal. It would have been easy to come up with something to do, reconnect with friends - and I would have being busy.

  Thursday 3 June

  Today I realised the importance of mentoring, networking and connecting. After 7 years in YWAM, I have come to a place that I needed that someone to be a go between for me. Expect I could not find that person! Usually when people meet me, they see me as the sort of person who has it all together, and who comes from a well to do family. (I would not make myself pretend to be a poor African, who was suffering.) I did not have steady support, but through it, God carried me and provided.

  Nevertheless, at this time I needed to be raising regular steady support. I contacted friends to be a go
between for me. This did not prove to be a way forward.

  As an introvert, I am more of a small group of friends’ person. So this proved to be a bigger challenge in raising support. Since most of my ‘missions’ involvement is in mobilization, people don’t seem to want to support it. If it was saying I am raising money for orphans or suffering children, it would have being easy. Frontier missions’ mobilization does not seem to stir the hearts of people so much into wanting to give.

  This began to show and reveal the importance of having that one person who would be that person for you. The person who says, “Anything you need I will be there to stand with you and fight with you and help you through this”. How can this be possible when our churches do not even understand, nor support, what we are doing?

  So does that mean that the workers themselves do not suffer lack? People are willing to give into the work, but not for the people that are doing the work.

  It seems to have being the same story for Paul. Encouraged by the words of Paul today as I read Philippians today, this was describing me.

  Philippians 4:11 (ESV)

  11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

  This is me, this is what I am going through now, and this is what I am experiencing this very moment.

  At the same time, I felt God lead me to send support letters to a number of churches. I must have sent over a one hundred letters, and out of those letters only about six replied, with at least an apology as to that they can’t assist and a mention that they had prayed and would be praying.

  Today God started showing me how that breaks His heart; that the body is not willing to meet the needs of the Body. That we are so focused on our churches business that we do not hear Him speak anymore.