Into Zim - Part Two

Phew! Hectic week, which I'll tell you about at some point. Anyway, I'm due to tell you all a little bit more about Zim.

When we got to the church I was soon off to my hosts' home in Harare. They were a really great couple called Spike and Josie, who, for those who know them, were actually good friends of Sabrina and Toni Bin-Ali/Wiebe! It was a bit of a weird thought being in the church where they'd spent much of their lives and to see pictures of them on the wall at my hosts' house! Of course when I arrived we couldn't see anything as it was fast getting dark and the electricty was out. That also meant that water was out too, as municipal water isn't usually reliable and electricity is needed to operate the pump that takes water out of a 20m deep bore hole nearby! Given that this was a regular occurence it was interesting to hear Josie say, "You know what? We've just got to recognise that we're living in Zimbabwe and so we need a generator"! Every man needs to be an island (self-sufficient) because you can't rely on what others will supply. After a couple more hours the fridge started buzzing away and we knew the electricity had returned! It was so interesting seeing the number of ways even these relatively well off people had to adapt to everyday living. If you've got some resources you've got the means to adapt. If you don't, you're stuck.

We were soon joined by Bertin, a leader of a number of churches in Congo, and Kenneth, a young pastor from Zambia (and later Drew, our leader at Hope Church), and we sat down for a meal. Thankfully we were in a good house (Some of the houses in Zim are just huge colonial throwbacks. This one, owned by someone else, had a front garden and porch big enough to host a 500 seat concert, I'm sure!) and up on higher ground than much of Zim so we weren't seeing any mosquitoes, so I went to sleep, albeit on a thin matress on the floor (which is better than I was expecting!) and recoved from all the long journey.

Next day we were off to the church. Our "fast" didn't really begin until 11am, so we had breakfast, including loads of the "rare" (e.g. grapes, apples, etc) fruit that had not been eaten on our journey. Zimbabwean cornflakes were on offer too, with the price tag still on it reading 1,235,000 ZMD!

With breakfast inside of us we were off to the church again. I'd seen enough that made me want to pray for this place and was keen to get into things.

As ever we started off simply worshipping God for who He is, irrespective of what is going on in the world. For the Zim guys it was amazing how they generally didn't even seem mindful of the everday annoyances and hassles and hardships that a first timer like me was noticing. These people were genuinely joyful in God. It wasn't their pick me up, they were seriously more mindful of the greatness of the Gospel than they were about life. And so we celebrated as only Africans (though Dave Devenish told us that the Russians tend to celebrate just as wildly) do with infectious fun, happiness, and dancing. Coming from England it's actually so refreshing to see people who don't just dance, but are so happy that they love to dance! The passion, the confidence, the boldness continued into prayer. We spent much of our time praying for Zim, of course, and how the guys led us was excellent. They weren't at all concerned with their own "best interest" but purely those of the Gospel. They guided us to pray from 1 Timothy 2, which calls us to pray blessing, not cursing upon all those in authority so that we may live peaceable and godly lives. This is connected to the following verse which says this is pleasing to God who desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. They asked us to call on God for more peace, more justice, etc, so that the Gospel not be hindered! Indeed these Scriptures were written when there was a harsh Roman Imperial governance over them that often persecuted the Church, and similarly these Zimbabweans responded in the same spirit of humility and God-centeredness as these early believers. They recognised that all authorities are put in place by God and that all kings and rulers ultimately serve His purpose, even by rebelling against Him. Their clarity of insight was incredible - seeing right past the present difficulties to eternal priorities.

These guys didn't miss a beat and we heard many stories of how the Church was responding with great success to the problems around and giving great witness to Jesus' power to save to the uttermost. They weren't simply offering people a bright hope for when they died, but even for life. We heard of care for AIDS suffers led by a doctor in the church we were in, and how they had confidence that God would display His wisdom through the Church (Ephesians 3:10). There was a college that was being built near Bulawayo to train people in many essential skills alongside a lengthy mentoring program that really addressed some of the bigger issues with the light of God's truth. Farming God's Way was another initiative being put into practice in Zim and seeing great success at turning people from dependents into suppliers. There were strategists and other Church connections looking to link people from the aforementioned college and others with world-class markets as part of a huge strategy of growth and empowerment. As I've said before, this is not merely humanitarian either. Their vision is through and through from the Bible, seeing the world as God's world, seeing with faith the abilities God has given all people to produce wealth, etc. The reason the Gospel wasn't a tack on to an aid program was that they saw everything through the eyes of faith and were able to give faith-based answers to practical situations where no one else had anything to say! That was one of the amazing things about this church - they could see no distinction between the natural and the supernatural - all things were God's!

The Church was in fact being granted a lot of open doors and favour by people who were seeing that there was leadership, motivation, vision, and of course power backing what they did, and all in all they were making Jesus known famously. I still struggle to remember some of the things they were doing and all of their breathtaking vision, but it certainly made an impression not only on me, but on Zimbabwe. That's one of the main reasons I want to go back there - they filled me with such faith, but it's all leaking out of me. When they speak you can so tell there's something so much more than mere human strategy, but now I struggle to remember it all and so I want to get something that will leave a bit more of a permanent impression. Currently flights are about R3200, which is about £225, so that's out. Might see about another drive with some people. Maybe take a coach. Who knows?

Sam Poe, with us from the USA, brought a prophetic word from Genesis 49 for the Church in Zim.

"Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob." (vv 22-24)

Like Joseph, the Church in Zim have been feeding much of the nation and developing strategy to help it feed itself and make use of its abundant resources. He said God, like this, was beginning to grant them more and more power to not by stopped by obstacles (walls) but to simply grow around them and envelop them with a logic-defying ability to grow (this again informed our praying about not seeking to overturn the government but to simply grow around the difficulties by God's grace). The Church in Zim is on course, having endured much they have, and are to continue, to keep their "bow" steady and continue to press into things not yet seen. More than this he felt God was pioneering something special with the mix of gifts and abilities learning in this hard place that would go beyond Zimbabwe and see their success replicated in many nations of the world also in similar need of the Kingdom of God to affect everything. Wow! God is doing something amazing in Zimbabwe, He truly is. Again, I want to see what's going on and touch just the cloak of this blessing. Like these guys, I'm not just looking for God to bless me (to be a recipient), but to become a blessing (to be a source). Indeed, that is what God promised to us - that He will bless us and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through us.

I made tonnes of friends up in Zim too. I was forward thinking enough to take a football with me so a bunch of us were kicking around during some of the breaks. It seems football is an almost universal cultural in road! It was great to catch up with people like Scott and Mbonisi and Tash while we were there too - all of whom extended invites to come back.

One of the pictures you'll see above is of part of the food offering the various delegates brought, placed next to the world map in the church. This is no gimmick. Again, we saw so many evidences here of a church with a global vision, even though the local scene is so huge. They have big plans to be sending churches - sending people to all the ends of the earth for Jesus. With all their challenges, and perhaps because of them, these guys are some of the best examples I've seen of communities of God's people on His mission.

We also prayed a lot further afield, including SA, Lesotho, Tanzania, DRC, Zambia, Malawi - all of whom were represented amongst us. Like us, many of these people had travelled for days to get here, and the commitment to simply being together is just amazing.

There were of course loads of things happening as the Spirit of God was amongst us, ministering to us in a more general way that just made this gathering inspiring and powerful to be a part of. And yet, this is nothing more than normal biblical Christianity! If only we could all get a hold of just what God has done in Christ! That's why the NT so often prays for us to have wisdom and strength to comprehend what God has done and for grace to know exactly what the expansive will of God is. If we could just get that....! I encourage you each, find someone, something, that makes you feel like you've only just begun to understand the Gospel and feed on that. Your life will never be the same!