In Pastor German’s last post, he described his church’s impact on children in their impoverished community. This has led to a rather amazing and unexpected development, as he describes here:
“Our church’s love for children in the community, and our ministry to them (last post), has developed into the Silent Voices Christian School, a non-profit organization born from our Bible Club this past year. The Bible Club teachers from Kabwata Baptist Church discovered that 85% of the children attending Bible Club were not attending any of our local community schools. This was noticed when the teachers made evangelistic visits to the homes of some of the children.
The problem was made known to Pastor German Banda and his interim leadership team. After much prayer and thought about it, they resolved to help the vulnerable children who admired their friends going to school in their school uniforms, but their families could not afford to send them to school. 40 children were identified and the Bible Club team began offering literacy lessons to them twice every month. Soon after the literacy lessons began, another group of about 57 children appeared, pleading with the teachers so that they could join their friends who were picked to be attending the literacy classes.
We had no option but to enroll them, and in June the church leadership officially registered the school. Within the month, the volunteer teachers felt great compassion for the children. Every teacher has a strong commitment to share the gospel with their students and teach the curriculum from a biblical worldview. The church leadership asked the parents to be contributing something in order to sustain the teachers. It was agreed that they could only afford 30 Kwacha ($3) every month. This ministry has provided a good platform for church outreach, and we have noticed that some homes which we could not step in have now become wide open for us to go in and share the gospel.
Let me share with you three major challenges that we are currently facing. First, our teaching staff is not college-trained. Please pray that they would be able to receive training and sharpen their teaching skills. Second, the families of some of these children struggle even to pay the 30 Kwacha ($3) and buy the required school uniforms. Please pray that the Lord might provide sponsors for these precious children. Third, we desperately need more school materials – textbooks, paper, pencils, rulers, bookbags, toys, desks, shelves, cabinets, etc. We are so grateful for those who have already contributed, and thank you for praying with us.”
