Chris is a graduate of Christ Seminary in Polokwane and is Zulu in ethnic heritage.  He and his wife, Happy, are planting a church in Daveyton, a township in Johannesburg.  Chris is part of an exciting, growing wave of township church-planters laboring to build biblical churches on the strong foundation of the true gospel and sound doctrine.

Testimony of Salvation

I was raised by a single parent. My goal in life was to live for myself and be a better man. I sought for satisfaction in sports, friends, and girlfriends. My mom took me to a 12 Apostolic Church, which was a cult but I didn’t know that. I was taught that I must work for my salvation and my ancestors. I labored day and night recruiting people to work for their salvation. It was during my zeal of recruiting people that the Lord led me to a Jehovah Witness home. My intention was to recruit a young man to be one of my followers, because we were taught that we must have disciples.

One day his mother asked me to read Luke 22:35. This was a troubling verse to me, having been taught that the reason 12 Apostles don’t read and teach from the Bible is because Jesus told His disciples they must not carry a money-bag, which was interpreted to mean the Bible. The truth of this verse shed light for me. I thought there must be an answer to this question. I went back to the 12 Apostles leaders about this verse, who insisted that I am not supposed to read the Bible. Their answer troubled me further, and it seemed clear that they were hiding something. I decided to seek the answer from the Bible. The more I read, the more I saw that many things we were doing as a ‘church’ were clashing with the Bible, and I was troubled even more.

All my hope of getting the salvation that I had worked so hard for started to disappear. It was during that confusion that a friend invited me to a Pentecostal church. The pastor who was preaching that day answered all my questions in one sermon. My eyes were opened. My sins were exposed. Christ was presented as the answer for all the questions of life. I was captured by the preacher’s argument. I learned after church that the senior pastor was not there, and I was asked to come back. It was in my second visit that Christ was preached as a sinless man who died in my place in order for me to be saved. It was my first time to hear that Christ did the work that I couldn’t do. He paid the price that I couldn’t pay. It was after such truths were revealed that I trusted in the Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Call to Ministry

The Lord opened my eyes when He saved me to see that many people were still in the dark. I started asking myself, “What if my friend didn’t invite me to church?” I was going to die in the hopeless situation that I was in. I started wondering how many people are still in the same position as I was.

Therefore, the Lord gave me a desire to tell others about the way of salvation. I started refuting the teachings of the 12 Apostles cult by pointing out that salvation is by grace in Christ alone ( Eph.2:8). During my business in calling people to repent from their sins and trust Christ who died on their behalf, the leaders of our church recognized the gift that God has given me. They encouraged me and gave me opportunities to preach as well. That is where I sensed the need for further training. I discussed this with my pastor and he told me about the cost of being a preacher of the Word. I was so afraid to take it, but there was a joy in my heart that I will be suffering for the good cause. I started seeing that many preachers were not doing justice to the word of God. I was afraid that if I was not well trained, I might end up leading many people astray. It was during such fears that the Lord led me to an organization that was training young people for ministry (Jesus Life Ministry).

During my time of training in this organization, I met a young man who was an expository preacher. I longed to handle the word of God like him. By God’s grace, he gave me the application forms for seminary. It was in seminary that I realized how many people in churches are being misled by false teachers. My desire to work in the vineyard of the Master grew more and more. During my seminary years, I was asked to be part of a church-plant in an area 45 minutes away from my home. I stepped out in faith, trusting that the Lord will make a way where there seems to be no way, as long as we are out there making His disciples. That’s how the Lord called me to be on mission with Him, calling the lost to believe in Him and Him alone.