“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
With dreams of getting a job to earn a livable wage, people from all over Africa move to Johannesburg. With nowhere to live, people often settle in informal settlements, commonly known as squatter camps. Instead of finding work, many people experience poverty, violence, and abuse in these camps. Substance abuse is prevalent. Men can be seen gambling away any money they have. In these communities, it’s more likely for a girl to be sexually assaulted than it is for her to learn how to read.
Seeing these things left us asking ourselves – What do we do about this?
We had the privilege of serving alongside an organization called Impact Africa. Impact Africa ministers year-round in these communities. They meet some of the social needs in the community by providing a pre-school for the children. They also meet the spiritual needs of the community by saturating the squatter camps with the Gospel.
I’ve read about a time when Jesus showed compassion for a crowd of people, and told his disciples “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37). In a conversation earlier this year with an Impact Africa missionary, she shared that the harvest is so plentiful, that they need as many laborers they can get to serve in the communities. Our team answered this call and spent our days sharing the Gospel in the community.
Impact Africa taught us about a ministry model called the “3 A’s” – the Approach, Assist, and Advance. We would take time to get to know the person and give them an opportunity to know us by sharing stories. Often, we’d meet people doing work or laundry, and we’d assist them with their chores. (Doing laundry by hand is hard work!) Doing this opened doors to advance the Gospel and minister to them. We prayed with people and shared about having a relationship with Jesus. We also helped make plans for future discipleship.
Throughout the week we learned several lessons. Perhaps the most important was to minister out of love. As Christians, sometimes we feel like we have (or should have) all the answers. We can act as if we have things figured out. Admittedly, sometimes ministry can seem more like a task to be completed. We can do all these things with great intentions, but if we lack love, the message we share means nothing. As our team walked deeper in this truth, we realized that our ministry became more personal and more fruitful.
Now that we are home, we must remember to continue to keep this mindset right here in our own communities. The Gospel is best served accompanied by love. Let’s be a Church that advances the Kingdom out of the overflow of God’s love for us.
