Reflections from South Africa

A month ago, I had the privilege of leading a vision trip to South Africa with a group of pastors from the US and Canada.  This was the second pastor’s trip that I had led to South Africa in the past two years.  It is becoming an annual event for me.

From left: John Cho, Terrell Fletcher, Peter Ahn, Alex Gee, and Wayne Ogimachi

I had high expectations going into this year’s trip.  At a gut level, I felt that God was going to do something very special with this year’s group.  And indeed he did.  The pastors who joined me were: Pastor Wayne Ogimachi from Lighthouse Church in Bellevue, Washington; Pastor Terrell Fletcher from City of Hope Church in San Diego, CA; Pastor Alex Gee from Fountain of Life Church in Madison, WI; and Pastor John Cho from Onnuri Church in Toronto, Canada.

The difference between this year’s group vs. last year’s group was the experiential factor.  Last year, the group did a lot of observation, which was good, but what it lacked was an experience of the pain and destruction in Kwazulu Natal.  I wanted this year’s group to have this experience.

Rosetta Stander, the founder and Executive Director of Zimele, asked the pastors to lead a devotional each morning for the Zulu women.  So we all took turns and led a reflection from the Bible.  They were all powerful moments.  My fondest memory was when Pastor Alex Gee shared a simple yet profound message of Jesus telling the disciples to bring the kids to him.

Pastor Alex Gee leads devotional for mothers and grandmothers along with children

Pastor Alex told the ladies, “when you are taking care of the children, you are doing the work of Jesus.”  Although this may be a simple truth to many, it rocked these women’s heart.  We had grandmothers and mothers weeping.  They were weeping because they had never heard this teaching before.  In the valleys of Kwazulu Natal, many of the women, especially the grandmothers are left to care for their grandchildren and orphans.  Some grandmother’s have the burden of caring for over 10-15 children.  Because the numbers of orphans are so high, the women are often left with no choice but to care for these children.  As a result, orphans are considered to be a burden – a burden financially, emotionally, and physically.  But when Pastor Alex Gee shared this simple, yet profound truth that “when you care for the children, you are doing the work of Jesus,” it was a teaching that these women had never heard before.  For the first time, they had seen their burden become a blessing!  And this is why they were weeping.  We laid hands on them and prayed.  The Holy Spirit moved powerfully!

We also had the amazing privilege of bathing a man who had HIV and was paralyzed from the waist down.  When we first arrived at his house, he was grinding his teeth so hard we could hear the disturbing noise.  He couldn’t really talk because he was very sick, but he did muster up enough energy to shout at his mother.  We are not sure why he shouted at her, but we suspect it is because we were there.  I would probably be upset too if a bunch of strangers from the US had come to see me at my weakest and most vulnerable state.  This man had no idea that we were going to bathe him.  When the time finally came, I told the group that they did not have to do this if it was too uncomfortable for them.  I did not want to force the pastors to do something that they were not comfortable doing.  However, I was hoping that they would embrace the discomfort.  As I put on my mask and gloves, I looked back and saw the guys putting on their mask and gloves.  It was a beautiful sight.  We bathed every area of this sick man’s body, and yes, even the genital area.  Then we clothed him and carried him to a bed that was across his bed, so that we can clean and put new bed sheets on his bed.

When we left, this man that was hostile to us in the beginning, gave us a big thumbs up.  I believe that his spirit was uplifted, because five pastors were willing to humble themselves and bathe him.  This is what ministry is all about.  Being a pastor is about rolling up our sleeves and bathing sick people.  This is what Jesus did, and I want to strongly warn pastors who get caught up in the limelight.  Let’s be more concerned about how we can serve the poor and oppressed, rather than what conference we were invited to speak at.  Let our ministry be defined not by how big our church’s are, how many books we write, or who we have met, but let it be defined as we serve the “least of these.”

The other unforgettable experience was not only did we serve the people, but we actually slept in the home of a Zulu family for one night.  I’m going to be really honest, this was the most challenging part of the trip.  The place where we stayed had no electricity, running water, or beds.  We slept on the floor of a tiny one-room hut.  And yes, there were cockroaches on the floor.  I didn’t sleep much that night and the other pastors didn’t as well, but we were grateful to experience poverty at its deepest level.  I still cannot believe that there are people who live like this.  Again, our hearts broke for these people, and our passion for what Zimele is doing only grew stronger.

Each pastor experienced first hand the crisis of poverty and HIV in Kwalzulu Natal.  Every day, 300 people die of the HIV virus.  It is one of the poorest regions in all of Africa.  In the midst of all this destruction, each pastor has seen the great work that Zimele is doing.  Zimele is doing wonderful work in South Africa.  Through their efforts, thousands of people are able to support themselves economically without outside aid.  Their success stories have reached the ears of the South African government.  The South African government is requesting that Zimele teach them how to implement a savings programming.  In addition, Zimele is helping the local farmers to sell their produce to supermarkets through the help of Unilever.  This is just a few of the success stories that are happening in Zimele.

Each pastor has committed their church to support Zimele financially.  They have also agreed to share their experience and the vision of Zimele with their pastor friends back home.  My hope and prayer is that many more churches around the US and Canada will be able to support the great work of Zimele.

To learn more about Zimele please log on to their website.

One of my greatest joys in life is to lead vision trips like this.  If you are ever interested in attending a pastor’s trip, please feel free to contact me.