In 2003, I stepped down from pastoring a church in Canada to become an OC missionary in Southern Africa. Heather and I joined OC Africa, our South Africa Regional Team based in Johannesburg. We intended to stay there for the rest of our lives, training pastors and church planters, and we loved it. But God had different plans.
We served in southern Africa from 2005 to 2008 until I was appointed Director for Outreach Canada. We believed God sent us to Africa to help develop African pastors and leaders. We had a very fruitful ministry there, assisting many churches, equipping pastors, and training church planters. Leaving was one of the most difficult decisions we have ever made.
The hardest part of returning to Canada was managing the emotions tied to the people we had worked with. We had developed close friendships. We loved our team. I felt like I was leaving behind the pastors and leaders I had spent three years getting to know. I worried about what would happen if we left. Who would carry on the ministry we had dedicated so much to? In some ways, returning to Canada felt like we were abandoning our commitment to Africa.
God Had a Different Plan
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
God had already chosen someone to carry on the ministry in Zimbabwe. A new OC family picked up where we left off, focusing on building relationships and connecting with the large indigenous church denominations that were often overlooked by evangelical leaders and missionaries.
Through a ministry of being present, listening, serving, and loving these people, my friend (name withheld by request) has been accepted as one of them and is now recognized as one of their elders. He did not arrive with a clear agenda or a specific plan to accomplish; he simply showed up and listened. He served whenever opportunities arose. On one occasion, he spent hours on his knees washing the feet of these African brothers and sisters who were seeking Jesus. He delivered Bibles in their language, shared tea in their homes, worked in their gardens, and repaired their vehicles. He has a ministry of presence. God has rewarded this ministry with meaningful relationships with many bishops and leaders who have experienced servant leadership and are now modelling it with their people. They have also learned that they can love and trust a murungu (white man).
Developing Leaders in Africa
I am grateful for our brief time in Africa. As I reflect on our experience there from a new perspective, I see God’s strategy for developing leaders. Sometimes He uses training events, sometimes He uses a ministry of presence and modelling, and sometimes He is orchestrating a much larger plan for the future. Looking back, I now realize that God was using those years to grow and shape me.
As I was guiding others, I was also being guided. God already had a plan for me, but He needed to steer my path through Zimbabwe to learn some important lessons that I need as a leader in our Global Alliance today.
God is still working in all of us. As we aim to develop the leaders around us, we must remember that God is also shaping the leader within us. I am one of the leaders God was developing in Africa.