Africa Area Update - August 2024

YFC South Africa was invited to speak to 70 young students about their identity in Christ at one of the high school hostels. A generous donation allowed the purchase of 70 Bibles in Afrikaans. The students were challenged to read one chapter of John daily and journal what they had learnt for three weeks over the holiday. All students who took part in the exercise received an R100 note which was a fortune to them.

YFC Malawi collaborated with other like-minded movements to reach out to the lost young people during the Ufulu Outreach Festival. The ministry also shared the vision in schools and conducted discipleship programs. We celebrate with them as they have received their much-anticipated Registration Certificate from the Government.

Youth for Christ Namibia was privileged to facilitate leadership conferences at secondary and primary schools and colleges. The leadership camps are not just about equipping the students, but also steering them to have a vision that directs them to become the best of

themselves and be the greatest leaders. They also took time to worship, pray and encourage the learners during the sessions.

A spiritual formation club was started at a high school where approximately 30 young people attend on a normal basis. These young people are eager to learn from the Word of God and have a hunger to want more from Him.

Youth for Christ Botswana continues to grow, strengthening the ministry in the two centres. They are exploring expansion to Serowe in the Central District and Francistown in the Northeast District, building on relationships with local churches already in Serowe and nearby villages since 2023 outreach. The ministry activities taking place are school ministry at Radikolo, Sedibelo,

Ithuteng and Kgamanyane junior secondary schools, Inferno weekly meetings and Prayer Force nightly online, Kgatelopele tutoring program for secondary students in Old Naledi, the Legae Bible club, hospital ministry as well as a prayer camp at Mizpah.

Youth for Christ Nigeria started the journey of bringing together Youth/Teen ministers and teachers from different churches with outstanding participation and success. The success of these conferences has led to more churches and schools opening their doors to YFC for further training for their workers and leaders in both cities.

Akure Conference

The conference in Akure had a total of 84 participants in attendance. These were pastors, lecturers, teachers, youth leaders, YFC volunteers and Board members. The program was a great awakening for YFC in the State, with many of the participants committing to continual engagement.

Gombe Conference

They had a visit to Gombe for meetings and outreach throughout the week. They also met with some volunteers and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) Gombe chapter executives.

Jalingo Conference

They had a short meeting with the Board Chairman and the Secretary to give a brief on the plan for the visit. They also had a successful conference with over 50 adults and youths attending the conference from different churches and schools.

YFC Guinea Bissau held the first Training of Trainers on leadership for nine days. Young people from different churches and denominations attended the training successfully using the leadership book provided by One Hope – “Lead Today” by John C. Maxwell.

The participants were overwhelmed with joy and confessed that they learned important leadership skills that will help them a lot. Here is testimony from one of the participants.

“My name is Benilde Severina Marques Mendes.

I would like to thank God for providing me with this opportunity to learn and extend gratitude to the YFC leadership team for selecting me to take part in this training. I missed the training on the first day for some reason, but when I came on the second day, I realized that I should not miss any other day for the importance of the skills being shared. I grew up in a place where I was always given opportunities to be a leader in the Sunday Schools. However, during this training, I noticed that I lacked many skills despite working as a leader. The most remarkable skill for me during the training was integrity. This has always been a

challenge. Now that I have learned about it in detail, I feel that I need to work more to overcome this challenge. Another skill that was remarkable for me was “priority”. I am the kind of person who wants to please everyone. Whenever someone asks for a favour, I make myself available to the point that I feel I do not make plans for myself. During the training, I understood the need to start taking this seriously and share this skill with the rest of the family. The best way for me to apply what I have learned is by teaching others. Realizing that I was a coward, and not wanting to take responsibility many times, I was encouraged to do more of that. From this training, I learned that I should take initiative whenever I see that something must be done.”

In Youth for Christ Zimbabwe, Praise Moyo and Nkosi Bhebhe were nominated to attend the SASCOL’s Multiply School sports ministry training in Cape Town and returned in mid-July. We are looking for the next generation of selfless sports ministry leaders who will bring hope and shape the future of our country and beyond. Praise and Nkosi were equipped to be change agents in their communities and ministry to young people through sports, play, fitness and other disciple-making strategies.

A meeting with Sports Ambassadors took place in Bulawayo in July to consider a 5-year collaboration plan in the sports ministry, building on existing partnerships with OC Africa and the late Daniel Brandel in 2013, leveraging on the recently equipped young leaders. Sports Ambassadors will coach leaders, support coaching teams and at times bring college teams to participate in sports camps and outreaches and play local teams.