Former Enemies Now Gospel Partners

My Dear Friends,

I grew up as an abandoned street kid in the slums of Harare in Zimbabwe, becoming something of a small-time terrorist during my teenage years in the revolution against the old whites-only Rhodesian government. You may have heard me share this in my testimony or read my book, Out of the Black Shadows.*

When I was a kid, I hated white people and I hated Christians, because I thought they were the cause of my misery. I even went with some friends one evening to bomb an evangelistic tent meeting in Harare. That was the evening when Jesus got ahold of me and turned my life around. I found healing for my wounds and hatred, and became reconciled with so many people I had thought were my enemies.

In fact, when I joined AE in Zimbabwe in 1984, I began to work in the ministry of the Gospel alongside a white man named Chris Sewell, who had been a policeman for the former white government. His job just a few years earlier would have been to arrest or even kill a rebel like me. And if I had had the opportunity during those years, I probably
would have sought to kill him also. Chris became a Dectective Inspector and I became a Gang Leader.

Yet Christ brought us together! Our testimony as a black former terrorist and a white former policeman who had both come to Christ and to friendship, forgiveness and reconciliation impacted people in a powerful way wherever we preached together.

Chris and I were, and are, by God’s grace, living proof of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

That message, my friends, continues to be powerfully communicated and lived out through AE’s Reconciliation Ministries, directed by my colleague Emmanuel Kopwe. What a privilege it is to be entrusted by the Lord in taking this message of reconciliation to some of the most traumatized places on earth!

Won’t you share in this privilege with us by praying for this work and responding with a generous gift that will enable us to continue our ministry of reconciliation in Africa?

Yours in the Grace of Christ,

Stephen Lungu

   THE HOPE OF HEALTH

Dear Ministry Partners,

As many of you would know, I was born in Eritrea in the north-east of Africa.  By God’s grace, I have been able to serve the ministry of African Enterprise which reaches across the length and breadth of Africa, bringing good news and practical care through our many programmes.

I rejoice at the many thousands of children that we have been able to save through our programmes which are focused on health and sanitation.  Basic things that we take for granted in the developed world are just a hope for many people living in Africa.   I am always saddened by the unnecessary death of young mothers in child birth, or a small infant who dies from simple gastro-intestinal problems which could have been avoided.

We are doing our best to help in a range of life-changing programs which give the hope of health to many thousands. We all want to have good health. In the worst slums of Africa where we work, we face infant mortality rates of up to 50% in the first five years of life because there is inadequate sanitation, water and just basic cleanliness.

Some people might laugh when we say that we are putting energy and effort into building toilets but I can assure you that they make a huge difference. In a community which has none, the consequence is a water supply that is polluted and deadly. We have been building latrines in Kenya and Uganda to name just two places.   Also we are running primary health care clinics in Africa that provide basic medical services and immunization that dramatically reduce infant mortality. Many thousands are helped.

The maternity ward that we run in the slum of Namungoona in Uganda helps 700 – 800 women a year alone. Women not only come from within the slum but from the surrounding districts so that they can receive help both before and after the delivery of their infant.  The numbers that we are dealing with are very small compared with the need and there is much more to be done.  All our workers are Christians. When asked, “Why are you doing this for us?” the response is that we are trying to reflect the love of Jesus to those in need. As a consequence, many people want to know more about our Lord and Saviour who has concern and care for every aspect of our lives.

Can I ask at this time if you would provide a gift towards the AE ministry that is concerned for the physical and spiritual well being of the people in Africa. I think of us as lifesavers. The presentation of the Gospel provides for life in eternity for those who hear the Gospel and respond. The provision of practical care, particularly for women and infants gives physical life so that they might have a future opportunity to hear the Gospel.  Please pray for us and give whatever the Lord enables you, to this vital and life changing ministry.

Your brother in Christ  

Meretab Tekie 

African Enterprise

Aid & Development Director