Sent from our home church, Christian City Fellowship in Sealy Texas, we work in community development ministries
based out of Hatfield Christian Church in Pretoria, South Africa. Below are three major focuses of our work in Pretoria. We love what we get to do!
based out of Hatfield Christian Church in Pretoria, South Africa. Below are three major focuses of our work in Pretoria. We love what we get to do!
Early Childhood EducationBerakah Education Foundation is a community development ministry focused on early childhood education in Mamelodi, a poverty-stricken township north of Pretoria. Mike and Chandra are part of Berakah's nonprofit board of directors, and Chandra is the managing director of its main project, a crèche (daycare). She is on the ground every week discipling the principal, teachers, and staff and training them in early childhood development and in business principles, working to get both the centre and their own lives as followers of Christ sustainable.
Under Chandra's leadership, Berakah shares as much resources and opportunities with other area crèches as it can. In 2015, training was provided to nearly 500 teachers and principals, impacting potentially ten thousand children as a conservative estimate (most crèches have a far bigger ratio than twenty children per teacher). More recently, Berakah has shared training in the SOUNS phonetics programme and hosted a sports/athletics day. |
Discipleship and Leadership DevelopmentMike and Chandra help facilitate Life Training School (LTS) together with Hatfield's staff, and are part of smaller community discipleship efforts connected to LTS.
Mike is part of Hatfield's Worship Academy, which attracts students from many parts of Africa as well as southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. He has also hosted workshops for pastors, worship leaders, musicians, and vocalists. Training focuses on theology of worship, relationships with pastoral leadership, biblical expressions of worship, and other aspects as the Lord leads and as requested by church leadership. In previous years we have traveled with seasoned South African pastors to churches and networks in the DRC, Mozambique, Cameroon, and Angola, bringing leadership development and training to pastors and church leaders, and we look forward to more opportunities in these nations in the future. |
Support for Orphans & Vulnerable ChildrenMike works with the James 1:27 Trust, where they are developing software, care models, and business practices for nonprofits in South Africa who care for its 3.7 million orphans.
In this role, Mike has been able to provide technical support and expertise for many ministries as well as bringing them tools like Office 365 that help make their work more efficiently. Best of all, the work has created opportunities for Mike and Chandra to minister to the leaders who work directly with the children and the staff in the offices. If we empower those who care for many children, we impact many children! |