HopeBuildersMinistries
Equipping DISCIPLES to make disciples who make disciples
Tel: 540 456 7300 Fax: 540 456 7288 Cell. 434 825 7661
Website: www.hope-builders.org E-Mail: Africa@hope-builders.org
Our vision of reaching Africa for Jesus Christ, in collaboration with Harvesters International Ministries and Evangelical Rural Mission is progressing well and we are seeing our
The Hub-model
The hub strategy forms the basis of our entire ministry - with the hub church and the hub leader being the key elements. A hub-church is chosen for its strategic location in an area where the population is distributed such that outreaches can be done in an area covering a 25 mile radius around the hub-church. Generally speaking that could encompass villages housing about 50,000 people in total. It also doubles as the training center where the identified “pastors”, for that area, will be trained.
The Hub Leader is a trained Pastor who joins our team by accepting and implementing the Hub-model strategy. He leads an evangelism team who reach out to villages within walking/bicycling distance from the Hub church. The hub-leader is required to plant 10 churches within a year.
His second task is to identify leaders for the church plants his team has done. These leaders are brought in to the hub church on a regular basis (3 days every 5 weeks) to receive Pastoral Training. The training is done on a mentoring basis for three years. The hub leader also mentors each student in the practical side of their ministry i.e. he teaches and assists them in performing baptisms, communion, funerals, meeting procedures, etc (in an apprenticeship model).
Each student (pastoral leader of the church plant) is required to plant one church per year while being trained, in a village within walking/bicycling distance of his church. Thus over a period of 3 years 30 additional new churches are planted within a 25 mile radius around the hub church, bringing the total number of churches planted in that area to 40 plus the hub church.
Our goal is to saturate the entire community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the hub grows each village is targeted by the evangelism teams after the church there has been planted and the leader is in training. This allows us to perform the very important task of following up on new believers, making them DISCIPLES of Christ and accommodating them in an Evangelical church within walking distance from their homes. On average each Hub can potentially reach 30,000 people when fully developed over a five to six year period, while also providing trained local leadership to continue the ministry when our commitment comes to a close. Tithing forms an integral part of our practical training and as such the congregations will be self supporting through the growth in spiritual stature and numbers.
ICM (International Cooperating Ministries) has become our partner in providing the sanctuary/training center which serves as the hub-church. We presently have 86 buildings finished or under construction with another 20 planned for the next 12 months.
The fact that the Pastors of the churches planted all know one another and share the vision we have taught them has a unifying effect that is seen in their cooperation in reaching out to new villages. Thus sharing the load and enhancing the effectiveness of the outreaches. In this way we presented a number of “national-to-national outreaches” in 2009 resulting in 27,000 people responding to join the discipleship program.
We currently have 182 hubs in various stages of development and we expect to establish a further 40 in 2010. The number of Pastoral students in training currently stands at just over 5,400 and will grow to an expected 6,000 in this next year.
We provide pastoral students with a bicycle, Bible and training materials while the only person we employ is the hub leader. The average cost per hub per month to accomplish our goals is $300.
The Discipleship program, where new believers are taught the basic tenets of the Christian faith, is run at every church planted by the pastor/student undergoing the training firsthand. As the Lord provides, one Bible per family is made available to ensure that they receive the maximum benefit from the training we provide. The importance of practical participation in living out our faith is stressed and for that they need to at least have access to a Bible.
To enhance the impact of our basic Hub-program we have augmented it with a program designed to reach children, called the Children Harvest Project. This “Cluster system” works on the same multiplying basis as the Hub Model, but trains local women to reach children with the Gospel. The success of this program has drawn the attention of public schools officials in a number of districts and our locally trained teachers have been invited to bring the Gospel to entire schools with great effect.
The child sponsorship program provides food, clothing, medical needs and school fees to 230 orphans currently in the program. This outreach focuses on orphans and their foster families. We expect this leg of our ministry to grow as there are many “child led families” where the first two or three children are born before the parents contract Aids – children born there after as well as the parents succumb to the illness leaving the oldest child (10 to 14 years of age) to lead and fend for the surviving siblings.
In sub-Sahara Africa, 1.4 million people die every year of AIDS related illness, about 3,800 every day.
We have started using widows in the roll of caring for orphans also as they themselves find it difficult to live after their husbands family have taken his belongings as theirs – stems from the cultural practice that only men own anything. The roll the widow plays in child rearing (orphans) redeems her as a respected member of the community – thus two purposes are served in one action. We are experiencing great success in
All gifts made out to Hope Builders are tax deductible.
More information contact:
Jeff Hawkins 931 237 6077 or jeff@HIMAfrica.com
