City Market Evangelism (03/04/08)

This morning, Luke Whitfield, a fellow missionary, invited me to go with him into Soweto to do some street evangelism. Soweto is a part of downtown Lusaka, where the city market is located. It is not common for Mzungus (White People) to be anywhere in or around Soweto. In fact, as we were walking through one of the congested streets, one Zambian man made the comment “Mzungus in Soweto,” because he was so surprised to see us. There were street vendors on top of street vendors selling anything from electronics, to live chickens, to kapenta (dried out fish minnows). There was enough trash, mud and other debris on the ground that you had to watch each step so you didn’t trip. But there also were so many people that you couldn’t look down for too long or you would run into them. The smell was also rather putrid because of all the rotten trash on the streets coupled with the fly infested meats being sold out in the open. 

The scene kind of reminded me of our own standing before God apart from His Son Jesus. His Word says that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. There is nothing good inside of us. Our hearts are like this rotten atmosphere in Soweto. We are without hope and without God. 

As we walked through the alleyways and busy aisles we eventually came to a row of street shops that was a little more out in the open than the rest of the aisles. At this point, something rather interesting happened. Luke was talking with another gentleman, when a man named Kaela Musonda, approached me. He said to me “You have a message which I must hear.” I was kind of caught off guard, but more than happy to share with him the message of Hope. After talking, he shared with me his desire to want to begin a relationship with God through repentance and faith in Christ. Please pray for Kaela. Pray that his profession would be authentic and that the seed that was scattered was on good soil. Pray that he will find a local church to plug into and be fed by God’s word. Pray also for Luke and me. We will be going back to Soweto every Tuesday & Thursday in hopes of sharing the gospel & building relationships with some of these guys that we are meeting. Pray concerning the spiritual warfare we know will come our way as a result of proclaiming His gospel in this area of Lusaka. Pray that God would also raise up some Zambian nationals to join us in this ministry.