Ministering to the Whole Man

Wilbur & Fern

Action Zambia works primarily with compound churches--usually the poorest of the poor.  I can't begin to tell you how many times we have heard pastors and church leaders share with us their daily struggle to make ends meet.  At a meeting, a few months ago, with several of these leaders, one pastor stood up and asked a question that has haunted me since that day and continues to drive me to find ideas of how to help these leaders provide for themselves and their families.  

He said, "Recently, I had a prostitute that said she wanted to come to God, but if she did, she would have to stop the only thing that was feeding herself and her children."  He then asked, "how do I tell this prostitute to stop what she is doing, when I'm not equipped to help her provide for herself and her family in a different way that honors God?  When I go without food sometimes days at a time and cannot provide for my own family, how can I help this woman?"  Tough question.

In Scripture, there are many references to ministering to the whole man, not only sharing the hope that we have in Jesus, but also looking for ways to better our brothers' circumstances.  You have references to caring for widows and orphans, looking out for the poor, bearing one anothers burdens, etc... the examples abound.  So, how can we come alongside a pastor like this and equip him not only for ministry, but also look for ways to improve his livelihood?  This is the million dollar question and the one which has been pushing me onwards to look for other ways of generating income here in Zambia.  

The first area of research: Pigs!!!

Apparently, piggeries can be a very lucrative business here in Lusaka.  One piglet can sell for as much as 100,000 kwacha (about $30 usd) and a full-grown adult can garner as much as 500,000 kwacha (about $150-$160).  My goal over the next several months is to document information on the costs associated with raising & breeding pigs as well as to find out as much as I can about the market here in Lusaka.  I'm trying to learn how the business works so that I might then be able to teach others.

Over the next several months, I hope, not only to find out about this industry, but others as well, all with the goal of ministering to the whole man here in Zambia.  Please pray for us as a team as I am not the only one researching ways for income generation.  We feel like this is an area of ministry that God wants us to pursue in the near future.  So, we are trying to be diligent in our research.  Pray that we would find effective ways of income generation in this broken economy.  Pray that we would then be able to equip pastors and church leaders to financially provide for their families.