Africa (MNN) — Being a member of the Alliance for the Unreached, ZimZam Global has a passion to see the last 2.5 billion unreached people hear the Gospel. They were founded in Zimbabwe and Zambia, and have spread to other African countries and India. However, they recently discovered their work in witnessing to unreached people groups in Zimbabwe and Zambia isn’t finished.
President and CEO of ZimZam Global, Dave Meyers, attended the Finishing the Task conference, which has a vision “to see every people group in the world engage with an indigenously led church-planting movement.”
At the conference, the list of unreached people groups was shared and Meyers was surprised to find there were a total of four people groups in Zimbabwe and Zambia yet to hear the Gospel. The interesting thing is, the people are Chinese.
Unreached Chinese People Groups in Africa
“Wherever I go, especially in Africa, Chinese are there because they’re there with their cement. They’re building roads. They’re building infrastructure. And so, I feel like because of that reason, God is using that, bringing these Chinese who are building roads through the country, and has given us an open road, if I could say a current day ‘Roman road’, to be able to talk to them, present the Gospel, see kids reach for the Gospel and new churches being planted,” Meyers explains.
(Photo by Guilherme Romano on Unsplash)
Though Meyers wasn’t expecting to minister to Chinese people groups in Africa, he believes God has given ZimZam new opportunities to share the Gospel.
He hopes to use ZimZam leaders on the ground to train, equip, and send the Chinese people out so they can witness to others both in Africa and in Asia.
Because these groups have been in Africa, they’ve learned to assimilate into the culture. Looking ahead, this will be beneficial as they go out and witness to the nationals in Africa. However, it will also be useful to ZimZam leaders who will share the Truth with them because they’ll be able to find similar ground.
“I’ve got leaders on the ground that we’ve trained that I think could actually go in there and know the language– know the culture,” Meyers says.
A Task at Hand
As ZimZam gets ready to move forward, they know taking on the work of ministering to a new people group is a big task. Taking on four, however, could be overwhelming.
Yet the leaders with ZimZam have plenty of experience and background knowledge in sharing the Truth with unreached and unengaged people. For example, Meyers worked with Ethnos360, formerly known as New Tribes Mission, an organization that seeks to reach every tribe and people with the Word of God.
Meyers says he knows it’s a big commitment, but God has raised up ZimZam to respond. He also notes “Most of these [Chinese] people groups aren’t necessarily in the millions. They could be … less than a hundred – 100 to 200 to 500. And so, you have maybe a greater opportunity to really have a Gospel impact because the numbers aren’t so overwhelming.”
How ZimZam wants to Respond
So, with all the people ZimZam wants to witness to, where do they start?
(Photo courtesy of ZimZam Global via Facebook)
Many times, ministries start by sharing the Gospel with adults and hope they will pass the message of Jesus down to their kids. Yet ZimZam completely reverses the cycle by witnessing to children between the ages of 4 to 14 through Awana clubs. Children then share what they’ve learned with their families thus making an impact in the home.
ZimZam hopes to go forward with this strategy while working with the Chinese people groups as well. Meyers says because parents are busy working on construction, children are left behind and don’t have anything to do. This creates a window of opportunity for ZimZam.
Offering Awana clubs will give kids somewhere to go and let their parents know they’re at a safe location.
“I think we got the opportunity to go in and reach the kids, share the Gospel with them, tell stories [from] creation to Christ, and then they can tell these stories back into their siblings and parents,” Meyers says.
Respond with ZimZam Global
With big plans for 2018, ZimZam invites you to partner with them. You can help financially support discipleship efforts to reach Chinese children in Africa through Awana clubs. Your gift will share the Truth with kids and empower them to witness to their families. Imagine a ‘ripple effect’ of these Chinese people groups sharing the Gospel all throughout Africa and Asia. You could be part making that difference.
Click here to come alongside ZimZam through financial support.
Another way to make a change is simply through prayer. “Pray that God would give us spirit empowerment – Holy Spirit empowerment from Him, the right partnerships together that really understand what really is happening on the ground there, the right leaders that’ve been trained.”
