“The harvest here isn’t just ripe, it is rotting in the field,” The founder of Impact Africa, Rich Franzen, loves to say. People are ready to follow God, they just need someone to tell them. It has been a privilege being in the slums (aka squatter camps), and getting to share the gospel with such hungry people! These people live in some very difficult situations, which makes them very receptive to Good News. We are seeing genuine miracles and salvations here on a weekly basis. There is a learning curve when appropriating the gospel in such a radically different culture (you don’t need to cover ancestral worship much in the States), but luckily we are surrounded by decades of experience in the form of our fellow missionaries and African co-workers.
In many ways, moving across the globe is a lot like being 18 again. We thank the Lord that we have been managing to stay on the left side of the road when we drive! 😉 The last two weeks have been an absolute flurry of activity, full of familiarizing ourselves with South Africa in general. We hit the ground running and have been spending a lot of time getting to know the other folks on staff, creating and editing manuals and procedures for our new interns.
Here are some of Impact Africa’s ministries that we’ve been getting to know in the last two weeks:
- We welcomed our first batch of interns here on August 30th, and as the internship directors we are thrilled to be discipling such hungry, dedicated individuals. Our focus as the directors of the internship is to help them narrow their vision for their lives, wreck them for missions, and disciple them into greater maturity in their faith.
- Impact Africa operates a baby home through our Impact Baby Rescue department which houses up to 15 babies at a time who, for various reasons, do not have parents in their lives. Some have been abandoned in a dumpster or field, some orphaned, and some have been placed there because the family was unable to care for the child. The baby home is a place where they can be safe, cared for, and fed as they go through the process of finding a forever family. The interns help this department by assisting in campaigns in the communities and clinics to bring awareness to the issues of baby abandonment, as well as hand literature that can help moms who keep their children thrive in parenthood.
- It was also great visiting one of the high schools that Impact Africa gets to minister in. There are a number of schools in the area where we get to inject hope and purpose into the students through teaching the Life Orientation class. Much of it is practical encouragement and basic teaching on drugs, peer pressure, and potential, but near the end of the semester the Impact Students team capitalizes on the relational equity that has been built over the semester and presents the Gospel with great effect. The administration of the school will often comment on how the entire culture of the school can begin to shift as the light of Jesus penetrates the darkness. We got to help teach one of these classes, and it was amazing to see hope spring up in these students who are all too often overwhelmed and feeling very inadequate in their studies and lives.
- Lastly we have been doing evangelism in the communities. This is absolutely one of our favorite things to do here. We’ll walk around in the slums, talk to anyone who will listen, and tell them about Jesus. It is great being in a “warm culture”. People will stop what they’re doing, pull up a chair, and chat with you for an hour. It is forign and refreshing after perfecting a “one minute testimony” in the States to accommodate the pace of life.
A very genuine thank you to everyone back home in our financial and prayer network. God is moving here, and He is moving in a big way. People are contending for revival in South Africa, and we see the sparks of it already flying. It is an honor representing those back in the States who are not able to be here. God is great, and He is making Himself known here in powerful ways to hopeless people. We’re just grateful to be a witness and partner in His plans for this country.
Please be praying for:
- Continued grace and empowerment for us in this transition!
- That many salvations would come out of the ministry that is being done here in the South African squatter camps.
- That our current group of interns will catch a fire here that will carry them into whatever destiny that God has prepared for them.
Blessings,
Ryan and Kindle Bridgford
Website: https://thebridgfords.com/
Donations: https://www.kindridgiving.com/App/Form/b12bc6e5-d8cc-46f8-a9bf-cc464b3d061f
The Bridgfords in South Africa 