Missionary profile – Chris and Nancy Maphosa

By Mercy Kambura

Chris and Nancy Maphosa – Zimbabwe

I felt God’s call upon my life to do Christian ministry full time in 1988. I joined the Pentecostal Bible College in Zimbabwe and graduated in 1993. I became a pastor in 1994 and served in several churches. In 2001, I decided to further my education and enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in counselling, specialising in children’s behaviour. I felt a huge gap between churches, parents and children, and my need to concentrate more on preaching to children to children grew.

In 2003, I volunteered with a missionary working with children, and the passion for reaching children grew. My wife, Nancy, and I worked under Hope for AIDS (Widows of Hope). We worked with a cross-cultural missionary until he left us in charge and returned to his country.

As we kept reaching the kids, we realised the great need in southern Africa for children’s ministry. But we were employed, and couldn’t do ministry in the capacity we desired. Nevertheless, we still felt convinced to become missionaries.

We prayed about it, applied to SIM and were accepted. In 2014 we became full-time missionaries. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be material designed for reaching children. So, merging my life experiences, secular education, Bible knowledge, and passion for children, we developed a special curriculum for reaching the children – a series of six books called Today for Tomorrow. The first three books were developed with the other missionary, and we did the last 3. The manual has now been translated from English to about eight languages. Our key verse is Isaiah 55:1-11.

Before the pandemic, we taught the kids in school every day. We’d make use of their break times to speak to them about the gospel. To reach new children, we start with “the gospel hand.” We use each finger to explain the need for salvation and how we get saved by believing in Jesus. We go to one school a week until we see that the children have understood. Many children have come to believe in Jesus through this approach. We’re now trying to reach kids online, and it’s not as easy as before.

The work is hefty; we work with very many volunteers. One time we shared the material with a children’s worker and she said, “I have been giving the children poison because I didn’t know what to teach them.”

Having children receive Christ as their Saviour excites my heart. It’s our sole goal.

Please #pray:

For financial provision. My laptop is dying; I’m trusting God for a new one.
For more volunteers and workers; that the church in Africa will make herself available to reach the children.
That more institutions will open doors for our ministry
For our safety and good health.