Missionary profile – Johannes Kahuadi

By Mercy Kambura

Johannes Kahuadi: From Namibia to the San of Botswana

I and my wife, Kennetseng Kahuadi, are missionaries among the San of Botswana. Bringing the gospel to them has been a tremendous learning journey for me. When I first came here, I wasn’t trained in missions. After a while, I felt I was being irrelevant because we weren’t having an impact on the people we ministered to.

We were imposing our culture on the San, trying to change them to be more like us, not like the Lord. So, we became students as well as missionaries. I’d spend two weeks in the mission field, then two weeks in a mission school. I took a missions course after ten years in the field!

I was born in Namibia, and got saved in 1980 through my brother’s influence. When he went to study theology, I wanted to do the same. So I enrolled at Bible Life Ministries. I was sent to work in a remote place among the San, who are unreached.

But we imposed our culture on them. We found them dressed in cowhides, and we forced them to wear ‘modern clothes’ and build ‘modern houses’. We gained nothing.

After the missions training, I began to see them from God’s eyes instead of from mine. We reached out to them from their context and from their understanding of God. They knew someone created heaven and earth, but they didn’t know the Creator, so they worshipped the creation, like the stars.

God began opening doors for them to true understanding. Today, pastors and leaders work among the San. We don’t go there to rule them. We have taught them that they can lead their own people in their own language.

If you’re going as a missionary, go with an attitude of learning. Every community wants to be appreciated. They will defend their beliefs if you challenge them. So first understand, then approach with love. Love opens the door to the gospel. Sleep where they sleep; eat what they eat. They will connect when you try to be like them.

#Pray:

That God would raise more leaders among the San to reach and to lead their own people in their own cultural context.
For missionaries who don’t want to go because of finances, that they may see the resources in the field beyond money.