Imagine a group so large that they make up a quarter or more of the population of South Africa, extending into neighboring countries as well. They call themselves “Christians,” but few of them know about God’s forgiving grace through Jesus Christ. They rely on religion and baptism but have experienced neither spiritual rebirth nor life in the Holy Spirit. They meet by the millions for church conferences but receive little or no biblical teaching. Most importantly, a current of spiritual hunger is surging through this group. They are known as the amaZioni (see sidebar).

Paul the apostle encountered a similar group in the first century. The people of Ephesus had received incomplete teaching, and they didn’t even know about the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). Paul did not condemn them or shun them. Instead, he gently taught them, and wrote, “I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened” (1 Corinthians 16:8-9).

An Open Door

A great door has opened for us among the amaZioni. A few years ago, the Zion Evangelical Ministries of Africa (ZEMA) from Zion, Illinois, began sending teachers to help guide the amaZioni to the truths of God’s Word. (ZEMA’s history was linked to the group that had started the amaZioni church many decades earlier.) But the task is huge! SIM now has the privilege of cooperating with ZEMA and others who hear the cry of the amaZioni, “Please come and teach us!”

The Zion Evangelical Bible School (ZEBS) provides periodic short but very intense courses for pastors and church leaders. After the students have completed 400 such courses (10 per month, 100 per year for four years), they receive a diploma, as well as a working knowledge of the Bible and spiritual leadership that they can take back to their churches. Presently, classes are limited to pastors and church leaders, since we do not have enough teachers to admit the others who request Bible training.

We also help with children’s ministries, showings of the JESUS film, and various programs to relieve human suffering. Every summer churches in the US and South Africa send teams large and small for a week or two to help with the community outreach. Recently we have found open doors to help couples and families by conducting marriage conferences.

Whenever we travel among the amaZioni, people ask us the same question: “When are you coming back?” Imagine such an open door! Wouldn’t you walk through it?

Go

Bible teachers can come for a week or a lifetime.
Children’s workers will have the time of their lives here.