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Message From The Board Chair
Its been a year! And look, here comes more opportunities for great things in 2021. One of my key personality traits is positivity – can you tell? Is it “wishful thinking” or worse, have I been found I have “buried my head in the sand” well there have been times where probably both of those are true. But I can honestly say that 2020 was the Best of Years. That is what I have decided, and that is how I am going remember it. Was it easy, no. Did we lose people we loved, yes we did (among friends who died from COVID, my mother passed away in July 2020). Did we experience hardship, financial issues, and loneliness at times in lockdown, yes we did. But does it mean that we didn’t see God? And does it mean that God is not sovereign, and does it mean that He does not love us? No it doesn’t.
One of the reason that 2020 was for me, the Best of Years, because of family time. This year our family had intentionally time together every single Wednesday for 9 months. And it has grown us as a family in the most wonderful ways. It is so good, that we are going to keep going in 2021. We chat about Jesus, we eat together, we talk about our days, we tell jokes, we cry, we laugh. But we do it together. I know a lot of families that thrived during 2020 in terms of relationship together, and I thank the Lord for it.
As we go into 2021, my prayer, as the pandemic continues globally, lockdowns, shutdowns, closed borders, and many (who we know personally) getting COVID continues, that we would each take time to either reach out or pray for those who are not in good family environments. Those who are in extremely vulnerable environments, especially abusive homes, where they are experiencing terrifying times. There are many reports globally of the rise of phone calls to helplines for abuse, suicide and domestic violence. Let’s take time to remember and pray, and I encourage you to seek out family help centres in your neighbourhood that you can contrinbute, time, money or pray for in these days.
For Family Impact in 2021 we have a plan. We are not sure if we get to roll out the plan, but we have one! We are excited to be developing some new network relationships with pastors, churches and NGOs working across Zimbabwe. In particular my hope this year is for many fresh resources to be unlocked for communities in these new days ahead that help pastors and leaders give the message of a God-centred family-life. We are also looking forward to getting more organised online and will be introducing you to more there soon.
For each of you that read our updates, and pray for us, thank you. 2021 we look forward to seeing the Lord at work in unexpected places in unexpected ways. One of my favourite scriptures is from Psalm 112: 6-7"Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord".
I pray that each of you will not fear bad news this year. I pray that your hearts are indeed steadfast trusting the Lord. For He is faithful, He is Good, despite all things, and He is the only one we can trust. God bless you all for 2021, and do let us know how you have seen the Lord at work in your family, because your stories encourage us.
Thank you and many blessings, with love to all,
Lynne Knight
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Ministering one on one, our “Walk and Talk” initiative
As Solomon (again) once observed, “Two are better than one…if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” (Ecclesiastes 4.9-10, NIV)
Family Impact introduced the ‘Walk and Talk’ initiative, a platform for engagement with either an individual or a couple is created by simply taking a walk and talking (social distancing was observed).
The initiative has had a direct impact on 43 people so far.
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The initiative became a source of light for a young pastor who was going through dark times, here is his story: “One of our facilitators reached out to Michael (not his real name), a young Pastor who is currently undergoing disciplinary action at his church after engaging in some misconduct of a sexual nature. Unfortunately, the church had no plan in place on how to deal with his case, neither had they communicated to him or assigned anyone to help on how to restore him.
He was stopped from ministering in the church and he was also asked not to attend church services at any of the church's branches. He had no one talking with him during this very difficult time. He was very glad to have someone reach out to him and check on him. The Family Impact team, after spending time with him recommended that he may have some deep seated issues that will need professional counselling for him and his wife, therefore, he was referred to a Christian Counselling organisation based in Bulawayo.”
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Ministering to couples in the digital age during a pandemic – a story of our WhatsApp Support Groups
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to find ways to minister virtually to the families. Therefore, we established (and revived) 3 WhatsApp groups to minister through. Collectively, the groups have directly reached 303 people, with Men’s group having 68 people, women’s group having 55 people and couples group having 180 people.
The content in these groups is primarily daily devotionals distributed across all platforms. Then on selected days (Wednesday 7.00pm for men and women and Thursday 7.00pm for couples) there is an in-depth (live) group discussion on subjects in relation to marriage. In August, the discussions where on how to help parents financially when the need arises; forgiveness in marriage and building each other up in marriage. Additionally, men’s group has a daily prayer challenge where members pray between 12am to 6am. On the other hand, women’s group had a course titled “Becoming Mrs Better Half” where women were encouraged to become the great people who God intended them to be.
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The groups have been a source of support for many couples for example the Mlilo family. This is what they said in their own words:
“Thank you Family Impact for the daily encouragements that we receive via WhatsApp. Our take ways from these was the topic on learning to love, not only by words and speech but by action. Now it is apparent to everyone that we love each other as a couple. Our children, our families, church members and even our neighbours witness our love daily. One morning our neighbour watched us as we took a walk hand in hand. He later approached me and confided that he was inspired and that he was also going to take his wife for a walk.”
We thank God for such testimonies!
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We had marriage-growing seminars, but online – our Zoom Webinar Series
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In line with growing the online ministry during a pandemic and government-mandated lockdown, in October, Family Impact launched a fortnightly webinar series for married couples under the theme “A Marriage That Keeps Growing”.
The webinars were conducted via Zoom (online conferencing platform) at 7.30pm and hosted by our in-house facilitators and we also had guest speakers that included a lawyer and a general practioner. The discussions included communication in marriage, marriage and the law, health issues in marriage and money matters in marriage. The series has had a direct reach to 26 couples.The goal is to grow and reach 50 couples per webinar.
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And we supported schools on their development projects
As you might already know <<First Name>>, we primarily worked on 2 school building projects.
Provision of Water and Building A Classroom at Mayezane Primary School
A 1x2 classroom block was completed in February 2020. Unfortunately schools were closed early March due to the COVID19 Pandemic therefore the children are yet to fully utilize the classrooms.
In September, a sand abstraction solar powered water source was installed for the school. This system extracts water from a river bed and pumps it into a 10,000L tank in the school. Two thousand and six hundred (2,600) litres of water is pumped to the tank per hour, therefore the school will have enough water not only for the students and teachers but for community members surrounding the school as well.
Building Cottages at Nduna Primary School
Work on the teachers cottages is still on going. They are currently 3 teachers cottages that are being built at Nduna. These cottages will go a long way in ensuring that there will be enough accommodation for the school staff.
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Mayezane Primary School Completed Toilets and Cottage
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So where to from here and what are the plans for 2021?
In 2021, we intend to create and grow strategic partnerships to help us minister to families effectively. Also, we intend to continue and grow our social media ministry, our webinars and our online support groups on WhatsApp. We are relaunching our website, so we are also excited about that; this will see us updating and digitising more than 10 powerful resources than can be used by individuals, couples and churches in their lives and ministry.
Thank you <<First Name>> for reading up to this far, how was your 2020 and what are your plans for the new year. Please write back to us, we will love to hear from you.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; (Number 6.24, NKJV) 🙏
Oh, one last thing, as this global pandemic and resulting lockdown is surging, we are trying to build our online presence, and minister there, please click on the following to follow us, join 1000 people and follow us on Twitter, join 3000 other people and Like Our Facebook Page, Follow Us on Instagram and go to our website here or read our blog here.
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