Established during the apartheid era, Soshanguve is a South African township on the outskirts of Pretoria. With a population of over 400,000, the city is growing quickly and faces many economic and social challenges.
Starting in 2008, two CRM teams moved into Soshanguve and began a ministry of prayer and focused outreach among the youth and young adults. Over the past year, a gospel movement has begun to spread among the youth of the city. Here are some of the voices of that movement…
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Prefer to read? Here's what the video said...
Look inside, deep inside.
Feel it in your heart.
There's something there.
It’s like a park, so magnificent, full of constancy.
It’s the power we devour.
Let’s move closer to God.
Let’s practice holiness, serve him truly and seek him daily.
As young as we are, together we are, pillars of the world.
Jennifer: My background is very difficult, I can say. There’s been a lot of poverty in my family, and not only that, on top of that, but there were always fights amongst us and we, as the young children, will always be caught up in the middle.
So I just decided one day just to kneel down. I prayed. I prayed for mostly an hour. I just felt like, “there is someone that I can talk to. And that someone is my Creator, my Savior, my Provider. And that’s Jesus.”
The youth, we as youth, get discouraged by seeing our peers doing wrong things—doing drugs, teenage pregnancy, these are some of the things that we are faced with. And we as youth in DMM, we have to be there for those, to help them. Show them the way.
DBS is very...I would say it’s a solution to some of our problems. So, in DBS, you get to ask those questions. You get to take that upon yourself that, “I’m going to do this-and-this about the scripture. I’ve heard that Jesus’s love is infinite, so I will have that love for other people. I will also share my love with other people.”
Some will just like, come to me, like, “Wow, Jennifer! You really changed my life.” I was, like, “No, I didn’t change your life. It's just DBS and you decided to, you know, get into a deep relationship with God. And that's how your problems got solved.
Sello: I grew up as a troubled child. I had to steal to survive. My life before, was just like... a disaster. It was a disaster because I was a criminal. Nobody wanted me around.
I hope the young kids that I’m working with right now will be the good generation. My hope is that one day I will see these children be the ones that spread the gospel out there.
I do the Bible study with the boys because I want them to learn more about God. They love soccer. If they play soccer, and then take advantage that they are there, take the Bible and teach the Bible, you are doing two things at the same time: you are mentoring their talent and also mentoring their relationship with God. So...they love soccer, you teach them how to play soccer. And then, they never knew about God, you teach them who God is.
What you have to do is first, seek the kingdom of God. I spent a lot of my time going in and out of prison. And you know why? I was busy looking for the things of the world. But now, I have peace, happiness, and joy because God showed me the right way and taught me not to look for the things of this world. I got a second chance. Now I no longer look for the worldly things, but I’m seeking the Kingdom of God.
Tryphina: My sisters and I, when we are at home, we clean together and then we play together, we even sing together and dance together, that’s what we do—even help each other’s homeworks.
I was looking for someone who is going to show me the way to God. Then I went to [art class], where I found Uncle Doug and Auntie Coco. One day I dreamed and God told me that there will be two people who will be coming to my life and they are going to help me to know him better. So, when I saw Uncle Doug and when he was introducing me to DMM, that’s when I knew that he’s the one who’s going to show me the way.
I wanted to bring my friends because I didn’t want them to face peer pressure and all the bad stuff that I go through. Because a lot of people without God, they end up going in the wrong way because there’s nobody who is helping them.
Being in DBS is great because sometimes you feel like you don’t belong here. You feel like everybody’s hurting you. But the word from the Bible, it says we should love your neighbor. So it makes me feel like, “Oh! I’m being loved!”
Jonathan: I remember this one time when I was at school when I was doing Grade 3, there was this teacher who did not like me, for what reason I don’t know. She was always shouting [at] me, didn’t want me sometimes in her class. But I didn’t tell anyone. And there was some other people around my place who, they don’t want me to play with their children, and who didn’t want me to stay near them. And I started living alone which made me to have anger problems. I started to steal, smoke, drink a bit. I started to beat everyone who I come across with.
My ministry is to help out the children who are going to school. I’m tutoring and I do a bit of Bible study with the teenagers. God has called me to be a leader. A leader and a learner at the same time. To lead especially youth.
In my life things were not fine for me because, whatever I did, it was wrong for everyone. But ever since I started to learn about the word of God and how he works with people, and how he loves us...I would say to people who think that their lives are over or things won't go well with them, I would say it's not true because through God and through people who are willing to seek for help, there’s hope.
Jonathan: I am a giver. A teacher. A leader. And a son.
Jennifer: I am an example to the community as a whole.
Sello: I am the guy who always wants to see people succeed in life.
Tryphina: I love seeing everybody happy.
Jennifer: I am a person who believes that anything, anything at all, is possible with Jesus.
Sello: I am a God-fearing man.
Jonathan: I am a lover. I am a peacemaker.
Jennifer: I am a person who likes to laugh at very, very silly jokes.
Tryphina: I love being natural. Just being natural and just being me.
Sello: I play hard.
Jennifer: I am a person who really believes that I can change whatever situation that I see happening which I want to change. Because I have the authority and I am a child of God.
Jonathan: Yeah, that’s who I am.