Hello! I’m Tony S. and I serve e3 Partners as a Strategy Coordinator & Senior Trip Leader. I recently led a team of 12 believers from a local church in Houston on a short-term mission trip to South Africa!
We feel called to serve Motherwell—a South African township of 500,000 people—because less than 5% of the population has faith in Christ. Yet with its melting pot of migrants, it’s poised to become a future hub for evangelism. Through a strategic partnership with missionaries in the area, we aim to train disciples through Made to Multiply, then launch them back into their home communities to disperse the Gospel across the continent of Africa.
On this particular trip, our church planting team walked local believers through a Discovery Bible Study, then trained Christian leaders to start evangelism & discipleship teams based on the scriptures found in Luke 10. These individuals were initially afraid of knocking on doors in the community, but we modeled the process for them and they quickly saw how effective it could be as handfuls of people received Jesus!
Our community service team purchased stoves and taught local women how to bake goods to kick start small businesses. While food cooked in the ovens, we shared God’s story and our personal testimonies. They were so excited to hear about the Lord and His love for them! We also met with the leaders of a local preschool and showed them how to develop biblical learning tools for the children.
While we encountered so much receptivity to the Gospel, some hurdles remain; ancestral worship and witchcraft are common in Motherwell. In fact, my wife led an outreach team to the home of a female witch doctor. They were in the middle of a 3 Circles Gospel presentation when the witch doctor became very afraid of the name of Jesus. Spiritual warfare was obviously taking place and the witch doctor asked the evangelism team to leave. We respectfully departed, yet we prayed over the seeds that were planted—seeds that may one day lead to repentance and salvation.
Despite such obstacles, our local disciples will not be discouraged. They are discovering that people in Motherwell are truly hungry for the hope of the Gospel. One of our pastor partners is multiplying disciples and has planted 38 home churches so far! And we know that this is only the beginning of what the Lord will birth in this area.
If this story has moved you to go on mission with e3 Partners, please browse our roster of upcoming trips. Your prayers are also invaluable, so please pray for all of the non-believers in Motherwell, including the witch doctor, to receive salvation. We pray that Jesus’ name would bring love and peace to all in South Africa.