This week in Cape Town, ministry leaders from across Sub-Saharan Africa are gathering around a table with a shared desire: to strengthen the Church by equipping the people who lead it.

Hope Africa Collective has been invited to be part of that conversation.

Represented by Regional Director Jeremy Hilliard, Hope Africa Collective participated in the 2026 Non-Formal Pastoral Training Learning Round Table initiated by Mergon, a two-day gathering bringing together leaders and organizations committed to equipping pastors and ministry leaders with biblically faithful, practical training.

For Hope Africa Collective, having a seat at this table is more than an invitation to an event. It reflects something God has been growing within our ministry for years – and where we believe He is leading us next.

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From One Community to Multiplying Impact

Hope Africa Collective began with direct community engagement in Philippi, South Africa – walking alongside individuals and families and providing opportunities for spiritual growth, life development, and economic empowerment.

But over time, God has expanded that vision.

Today, we are increasingly focused on equipping local leaders, churches, and organizations with Christ-centered curriculum, training, mentorship, and practical resources they can use within their own communities – and ultimately pass on to others.

In fact, that’s how Hope Africa Collective is described in the Round Table guide: a ministry that began through direct community engagement and is now expanding its reach through partnerships that empower local ministries to implement programs within their own contexts, “multiplying lasting impact across communities and nations.”

That idea – multiplication – is also at the heart of this gathering.

Equipping Those Who Equip Others

Around the table are leaders serving in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zambia and beyond. While their ministries and methods vary, many share a similar conviction: sustainable Kingdom impact happens when local leaders are equipped to lead, disciple, teach, and then equip others. And many are asking the same kinds of questions Hope Africa Collective is asking:

How can training remain biblically faithful while also being practical and contextual?

How do we equip leaders in ways that don’t end with the person being trained, but multiply into the lives of others?

How can ministries collaborate, learn from one another, and steward their resources for greater Kingdom impact?

These are important conversations – and Hope Africa Collective is excited to have a seat at the table with contributions that can foster progress in this initiative. 

Our experience includes social and economic development curriculum, theological education through Indyebo, and reproducible discipleship resources. In the Round Table guide, Hope Africa Collective is specifically invited to contribute to the conversation around reproducible youth discipleship while sharing our experience developing sustainable solutions to poverty.

More Than a Seat at the Table

Being invited matters. But simply being in the room isn’t the goal. We’re there to listen. To learn. To share what God has taught us. To build relationships with others who are doing similar work. And to explore how collaboration might allow all of us to serve the Church more effectively.

That spirit is central to the Round Table itself. Organizers describe it as an “Africa-rooted, practitioner-centered, relational space” where ministry leaders can reflect together on the realities of shaping biblically faithful pastors and where partners have an opportunity to listen and learn.

It’s not about one organization having all the answers. It’s about bringing leaders together, learning from what God is doing across Africa, and asking what might become possible when we work together.

Your Partnership Reaches Further Than You May Realize

When you invest in Hope Africa Collective, you’re helping make opportunities like this possible. Your partnership doesn’t only support a program, a curriculum, or a classroom. It helps us develop resources that can be placed into the hands of local leaders. It helps us train and mentor those leaders. It allows us to build relationships with churches and organizations that can take those resources into communities we may never reach ourselves. And it gives Hope Africa Collective opportunities to participate in conversations like this one – conversations that may lead to new partnerships, stronger training, shared learning, and greater Kingdom impact.

One leader equipped can equip others.
One church strengthened can strengthen a community.
One partnership can open doors to impact none of us could accomplish alone.

That’s the beauty of multiplication.

Looking Beyond the Table

We don’t yet know what will come from the conversations happening in Cape Town this week.

There may be new relationships. New ideas. New opportunities for collaboration. Or simply a deeper understanding of what God is doing through His Church across Africa.

But we’re grateful to have a seat at the table.

And we’re expectant about what God can do when leaders come together with open hands, shared wisdom, and a common desire to equip His people for the work He has called them to do. 

Because when we equip those who equip others, the impact doesn’t stop with one leader. It multiplies.