We recently hosted a team of 7 from one of our partner churches, Discovery Church in Orlando, Florida. We had an amazing time with this crew of pastors and leaders from the church!

We loved having the opportunity to show them the various people, places, and programs of our ministry—giving them the unique gift of being able to see firsthand the fruit of their partnership.

Susan Dixon, one of the team members who works in Discovery’s LoveWorks missions ministry, shared some incredibly encouraging words after she returned home to Florida—

“I love the holistic approach that Hope Africa takes. Helping people grow spiritually is so critical, but in order to get there we also have to take into account their other basic needs and find ways to help them set and achieve new goals for themselves. I’ve seen ministries care for the spiritual aspects of a person but not the rest, and similarly seen many non-profits focus on other needs and leave the soul unchanged. Holistic work takes more effort and more time, but ultimately leads to the greatest transformation.

Hope Africa was started by an American family wanting to make a difference in South Africa, but from the beginning their goal has been to grow leaders from within the community, so as to spark sustainable change. I’m witness to them achieving that goal, as a great majority of their staff is indigenous to Cape Town, many from the local township where they are based. This is true discipleship at its core. So beautiful to see.

Hope Africa has a team of beautiful, hard working people on staff—people that believe passionately in what they do and have a great sense of unity among them. There are volunteers from Canada and New Zealand, locals from South Africa, as well as the founders that are from the States. Such different backgrounds and yet so similar in their passion to bring the Kingdom here on earth and represent Christ to the Xhosa people.

The Hilliards (Hope Africa’s founders) are Discovery people—people we consider family, and so it was like being welcomed by family when we arrived. We came to learn more about the good work they have started, but left having been ministered to and with a greater understanding of just how big God is, not only in South Africa but at home. That’s an experience I’ll never forget and it has a created a bond within our team and with the Hope Africa team that won’t easily be broken.”

We would love the chance to show you firsthand all that God is doing in and through us here in South Africa. Find out more about coming as a volunteer or bringing a team out to serve with us »