ISHENGERO SHOFAR CAPE TOWN
Greetings! It is a privilege to briefly write about the amazing work the Lord did from 2018 till the Church Plant was birthed. We started as a group of 5 guys joining Shofar Cape Town City, and some months later we started inviting other fellow Burundians to church. Although we had to later explain what the sermon was about or sometimes even songs, people kept coming and the need for an interpreter was obvious.
The pastor decided to start a service for us, he would preach, and I would help with interpreting. We all had different backgrounds. He started teaching the Foundations of Faith, which challenged us radically, and manifested growth. People started changing and repenting, baptisms happened, and a revival was getting real. With all that was happening, people still struggled with conflict between the Gospel and cultural practices because of how Gospel preachers and teachers embodied the message in Burundi—wearing suits, ties, having specific haircuts, and nice shoes. It was a culture shock.
Through different counsels of many, the pastor decided to focus on raising leaders. We had our discipleship meeting every Thursday for 2hrs for about 5 years, and Sunday he would preach at two congregations (morning service and Kirundi Service). Thinking of this labouring, I am blown away. He felt led to pray and asked for those that feel the call for Ministry. Three of the discipleship guys responded and went through the MTP and got exposed to different trainings and practically taught and preached at Ishengero Shofar Service.
After completing all he could in terms of raising good and Godly leaders, he released us, and ordained us 3 guys, and now we are serving at Ishengero Shofar (3 months now). In 2025, The Lord has been speaking to us to Build a Transformed Family (2 Cor 5:17). In our culture, it is easy for people to be religious, cultural and act the same even when Christians and we felt the Lord wants to deconstruct all of that and reconstruct his Ishengero Family.
We are now 105 Adults and 24 kids.
SHOFAR GANSBAAI
We (Kayleigh and I) had the privilege of doing the 3-month church planting internship with Andries and Werner at Shofar Hermanus in 2023.
We always knew there was an undeniable drawing of our hearts to ministry but just didn’t know what it would look like and when.
We continued to trust the Lord and His story. Werner started including us in quarterly visits to Gansbaai to see the momentum of the small groups and hear the Lord’s heartbeat for the town in 2024. By the end of the year, after a few chats and confirmations in the way only the Lord knows how to confirm, we put our hands up and said yes to the opportunity to shepherd an already strong bunch of people who have been trusting the Lord for a place to call home in Gansbaai.
We have felt so warmly welcomed by an already 30 plus strong group of people, who have mostly moved to Gansbaai in faith. The reassurance that Shofar Hermanus is just a few km’s away has been greatly encouraging too and we can attest to the beauty of the body encouraging and supporting; we were never meant to do it alone. A great testimony is also the brave moves made by other people who have stepped out in faith from further Shofar congregations to come and join us. This has been one of the biggest encouragements for us in this transition, the Lord builds His church.
There’s a deep cry for the people of Gansbaai that “they have not been forgotten, they are seen and known and loved by God.” We are trusting for whole heart healing and a restored sense of worth, dignity, and unity amongst the people in town.
We trust in the power of the gospel to transform and renew daily our lives and the lives of the people of Gansbaai.
SHOFAR GROOTBRAK
Shofar Grootbrak had our very first meeting on the 20th of April 2023. We met at Ilita Lodge in a banquet hall that overlooked the whole of Grootbrak. It was such a significant place for us to start. We started with a group that came through from Shofar George, as well as Shofarians who already lived in the Grootbrak / Mossel Bay area.
From the very start, we wanted to cultivate a culture of connection. It was important for us to show that we value each other. We set out to become a congregation where everyone who enters through our doors, finds a place of belonging. Therefore, at every meeting, we ate together and made sure we had ample time to get to know each other. We also wanted to show that, more than anything else, we seek to connect with God in our meetings. We did this through deep worship, the release of the prophetic, studying the Word together and praying with and for each other.
The idea was to have meetings like this every second Thursday night until we found a place in central Grootbrak where we would be able to meet on Sundays. This turned out to be a bigger challenge than what we had anticipated. Grootbrak is a small town with a very limited amount of venues where large groups can meet. We approached a number of these venues, but nowhere a door was opened for us. We knew that it was His will for us to be in Grootbrak, and we knew that He would provide a meeting place for us.
During this time, we held fast to the promises we had received from God over the past two years. We had a very significant strategic prayer walk in Grootbrak on the 29th of July 2023, where we went to all the “gates” of the town to pray there. We reported back on what we had experienced at all the different entrances, and the prophetic words were confirmed by the different groups. We could clearly see what God’s plan was with Shofar in Grootbrak. We also had a second strategic prayer meeting a year later – focused around breakthrough concerning a meeting place for us. God confirmed that He has a great plan for us and through us in the town of Grootbrak.
Over the past two years, we’ve also hosted a few visiting ministry teams, built a strong leadership team, expanded our worship team, started a children’s ministry during our meetings, developed three teams that serve and do setup at our meetings and done an eight-day local outreach between Grootbrak and Mossel Bay. We’ve grown in size, but also in depth. Waiting on God has made us stronger as a church. It has made us persevere in prayer and helped us to place all our expectation in God – the One who makes the impossible possible.
And that’s exactly what He did! He provided a building for us in Grootbrak. Recently, a trust in our congregation acquired the Auctioneers building in the heart of Grootbrak as a place for us to meet on Sundays – where we can also have a presence right in the center of the town. After many negotiations (and some problem-solving concerning zoning), they bought this building (originally dubbed “Bioscope Hall” – built in 1920 and used to show movies on Friday nights). The location is perfect. We are so excited to start meeting there. We are aiming to have our official launch over Easter Weekend this year.
Please pray for us concerning the launch: That everything will fall into place, and that the building would be ready by then. Also pray for our internal structure: that we would be ready for exponential growth. Pray for prayer warriors and disciple-makers to rise up, and for the five-fold ministry to be established in our congregation. Also, rejoice with us over what God has done over the past two years. He is faithful, and His Word will not return to Him void!