Teichert Prayer Letter for October

Karl and Jenny Teichert are serving the Lord as missionaries with OC Africa, in South Africa. They moved to Johannesburg in November, 1997 with their four children; Ann, Scott, Stephen and John. Karl serves as the Southern Africa Director of the Southern Africa Regional Team. Their vision is to see a healthy, Bible-based church established in every un-reached village and community in South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia and beyond. Their strategy is to partner with key African church leaders to research, train, and mobilize the body of Christ to complete the Great Commission. They are striving to equip local leaders in Southern Africa to reach their nations for Christ and send missionaries into other countries as well.

October Letter ...

“Thank you for helping to bring Jesus to our village”

Dear family and friends,

A man shared the above statement with me during my recent trip to the rain forest of Madagascar. He lived in a remote rain forest village which had no Christian church. This man’s gratitude reflects the reality and attitude of many people in the rain forest region.

During the first two weeks of August, I had the privilege of joining two trainers from Ethiopia, a missionary from Fiji, and a ministry partner from Madagascar in presenting level-two church planting training to 120 leaders in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Forty-five leaders received level-one training one year ago. To participate in the level-two training, leaders had to successfully multiply other leaders and churches. The response was significantly more than we expected as many brought their first- and second-generation church planters.

We spent the first day listening to the amazing testimonies from church planters; they told us how entire villages are coming to Christ through bold witness and powerful works of God. Church planters shared how witch doctors and other influential leaders surrendered their lives to Christ. They began leading simple Bible discussions that grew into churches and cared for the community in practical ways. This process is being multiplied, and church planters are being sent out to other surrounding unreached villages. We are praising the Lord with the news that 800-1,300 new discipleship groups have been established in the central region of the rain forest in the past 12 months!

The rest of the first week was focused on providing relevant training to assist these 120 church planters to multiply more leaders to saturate the central region of the rain forest with disciple-making churches. They were also encouraged to discover creative ways to bridge the gospel to unreached people groups in other parts of the rain forest. During their testimonies, the leaders consistently shared about the need for Bibles. Later in the week, we were surprised that 80 audio Bibles in Malagasy were delivered from a partnering ministry. We are praising the Lord for how he continues to connect us with other missionaries, ministries, and denominations who want to partner together in this church planting movement.

During the second week, the team and I traveled into the rain forest to visit three church planters. The first village we visited was only accessible by river on a four-hour boat ride. It took five hours to reach the second village driving 4x4s over very rugged and slippery roads. The church planter from that village walked two days to meet us on the main road. On the way, we passed many small villages and fields of rice, coffee, vanilla, and sugarcane. What a treat to enjoy freshly roasted strong coffee right from the source. The simple homes in the villages are made from bamboo, wood, grass, and palm branches. They contain no nails and are built up off the ground for protection from flooding. As we entered each village, the church planter and the believers would greet us by singing and leading us to the new church building. Every evening we provided teaching which was translated in Malagasy. The believers were incredibly hungry for biblical teaching, prayer, and encouragement.

At one village, we observed the pastors baptize six new believers in the river. After the baptism, the whole assembly walked to the center of the village, where several proclaimed the gospel and we prayed for many people to receive Christ and for other needs. Several gave public testimony to the whole village of how their lives had been changed by Jesus. I was deeply touched to see how so many people are without Christ and living in darkness in these remote villages. I became all the more convinced for the urgent need for new life-giving churches to be planted.

The focus of the next 12 months will be to provide ongoing training and coaching of the strategic coordinators to saturate the central region and mobilize church planters into the northern and southern regions of the rain forest. Three specific unreached people groups have been targeted in these areas. These coordinators will facilitate regular training and coaching to other church planters in the region.

Please pray for:
• Effective ongoing training and coaching of church planters by the strategic coordinators.
• Open doors to the gospel in the remaining unchurched villages and unreached people groups.
• God’s financial provision to assist in mobilizing a new wave of church planters. (Please let us know if you are interested in helping with this need or would like more information.)

Thank you for your faithful partnership in the Lord’s mission to Southern Africa. We appreciate you so very much!

For His kingdom and glory,

Karl for the Teicherts

OC Africa is an interdenominational ministry committed to developing, equipping, and mobilizing church leaders to multiply healthy, Bible-based churches in every community in Southern Africa and the world. OC is a faith-based mission who depends on the Lord to provide committed, financial supporters and partners. The contributions from these individuals help generate ministry opportunities around the world, impact missionaries and their global work, and provide a means for the International Mobilization Center to function. CLICK HERE to learn how YOU can be a part of mobilizing church leaders around the world by donating to OC.