PROJECT SUPPORT

As we journey with churches towards the peace and justice of God in the world, there are two journeys we take with them:

• A journey into the church. Our prayer is that every believer and follower of Jesus would take up the call to be a ‘Kingdom-person’ – a person who daily and practically lives out the values and vision of the Kingdom of God in every space He has put them, whether their workplace, their homes and their neighbourhoods.
• A journey into the community.  As Gods’ church, we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus and bringers of Heaven to earth.  As a church looks at their immediate neighbourhood and does not turn their heads from the pain and suffering around them, we move towards being bringers of God’s wholeness into these spaces. This will often involve developing a community outreach project to respond to the pain or brokenness that is witnessed in the neighbourhood.

We are passionate about projects that are sustainable and life-bringing for all, and are so excited about the support role we get to play alongside churches in this process. This role often looks like support with project design, linking with other subject-matter experts who are able to input into the project, support with funding proposals and project monitoring.

SINOXOLO TRAUMA COUNSELLING

As we travel with churches towards the peace and justice of God, many churches land on an issue of pain and brokenness within their community where they feel led to bringing Jesus’ hope, restoration, healing and life. In KZN, one of the major issues which comes up time and again are psycho-social wounds. The trauma that we have faced in recent years (the lockdown, the floods and the civil unrest) on top of already high levels of pain and trauma from the long-term effects of poverty mean that many in our community are suffering. This was one of the areas that we as CAST were able to provide project support in 2023.

Sinoxolo is an amazing resource for churches who are looking to provide safe “green spaces” for people suffering the impacts of psychological distress. It is a course that we offer that in turn leads to practical support groups that churches can run. At the beginning of 2023, we ran the Sinoxolo Facilitators Training for the third time and it was fantastic to see the response from churches and NGOs who are looking to respond to this issue. We were able to train around 40 people in a “train-the-trainers” course which was a beautiful time of learning and healing.

CHURCH FOOD GARDEN

Our partner, KwaNdengezi Local Church, led by Pastor Msomi, sat in scripture and asked God what “on earth as it is in heaven” looked like in their neighbourhood, the massive, and growing, issue of hunger has emerged as a major concern for them and through discussions and praxis-based work they have started developing the “footprint” project:  a dream to ensure that no person goes hungry and that God’s footprint is felt around their neighbourhood. Through the CAST alliance, some of the church leaders connected with Dan and Kerry Wiens who run Inundo Development and Farming God’s Way in KZN. This beautiful connection, in turn, led to the start of such a hope-filled project led by S’duduzile Nsibande and a team from the church where a food garden has been started with the harvest being used to support grandmothers in need. Watch this space to see where this group goes next!