Serving up a helping of hope

By Julianna Jones

2020 was a difficult year for many. But for one of our field workers, it was also a year of bravely stepping out even more in that to which God had called her.

  Sindiswa Thole is an All Nations Cape Town member serving in Masiphumelele, a township south of Cape Town. She’s ministered to the young people around her with a soup kitchen for some time. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, though, she had to decide how she was going to move forward. Would she stop what she was doing or see this as an opportunity to serve even more?

  “In this time of pandemic, when we were just having those fears coming — we were not overwhelmed with fear,” she said. “And I made sure that I prayed, and that I asked the wisdom of God, how to serve the soup.” She moved the soup kitchen from a once a week project in the park to providing daily free soup takeaways at her home. During South Africa’s strict lockdown many were without income and relied on her soup kitchen to feed their families.

  “Soup is very very important to me and I do it out of love and passion and generosity,” Sindiswa said. Providing soup to families in need was a vision that God gave her in order to influence the children and teenagers in her community, she said. When she reaches out to the children, it’s also then easy to meet the rest of the family. It’s part of her vision to see her community transformed with the love of Jesus. 

She speaks with the young people who come for soup, sharing wisdom, truth and encouragement with them. She’s enlisted the help of others in her community as well. Allowing the young people to help improves their confidence. “I make sure to tell them they have value in God,” Sindiswa said. “God values them so much, he loves them and that their situation at home can change anytime.”

  Initially, Sindiswa wondered if serving soup wasn’t as significant as other ministry strategies. But then she was exposed to other parts of All Nations and realized her idea wasn’t unique. She received training in Business for Missions last year and realized that others also are using cooking to reach their communities. Then she attended Movement Leaders Experience (MLx) and was encouraged even more to do the vision God had given her.

  “It’s where my faith [was] raised,” she said of MLx. “That the leaders were there and they were teaching us how to stand as an African… Stepping out and doing something in our communities because we can speak the language, we know the culture. And I was so encouraged by that. Yes, it was something that was really important and it was something that was like ‘Wow, I’m going to do it and I have broad vision about it.’”

  Her soup kitchen is only part of her ministry, which includes discovery Bible studies with those interested in learning more about Jesus. She said this year God gave her a word: House of Hope. “I saw that,” she said, “And I think it will happen, that my house will be a house of hope for those children that are needy.” After months of running the soup kitchen daily this year, she’s now looking for what new ways she can bring the hope of Christ in the new year. But one thing is certain, her ministry will continue to focus on the Gospel. 

  “I’m about souls that will know the Lord,” Sindiswa said. “Jesus fed the poor and Jesus was concerned about the poor.” But he gives so much more than just physical food. “People mustn’t see me as a solution,” Sindiswa said. “They must see Jesus as the solution and eternal life.”