What does your family do as ministry in Zambia? We just love talking about the work that the Lord has in Zambia because we feel honored to be a small part of the things that He is doing in the lives of the children and families that we serve. We thank God for the opportunity to even be used by Him, let alone in an international context as a whole family.
There are three main parts of our ministry with Family Legacy Missions in Zambia. I will outline those below and then tell you what specifically our family does.
1. Tree of Life Children’s Village
The country of Zambia has one of the highest orphan rates per capita of any country in the world. The AIDS epidemic took much of the adult population which continues to affect the children and families even now. With poor living conditions, poverty, and insufficient health care, Zambia continues to be a country of orphans and vulnerable children.
Because of this, Family Legacy created the Tree of Life Children’s Village (TOL) which is a haven of rest and a place of family and hope for children. We have over 400 children who live full time in the Village either due their family situation or health status. Children stay until their situation has changed — their home is more stable, or their bodies are healthier. That can take 6 months or even a couple of years.
The TOL has over 60 homes, which houses these children with 1 or 2 Zambian house mothers. The TOL also has their own school which teaches Zambian subjects and discipleship. All children from preschool to grade 12 attend class every day. The Hill Wellness Center is our medical and counselling center in the Village. The children and house mothers get the physical and emotional and spiritual healing that they need here.
We are pleased that a few years ago, the Lord also provided for the Village to have a working farm. They grow their own vegetables, chickens, goats, eggs, and more. This is a great way for the students to learn agriculture to use those skills when they are adults. (Find out more HERE.) It also helps the cost of feeding over 400 children with nutritious foods.
2. Legacy Academies
Around the city of Lusaka, Zambia, we have 18 Christian schools that we own and operate. Teaching the students about God’s World and God’s Word are our primary objectives. We are able to provide a holistic care plan — academically, emotionally, spiritually, and physically — for each student in our program. These schools provide a meal for each student at school which can sometimes be the only meal that the child will eat in a day. There are over 11,000 children in our program. We aim to find a sponsor for every child to stay in our schools or TOL. (Find out more HERE.)
3. Camp Life
Camp Life is a ministry program in Zambia that we run during the months of June and July for the young students in our program and other vulnerable children in the communities that we serve. Those children are ones what we have identified that need to be in our program (based on a vulnerability scale). Camp Life is similar to a full day Vacation Bible School. The children are bused to Camp each day. They are assigned an Ambassador who comes from the United States and two Zambian partners. They attend Big Group Sessions, which includes singing, dancing and listening to the Bible lesson. Throughout the week they also have a check-up in our Clinic, time on the playground and coloring, as well as many other activities. We ask the Ambassadors to advocate for these children to find sponsors for them. (Find out more HERE.)
4. So… what does your family do for ministry in Zambia?
Our family began serving in Zambia with Family Legacy in 2016. We moved to Lusaka to be missionaries in November of that year. Danny was the Spiritual Advisor/Discipleship Programs Director for the ministry. He developed leadership and curriculum for our schools and TOL. He also led the TOL church services each week. In 2018 he began writing all the curriculum for Camp Life (our “VBS” type program) and presenting the messages each day. He has added drama to the presentations as well. In order to also shepherd the hearts of the Americans that come each summer, Danny writes pre-camp devotions as well as devotions which correspond to the Bible story/message that is presented to the children each day. These pieces are for teens and adults.
Danny also ministers to pastors in our area by hosting and teaching “Pastors Seminars” two times per year. He and his team members have identified 2-3 churches around each of our 18 schools which are solid Bible-believing churches. We encourage our students to attend these churches with their families. (There are 8 churches who meet in our school buildings.) The pastors of these churches are the ones who attend the workshops. We want to be sure that these churches continue to proclaim Truth and shepherd the children and guardians in our program.
He transitioned into the Programs Director, directing all of the programs (including discipleship) that touch the children in our care. In late 2023 we shifted back to the US in southwest Florida, still working with Family Legacy. Danny is back to his first love — Discipleship which includes lots of advising, writing curriculum, and training pastors and teachers.
While Danny is busy doing all of that, Sarah and the children have been playing with the children at the TOL and reading to them. They also volunteer at Camp Life by organizing the supplies and making “blessing bags” which get handed out to the campers each day. (Each week has between 400-700 children times 5 days per week. That’s a lot of bags!) We also serve in the clinic on Tuesdays, helping to screen all campers by getting their height, weight, and MUAC.
Sarah has enjoyed ministering to the mothers at the TOL by providing weekly Bible Studies. She loves pouring into the mothers and guiding them in the parenting. She cares deeply for them and understands the great responsibility they have, mothering 8-10 vulnerable children. Sarah also poured and continues to pour into younger moms, especially those who homeschool. She loves hearing from moms from Zambia, South Africa, the States and more! This blog was born out of the questions that she received from moms about parenting, homeschooling, and missions.
The family also enjoys hospitality. For years they had other American missionaries into their home every Tuesday night for food and fellowship. Whether we were counselling them or playing games together, it was a special evening that our whole family loved. It was certainly a way to pour into the many staff members who were away from home and doing great work around our ministry.
Our family also hosted many missions trips. We cared for the short term teams or individuals, ministering to them and with them. We helped organize books in our school libraries, plant gardens at our schools, deliver supplies to the TOL, teach children the Gospel, visit sponsored children in their communities, clean school building/prepare them for school, and more!
This is just a snapshot of our ministry in Zambia. We love the Zambian people — and feel that our hearts often more African than American at times. It’s a challenge to have your mind and heart in two places, but we definitely feel that pull. Where’s home? Africa? The USA? We usually say, “Home is wherever we are together!” If you want to become one of our ministry partners to pray or to give or to receive monthly updates, email me at lightnersinafrica@gmail.com
To find out more about our home life as missionaries in Zambia, click here.
If you want to learn more about our quest to be Biblically Minded Families, click here.
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