Ministry Journey

Ministry Journey

My name is Festus Josef and I am on a ministry journey. I am a 29-year-old man married to Olivia Pomwene Mwoonde. We are living in Grootfontein in Namibia and we are blessed with one daughter. The government currently employs me and I am training on the job to be an aircraft maintenance technician. Soon I will finish this training and our graduation will take place early next year.

On my ministry journey as a Christian, my parents belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church so I attended there also. At the age of 17, after I completed the confirmation classes, I began to read my Bible. I discovered the light and the truth of the Gospel and I started comparing things mentioned in the Bible with what the church I attended does. This led me to question my parents because they are also members of the church council. One day, I asked my mother some questions: Why don’t the elders of our church lay their hand on sick people to pray for them to be healed as the Bible says? Why are others not allowed to share the word of God in front of the church? Simply, they say it is not in the church program. I went on to the pastor with the same questions, but the answer was, we are working according to our church laws.

One day when I was coming from school, I met a man who invited me to attend his church on Sunday. It was a Pentecostal/revival church and I agreed to come. The first day I sat in that church I saw how the people worship God freely, sharing and encouraging each other in the word of God openly. Then, I saw people praying for the sick to be healed. It moved my heart that they are working according to the Bible. Since then, I decided to join them. I asked them, they took me in way of a sinner repenting to God, and I received Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. It was in 2009 that I became a Christian who can testify about Christ. That’s how I got born-again. Although I was the beloved son of my mother, when this news reached her, she rejected it and didn’t want to hear it. My colleagues, relatives, and family started to discourage me as if I have taken a wrong step, but by the grace of God I continued, and later they accepted that I am fully convinced about the Gospel.

After one year staying with my family in my father’s house, three of my siblings became attracted to the new life which they saw in me. They became born-again too and after three years another sibling joined as well. Today we are five children of mum and dad and children of God. We all lived together until I moved to Grootfontein with work. This is where I met my beautiful wife. I met her when she came to Grootfontein with a mission to do evangelism. We worked together happily as brother and sister on this ministry journey. Then I realized that she is the one I have been waiting for from the Lord. We got married and now we are waiting to open a branch of our church here in Grootfontein.

On my ministry journey, I discovered the call of God for me to be a pastor. My wife is called as an evangelist. I am desiring to have more knowledge in the ministry work. Although I received some training from our senior pastor, I was still searching for more so that I could be a graduate in the things of God. To do ministry in our country one needs to be trained because, if one does not have any certificate in the work, people will not listen to or respect them. Another challenge in our country is the lack of funding toward the work of God. That is why many children of God who were called are discouraged, they don’t know what to do.

My wife and I have a dream to run a fruit and vegetable farming business which will help us to run this the ministry bi-vocationally. We registered our business in 2016, but it is not funded yet. We also want to open a town feeding program for orphans and vulnerable children. Let us pray that this fruit and vegetable business would get funding because it will open many doors to preach the gospel and to train the children of God. There are some people living in remote areas that we need to reach in our country, but it is not easy unless you are prepared. For example, you need a camping tent, a car to go to the campsite, and you need food and other essential everyday need. We take all this into consideration when we are seeking for a loan or grant to fund our business.

Due to lack of finances to go on to study in a local school, I was searching for schools which offer free Bible courses online. That is how I came in contact with Christian Leaders Institute. When I went through the subjects, materials, and courses, I said to myself that I have found what I have been looking for. Thank you, CLI!

Learn about local “ecuministry” ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.