The Hope Project with Jeremy Walker

The Hope Project in Zambia and the Need for Practical Gospel Ministry

Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast. I'm John Snyder, and today we have a special guest. We have Jeremy Walker, who is back with us again, and Jeremy is in Crawley, England? South London. I mispronounced that, didn't I?

No, no, that was fine. South of London, not far from Gatwick Airport. Okay, not far from Gatwick.

The reason we have Jeremy with us today is to talk about an opportunity for churches to be a part of a ministry in Zambia. And it looks to be like something that is a significant opportunity, and Jeremy has been asked to help with that.

And so, Jeremy, why don't you tell us a little bit about the HOPE Project?

Thank you, John. My knowledge of the HOPE Project began a few months ago, when I had the opportunity to go and preach in Zambia for a week or so, speaking at a conference in the capital city. And while I was there, a young man named Gilbert asked for some advice, because he is involved in and committed to, deeply desires to be a blessing to some of the most vulnerable children on the streets of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

Now, the congregation to which he belongs and some of the other churches have some opportunities to minister to these young people. But the poverty that they're in, sometimes the difficulties that they face, they need all manner of help.

They need the gospel first and foremost, but in and with the gospel and tinctured with the gospel, they need practical help in addition. So this brother Gilbert basically said, look, we've got some local churches involved.

We've got Gavin Peacock involved as an ambassador. And he asked my advice on how we might be able to pursue this effectively, raising funds, raising profile, these sorts of things. And I gave him some fairly straightforward advice, which I think he appreciated.

And he basically said within came back to me the next day and said, look, it's really helpful to have somebody who's going to just speak straight about some of these things. Would you be willing to help us as a as a counselor and perhaps as an ambassador with the church there in Crawley be willing to to get involved in some way, even if not financially?

So we looked at this, prayed it over, and I've become more formally involved in this project. So. Given the context, one of the main challenges that some of these children will face is the Christianity or Christianity to which they're exposed is primarily going to be a prosperity gospel.

Given that context, it's profoundly enticing. It's attractive to people who are living in deep poverty to be told that if you basically follow us, then then we can make your life all better. So the concern here really is to to deal with the the the social, the intellectual, the physical, the emotional and primarily then the spiritual well-being of these vulnerable children.

And in order to do that, there's a need for, first of all, prayer, but then also practical and financial support. The project as a whole probably needs something like forty thousand American dollars annually to support the staff and to make the investments that are needed.

And the aim really is to to care for the children, body and soul, to bring them within the orbit of some of the faithful Reformed Baptist churches that are there, first and foremost in Lusaka, that the staff were employed by the Hope Project will be engaged with these local congregations, want to get Bibles in their hands, want to publish literature that the children can use, want to disciple them using age appropriate resources to show them who God is and what it means to serve and follow Jesus Christ.

So it's quite a holistic notion. It's a it's a desire really to to sow some of the seeds that are going on through other endeavors like the African Christian University that's been established in Lusaka.

Really, it gives an opportunity for some of these children not just to get away from the poverty and the danger that is characteristic of their lives, but to learn what it means to follow Christ and God willing to invest in the kingdom in years to come.

How to Support the Hope Project

So where can they go to get information on this if they if they are interested, folks want to look into it further? I know that there is a small video that you sent us a couple of months ago that described that kind of fourfold holistic approach to helping the children.

And it mentioned giving, I think it was $35, individuals that might commit to give $35 each.

Yes, I think it was $35. I think it may we may not be saying sort of 40 for 40 or something like that, but $40 toward the $40 ,000. Of course, if you can give four, we take four. If you can give $4 ,000, we take $4 ,000.

If you've got $40 ,000 lying around that you need not don't need anymore, then again, that would be a great help. But it's it's one of those things where every little will contribute toward the work. There is a Hope Project website.

There's also a GoFundMe page. If you search for the Hope Project and the full the full title is Help the Hope Project Care for Vulnerable Children. But if you know who Gavin Peacock is, he's got a short video on there.

I've recently done a brief video. I'm not sure if they've put that up yet. There's another one from a man in country. There's one from the local one of the local pastors who's working with this Hope Project.

So if you can find that Gavin Peacock's video on the GoFundMe page, the Hope Project website, those are the places where you'll be able to to start tracking things down.

Yeah, and we'll put the links to both of those in our show notes. Jeremy, you mentioned that there is a holistic approach. Can you kind of fill in some more detail about exactly when they get the children and and they look at, you know, all the needs that are involved?

What are some specific things that they do to help these young people?

Evangelizing, Discipling, and Church-Based Care for Vulnerable Children

Well, the first and great need is is the spiritual one. So evangelizing and discipling children from the youngest age. And there's a range of different opportunities that they have for that. And again, it's going to be in connection with local churches.

So they're not parachuting in and just, you know, doing a bombing, a Bible study in there and then hoping that something happens. They're going to make sure that the staff are integrating these children and their families with with meaningful and substantial and stable assistance.

But it includes everything from one on one evangelizing and discipling. There are Bible studies that they can do. They have Wednesday chapels, class devotions, because that's tied in with the educational, the intellectual development.

And it's going to be individual contact as well, because the people who are working with these children are going to be in those communities dealing with people day by day.

Your computer likes that. I know. Jeremy, just now your computer gave you a thumbs up and we've been trying to get that to quit doing that. But I think that's hilarious. Have you told your computer that you need affirmation?

Yeah, I'm a I'm a very needy person. So every so often my computer just gives me a round of applause or a thumbs up and it really brightens up my day, makes everything feel so much better for my life.

Behold Your God Materials and Age-Appropriate Christian Education

So spiritual things. And yeah. And there are things that, for example, behold, your God produces and not not just the the basic Bible studies that have been done in the past. Those behold your God materials.

But some of the other things that you've developed that we briefly talked about off camera and you thought might be useful in this context.

Yes. Apparently you mentioned that the leaders of the ministry have some awareness of the studies and are interested in what would fit with what they're doing. And probably the the children's material that was finished last year, Behold Your God, Seeking Him Early, that takes the first two adult Behold Your God studies, which deal with how do we go all the way back to who God is?

And then that transforms how we think of each area of the Christian life. And specifically in the second study, when we speak of these attributes of God, do we do we really think of them in a way that the Bible presents them and gives us an opportunity to kind of do a deeper dive into that?

But the Behold Your God, Seeking Him Early for ages from age five to eleven, three different groups there. Yeah, I think that that kind of material is something that could help. There are other many studies in the Book of Judges.

Jordan Thomas recently finished one on treasuring Christ together as churches. And that certainly is something we need in every culture. But as you mentioned, the African culture, when I was in Kenya recently, just reminded about what a what a thin layer of religion there is everywhere.

So that, you know, every barbershop, you know, every mechanic, every taxi, you know, it seems like they have a religious name, you know, Jehovah Taxi. God will bless you barbershop, you know, kind of a thing.

And, you know, a very superstitious kind of a shallow grasp of who he really is and what he gives when he gives us himself rather than coming to him to get food this week, which is, like you mentioned, understandably, that would be an attractive half truth.

So I think those studies could help with the local churches. Let me ask you, you mentioned that the local churches are working in conjunction with this. So is there any specific group of churches or is it, you know, a biblical, even evangelically biblical churches as a whole?

Reformed Baptist Churches in Zambia and Gospel Accountability

So the churches in Zambia that are involved, there is a healthy, reformed and Baptist church seen across Zambia in God's kindness. And it's mainly those congregations that are involved. So you've got Maiden Bower Baptist Church.

They're sort of supporting from the outside Calvary Grace Church, which is where Gavin Peacock is currently based. They're supporting from Canada. And then you've got Silverrest Baptist Church, Cabanana Baptist Church and Hillview Baptist Church.

So those, as I understand it, are the three local congregations that are helping to oversee this in country. There's a board of advisors. There's there are executive advisors. The intention is to make sure that this is well run, well run, not just from a, if you like, a professional standpoint, but also overseen by gospel men who are concerned to make sure that these things are done in a way that glorifies God so that that spiritual foundation is clear and it's firm.

And then on top of that, you've got the intellectual concern. Academic training is is a huge influence, not just in terms of being able to to then find a route out of the poverty, but also an environment in which some of that spiritual instruction can be given, being able to to read and understand the word of God.

There are there's opportunities for care and counsel. Some of these children are in situations where it's not just their bodies that are in danger, but their their minds and their souls are being afflicted.

And the advice, the counsel, the emotional care that is taken of them is so vitally important. And for some of them, it literally is about keeping body and soul together. So there's the the physical needs.

Some of that is medical. Some of that is physical education. Some of it is the simple provision of the necessities of life. And that whole package together, then, God willing, will be a means of glorifying God in the lives of these children, connecting them with and seeing the kingdom come in some of these local congregations.

And Lord willing, in due course, some of these boys and girls growing up, going on and then being able to reinvest, looking back behind them and say, well, look how God has blessed me. I now want to be a means of doing good to others.

And as I mentioned before, we live in a world where in order to do that, money is required. And whatever anybody is willing and able to give will be gladly received. You've mentioned before the sort of 40 for 40 idea that if enough people can give just $40, then we can get toward that 40 ,000.

I think that to me works better than the 35. But I think I'm down for 35 on the Hope Project already, but I can I can boost that. But yeah, whatever, whatever anybody is able to give. And again, all of this helps not just with the staff, but with resources in country and out of country in order to help serve God and care for these boys and girls.

Why Credible Gospel Partnerships Matter

Well, Jeremy, thank you for helping us understand and making us aware of the Hope Project and how folks can help if they're interested. And we hope that they will pray and consider. It's easy to be kind of consumed with our own problems in where we live.

Certainly, American churches, I think, are for the most part quite generous. But it is easy when things become frightening in their moral decline in the nation or when you see the world's shift. It's always, you know, anti Christ if it's if Christ isn't the king in the heart.

But but to see kind of the externals moving so quickly, it's easy to forget that there are many wonderful opportunities to do good. And we don't want to miss those because we're, you know, lying around kind of licking our own wounds and talking about how bad things are.

And the great thing is this isn't just assuaging our consciences by chucking money somewhere far away and hoping it does good. One of the reasons why I'm appreciating involvement in this kind of project is that I know some of the men who are pastoring these churches.

I've met the people who are involved. There's a credibility and stability here. We are equipping people on the ground who know the situation, who I trust are going to use those resources wisely and well overseen by other faithful people.

I wouldn't be involved if I didn't think that this was a credible gospel project. And I'm glad to have the opportunity to commend it. I really appreciate you giving the time. Yeah, well, thank you.

And if you are wanting to learn more about it, you can look in the show notes below. And you'll see links to the GoFundMe project and Hope project there.