Sibusiso (Sbu) Mlotshwa grew up in a township setting in Emalahleni (Zulu word for Place of Coal) to the east of Pretoria. He was raised Catholic and came to a saving faith as a teenager. God moved from just being a person he acknowledged at Mass on Sundays to being his personal friend and Lord. The Word of God became precious to him – in particular Paul’s words in Philippians 3:10: “to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering”. He studied Financial Information Systems and Marketing respectively, and worked for a financial institution before attending Christ Baptist Seminary from 2009-2012. He pastored City Baptist Church in the inner city centre of Pretoria since his 2nd year of seminary. It was during this time that he attended TRANS:mission’s Ministry Training workshops and met those who have since planted LIG.punt and Rooted Fellowship. Sbu is married to his lovely wife Sihle.
The Church in Mamelodi was planted in 2017. The church currently has 45 members and another 5 were added into the fold following their baptism in the middle of November 2024 The church is mainly made up of young people between the ages of 19 and 30.This has presented unique opportunities and challenges in doing ministry.
The Ministry’s of The Church in Mamelodi:
- We have young adults ministry which meets once a month led by brother Kamo. There is also have an outreach ministry led by brother Isaac, every Thursday he and I and 2 other brothers go out to Mamps Mall(1km from church building) to share the gospel in the streets and homes. This also includes visitations of our church members and those considering joining as members.
- We have a men’s and women’s ministry led by myself and wife..men are currently going through Pilgrim’s Progress and the women meet bi-monthly on Thursday evenings.
- Bible hour occurs every second Sunday led by brother Tebogo and the group is steadily ploughing through the Fundamentals of the Faith workbook. The people are excited to learn these basic truths and it’s an exciting reformation, unlearning of false doctrines and becoming well acquainted with foundational truths and the sufficiency of scripture.
Praise the Lord for these leaders running faithfully with these ministries in an exemplary way. What a contrast from the initial launch of the church were a group of 5 carried all the ministries of the church, but look what the Lord has done, raising up young men who do not have a spirit of fear but love power and a sound mind.
The church has also been through a cleansing as we had our first church discipline process, this resulted in a couple of people leaving the church but we are amazed to see the good that has also come out; the Lord has used this to convict other believers struggling with sin and an awakening towards the seriousness of it.
First Aiducate Tutoring Ministry
There’s also the unique opportunity through First Aiducate. This is a Saturday tutoring programme for high scholars in our township aimed at helping them to perform well in their studies, grasp concepts and overcome educational challenges. Founded by my wife with just 3 students in our homed during the pandemic, this has grown to over a 100 students. The vision was to not only assist them with schoolwork but also teach them about the source of all knowledge and understanding, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. We have seen many young people come to know Christ as saviour.
Personal update and prayer requests…
I was preaching through the book of Acts and this has been really encouraging and it has helped me to strip things to a bare minimum. I see a beautiful simplicity in the early church in terms of the pattern of peaching and prayer. This has humbled me to examine if I really believe that the preaching of the word is indeed what changes heart. It is so easy to fall in the trap of the academia or be in a rut and monotonous season; being reminded of this has refuelled my zeal for the word and it’s sufficient simplicity for salvation.
Due to my wife’s health I have briefly stepped aside to care for her, this continuous battle against cancer is too heavy on my heart, she is in great pain. Please remember her in prayer I am deeply encouraged by her steadfastness and sacrificial serving of her first love and others until recent days. We keep trusting the Lord for complete healing and provision for all the treatment she has to undergo which becomes costly.
Please pray that I would not lose my joy in the Lord and continue to be excited about serving people and the Lord, that even with the discouragements the joy of the Lord would be my strength for the work he has called me to. I would rejoice all the more in the privilege of being a partaker in His kingdom building work.
Please pray for the purity of the church and the maturity of the church, as broken sinners in constant need of grace we do see the need for maturing. We desire for this sanctifying season to bring about much growth and allow young men to not be intimidated but emboldened for the cause of Christ.
On the practical front we have outgrown our current venue and desire to move to a place of our own that will meet all our needs. Please pray with us for the Lord’s provision
