In addition to appointing a new South African team leader, evangelism ministry African Enterprise has appointed Siphiwe Sibiya to fill the key post of setup coordinator. Siphiwe shares his story.
I was born in Ulundi (KwaZulu-Natal) in a small village called Mbangayiya and was the youngest of four children.
My mother was a domestic worker and my father a bricklayer who was addicted to alcohol. As a result of his addiction my father was never at home, unless he had run out of money.
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I was born in the poorest of families and everybody in the community knew it! Because of this I was often beaten up and bullied.
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If I wasn’t at school, I was playing soccer with my friends from morning to evening. We played for 5 cents which was good money for us in those days!
I used to go from school to Chicken Licken to eat the bones left over from other people’s meals, as there was never enough food at home.
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Home was never a good place for me and I tried to stay away as much as possible. Life had no purpose at all. I saw myself as different from all the other kids and most of the time I wished I was born in a different family. It was terrible and very painful.
One day, out of the blue, my mother got sick and died. The following year my father also passed away. After the death of my parents our family broke apart even further, and we all went our separate ways.
Life of crime and drugs
My sisters went to live with their boyfriends and I committed myself to a life of crime, drugs and many other bad things.
Eventually the community grew so tired of me that they decided to kill me. But I managed to escape and I ran away to Mtubatuba where I worked for a very abusive taxi driver.
Even when I heard that my sisters were sick and eventually died the taxi man would not allow me to attend any of their funerals.
My harsh employer eventually also met a sad end and shot himself. This meant that once again I was alone in the world, and it was then when I met an Anglican priest who adopted me as his son.
In 2003 my life changed and I accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
I had always felt like I was cursed, and that I was a mistake. Only Jesus was able to transform my mind and I began to realise that my life had purpose.
I went back to Ulundi to ask for the forgiveness of all those who I had wronged. Some laughed at me because they couldn’t even remember the incidents.
Calling into ministry
It was during my high school days when I felt God calling me into full-time ministry.
At first I didn’t like the idea because I wanted to study civil engineering but I eventually accepted this call.
After school I became an evangelist in the Anglican Church and after a time of service I went on to study theology in Pietermaritzburg at the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa (ESSA). That is where I heard about Stephen Lungu and African Enterprise — but it never crossed my mind that I would one day join the team!
In 2013 I was ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church and I served in several parishes until I felt the Lord calling me to join African Enterprise.
I am very passionate about preaching the good news of Jesus Christ because I was a slave and now I am free. Anyone can receive this freedom from Jesus.
I love Jesus with all my heart, which is why I want to serve Him and African Enterprise. African Enterprise provides a good platform to reach people throughout Africa with the love of Christ.
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