Area of Ministry: Chikombedzi, Zimbabwe The Chief Shepherd Baptist Church (TCSBC): Pastor William and Sharyn are sent by Christ Baptist Church (CBC) to TCSBC to come alongside and to assist Pastor Simon with ministry needs.
They are currently helping TCSBC to accomplish their vision of planting a church in Makhanani, which does not currently have a Biblical church. Makhanani is a Shangaan speaking area, 50km from Chikombedzi. TCSBC has identified Hlelani Livombo as the church planter they will send to this area. Hlelani has a passion to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this area. He is a native of Makhanani village and is well respected by the officials and chiefs in the area.
The Chief Shepherd Bible College: Established 2017 Pastor William serves as one of the two lecturers at the Bible College. His ministry objective is to assist the Bible College to grow to the point where they are no longer dependant on teachers from other countries.
Currently there are two men who are being trained at Christ Seminary, South Africa for teaching. These men were part of the first group of students who completed their studies at this Bible College. It is envisaged that upon their completion of their studies at Christ Seminary, these men will relocate to Chikombedzi and become full-time teachers at the Bible College. Because of this William is essentially working himself out of a job – as all missionaries should do. Prayer Requests for TCSBC and the Bible College For Monthly Financial support for Pastor Simon Vuragu.
Simon Vuragu was saved at the age of 15 and has been in ministry from the age of 17. The Lord laid the desire to plant churches on Pastor Simon’s heart in 1994 while he was studying at Seminary. He was involved in ministering to Mozambican refugees living at the Chambuta Refugee Camp during his Seminary breaks. It was while working amongst the refugees that he saw the dire need for church planting. After he graduated from the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe in November 1996, Simon continued with church planting in the Chiredzi South (Chikombedzi) area, this ministry resulted in several church plants and even a Baptist High School. With all these churches being planted Simon realised the need for qualified men to help in leading these churches, he used seminary students with the hope that they would stay at these churches once they completed their studies.
Unfortunately, this was not the case, as they desired to remain to work in the cities and towns and not in the remote rural area. It was in 1999 that Simon started to pray about starting a Bible learning institution, specifically one that was led as a ministry of the local church. This desire continued to grow, and he continued to pray, but he had no idea how it could be accomplished. In 2012, Pastor Masango Muchanga and Pastor Amosse Simango (one of the refugees converted in the Chambuta Refugee Camp) invited Simon to attend a Pastor and Church leader training session in Mozambique. It was here that Simon met Samaria Mission. He shared his ministry with Pastor William Vaughan the then Director of Samaria Mission who showed a keen interest and desire to help Pastor Simon fulfil his dream to start a Pastoral Training Ministry.
Although Simon had already completed his studies at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe, he decided to enrol at Christ Seminary to better equip himself for the task of training pastors. He graduated from Christ Seminary in December 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Theology degree (BTh). While completing his studies at Christ Seminary, Simon spent time in further discussion with William Vaughan and Charlie Rampfumedzi (Principal of Christ Seminary) and after 18 years of praying and waiting Simon witnessed the culmination of God’s will and perfect timing and his prayers were finally answered. The Chief Shepherd Bible College, a ministry of The Chief Shepherd Baptist Church Chikombedzi, Zimbabwe was officially started on 22 August 2017.
Family Information
Simon is married to Emily, they have 3 sons, Takunda (24), Takudzwa (20) and Tafadzwa
(15).
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