Mark & Anjali Jones | Swaziland/Kingdom of Eswatini
Mark and Anjali Jones and their two children, Urmi and Kelvin, arrived on a new mission field in 2014 and soon encountered the needs of a young national church called International Ministries Assemblies of God (IMAG). IMAG is the fellowship of churches in the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). Their goal during this missions term was to partner with and help strengthen the IMAG in any way they could.
Two areas of critical need were leadership development and discipleship in the local churches.
In 2015, they launched the IMAG Pastors’ Cohort, to help leaders grow and equip them to strengthen their local churches. Through this program, they met with the IMAG church pastors in each of Eswatini’s four regions once a month for seven months, teaching one- day leadership development seminars. Through this format they were able to reach many of the regional pastors.
Over 50 pastors received leadership training each month in the Pastors’ Cohort. Topics included discipleship training in the local church, ministry topics relevant to pastors, leadership skills, character development, ministerial ethics, and the pastor’s personal and family life issues. The monthly seminar meetings promoted cameraderie among the regional pastors and served as a source of personal encouragement and unity within the fellowship.
A local church-based discipleship program is now available to all IMAG Churches in Eswatini. This program has been implemented in at least half (25- 30) of the IMAG Churches in Eswatini!
National church children’s and youth ministry departments were established and launched, a labor of love from Anjali, who is also a registered nurse.
Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt. 28:19). This is a global task. Whether we are planting churches in Minnesota or in the Kingdom of Eswatini, let us commit ourselves to this great commission!
Mark and Anjali will be itinerating through September 2019 and can be reached at .
