Hands at Work
Pastor Theo Low's Reflections from Zambia

In July 2019, Pastor Theo Low visited Zambia with a team from Sunset Church in San Francisco, California, with Hands at Work. He shared his reflections as he finished his fourth full day in Africa and his third day of a church mobilization.

“Most of these local pastors are bi-vocational, which means they have small churches and they are not paid to pastor their church. But these men have a great hunger for the Word of God… I realized, I may leave, but this family and this neighborhood will still have faithful men preaching and teaching God’s Word. These men have affirmed their love for the true gospel, they hold God’s Word up high, and they constantly reference it.”


Lagos

One Teacher to 150 Students! (NIG)

Can you imagine a teacher, jumping from one room full of students to another, teaching lesson after lesson to 150 kids captivated and eager to learn?  Peter is the coordinator of the Hands at Work Service Center in Lagos, Nigeria, and he has transformed many children’s lives because of his dedication and passion for education and a desire to bring children renewed hope.  

Peter’s journey to Lagos came with a great cost.  Peter turned down an offer to teach at a university and a scholarship to study at a university in the UK, because it was not what God desired for him.  God had a different but greater purpose for Peter.  He says it was a tough decision, a decision he wept over.  However, God soon led Peter to Elekuru , one of the poorest areas outside of Ibadan, Nigeria.  The village was wrought with devastating poverty, and Peter saw the lives of the children there wasting away without anyone to help them.  This is where Peter unleashed his talent and passion, and he started a school in February of 2002.  

Peter would start each class with a short prayer asking God, “Where do I start today?” and the Lord would lead. The school began with thirty students, but pretty soon it grew to 150 students in seven classes with Peter as the only teacher.  Peter would jump from class to class and he did this for eight years!  He says it was the grace of God that allowed him to sustain this work.  In 2010 Hands came in to help with two additional teachers to reduce Peter’s work load.  Peter’s wife is also doing a similar work in another community with sixty children.  Peter says, “It was God all the way and I give him thanks for all he has done and would yet do.”