The ship, the man, the mission
The last thirty years of Nancy Hudson’s life and her vision to provide churches in the rural areas around Tzaneen is nothing short of an inspiration. Nancy, an American missionary worker who turns 80 next year and her late husband John, from England, founded Christian Assemblies of South Africa (CASA) in the Modjajdi area in 1989. Since its inception, CASA Ministries has gone on to build ten churches in the rural areas around Tzaneen and the journey that Nancy and John took in South Africa could fill pages.
Their story as a couple began just two years before this when they boarded a ship, as strangers, called the M.V. Logos with Operation Mobilisation.
Nancy had previously found it difficult to be accepted on mission trips, “I was rejected often. They said I was too old, I was Pentacostal. I wasn’t educated. I had no college degree. I was divorced previously and had children,” she says.
However, despite the rejections, Nancy was adamant that she had a calling to teach people about the word of God.
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On board the ship, John and Nancy formed a friendship relationship that developed into love and began a courtship on the ship. Nancy giggles over the fond memories, “He was younger than me, but he looked older and I definitely acted younger.” She said she was drawn to missionary work as her children were older and had left home, “My children left for the forces, so I joined the forces too.” After their missionary work on the ship, sailing to different countries with Christian and educational books, they returned to the state of Pennsylvania in America where they were married in 1987 at Nancy’s home church.
Modjadji’s calling
They worked with the home church until a call came for them to come to South Africa where a mission was looking for help, “God called us to missions. We didn’t know where we were going. Wherever God wanted us,” says Nancy. The call brought them to the Modjadji area, outside of Tzaneen.
They stayed with the mission for only a few months as they were denied access to the villages but they learned much about the culture and the people. After the rocky first few months and at times feeling very alone, Nancy received a phone call out of the blue from a woman named Sally Lombard.
A phone call that would spark a friendship spanning almost thirty years.
Sally helped them get established and introduced them to some black Pastors. After the first year, they felt that God had called them there full-time so they went back to America to raise support, get visas and return to South Africa.
During this time, Sally and her husband at the time, built them a cottage on their banana farm outside of Tzaneen. Nancy and John lived there for five years.
Their calling took them to Ga-Kgapane and in particular, a village called Moshakga. John and Nancy worked tirelessly to locate suitable land to start a congregation. They applied often to the Agricultural Department but were rejected time and time again, being told that there was no land available. During one of their many visits to the village, they crossed paths with an elderly lady called Annie Maimela.
Annie’s mango tree
They began holding regular Church services under a mango tree until Annie then kindly donated the land on which she had previously grazed cattle to them to build Moshakga church. At this time a young man named Jonas Mangena began to lead the Moshakga church. He has since resigned from CASA Ministries.
A plank-built church was soon constructed and remained in form until 1995, when a brick-built church was erected on the land.
In the same year, Nancy and John made the move to Ga-Kgapane, where Nancy still resides to this day.
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They had found a rather dilapidated property on an old dairy farm. The outside walls were full of vines, the ceilings inside were falling in, walls were cracked and the place was unloved and forgotten. John was not too warming to his potential new abode, “He just kept saying ‘nope, nope’ and there was me saying ‘yes, yes yes’,” says Nancy.
The ‘patio gang’
Their home quickly became a place of joy for local children who would gather on the patio to play games such as monopoly. Nancy recalls getting to know each and every child of ‘the patio gang’ as she so fondly calls them. Now the original ‘patio gang’ are all grown up and many have become actively involved in the CASA Ministry churches. The latest, younger generation of ‘the patio gang’ have now begun to gather at Nancy’s house to play games.
A young man called Jeffrey came into Nancy’s life when he was just ten years old and has lived with her as her own son for the past 16 years.
Nancy and John began building small brick houses for people in need in the community, paid for many children’s school fees, bought them uniform and shoes and many many beds. During this time they were also raising up strong leaders in the ministry, some of whom became Pastors. Lives were being changed and they were becoming known to other Pastors and churches in the area.
Loss and resilience
Sadly John fell ill with lymphoma in 1996, sending the couple back to USA to seek treatment. His battle with cancer ended in early 1997 when John sadly passed away.
Nancy was adamant that she wanted to return to South Africa and carry on with the missionary work.
However, she faced further rejection as her Missions Director back in the USA didn’t think it was a good idea. She was informed that a woman on her own would not be able to return.
As with all the other times before her, Nancy felt her calling to the cause was more important than the opinions held against her and stayed true to the path in which she believed she was destined to take.
Upon her return, Nancy thought it pertinent to build a Church in Rabothata village. She liaised with the Chief and a plank-built structure was erected. In 2000, a permanent brick-built church was built after a donation to cover the entire build was received. The current Pastor at the church is Philip Mangena.
Soon after, The Light House Christian Assembly was erected in Mandela Park and is currently governed by Pastor Godfrey Modjadji. Next came Ramphenyane Christian Assembly which is pastored by Jeffrey Manyama.
Two churches were then established and built in Ndhambi and Mphagani near Giyani. Today they are Pastored by Aron Mbewe and Heron Makama. Both of these churches were previously Mozambican outreach churches.
Reuben’s unexpected change
The formation of the next church, in Sefofatse village is one of very strange origin. A young man named Reuben from Moshakga was a renowned and hardened criminal in the area had spent most of his early adult life behind bars for committing some truly heinous crimes.
He was so notorious that he struck fear in everybody and people even refused to walk on the same side of the road as him.
At one point he was being blamed for crimes he did not commit and wanted to change the error of his ways. He broke away from gangs and after meetings with Nancy, became a man of faith.
He went on to live the rest of his life as an honest man and even became a Pastor of the church built in Sefofatse village. Currently however, the church is led by Pastor Thomas Mataha after Reuben passed away from TB a few years after Sefofatse Church was established.
In 2009, Nancy’s son funded the money for a church in Mohlabaneng which was first pastored by Jane Makama and is currently led by Pastor Eric Mangena.
Nine, ten and then some
The ninth church, built in 2010 in Maduma village was started by a young congregant of The Light House Church named Elliot Banda who is now a Pastor at large for CASA. He saw the need for a church in the village and went door-to-door recruiting congregants.
At first the services were held in open-air. Soon a number of suitable sites were identified for the construction of a permanent structure but something got in the way of each proposal and after a long search, an empty house was made use of on a supposed temporary basis. Nancy, however, saw the house as the perfect setting to use long-term and soon it became the permanent structure for the Maduma church. Maduma Christian Assembly is pastored by Emmanuel Matana.
The last church was constructed in Shawela. Initially the congregants would meet in a villager’s house and no electricity was available. However, whilst speaking at a conference in New York in 2017, Nancy was approached by someone willing to fund the building of a brand new premises. Later, whilst speaking in Pennsylvania, another donor offered a further $10,000 which was used to construct a house for the Pastor next to the church. Pastor Shai currently leads the Shawela congregation.
Nancy says that one of the highlights of her work with CASA Ministires was her weekly Bible study and prayer meetings with the Rain Queen of Modjadji from 1992 to 1996.
They had great times but Nancy had to stop visiting when the Rain Queen got too busy with new duties after apartheid ended.
In addition to the churches, many pre-schools are run from the church premises and Nancy oversees a help-a-child programme which currently has 52 children in the programme as well as the help-a-mother programme which helps 20 mothers currently, all of which is sponsored by people from the United States.
Nancy also speaks at three different schools every month, namely Modabotse High School, Sefahong Primary and Rataga Primary. Nancy says her goal is to, “Win souls for Jesus and gives all the Glory to God for CASA Ministries”.
