In 2006 Irene and I were asked by Oneychi & Deysi, the leaders of the Joburg church, to take on the task of leading the Southern African Family of churches. We were reluctant, feeling we were happily settled in Cape Town and busy with our current responsibilities, including raising our young children Elena and Luke, who were 6 and 3 at the time. After much prayer and advice, we packed our bags and moved to Johannesburg in January of 2007. What has followed has been the privilege of a lifetime, 17 years of planting and strengthening churches, and building friendships in the 12 countries of Southern Africa. We have seen God do amazing things and been privileged to baptise both our children into the body of Christ. We have had many late night and early morning prayers, seen 10 new Evangelists and their wives and 5 Teachers appointed as leaders in the church. 

Over the past year we have worked with the Southern Africa Church leaders to adopt a new model for the leadership structures of our family of churches. You can read about it here, and we just completed our election process to choose new leaders to represent Southern Africa in our global fellowship. Edwin & Christine Shumba were chosen for the Regional Family Chair position, Anne-Marie Botha for the Women’s representative and Jacques Genis for the next generation candidate. Irene and I have worked alongside these men and women for multiple decades now and we respect and love them all deeply. They are worthy of our support and respect. (Hebrews 13:17)

Edwin & Christine Shumba (Regional Family Chair Couple)

Edwin and Christine were both born in 1970 in Masvingo and Harare, Zimbabwe respectively. They first came to the church in 1989 and they were baptised in the following year. Both of them were reached out to by disciples on the mission planting team to Harare.

Prior to joining the full-time ministry, they worked on corporate jobs in the accounting field for Edwin whilst Christine worked as a PA/Administrator in a non-governmental organization. In In 2010 an opportunity arose to utilize skills acquired from Edwin’s stint in real estate to establish their own construction company. They were called to serve in the full-time ministry in August 2015 in Harare, Zimbabwe and were appointed Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader in June 2019. Together they have served at various levels of leadership with singles, marrieds and the campus ministry in the Harare church.

Edwin and Christine have been married since December 1995 and they have three daughters, Rumbidzai (25 years), Laura (18 years) and Lisa (16 years). Edwin is a sports enthusiast who loves to watch and play soccer, basketball and occasionally swims and goes fishing whilst Christine loves to read and travel. They both love the outdoors.

It is a great honour for them to serve in this capacity and as they step out in faith, let us pray for God’s wisdom and His guidance. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Anne-Marié Botha (Women’s Representative Delegate)

Anne-Marié was born in Pretoria, and became a disciple of Jesus in October 1990. in 1991 she graduated from the University of Pretoria with a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy.

In November 1991, she entered the full-time ministry and was sent to Cape Town as an intern. In 1992 and 1993 she co-led the church with Justin Renton. In 1994, after relocating to Johannesburg she married Ivor Botha. They have three wonderful children, ages 25, 23 and 16. The Botha’s have navigated various challenges with astonishing faith and resiliency (from 7 ministry relocations to being diagnosed with cancer twice and a heart attack necessitating double by-pass surgery). They have been involved in the discipling of leadership couples in many different churches in Southern Africa. 

They have also served in most aspects of the ministry: Youth Camp directors for 6 years, led campus and singles ministries, served as Kidzone coordinator, training and developing leaders and deepening family ministry.

Anne-Marié is currently doing a Masters degree in Christian Ministry and was the winner of the 2022 Teleios Student Paper Competition. She leads a group of sisters in Southern Africa who are passionate about the Teaching ministry and becoming better “handlers of the Word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

Together with her husband, they are facilitators for “Good Enough Parenting” and “I Choose Us” family building courses. She is also passionate about Spiritual Formation and a Christian retreat facilitator.

Jacques Genis (Next Generation Delegate)

Jacques graduated with a BCom Honours degree in Organisational and Industrial Psychology at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He became a disciple as a second-year student in 2001 and was a part of the campus ministry in the Cape Town church. After graduating, he worked for a management consulting firm and later for a National Retailer in their Head Office in the Training and Development space with a project focus on developing the in-house Performance Management system. 

In 2007, Jacques entered the Full Time Ministry and served the church in Cape Town for 5 years before being asked to move to Johannesburg. Since 2013, he has been part of the leadership team of the North West Region of the Johannesburg church serving the Campus, Singles and Young Marrieds Ministries. He was appointed an evangelist in 2016. 

In partnership with the Beam Missions Foundation, and the Regional Leadership Team of Southern Africa, he designed the Southern African School of Missions (SASM) training program that has become a pathway for young leaders as they enter in to the full-time ministry. He currently serves as the Program Director for SASM and plays a role in recruitment, training, and development of young talent for the churches in the region. 

He has been married for 10 years to Laura and they have two beautiful children, Anzel (7) and Lincoln (6). 

Looking Forward

As the Southern Africa family of churches, lets hold up these couples’ arms and go into 2024 with faith in our mighty God that he works out everything according to his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2). We look forward to even greater things in the decades ahead. 

Love in Christ

Justin & Irene Renton