Imani, Espoir, & Love Ministries

What is the biggest operational challenge that you will face in the upcoming year? We need people. People to be financial partners. People to donate their time towards any of the roles we need to fill. People that are praying. People that will be willing and ready to handle the operations on this end when we are in DRC.

What is the core mission of your organization? We exist to glorify God by building Christ-centered communities that proclaim the Gospel, make disciples, and equip local leaders throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

How do you measure impact and success in your programs? Ultimately, there is a Christ-centered independent community that operates and continues to share the Gospel without our presence. Along the way toward that end, the successful implementation of each step of our vision. In the past that has looked like a completed school building, growing consistent student presence, a completed church building, regular attendance at worship services. Now, we are looking forward to our own sending as missionaries, implementation of vocational training for our high schoolers and adults, literacy and bible training for the men and women in our churches.

What are your biggest fundraising or outreach challenges? We simply do not know enough people and it is challenging to help people, even people close to us, to get to a place where they are willing to be a constant financial partner in any amount. Our biggest hurdle seems to be apathy.

How do you build long-term relationships with donors and supporters? Our goal is always to share what the Lord is doing and invite people to be a part of it. We all have a part to play and there is always something you can do to be a part of what God is doing. Our relationship with our friends and neighbors in DRC is mutually beneficial. It is not one-sided. We want the people who contribute on this end to know that our partnership with them is mutually beneficial. It is not one-sided.

What trends are influencing the nonprofit world today? Skepticism. I believe people want to help, but our culture is filled with distraction and information. It is easier and often more comfortable to maintain our own personal status quo. Once we break out of that, there is an abundance of information and it is difficult to tell which is true and which is not. There are scams, for sure, and that knowledge can keep people from being a part of anything. How do you know these pictures aren’t AI, how do you know these people are telling the truth, how do you or they know things are really happening, etc. It can be paralyzing. And often mission/ministry work is on a pedestal, so when the humans behave like humans, there’s much less grace for them or anyone else in similar work.

Can you share a story that shows your mission in action? In 2025, we had our first two students graduate from our school in Dilambwe – Chadrack and Lydia. These two people, were not just the first two to graduate from our school, they were the first two to graduate ever in Dilambwe. Dilambwe was an isolated village with 100% illiteracy and no one that had heard the Gospel. In other words, it was a pretty hopeless place. But the Lord knows His own and as was always the plan, He allowed us to use a school to introduce the Gospel, which led to the building of the church. When Chadrack and Lydia graduated it was a momentous occasion for all of us. Here were the first two to ever graduate, who had come to know the Lord, and had a hope and confidence in Christ that changed their lives and the lives of the others in their families. And they had a complete education and opportunities previously unattainable. It’s hard to even imagine all the implications and ripple effects that have and will come from just these two individuals.

What keeps you motivated in this work? The relationships we have built with the people in DRC. The lives that are changed (theirs and ours). The way hope enters into places that were without and makes all things new. Seeing God do things that we can’t solve no matter how hard we think, and plan, and try radically changes and strengthens our own faith in so many ways. Mostly, we have no idea what we’re doing. But God does. And we are so glad He has made a way for us to be a part of His work.