I always find annual reports a fun thing to do - looking back over the year to see what happened, what didn't happen, what went according to plan, what did not go according to plan. And where was God in all of that? What was/is He up to? How ready were we to pivot to flow with what God was doing?
It's always an important time of reflection and learning.
While I know that many of you will read our annual report from cover to cover (😊), some of you may not have the time, so I'll highlight just a couple of things here.
We thank God for the following findings:
- The number of Marketplace Ministers involved in our mentoring and advocacy work increased by 38% in 2023, compared to 2022.
- There was a near doubling of businesspeople trained in basic business practices. From 8,877 in 2022 to 15, 450 in 2023.
- Pastors and church leaders who attended DML's foundational workshop increased from 3,047 in 2022 to 9,353. This is an increase of 207%!
This is the result of the movement of God in the Marketplace, and the amazing response of the DML teams across Africa and beyond. When we partner with churches and denominations, that work not only becomes more effective in terms of discipleship but it also can help the reach grow exponentially.
And while I give thanks for each of our implementing partners, we also know that this work cannot be done without the time, treasure, and talent of many of our donors. Our annual report also includes the financial breakdown of 2023.
Our donors not only give of their treasure, but their treasure comes from their time and talent, which contributes to the flourishing of world. Most of our donors are marketplace ministers in their own capacity - from builders to restauranters to importers to plumbers to furniture makers to accountants to social workers to IT specialists...and I could go on and on.
Their work creates wealth, and then they share it with others, so that their work can create wealth and they can share it with others...and so it goes, round and round.
And I am one person who gets to watch this amazing cycle from donors to implementors to marketplace ministers on both sides of the ocean, learning to do work as worship.
I'm humbled to be able to watch heroes of the faith both up close and far away. And I am so appreciative of every person who connects as part of the body of Christ, to work together the way it was meant to be.
Our prayer is that God will continue to help us to be faithful to the message that He has entrusted to us, and that we will continue to have eyes to see and ears to hear where He is working, and how we can join in that work.
Please do continue to pray with us!
And in this report we are also doing a brief survey and would love for you to participate so that we can get to know you a bit better! Please scan the QR code. Thank you in advance for your time!
