Simon’s Branch is an Atlanta-based nonprofit Christian group that seeks to spread the Gospel in foreign missions fields. Annually, a team of ministers, pastors, teachers and missionaries from Georgia, the Carolinas, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. travel to Botha’s Hill, KwaZulu-Natal, South African to conduct a variety of impactful Bible-based programs and provide humanitarian aid.
This year, in 2024, more than a dozen members participated. They were:
Dr. Shirley Fitz-Ritson, executive director; 9-year-old Israel Fitz-Ritson and 7-year-old Isaiah Fitz-Ritson; Rodney Smith, chairman of the Board of Directors; Dr. Ronnie Stanley, head of education and training; Tammy Phillips, head of training and recruitment; Bobbie Waller, director of Women’s Ministry; LouAnn Hannah, director of the Children’s Ministry; Kim Holmes; Annette Toms; Evelyn Primas; and, the Zimbabwe contingency of Pastor
Ndabezinhle Thebe, his wife Similo Thebe and daughter, Nonkazimulo Thebe.
Several Simon’s Branch members joined for the Emunah Podcast to discuss the trip that included sharing the Gospel, making disciples, education, training, and healthcare services.
“When you go on a mission trip, you get to see God out in the open,” Dr. Shirley Fitz-Ritson, the executive director, tells podcast listeners.
Tammy Phillips, who oversees training and recruitment, adds: “There are a lot of opportunity to be used by God on the mission field and you don’t have to be a super anything to be able to do it. You just need to be willing.”
When asked about their motivation and the myths about missions work that must be challenged, Dr. Ronnie Stanley points to the Great Commission: “Acts 1:8 is not an either or, it’s both ‘and.’ He (Jesus) says in Jerusalem, that’s where you are, Judaea, is the suburb, Samaria, that’s the state … and then ‘unto the uttermost part of the earth.’
“The Great Commission does not allow you to dismiss one particular segment, what it does is it causes you to engage both. God has called all of us - in some way, shape or form – to impact foreign fields.”
Board Chairman Rodney Smith agreed that along with purpose, missionaries bear a great responsibility to approach the work with humility, respect, and a genuine desire to serve.
“Every member is humble and willing to help one another out, no matter what it is – if it’s sweeping floors, if it’s packing bags, if it’s carrying heavy things. We are truly brothers and sisters in Christ, and we care for one another but, most importantly, it is the Word of God that unifies us.”
Established in 2005 in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Simon’s Branch has had more than 600 people join them on the mission fields over the years. Last year, 14 determined U.S. Christians headed for Durban, South Africa to revive and solidify earlier effort to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ. The dreaded COVID-19 had stopped all foreign travel for four years.
Simon’s Branch is named for the Black man who helped Jesus carry his cross to Golgotha in 1st Century Judaea. Simon lived in Cyrene, a place in modern-day Libya on the northern tip of Africa and had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover when he was forced into service.
Women of the Word posted an article about the group’s trip to South Africa on September 4, 2023. Check it out:
https://wordconsultingllc.com/u-s-group-resumes-efforts-to-get-african-americans-on-foreign-missions-fields/
The podcast “What does it mean to get up and “Go”? featured members of the group on Oct. 13, 2023.
This year, the group tells their story in the photo gallery of Women of the Word’s website: https://Wordconsultingllc.com
To reach Simon’s Branch members: Shirley Fitz-Ritson,
678-640-7557; Phyllis Smith, 770-238-9891; and Rodney Smith 408-507-8640.
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