“God can shock you with results,” said Savie Maphosa, a Seventh-day Adventist church member who felt compelled to start handing out cards to her work colleagues for a free Bible study correspondence course offered by the Voice of Prophecy (VOP) Bible School, located in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Less than six months ago, Adventist church members in Eastern Zimbabwe followed suit, distributing similar cards to some 30,000 recipients.

Of those people, 25,000 completed the course and are now VOP graduates. Each received certification during commencement services held in the National Sports Stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe, on October 21. “I’m very happy today, and very excited. I know how great God is,” said one graduate.

Taking their cue from the Zechariah Project, which encourages Adventist church members in the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean region to get involved in active evangelism, local members financed the project themselves.

The Zechariah Project is one way church members are reflecting the Adventist world church’s vision to Tell the World of Christ’s love.

These church members’ efforts demonstrate a remarkable level of initiative, said Pastor Burns Sibanda, treasurer for the Adventist church in Zimbabwe.

Pastor Solomon Maphosa, secretary for the church’s Southern Africa-Indian Ocean region, also commented on the members’ resourcefulness, adding that the 25,000 new graduates prove “soul-winning is not the prerogative of pastors alone.”

In fact, some 40 percent of the VOP graduates have indicated an interest in becoming baptized church members. Established members continue to study the Bible with the graduates. 

Amid praising God for the project’s outcome, Pastor Paul Ratsara, president of this region of the world church, said he anticipates “greater things yet to come.”

Next up is a plan to integrate the new graduates into small groups where local members will provide spiritual nurture and encourage the graduates to share their newfound faith.

Other Adventist churches in Zimbabwe are also planning to implement the VOP Bible study project. Church leadership there reports a commitment to expanding it, with the hope of many more graduations in the future.

Since the early 1940s, the Voice of Prophecy has offered its 26-lesson Bible correspondence classes to help students study Scripture for themselves by elucidating the Bible’s major themes. Today, some 140 affiliate schools around the world offer the course, which is also available online.