City Church, an Acts 29 church in central Pennsylvania, is a picture of gospel renewal and global partnership. 

Replanted in 2015 with just nine people, the church has grown into a thriving, multiethnic congregation of nearly 300, reaching a region marked by skepticism toward the church and deep spiritual need. But City Church’s vision has never stopped at its city limits.

From the beginning, lead pastor Raphael Mnkandhla carried a burden for Southern Africa. Originally from Zimbabwe, Raphael once hoped to plant a church in Johannesburg himself. When God instead called him to replant City Church, that vision didn’t disappear—it was redirected. 

Raphael began asking a simple question: if he wasn’t the one going, how could City Church still be part of the work?

Acts 29 helped provide the answer, connecting City Church with Sihle Xulu, an Acts 29 church planter in Johannesburg, South Africa. What began as financial support quickly grew into a deeply relational, church-to-church partnership. City Church has helped invest in leadership development and church planting efforts in South Africa, while leaders from Johannesburg have poured back into City Church through visits, preaching, children’s ministry, and ongoing friendship.

“This isn’t just a financial partnership—it’s a holistic one. We serve each other, pray together, and resource one another. It’s been a joy to be part of what God is doing.”

Today, the partnership is bearing visible fruit. Churches are being planted in and around Johannesburg, leaders are being trained, and plans are underway to use Sihle’s church as a hub for future church planting across Southern Africa. Raphael has traveled multiple times to see the work firsthand, most recently celebrating the sending of another church plant.

This is Acts 29 in action—planting churches, across cities and continents. As City Church ministers in Pennsylvania, it is also extending that same gospel hope to the other side of the world.