Christian Outreach to Southern Africa (COSA) is the sponsoring body for the mission work of Ben and Karen Pennington. The sponsoring board is made up of two representatives from six eastern Illinois Christian Churches (Charleston Central, Mattoon Broadway, First Windsor, Toledo Christian, Oakland Christian, Arcola Walnut Grove). In Zimbabwe, the Penningtons assist with an urban church ministry, assistance at two homes for the elderly, and projects to help people struggling through the current economic crisis in Zimbabwe. They also serve as resource personnel for national evangelists working in 42 rural and semi-urban congregations. Ben and Karen assist with leadership training and assist with construction of church buildings in the rural areas around Masvingo.

Ben and Karen arrived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in June 1976. They came as temporary replacements for Dick and Wilma Smith, but in due course decided to stay in Zimbabwe on a permanent basis. Their early ministry was divided among: Central Africa Christian College, Ft. Victoria Christian Church (now Masvingo Christian Church), a printing ministry, a Christian book shop, rural evangelism and church construction and leadership training. After Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, the Central Africa Christian College was merged with the Rhodesia Christian College and moved to Harare. The printing ministry was placed under the supervision of Doug and Frances Johnson and is now directed by Marcia Thomson. During the course of their ministry, the Penningtons have been able to turn over the rural ministry to national evangelists (Alford Maronga, Emmanuel Mugari, James Matsika and Morgan Musindo). This allowed the Penningtons to focus on ministry and leadership development with the Masvingo Christian Church. The Penningtons also serve as resource and advisory personnel to urban, peri-urban and rural churches.

The Penningtons are able to reach out to three ethnic groups. As Zimbabwe is an English speaking country, this opens the door to a broad outreach. There is a small European population (less than 1% of total population). These are people of various extractions: English, Dutch, Portuguese, South African, American, and others. The African population group makes up approximately 98% of the general population and is represented by the majority Shona Tribe and the minority Ndebele Tribe. Another ethnic group in Zimbabwe is people of mixed race, which also make up less than 1% of the total population. With urbanization comes a very cosmopolitan mixture of the various ethnic groups. The English language provides a common bond between all of these groups. An area of future outreach will be to the expatriate community in the Masvingo area. This includes foreign workers from Cuba, India and China who have been sent to Zimbabwe to work on development projects. When the present instability in Zimbabwe is resolved, it is expected that the number of foreign aid workers will rise greatly opening the door to evangelism among people from literally all over the world.

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