New Jerusalem Baptist

I was asked to preach on what the Bible says about idols/traditions for a bush church of about 120 people. Interestingly, as one of the major Chewa ceremonies were taking place where Nyau dance and ancestral worship is promoted, I was preaching from 2 Corinthians 6 explaining to the people that Christians are suppose to come out from among these practices. At one point I asked the church about Nyau - nobody would even acknowledge they know about it because it is taboo to even talk about them. Again, we see the power of darkness and the fear that grips the hearts and minds of these people - even some Christian people! Oh that God would remove that spirit of fear and truly replace it with power, love, and a sound mind!

At the end of the service we saw 8 or 9 come forward to be counseled. After some time, three wanted to know more about becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, one had demons, and others were just looking for counsel. We rejoice that God is still working in the hearts of people here in Zambia!

Before lunch, I was asked to pray for 9 infants/children that were brought by their mothers to be dedicated. We spent about 30 minutes as I went from person to person praying for God's hand of wisdom and protection upon the child as well as the parents to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Please pray for one little girl (Sarah) that is 6 months old but only weighing 8 or 9 lbs. Not sure why she is not developing properly but I know her mother would love for you to be praying.

Kulamba Ceremony

This weekend will bring a traditional Chewa celebration of sorts to the Eastern Province of Zambia. The Chewa people are spread out over 3 countries including Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia. Together they will unite this weekend to pay homage to their paramount chief and carry on many traditions of the Chewa people. Since I am fairly new to this area I dont know what to personally expect from this ceremony. There are many rich traditions the Zambian people have that should continue to be celebrated. However, there are also some traditions that should be eliminated. I am praying this ceremony will be filled with only God honoring traditions.

On a side note, a pastor asked me to come and preach this weekend to his bush church on the subject of "idolatry"...?

Masupe Baptist

Spent the day at Masupe Baptist Church. This is a small bush church with no pastor - which seems to be a reoccurring theme. It again highlighted the need for real pastoral training in areas where churches are already established but no legitimate training is available.

I taught from Luke 6 about the theme of giving and Damon taught from Matthew 13 about the sower and the seed. There were 8 professions of faith and a few more that came forward for counseling.

We then spent the time advising the church on finding a pastor and what the necessary qualifications are. By the end, the church had selected and voted on a faithful man and I was privileged to pray for his new ministry and responsibility.

Foundations

I have spent the last 4 days teaching a group of men on the subject of Biblical Hermeneutics. Proper interpretation of Scripture is something so many of us lack. It was good to review some basic principles with these men to help them better come to the right Biblical conclusions.

We discussed many different Scriptures over the 4 days of teaching. Of course, we all come to the Scripture with our own pre-conceived ideas that sometimes can hamper our true understanding. We had some intense discussions but using some basic guidelines we were able to make proper conclusions.

Because so many have rushed to evangelize but have poorly discipled and trained - many Zambian pastors are ill-equipped to lead their sheep. I pray for these men to truly "study to shew themselves approved unto God". If we can all become men of God's Word and put to practice the things that are important to God - I believe it wont take long to reach the whole of Zambia! May the foundations be strong and the church move forward for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Kasenga "Baptist Church"

I was asked to come and preach at a "church" in the bush this last week. The church has been without a pastor for 5 years and as far as I could tell they were not very interested in following God's direction for churches. This church is situated in an area where the village head man does not favor Christianity and the local Nyau has a lot of control over the people. In all - the culture/world has impacted the church more than the church has impacted the culture/world.

We preached straight knowing the only solution or true help we could provide is for the Spirit of God to take His Word and really work in the hearts and minds of the people. We had more than 10 people saved that afternoon and even a couple came forward to pray that recognized they have strayed from God's original path for their life.

After the service we met with some of the main people from the church about them having no pastor. I gave them some advice and told them what the Scripture says about the qualifications of a pastor. They seem to want a pastor but many of the men in that area follow culture and Nyau more than the ways of Christ. We really need to see God defeat their fears and bring forth spiritual victory!

An intersting note about this gathering was the amount of people that seem to regularly attend. For a church with no teaching pastor, no clear direction, no presence of God, and no separation from the world - between 100-150 regularly come?? But... why?

Nyau

A couple weeks ago we were preaching in the bush. After we finished at the church, we were driving down a trail and came across two Nyau. This was a first time for me. One was close to 9 or 10 ft tall and the other more like 5 to 6 ft in height. They both had masks over their faces and rags that covered all their body so there was nothing visible. (the picture to the right is an image from Wikipedia and not the exact image I saw).

After speaking to some people about this I found out they are part of a "secret" group that communicates with the dead and prays to the spirits. Only men are allowed to be a part of this group and most villagers flee when they see the Nyau coming. Much of what is said about this group is associated with witchcraft, charms, fear, and evil works. They often are able to control whole villages through fear and intimidation and even though so much progress has been made in Zambia - this group is still a very real force in the spiritual realm.

In my opinion, many of us dont consider spiritual warfare much. We dont think of a real battle that is taking place. Therefore, many of us dont fight a spiritual fight. This following verse tells us that we dont "wrestle" against flesh and blood (things seen) BUT that we do wrestle (among other things) against spiritual wickedness.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.