Sunday School

Every week we have a crowd of small children that come to our "Big Tree" church meeting. We really have not had much for them over the last several weeks. On Sunday, we started teaching from an illustrated book written in Chewa that allows the children to hear the Bible story in their own language and see corresponding pictures. Their little faces were thrilled as their teacher, Madalitso, did her best to include each of the children in the teaching and help them understand the lesson on God's creation! 

Matthew 19:16

Yesterday I preached a message from the Gospel of Matthew. The text starts off with a man coming to Jesus asking the question, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Of course Jesus gives him a very simply answer to his question. In essence Jesus said to him that if he wanted to inherit eternal life by his own good works, he would simply need to be perfect and keep all the commandments. 

It is human nature to want to do some "good thing" to inherit eternal life instead of come to Jesus Christ to receive the free gift of salvation and enjoy forgiveness of sin.  Every Sunday I preach a gospel centric message knowing that people are coming and not all of them know the true path of eternal life.

It always surprises me that after telling people of our sinful nature that anyone would actually return. We started this small work back in early September with a handful of people coming. We are thankful to see more and more new faces come each week. The reality is - people do want to know the answer to eternal life. There were 39 adults in attendance sitting under a tree, most of them sitting on tree roots - because they wanted to hear the answer. Praise the LORD! 

Literacy is a need

Above is a small section of Scripture taken from a ChiChewa Bible open to the Gospel of John with probably the most popular verse known among both Christian and non-Christians highlighted in yellow. However, some of the people we are trying to reach in the Eastern Province of Zambia will never read this verse of God's love and promise of eternal life. Although Bibles are expensive and not always easy to find, the real problem is illiteracy. 

There are many living in rural villages unable to read this simple verse in their own language because of the low quality of available schools or a decision to leave school early. For some, they left because they needed to work, for others because of family needs, and maybe for some they were married early or became pregnant before finishing even the basics. 

Many of those people now feel a sense of shame because they cannot read and are embarrassed to re-enter the school system at older ages and be forced to sit next to grade 1 or grade 2 pupils. For us, it is a matter of necessity that a person be able with their own eyes to read the written words of God in their heart language. 

We are attempting to start a 12 month literacy course for the people near our new church plant. The course will be taught three times per week for 12 months with the hope that every attending individual will graduate being able to read at a 5th or 6th grade level.  We dont know how all this will actually come to fruition so we are asking you to pray. Pray that God would guide us, direct us, and provide what is needed so these people can read. Being able to read provides the ability to search the Scriptures but has so many secondary benefits as the rest of the world suddenly opens up as well. Imagine!

school rooms

This last Sunday I was invited to preach at a church pretty deep in the bush. It is not uncommon for churches to meet in school rooms while they are just getting started and later build something on their own when they have matured a bit. When we arrived I was directed toward a mud walled grass roofed building that I didnt quite recognize. It had 3 small compartments which meant it was not a church. But the grass was missing on much of the roof which made me think it was not being used for anything. When I inquired, I was told it is a "community" school. I was a bit shocked this building was good for anything and at the lack of quality being afforded to the children of this community. I realize Zambia is not a developed nation and this is Africa but how does this ever pass as a SCHOOL! I have gotten use to low quality conditions but this is far below low - this is unacceptable.

Kangagwa Community School

A community school is a school that is set up by the people of the community and runs from grade 1 to grade 7. Normally the teachers come from within the community and are not trained or certified but just want to help. The rainy season will be here full on in less than 1 month. I cannot imagine this school will be of much use during those next 5 months. I am impressed that the community is at least trying and although I am a bit disturbed I am at least encouraged that people are trying to get the best education available to them despite the conditions they cannot control.

I did preach and we talked with the people for a while. They want us to come back on a regular basis to be teaching them Scripture. Because of the distance and roughness of terrain it will be unlikely if we can reach them more than a couple times a year but by the grace of God we will try.

Colossians

We have a Bible study for the ex-pats in the area that includes families from Canada, Mali, Zimbabwe, Italy, France, United States, and Malawi. We meet every couple weeks on Sunday afternoon and do a verse by verse study of the Bible. Currently we are working our way through the book of Colossians and although still in Chapter 1 after four weeks, we are learning much! 

One of the attending families has been with us for more than a year but is now moving back to France as their work in Zambia has come to an end. It is hard to say good bye to friends as we have learned together, prayed together, and lived together here in Chipata. Please pray for our friends as they transition back to life in Paris; that they may find a good Bible study and Bible focused church. 

Marie & Guillaume