Mwatambulwa ku Chabantu Missionary Baptist Church! I say this almost every Sunday morning and during our weekly Bible studies. Mwatambulwa (Mwah-Tom-Bull-Wah) is a Citonga (one of the 72 languages spoken here in Zambia) word that means “you are welcome here.” Chabantu, the name chosen for our first church plant, is also a Citonga word that means “all of the people.” Our heart is to bring all the gospel to all the people, no matter where we are, and these few words in Citonga are a constant reminder of why God has brought us here to Zambia. Everyone is welcome to receive the free gift of salvation and be discipled, regardless of who they are or where they are from.
God has blessed us to work within two tribal chiefdoms, Sekute and Musokatwane, with 20 different villages. We currently have around 10 village headmen and one senior headman who regularly attend our Sunday services or one of our weekly Bible study groups.
We began another discipleship class on Tuesday afternoons at the beginning of March. We are going through the “Our Doctrine” workbook the Baptist Publishing House has made available on its website. If you haven’t visited their website lately or used their resources, I urge you to call Jordan Tew and let him share the available resources. This is an unpaid endorsement, but I will accept coffee.
You may wonder why we are taking the time with new believers to go through doctrine. For me, this is one of the essential teachings all believers should know. It is not just about why you are a Baptist or part of the BMA, etc., but what do you believe and can you articulate your beliefs to others? Just this month, we have been able to really dig into what the Bible says about who God is, what the Trinity is and what we believe about the inerrancy of Scripture. II John 1:9 talks about abiding in the doctrine of Christ. How can we abide in something we have never been taught? I have been overwhelmed with joy about the number of new believers attending, and our group continues to grow each week! In addition to new believers, we have five men attending who are also being trained as pastors to help plant additional churches and lead Bible studies.
As I mentioned pastoral training, we have five men who have a calling on their lives to be pastors and church planters within the local villages. We are utilizing the 10-book curriculum entitled Bible Training Centre for Pastors, which begins with “How to Study the Bible” and continues from there. This is a multi-year “seminary-type” course for men who do not have the opportunity to attend a seminary. This training is designed to aid called men of God in preaching the Word and pastoring their flock.
When these men finish the fifth book in the course, they will start training another man from book one. This allows us to train and equip pastors and build multiplication of disciples into our church DNA from the start. In addition to pastors being trained and discipled, we also have several laymen and women who will begin going through Bible Training Centre for Leaders with the same emphasis on beginning to disciple another person at the halfway point. We believe this helps us fulfill Paul’s instruction to Timothy in II Tim. 2:2.
All the training and discipleship we are doing now is laying the groundwork for another church plant in the near future as God leads. We will begin the weekly Bible study in this new village area this month. I have met with the local headman and received permission and a location to meet under a huge shade tree! These men and women we are discipling will provide the leaders and teachers as we continue to bring all the gospel, to all the people. (Chabantu)
Pray with us that God will break the stronghold of witchcraft in one of our local headmen. His wife is a new believer and is being treated poorly for following Jesus and attending services. When she attends Bible study or church services, she is not allowed to eat at home that day and is locked out of their home to sleep outside, but she is still attending.
Also, pray for food within the villages. The drought over the last three years has caused a food scarcity. Many are only getting one meal per day consisting of boiled ground white corn (Nshima). The government has just opened its emergency grain stores.
We also ask you to pray for the future of the Baptist Missionary Association Bible Institute. We are preparing a place where all the students can come on a regular basis for their training, while giving us a place to land so we aren’t driving four hours every day.
Currently, we need a battery-powered projector, a battery-powered portable sound system and a portable screen for the projector. (pastorquill@gmail.com)
