1 January 2024~Aiming for Men
The Sons of the Prophets
More like a blob than a circle, our chairs curved around the shade provided by the two trees in the back of Jomo’s yard. It is 15 minutes later than we had hoped, but now 15 Tsonga men and youth are seated as the men’s meeting begins. It could have been—and should have been—20 men, but perhaps next time we meet on February 3.
In 2007, we began holding men’s meetings every other week, but after stopping for several years, we picked up the baton again in 2018. For 6 years we read books, or at least talked about the chapters from the books some of us read. Of the 10 books we covered, 8 were the stout, old authors who could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.
Last year, we tried to pour lectures, discussions, group prayer, and homework into our circle of chairs while covering 14 rules for reading the Bible. Last Saturday, the growing group got going on character which we hope to study for the next few months.
Yesterday, I walked around town looking for jobs with one of the men in this group. He had been converted 10 years ago after attending Amy’s Sunday school class for years as a child. His testimony was that honesty and faithfulness are the most difficult parts of Christianity. True doctrines can be learned without much pain, but the lifestyle is like learning a new language and culture.
Currently, Trinity Baptist Church in Mbhokota and Valdezia Rock Baptist Church are jumping at the gates to join Elim Baptist as indigenous churches once they have Tsonga men at their helms. This Saturday men’s group is our informal seminary, our School of Tyrannus for the sons of the prophets.
Though I have spoken about this group rarely, it is a chief joy of the ministry. They cannot look for integrity to the examples of their fathers, relatives, or neighbors. Therefore, please pray that the Spirit of God would form character in the hearts and habits of these men. They are the future husbands and pastors for the Tsonga churchplants.
In case any ladies are wondering, the women also meet, but once per month in “Women of Grace.” As our world sneers both at manhood and womanhood, please pray for 1 Peter 3 wives, mothers, and daughters as you pray for 1 Peter 5 men.
Beginning in Bungeni
As the sermon nears the 3rd verse of exposition, the first few move chairs to the speaker’s right. Before the closing prayer, the encroaching sun has convinced most people to follow the limited shade. Mr. Mafemani Xirinda opened his yard, gathered the chairs, and even cut down an established grape vine to provide shade for the dozen adults who showed up for the first week.
For 2 years, we have been evangelizing in Bungeni which has a population of roughly 30,000. So far, our farming has planted about 100 open air sermons and 40 Bibles, but we have currently only harvested 2 baptized adults. This month, I have been preaching in 3 other places.
This new Sunday meeting began as 2024 dawned, but it is discouraging to go through the early days with so few believers. Will you ask God to establish a church in Bungeni? Alpheus and I change each Lord’s Day leading and preaching in Makhasa and then here at Mafemani’s house.
More to Missionaries than Evangelism
Caleb has finished his high school course and is preparing to return to the US for a college degree. And Amy has completed her 12-year course in teaching phonics! Please pray for our 4 sons and daughter to be wholly dedicated to the Lord and His Church.
My book of the year for 2023 was John Milton’s Paradise Lost wherein you may wonder at angels, see sin as it really is, and be enchanted by a perfect marriage. Or, as a second option, Isaac Watts’ book on prayer greatly helped me.
Anticipating Conversions in Answers to Prayer,
Seth and Amy
3 March 2024~Ordaining Elders in Every Church
National Leadership
The ingredients in forming a true church must include believers and at least one godly man. A Bible translation is probably the next most vital, and then songs and a meeting place. Habits of confession, reading, and teaching should come in the course of discipleship.
Since 2006, Paul Schlehlein has been laboring in the village of Mbhokota (and you can listen to his story) evangelizing so as to bring together all the Book-of-Acts ingredients mentioned above. Last Saturday, Tiyani Reginald Ntuli made a public declaration and defense of his faith to the satisfaction of 8 pastors. Tiyani has already been carrying on many pastoral duties at Trinity which he will now continue with the laying on of hands of other pastors.
Tiyani is a special joy because he was led to Christ as a child by young men who had been converted through a youth group ministry. For more than a decade, he has slowly grown in grace, showing the virtues marked in 1 Timothy 3. Each week he is involved in prayer meetings, youth evangelism, and leading the services at the church along with his role at Miseve Classical School started by the Schlehlein’s.
One of my new year’s goals for 2024 is to encourage 10 Tsonga men to serve as lay preachers. Though I have done little in Tiyani’s life, I rejoice to see his love for the Lord, firm grip on truth, and commitment to his local church. Please pray that such dedicated men would be found for the other churchplants in the villages of Makhasa (7 members), Bungeni (2 members), Tiyani (2 members), and Valdezia (18 members).
An Addition to the Worship Service
Sunday, we asked Grandma Maria Baloyi, how was your week spiritually? Half way through, I thought a brief recording would encourage others. Here is a translation, since I can’t figure out how to make subtitles in the video.
“Jesus died for us. Now, I trust that all of us know that Christ died for us. All this month, I don’t need to be distracted by any thing. God saved me. His blood washed me. Jesus loves me, and I love him with my whole heart. I had been rotten. I had been a worm. I had been a church goer but I didn’t know Christ.”
Now in her 60’s, she was baptized in June 2023 as the third member of the Makhasa church plant after being attracted through street evangelism in 2022.
When we started meeting in Makhasa, we had only a two-hour window of time open on the Lord’s Day before the next church plant. So we started taking time in the Sunday meeting to ask people how many days they had read their Bibles. Over the weeks, we have added other questions, such as how can we pray for you, how are you serving the Lord, or how is your spiritual health.
Last Sunday, the prayer requests were:
- Pray that I would not give up (one of the believers).
- Pray that I would evangelize my children (a woman who is not yet a member, but attending over a year).
- Pray that I would understand when I read.
Grandma Baloyi asked us to start a weekly prayer meeting in her village since she only sees Christians on Sunday. Since we waited too long, she invited the other women who come to church though they are not yet saved. They have met for prayer for several weeks now.
GYM Camp
Since the Father has designed manhood into His plan for the world, the church, and the eternal glory of His Son, it is obvious that the Dragon will try to breathe fire on it. For several years, Paul Schlehlein has led a 3-day Camp for Godly Young Men (GYM). The next camp begins in 7 days as scores of men over 16 and under 30 will gather for fellowship, preaching, and masculine guidance.
Trip Home
We hope to return to Florida and then Illinois for a few weeks while dropping off Caleb in May and June. It would be a joy to see any of you who have been praying for our family and the Tsongas.
As prayers to the Islamic god (Deut. 32:17) have been made in the White House, let us pray for the country that has sent the most missionaries and funding, not forgetting the words, “Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!”
Looking Outward and Upward,
Seth and Amy
7 July 2024~Signs of Grace
Upon returning from a four week trip to leave Caleb at college, Amy and I were discouraged when one Christian said, “Fumani is falling away. He even admitted he was.” Another man told me, “It looks like Mother Maluleke is leaving the faith.” Tirhani told me he was following Jesus with 30% of his heart. (I changed the names.) Other Christians did not come to our first ever, 1-day missions conference. In reflecting I found at least a dozen inroads of sin and beginnings of declension.
Yet I found that this spurred me to pray more. In fact, while typing that last paragraph, someone texted me to say that he was praying for the work among the Tsongas. In answer to prayer, God has revealed a string of encouraging marks to remind us that where sin abounds grace abounds even more.
When I say a “sign of grace” I mean something practical that sounds like the One who began the Good Work is faithfully completing it (Phil. 1:6). Here are some signs of grace just from the last 2 weeks.
- Thabiso (23 years old / 6 years attending on Sundays) started evangelizing every Sunday from 3-5 PM from last January. He has been doing this each week, and two weeks back he began Saturday from 3-5 as well.
- Rofhiwa (19/4) sought forgiveness on her own. Also she has been active in teaching Sunday school.
- Rendani (40?/4) has been meeting with several other unconverted people each week at her home for Bible studies. I leave in an hour to meet with them.
- Mbuyelo (17/1), Rirhandzu (15/2), Charlotte (55?/3), and Grandma Maluleke (70?/2) all spoke to me from 22-29 June asking if they can give a salvation testimony or learn more about salvation.
- Though Neo (17/6) has not yet been baptized he spoke to me at length about the sermons at his church in Elim. He also asked me if he can work in my yard, but for a Puritan book rather than money.
- A few days ago, Risimati (26/14) texted me asking for help to understand Romans 7 as he has been reading.
- Thabiso (above) has been employed since January. His boss was pleased with his work ethic and asked for another man like him which means another young, unemployed man just found work.
- Alpheus and Shoni, the pastor and his wife at Elim, have been constant in their service to the church, commonly bringing a dozen or more to the services and leading two churches on the Lord’s Day.
- Hluleko (21/6) prayed in the men’s group that he and the other men would not give up, but that they would be faithful until the end. In the same prayer meeting, he also confessed the sin of backsliding (James 5:16).
- Simba (40?/1) is the husband of one of the members in Makhasa and a father of four. He has been consistent so far in 2024 and is helping his 4 children to attend the youth group we are hoping to start this coming Friday in Makhasa.
- Mafemani (65/2) and Tiyani (50?/2) have started a prayer meeting in Bungeni with a few unbelievers. Last week their prayers were the most spiritual and Biblical that I had heard them pray yet.
- Thomas (65?/3) has taken initiative to lead evangelism for his church and attends all the services.
- Mugove (38/6), though he is a Shona, and now living in Zimbabwe, he also began meetings at his home on Sunday afternoons in a poor housing area south of Harare. They have 4-6 adults meeting each week.
Lest I weary you with names you don’t know and lines that blur together, I pause here at 13—one more than the discouragements I counted. And yet marks of grace have been evident from others. The apostle Peter was a mix of falling and rising to which pattern I expect most who are reading this letter can relate. Do take up the burden of prayer again and raise the names of believers and villages to our Lord that their progress may be evident to all. Those villages where the Lord has begun to gather his people are: Elim, Mbhokota, Valdezia, Tiyani, Mashamba, Bungeni, and Makhasa.
It has been far too long since I last wrote, so if you would like more, please follow Grace to the Tsongas on Telegram.
Within a week of leaving Caleb at Pensacola Christian College, he had met three friends, one from a supporting church, the piano on his hall, and the library next door. Thank you for your kind notes and prayers for all our children. Some of you have prayed for and supported us since Caleb was born. We are deeply and commonly grateful for the love of the American churches.
Mixed, but ultimately joyful,
Seth and Amy
8 August 2024~The State of the Tsongas
Last Saturday before our men’s group began, Thabiso (23 from Valdezia) asked, “What can we say to people when we are evangelizing, and they tell us they can’t come to our church because of their traditional beliefs and fears?”
Then I amplified the question to Jomo Kubayi (54 from N’wamatatani) and Matimba Siweya (51 from Makhasa): “How common is this in your opinion? Is this mainly older people? What percentage of Tsongas still feel fear for being cursed or manipulated by spirits?”
Jomo, who in 2017 had a stroke that has left him only partly mobile, replied that as he tries to walk each day he greets those whom he passes within a few kilometers from his house. Commonly, they reply to his “I’m fine, thanks” with “Are you fine when they have done this?” Then Matimba supported this answer by saying that if a person is greeted who is having a problem, they may reply cryptically with a remark like “I’m fine even with everything the bosses have done.”
What? Who are these people they are referring to? Why am I only hearing these things after 20 years? First, their Tsonga was very unusual to me and subtle. I had to ask them to repeat the lines over and over as I tried to exegete the vocabulary and syntax. So perhaps I’d heard it before, but not understood it. Second, as an American and the inveterate outsider, perhaps a Tsonga would not reveal such coded sensibilities. There are secrets that we all keep for one reason or another.
There are roughly 7 million Tsonga-speaking people—about 3 million in South Africa and 4 million in Mozambique with a few in Zimbabwe. As I have lived among them with an intense interest in their religion, culture, and conversion, I have learned that many have secret or open fears of witchcraft.
Thabiso found a pastor of the Church of the Jugs (they use empty jugs as drums in their meetings) who was also a practicing sangoma, one who can bring spiritual protection from curses and problems. While Hlavutelo and I were evangelizing, we also found a family committed to the Jugs assembly who were actively involved in the protection industry. Two people I have baptized eventually returned to this religious group after having been in our church for over 10 years.
Another very poor man with whom we have met for 6 weeks has had 2 wives previously and now lives with a teenage girl as his girlfriend. His 15-year old nephew has been in our church for a year and now wants to be baptized. This man, the girl, and the man’s mother have studied with us for 6 weeks. Last Saturday the women received us without him because he was on the mountain in another village trying to pray for protection from the spirits. Though they live together without marriage, though he does not work, though they do not read the Bible, though they did not know the most basic doctrines of Christianity, and though he takes his scarce resources to fight with witchcraft on a mountain like his pagan forefathers, they are members in good standing at a “church.”
Jomo told me recently that he met a pastor of a prosperity group who was afraid if Jomo visited his church that this victim of the stroke would bring the spirit of the stroke with him.
Another church leader from the International Pentecostal Holiness Church told me that they do not use the Bible at their church. Only the leader is allowed to use a Bible. Two men rode with me, one of them calling himself an evangelist. When I asked what he preached, he said, “The 10 Commandments.” Anything else? Nope. That was his Evangel.
The man beside him said that he too was a pastor, and he preached Christ. Wow, that was an answer above the usual. “But do you love money? I know that many people love money. Do you?”
His long pause told me the answer before his lips said, “That’s a tricky question. Yes. I do…”
“Does your church love money?” I cut in.
“Well, obviously, if the pastor loves money, then the people must love money too.”
Another pastor from Valdezia told me that he accepted the Lord. “Oh, I hope that is true. Have you ever read the whole Bible?”
Tsonga pastor: “I have read the Bible, but not the whole Bible.”
Seth: “Have you ever read the whole New Testament—Matthew to Revelation?”
Tsonga pastor: “No, I haven’t finished that. I just pick here and there.”
Seth: “What did you learn from the Bible yesterday? Or the day before? Or in the last week?”
Tsonga pastor: “Love your neighbor.”
Usually my questions are answered by Tsongas or Vendas without any reference to Jesus Christ or His Work. But even if someone says the name of Jesus or professes to have “received Him” we do not know that they are converted. How many have no interest in the Bible? How many are still living in fornication? How many openly confess to loving money? How many are ignorant and—even worse—completely disinterested in the Son of God?
There are churches all around the Tsonga villages, but they are churches planted by the one who puts tares in the field. I often say when I preach, “I don’t care about the name of the church. I want to know if you preach Christ! Is there a place where you can learn that Christ is both God and Man? Is there a place that teaches you to weep over sin not poverty? Is there a place that is full of humility?”
Among these 7 millions, and outside of the few little groups that we have been pleased to work with, you can drive—if you are blessed enough to have a car—for quite a long time without finding a church of Christ.
This month, our church prayer is from 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Praying for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- Please pray for missionaries to come to the Tsonga people.
- Please pray for an awakening when we evangelize.
- Please pray for real maturity among the nascent believers.
- Please pray for the Spirit for when He comes the Tsongas will be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Currently, it is very dry.
Praying for rain,
Seth and Amy
10 October 2024~Stirring the Waters
Vehicles, water, and hearts were all moving Sunday. On the weekly reminder of the Resurrection and the anniversary of Luther’s 95 Theses, Tsonga believers gathered from 8 churches. And the rains broke the heatwave just as we were driving home, but a story ought to start from the beginning.
The chairs quickly ran out and a score or two of stalwart young men stood through the 3-hour service as even the doorways and one window of the Elim Baptist Church were filled. While punctuality is a virtue, a late start is no vice when you are waiting for public taxis, flat tires, and some who left their homes nearly 3 hours before the service.
I imagine that the singing could be heard by all the neighbors and the cars passing by, but what can I say to you who were so providentially hindered as not to hear it? If sounds can taste good, everyone wanted seconds.
Since so many were unconverted visitors, only about half the audience took the Lord’s Table. But what a sight as scores of first-generation, Tsonga believers raised the bread to their lips at the same time. As the juice in our mouths, so even now the tears moisten my eyes in hopes of standing in the choir of Revelation 5:9 with them.
But the joy of joys was the hour of testimonies from 16 new converts from 10 different villages.
- Evelyn Chauke from Zimabwe spoke in Shona saying that she knew nothing about the Bible though she had attended churches for all her 60 years. When her neighbor evangelized her at the entrance of 2024, she was shocked to find a church so different.
- Mhani Nkuna heard the gospel when I preached at a funeral, so she searched out another woman in her area who had been converted in 2023.
- Tiyani Mabunda was led to Christ by Paul and a member in Mbhokota preaching on the streets.
- Emmanuel joined a unique group as the first, second-generation convert. Except for pastors’ children, Emmanuel is the first one to come to Christ as a child of a Tsonga adult convert. His mother was born again in 2015 when he was about 3.
- Neo was saved after 7 years of 2 other young men speaking with him about God and to God about him. His testimony was remarkably mature as he said he knows God has saved him because he now desires to fight with his sin.
- Grandma Maluleke who is too old either to see the words or to learn to read said that she is not afraid of dying anymore because she is holding on to Jesus Christ.
Seven were found through street preaching. Five were harvested after years in Sunday school. The man who led the service started as a Sunday school child as well as the pastor who read the Scripture. Five different Tsonga men ran the service, and Amy was happy to play at Elim’s new piano!
In prayer today, I counted more than 40 others who have been coming consistently, and so we have hope that some from this sizable group may soon publicly profess that Christ rules from the throne of their hearts. So we had our portion today, and yet more for tomorrow?
Pastor Nyalungu stood up to preach just before 12:30 when we expected the service to end. And yet as the Lord helped, he spoke movingly from Galatians 1:6-10, 2 ways false doctrine enters the church, 4 marks of the true gospel, and 3 false religions to avoid.
Moving to a small lake about 4 kilometers away, we immersed our new brothers and sisters while another false church nearby—from which Mhani Nkuna was saved—could be heard singing “O Lazaro” over and over.
But added to these pleasures was the clear theology and surprisingly clean Tsonga of the testimony of our fourth child, Carson or Ndzhaka (Inheritance). May God give me no other inheritance than an entrance into His Kingdom with my wife, children, and these, His sheep.
A missionary’s life is sometimes exhausting (more visa paperwork), commonly prosaic (one disinterested conversation after another), and regularly depressing (so few sheaves among such a field), but there are also answers to prayer and harvests. Sunday was one of those bright days. We entered the weekend with 70 members, and went to bed with close to 90. Please forward this prayer letter to any who may be interested.
Will you not ask for more such movements of the water? Can we not plead with Compassion Himself who has no pleasure in the death of the wicked? Shall we not pray and be answered based on the Terror of the Lord that men from this people group would be persuaded? Whatever may happen with the elections of men, our request of you is double strength to intercede as we, the Tsongas, Vendas, and Shonas are…
…Making our Calling and Election Sure,
Seth and Amy
12 December 2024~Street Preaching
Results of Bible Distribution
In 2019, a Tsonga man named Reginald Mabasa invited me to preach on a street in his village about 90 minutes from our house. He had come to the Truth after seeing a man reading a godly book on a bus in 2012. Since then, we have tried and adjusted the method of street preaching to the present day.
Finding a small shop or shady area with houses around, I set up a white board, speaker, and music stand. Then in a loud voice, an announcement calls the people, “Good afternoon, come near if you would like a Bible. If you want to learn, come hear the Word of God. Free Bibles!” After that two songs on the guitar, and then a sermon. When people come near, I try to interact happily with them while introducing them to the great doctrines of the Gospel. The meeting takes about 45-60 minutes. In closing, names march onto a sheet of paper of those who would like to be registered for a free Bible. The genius of this method is that to receive this gift, they must return 10 weeks in a row—sifting through so many to find Dionysius and Damaris.
From Wednesday to Saturday, meetings at 1:00, 2:30, and 4:00 fill the afternoons. So far we have used this method for 5 years, although it has grown and changed since the beginning. In those years, what has happened with the gifted Bibles?
- 495 Bibles have been given.
- 69 older teens or adults are consistently attending Sunday services (14% of those who receive Bibles).
- 35 people have been baptized over the last 5 years (7%).
- 25 different points with dozens of homes have heard the gospel for months at a time.
- 2 groups of new believers have begun meeting on Sundays—one in Bungeni (4 members) and one in Makhasa (10 members).
- 1 who was baptized in 2020 was church disciplined in 2022.
Is this failure or success? The vast majority of people take the free Bibles and run even after they admit they are not written in the book of life, have not read even the NT, and have not heard the message of faith alone in Christ alone anywhere else. Hundreds more hear and don’t even care to listen. The pastors in these villages do not stop to encourage this work and no one offers to help purchase more Bibles to help. The lack of long term interest by the majority smells like spiritual death (2 Cor. 2:16). From the responses I have no evidence that the prophecy is fulfilled, “They shall all know me from the least to the greatest.”
And yet some have just begun seriously reading. Some have declared what God has done for their souls. Olga was baptized in October after Maria invited her after having been invited by Joyce who heard on the street. Thabiso, Matimba, and Thomas have tried to evangelize in their villages because of what they saw. When I consider how many adults are now hearing the gospel over and over, and how many have been baptized, and how many are coming on the Lord’s Day, hope wells up and spurs me on.
Emergency Care
Valdezia Rock Baptist has 24 members currently. But several young men and one young lady are in great danger. Alcohol and apathy are calling to 5 young men aged 18-23. The young lady alleged abuse and is now living with a boyfriend. In some lives, there is a harvest, and in others the leaves are drying on the branches. In each of these cases, they have been attending for years, and it breaks our hearts to see stones in the soil that we had hoped would bear fruit. Pray that the righteous would rise though they fall 7 times.
Paperwork to the Glory of God
Ask John the Baptist if the government ever disturbed his work: or Moses, or Naboth, or Daniel, or Peter, or the godly missionary family ejected from Tanzania. Though God ordained the authorities to bring terror to criminals, we have felt a desk-load of stress from our visa paperwork. Every three years, we must apply for and receive new visas from the Home Affairs Office of SA.
In 2015, when I applied from the SA Consulate in Chicago, they refused my application telling me to return to SA and apply from within the country. Upon returning to SA, Home Affairs demanded me to travel with all 7 of the family back to the US stating that the law had changed, but the change had not been communicated to the SA Embassy in Chicago at the time that I had been rejected. In 2018 an office worker told me when refusing to accept my visa application, “Perhaps, we don’t want your kind here anymore.” She declined my query as to her meaning of my kind—Christian, white, male? In 2021, the process was much less hectic as they replied after 6 months and only charged us $1,347 (R24,246). So far in 2024, 6 of our family members have been rejected, and we have lodged 18 separate applications.
Monday, Amy and I drove back gratefully after the office accepted our application for an appeal of the rejection. If they look favorably on our appeal, we will be legal again for 3 years, and then we will try to add our children (4 more applications with 4 more fees of course) to their parents’ visa.
Years ago when Colin was young, he shocked me by saying, “Dad, God must love humility more than He hates sin because He allowed sin so that we would be humble.” Milton describes Satan seeing the good angels, “Abashed the Devil stood, and saw / Virtue in her shape how lovely.” The time and money are well spent though as we are coming out with a greater sense of our weakness and a fuller resolve to speak kindly and bear up for our Master’s name. Please pray that we would be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man as we often feel overwhelmed.
Years ago, I found a treasure in Amy Carmichael’s Things as They Are, and yet I did not read it until this year. She grips the imagination as she writes brief story after story about real missionary evangelism—most of it is failure. Though Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections is my book of the year for 2024, you would be a better church member, soulwinner, and prayer partner if you let Amy talk to you for a little.
After many years, our email address has changed: sethmeyers@mailbox.org and amymeyers@mailbox.org.
Often troubled, perplexed, and cast down, yet still renewed,
Seth and Amy
