27 January 2011
FRUIT FROM THE MOUNTAIN
In 2007 I followed a path that led to the top of a mountain a few kilometers from our house. A score of homes dotted the mountainside facing our house in the valley. The Chauke’s allowed me to return each week for a Bible study at their house, probably because their eldest son Chris was a paraplegic.
If you remember from the June 2008 letter, Chris and another woman from this Bible study made professions of faith. He has since then passed away, but the women continued coming to church. Last May we began catechism studies at the Chauke household. An average of 7 people came each week, though only one of them was a believer.
In September 2010, after several years of Bible studies and 5 months of memorizing the catechism questions, Pilly and Anastasia, two teenage girls in the photo, told me they were prepared to follow Christ. Anastasia testified in church that the catechism questions were the tool God used to convict her.
Who’s left? Chris and Anastasia’s mother, Mamayila, gave a Christ-centered testimony to our church last Sunday. For 3½ years she has been attending Bible studies and church, but we trust that she is now a sister in Christ.
If you have been praying for Chris, Rinette, Mamayila, Anastasia, or Pilly, please take time to praise God for His grace.
BEGINNING SUNDAY
Last week I preached my first (and last?) sermon ever on the Song of Solomon in Tsonga. In case you’re interested, we discussed a Christian view of marriage including communication, monogamy, and the picture of Christ and His bride. I am grateful to my friend Ivor Jefferies who has helped me over the past few years develop a more Christ-centered understanding of preaching.
But this Sunday Lord-willing, we enter Nehemiah with its emphasis on work ethic and leadership. Please pray for me to have wisdom in study and verbal effectiveness in the pulpit. Pray for the people to be faithful in attending and to be affected by the Word of God.
In our nearly four-year history we’ve covered these books on Sundays: 1 John, the Sermon on the Mount, the Kingdom Parables, Job, Hebrews, New Testament Survey, and Genesis.
A DIFFICULT CASE
Six times now, my neighbor Lawrence and I have met to study salvation from the book of Romans. He is an educated adult who easily grasped the answers to our study of sin and Christ alone. Here’s the problem: I have asked him on several occasions, “Now that you understand the problem and the solution, what is holding you back from trusting Christ?” Last week he said, “I’m not ready to stop my sin.” I’m telling him to look to Christ. He’s telling me he can’t because he still wants to sin. But he’s willing to continue meeting with me. So what passage should I use in our Bible study next Wednesday?
EVER EXPANDING
Caleb has learned about 59 catechism questions.
Colin is a linguistic machine, far earlier than his late-talking brother.
Callie’s gender (and therefore name) has been confirmed and is scheduled for arrival somewhere around 17 April.
Amy struggled for a week or so with tick bite fever that we thought was merely pregnancy pains. Thankfully, she’s almost back to normal now.
Grateful to sow and thrilled to reap,
3 March 2011
A church needs male leadership to meet the Biblical requirements for being a church. Churches are common in rural southern Africa, but as we have mentioned before, men are not. For example, we have four adult women members and two others that come somewhat consistently, but we only have one adult man. However, here are a few stories of some men that we have been privileged to work with.
SMALL GROUP: KENNY AND TINACHE
Some of you have been praying for Kenny Ndouvhada since last July when we referenced him. He’s been coming to our church for nearly two years. Last August he was baptized after months and months of Bible studies and catechisms in his one-room apartment. Since Mzamani’s death and Rudzani heading to the city for a job, Kenny is now our only baptized man.
But he’s been joined by Tinache (Shona for “God is with us”) for the past four months. Tinache is a Zimbabwean who lives about 5 kilometers from our church. He passed me while I was working on the road, and we struck up a conversation. From that week to this, he has only missed one Sunday service.
We meet once per week for a Bible study and prayer, and most Sundays they are both at church. Tinache also signed up for a night class at LBI, but due to his level of English, Paul is privately teaching him the book of Romans once per week. Please pray for godly men to grow into maturity in the local assembly.
STILL HANGING ON: LAWRENCE
Last month I referenced my efforts to evangelize Lawrence, and a number of you responded with passages that I could use. Interestingly, of those who responded a number gave the same passage: the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16. So for several weeks we have been focusing on different stories and teachings of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke.
In this morning’s study, he offered several tokens that made me very encouraged for his soul. Please continue to pray for Lawrence’s conversion.
EYE PROBLEMS: SIPHIWE
He’s not quite a man yet, but he is 21. I’ve mentioned Siphiwe several times in our prayer letters. He is an energetic, outgoing young man who is moving onward in the Christian life. In January, a painful tumor in his eye sent him to the hospital, and he was there for nearly 6 weeks. We thank God that he is recovering, though it is uncertain if he will ever have complete vision in his left eye.
SOME MEN FROM PAUL’S CHURCH
Last year God gave Paul a friend named Solani Maluleke. He has been eagerly learning with Paul every week and has even attended two LBI courses. Providentially, he lost his job which was one of the tools that God used to draw him to Christ. Please pray that he would be able now to find a new job to support his family as well as boldness to follow Christ in baptism.
Another young man to pray for is Eric Mamukeyani. He is a member of Paul’s church, but now he is attending a university an hour or so away. He is spearheading an effort to begin a university outreach that will, Lord-willing, start next Thursday. Pray for Eric to be a bold, consistent man of God in a completely secular environment.
For a core of men,
“To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: man can do the one, God alone can do the other.” Charles Spurgeon
9 April 2011
FALSE CHURCHES
After nearly a year of attendance at Elim Baptist Church a neighbor of ours that I have mentioned before has returned to the church she came from. (Ask for our letter from Aug. ’09 for the original story.) During her trial time with the Baptists she heard a score of messages on the Gospel from Hebrews, but ultimately, she was unwilling to be baptized or continue worshipping with believers around the Gospel.
The church to which she returned is the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), a denomination indigenous to Africa. Though it is the largest collection of churches in southern Africa, in my numerous interactions with ZCC church members and pastors I have yet to hear even a basic statement of Christian belief like, “Jesus is Lord.”
Rather, I have been told explicitly in one interaction that salvation is based on “good works.” In another, a pastor of that denomination told me that since we can’t be perfect God will let anyone into Heaven including Muslims who just “try.” In yet another conversation, a man told me that the second commandment does not prohibit ZCC members from placing pictures of their head bishop (read African pope) around their dwelling and praying to him since he is so much closer to God than the average man. We have also visited their main office (a rare thing for African indigenous churches), but we could not find anything in print about what they believed.
The ZCC like many (most?) other rural churches mixes African traditional religion with the external trappings of Western Christianity, but at its core it, like the prosperity preachers, are enemies of the Gospel because Christ is not exalted as the one who deals with sin in His own body on the cross. Repentance, church discipline, expositional preaching, and doctrinal statements are other fundamentals that are almost universally absent from the majority of “Christian churches” that liberally season Africa.
Careful discussions about right and wrong are not popular in America or Africa in 2011, but for the glory of God, the integrity of His message, and the sake of lost souls, we are compelled to be clear about the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Please pray that Johanna and numerous others like her that we minister to would recognize the danger they are in by entrusting their spiritual well-being to this Gospel-ignoring social network of religious groups.
YOUTH CONFERENCE
Our third youth conference, “God-centered Evangelism,” was held 26 March. Antioch Bible Church from Jo-burg sent a team of men up for the weekend who served diligently at the college as well as at the youth conference. They worked tirelessly at LBI and even gave us their preacher, Tim Cantrell, who preached four times in three days.
Everything but the attendance was an advance over previous years—about 60 teens came. Ntwanano, one of our church members who struggles financially, even found and worked a job to pay for his unsaved friend to come.
Paul and I often try to learn more about the culture we are in by carefully phrased questions. So as we left the conference, I asked different teens, “Did you like the music, friends, food, preaching, free books, or the video the most this year?” All but one person (he chose the sausage at lunch) chose one of the sermons as the most memorable part of the day. Don’t miss the significance of this survey: Teenagers without Christian parents paid money to hear and then praised a sermon unpacking the glory of justification, redemption, and propitiation from Romans 3:21-26, “The Best Page of the Bible.” Of the teens who were polled, this was the favorite sermon dramatically passing the one charity vote my message received. We praise God for working into the hearts of these young people a taste for sound doctrine.
As always, pray for ongoing godliness and continued conversions among the youth God has given to us.
TICKETS
In case you haven’t heard, we are happy to announce that we got a great deal on airline tickets and are planning to return to the US for a few weeks in June and July while I take a seminary course. Our little girl is coming; Amy’s due date is next Saturday. She had a cesarean last time with Colin, and we are hoping to avoid that this time. We would thank you for your prayers for a safe delivery.
Holding sword and trowel,
19 April 2011~Callie’s Birth
The competition around the Rook cards last night must have really affected Amy because she woke up at 4 am with a kind of pain every mother knows. She endured nearly 8 hours before holding Callie Renae Meyers just in time for lunch at 11:57 am.
The little girl kept the family standard by arriving in April, and surpassed her brothers by weighing in at 3.98 kgs (8 lbs 12 oz). As you pray for mother and child, please remember their health, and specifically for Callie we have been praying that she would have a sweet and gentle spirit.
Grateful to be given such grace,
14 July 2011~Ethical Dilemmas
Since arriving in South Africa, I have been stretched in ways that I didn’t expect. Probably the most unexpected was the swirl of ethical decisions that I found confronting me at one time or another. So here is a top ten list of situations that I have had to face as a missionary. This list is calculated to motivate you to pray for us as well as other missionaries that we would be discerning, reflective, and Scriptural at all times for the sake of the Gospel.
- Should I give people a lift if I know they are going to a false church?
When driving the roads in SA, it is common to see people asking for a ride. We have a pickup truck that could easily take them. But many of the churches here love money and are therefore enemies of the gospel. They also encourage their members to wear uniforms so I can often tell which hitchhiker goes to which church. If I give them a lift, will they think I am endorsing their idolatrous religion, or will they see my love and know that my church is different?
- Should I evangelize a woman if she is the only adult home?
Now, rarely do I do Bible studies inside homes. Typically, we sit outside the home in the yard area. But my regular pattern of evangelism is 4-8 weeks of Bible studies in Romans. Does it send a bad message to people passing by if they see the pastor return multiple weeks to sit outside if there’s only a woman and her two children listening? Or, should I merely invite the woman to church if I see there is no one else there?
- Should I give a generous offering of my salary to our churchplant?
Like most churches we want to meet in a building with musical instruments and multiple rooms. If I tithed to our church with its present weekly offerings of about $3 would it create dependency and irresponsibility or would it be a tool for evangelism and churchplanting?
- Should I baptize a young person (child) who has given a testimony of salvation, but has not shown Christian maturity?
We often have youth with unsaved family members visit our church. Once they profess Christ, should they be immediately baptized in hopes that their baptism would encourage them to grow, or should they wait lest they quit their new church and give the name of Christ a bad testimony in the community?
- May I spend money on my family and personal standard of living even if it is above those in my village? What if it is very above? How much do I let them see?
When coming from America, it is difficult not to have more discretionary spending than the average person in our village. If I have a higher standard of living does that make them marvel at the power of the Christian worldview to create wealth or does that make them greedy of western money and afraid to approach me about the gospel? At what point, if ever, could my family’s western lifestyle hinder people from being converted?
- How harshly should I handle believers who fall into sin?
No one in our church has a heritage of Christianity. Everyone is a first generation Christian. None of them went to a Christian school or college. Should I be more patient with them than I would be with a US church member when they fall into sin, or should church discipline be equally strict in all cultures?
- Should I address cultural issues that are not clearly sin, but may not be consistent with a Christian worldview?
Littering. Receiving handouts from the government. Families not eating together. The Bible does not explicitly say these are sin, but a consistently Christian perspective will avoid them. If they are common in a culture should a pastor address them?
- Should I give jobs to church members?
In a country with 30%+ unemployment living in a village where nearly every adult would like a job, should “rich” missionaries employ church members? Will it communicate love or hamper the church’s ability to stand on its own? More importantly, will jobs attract unconverted people who would be glad to act Christian for a salary?
- Should I keep doing Bible studies at a person’s home if they have shown very little initiative?
Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust of their feet if the village would not hear them. If the family isn’t saved after my 4-8 weeks of Romans Bible studies should I leave and go somewhere else or should I stay if there’s even a little interest? How can you tell when to move on?
- Should I use expensive books, computers, and handouts to make my sermons as good as possible if I know that the next national pastor will not be able to keep the same standard?
Our people have greatly benefited from my library as it has wormed its way into my teaching and preaching. Will the people develop a taste for a style of preaching that the next pastor may not be able to give simply because he can’t afford Harold Hoehner on Ephesians?
Our brief visit with friends and family will be over in about two weeks as we head back to South Africa. Although originally only intended to be a brief return for me to take a seminary module, Amy and the kids were able to come for which I am very grateful. Please pray for our church as we are away that the members would persevere in godliness. Also, LBI will reopen in a few weeks, so don’t forget to pray for the students and lecturers.
With mind and heart,
12 October 2011
Is it better to write more often than people want to read or less often? It’s been some time since our last letter due in part to a busy schedule. This letter will try unpack one of the largest projects that has been occupying our time and prayers over the last few months.
OUR INTERN
For the last five months, Justice Sebola has been our church’s first intern. He matriculated from LBI’s first graduating class last year and was eager to plant a church. We invited him to serve at Elim Baptist while he learned some practical aspects of ministry, helped me, and solidified his calling. He has been preaching about once per week along with ministering in several other evangelistic opportunities. Justice’s words and actions evidence that his spiritual gift is evangelism even though he is working with our Tsonga church outside his mother tongue of Venda.
He previously had attended a church saturated with prosperity gospel theology. A few weeks ago, he wrote a brief statement of why he left that church. Here is an excerpt. If you’re interested, I can send you the entire testimony.
I attended a good deal of conferences and conventions; in which some of these were adorned with flashy outlooks, beautiful cars, immodest girls, money talks, counterfeit miracles, explosive praise and worship teams, and demons centered sermons. They taught me to fear Satan and his demons, while they said nothing about the wrath of God on my shoulder. For seven years I remained in the prosperity gospel captivity, refusing to be snatched from it. And all my biased researches always confirmed my faith.
Repeatedly, I have witnessed, in my former church, people falling on their knees to worship the pastor; a lady pastor, for that matter. I have seen the same thing in many other churches around, and thus, the prosperity gospel betrayed itself on me. I began to feel awkward on every thing they do.
Child Evangelism
While Justice was a student at LBI, he helped his brother who had started a kids’ club every weekday. Following that good example, Justice has been teaching about 12 kids nearly every day of the week for several months. They learn verses, catechism questions, and have a Bible story. Several of them have begun attending church, and just last week Amy was privileged to host two young girls who have been sitting under Justice’s ministry, Nomsa (13 years old) and Ripfumelo (11 years old) who came to ask her if she could help them become Christians. Please pray for these girls to continue in the faithfulness they have shown for the last few weeks.
Crossing boundaries
When the internship is done this coming December, Justice is hoping to enter the ministry as a churchplanter or pastor. We are glad to recommend his character and doctrine. Please pray for him as he searches out the wisest location and role for his circumstances and gifting. As plans materialize in the future, I’ll update you again.
Committing the charge to faithful men,
Seth & Amy
1 December 2011
GRADUATION
After 3 years of constant papers, discussions, and tests, LBI had its second graduation with 5 men on the 12th of November. During xenophobic attacks a number of years ago in Johannesburg, these men, all who come from Zimbabwe, formed a relationship with Calvary Baptist Church in Germiston, who subsequently introduced them to us. Lord-willing, each of these men is hoping to plant a church in Zim within the near future. Please pray that Shadreck, Sam, Verengerai, Mike, and Denis would continue to grow in grace and wisdom.
Then just a few days after the school closed, Paul, Mike (LBI 2011), Justice (LBI 2010 and pastoral intern), and I took a three-day tour of southern Zimbabwe promoting LBI in some of the major population areas. The new semester begins in February and we would appreciate your prayers for new students.
ORDINATION
You may recall Justice Sebola from last month’s letter who has been serving at Elim as a pastoral intern. Several months ago he visited Zezani, Zimbabwe (visible on Google Earth) where his family had originally lived years ago in hopes of returning to plant a Christ-centered church. Even though Shona is the most popular language in Zimbabwe, most of the people around there are Venda or Sotho, both of which Justice can speak. Our assembly in Elim will serve as his sending church when he leaves us in January to evangelize there. Even though we don’t have a national pastor, Lord-willing, he will be Elim Baptist Church’s first missionary.
In keeping with Paul’s command to Titus to “ordain elders in every city” we are planning a time of doctrinal questioning for Dec. 17th with a council of pastors, and the following weekend on Christmas day, Justice will be ordained to the Gospel ministry. Please pray for Justice that Christ would dwell in his heart through faith (Eph. 3:17); that his evangelistic efforts would be fruitful (2 Thes. 3:1); and that a nucleus of believers would be established in the faith (Matt. 16:18).
DEPUTATION
In the past few weeks, Justice has preached in a nearby Venda Baptist church as well as an English Baptist church. He has plans to visit several other churches around the country that are willing to partner with him in order to fulfill the Great Commission in Zezani. While he was gone from our church, I talked to the members about supporting him.
Financially, EBC has been averaging somewhere around $20 a month in the offerings for the last few months. So, I was hoping we could commit an extra $15-20 per month to support Justice above the regular giving. Our church members unanimously agreed that we should all commit to give something to him every month, but with only about half of the church members’ responses in, there is $33 pledged so far! That should be a good start for his support, and especially if these other sister churches involve themselves as well.
I can’t decide which is a greater joy—probably because they are both related—the thrill of seeing a godly African cross a geographic and economic boundary to plant churches, or watching church members discipline themselves to lay up their treasures in Heaven. The last point of my sermon recently was that our church members should expect no earthly benefits from supporting Justice. They will only receive a realization that they were somehow instrumental in whatever souls that will be won to Christ through his ministry, and a deep-seated joy in Christ when they all gather and worship before the throne of God—Tsongas, Vendas, and Sothos.
To Samaria,
Seth & Amy
31 December 2011
PRAYER REQUESTS
A few times per year I try to visit all of our church members to probe their spiritual progress, offer counsel, and collect prayer requests in light of Hebrews 13:17. The list below includes prayer requests from a few of our church members loosely paraphrased from our conversations today in Tsonga.
- A 14 year old girl who is the only one saved in her family, “Please pray for me that I would be more humble.”
- A mother of three children, two of whom are not yet converted. “I would be very glad if God would help me talk to my children about salvation.”
- A 15 year old girl who was converted in May and baptized in October: “This year I found out what it means to be saved, and now I want to pray that I would continue on without falling into sin.”
- A mother and daughter asked for prayer that they would “persist in praying for Dad to be saved as well as daily Bible reading.”
- A 21 year old young man asked us to pray that he would have wisdom and become more trustworthy.
So, it’s pretty much like your family and your church. We would appreciate your prayers for these Christians.
A WORTHY READ
This year my Book of the Year goes to John Frame’s The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. It’s a little heavier than my past recommendations, but after the first 100 pages are over it is chalk full of helpful insights regarding how to think clearly. It ends up being something like a logic textbook for pastors. If reduced to a single sentence, it would read, “Before you decide whether to believe any idea, examine it through the Lordship of Christ.” And of course, the book tells us how to do that.
LESSONS LEARNED IN 2011
- Think carefully before speaking about ethical questions. According to Proverbs 18:13, it is shameful and foolish to speak without all the facts. This year especially, I’ve been alerted to the complexity of ethical issues.
- Christian unity is a Christian blessing. Believers should strive to demonstrate visibly the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace unless the Gospel is at stake. If they can, they are both refreshed and refreshing to others.
- Missionaries need to keep on learning the language. “Ndzi khe ndzi hlaya…” In English something like, “I just keep on reading…” That underlined “khe” is a new frontier for me—they use it a lot, but I can’t use it very well.
- Christian growth takes time. I’ve seen it in my own life in the past, but watching and guiding our church members over the pits and perils of 2011 has reinforced this to me.
- The Gospel is the most important lesson that missionaries should impart to young pastors. Through the classes at LBI and other means, Justice has really solidified his grasp on the doctrines of salvation. So many other important areas of ministry are just practical outworkings of that foundation, and we have been pleased to watch Justice grow as he applies theology to life and ministerial decisions.
- Culture influences the way people hear the message preached. Because of that, missionaries need to think clearly about culture and worldview if they want their evangelism to be as efficient as humanly possible.
And in case anyone hasn’t heard via Facebook, Amy is expecting again. She’s due in April, and we’d be very grateful for your prayers.
In Short,
Seth & Amy
