Lusaka Ministerial College

Post by James

Thanks very much for praying for Lusaka Ministerial College, which began meeting in the middle of May. We are more than half-way through the first term, which will end in early August. In our first couple of months we were here, we saw a great need for and interest in theological training in what are called “compounds” or townships—what we also call shanty towns, which are unplanned areas that have a high density of population and poverty. Churches seem to start up and close down overnight here, and the main “education” for those doing church planting are the TV preachers or tent revival sort of speakers they may happen to have come across. All of this only serves to confirm the people in ignorance and superstition with a glaze of Christianity cast over it all. Most people in the compounds would profess to be Christians, and a large majority go to “church,” and yet the drunkenness, laziness, superstition and dishonesty in these places remains dominant and entrenched. Whatever gospel is being proclaimed is certainly not “the power of God unto salvation” from the enslavement of sin and ignorance. It is usually, rather, the promise of prosperity and riches and healing (if you have enough faith), mixed with some self-help counseling on topics of interest. The name of Jesus is readily and frequently mentioned, as well as different Bible texts, but all with a distorted meaning and disconnected from a truly Christian worldview. That is the bad news, but the good news is that several of the pastors in these areas feel their need to know God’s Word better, and are teachable and engaged.

I began to speak with pastors in these compound areas about the need and potential for training. Eventually, the idea of starting a college formed. Though there is a theological institution run by the Reformed Baptist churches here and elsewhere in Southern Africa (called Sovereign Grace Theological Seminary (SGTS)), it is mostly a correspondence school, and is out of range in terms of location, curriculum and cost for the pastors in the compound areas. With the blessing and help of the churches here, therefore, we started this work back in mid-May. We began by meeting Wed and Fri mornings, but have since extended the hours until 4pm on those days to make sure we cover the courses thoroughly by the end of the term. The college is set up to have three terms per year with about a month off between each term, which is how schools in Zambia operate. We are planning on teaching 4-5 classes per term. The majority of lecturers are pastors in the area, and I am also scheduled to teach at least one class per term. Right now, we have 19 students, which is very encouraging. The students pay a modest fee for the school, and also for the books which we ask them to read. The fees are a bit of a challenge to meet, but not impossible. They cover about 20% of the school’s costs right now. The reason we require payment for the school and for books is that Africa as a whole has been cursed by a hand-out mentality that dominates the society. Often, missionaries have unwittingly fostered this mentality by simply giving out for free everything to the students. And where there is no personal “investment,” there is often little personal application and impact into life.

The other area we think is critically important is mentorship of the students. This is a bit of a challenge with students who are pastors of churches. However, we are asking instructors to visit at least one of the students’ churches per month, and also that the students visit one of the instructors’ churches once a month. You can see the reasoning behind this articulated well in Pastor Mbewe’s blog from a recent forum he participated in, where he talks about preaching being “caught not taught”: www.conradmbewe.com. In short, the issue is that we are wanting to do more than dump instruction on the students. It is our burden to see that they “get it” and that their churches change and grow as a result. And that cannot be done without relationship on the personal level, pastor to student, and on the corporate level, as a student sees and participates in the normal local church life of a healthy congregation.

About our students: around half of our students have a Pentecostal background of one type or another, and the other half are mostly Baptists, with a couple of other types mixed in. Many of our students started the churches which they currently pastor. These churches are usually under 30 or 40 in attendance, and the pastors have a very low salary. The churches are usually fairly new, having begun in the last three or four years. In light of the theological diversity of the students, we made it clear upfront that we would be teaching from a Reformed perspective and have a confessional basis. We ask that students let us know of any disagreements with the statement of faith which the college believes. However, many of the students don’t have a confession of faith in their churches and are not clear on what they believe themselves. But I also told the students that we aren’t here to change the church sign or denominational affiliation of any of them—just to see them come to understand and apply God’s Word in their lives and churches. The great need here is first and foremost a grasp of the heart and message of Scripture, and the development of a consistent and faithful way of interpreting and preaching it. So, that is our concentration. Thankfully, we have had help in teaching courses from others, including Victor Kanyense and Isaac Makashyini, two Reformed Baptist pastors from the area. They are doing a great job and it is a privilege to be able to work with them in training the men.

Starting a college has proven to be a huge undertaking! It consumes a lot of my time and energy, as I am wearing a lot of “hats” like the college administrator, principle, lecturer for two of the five courses, lunch coordinator (now that we meet in the afternoon), and a lot of other jobs. I am seeking to get some of the students and other lecturers involved as much as possible and am beginning to get some help from them, which is a relief. We now have a small library taken from books I brought over earlier for KBC. Because the books were a combination from two libraries, we had a second copy of several of the books, and these are now acessible for the LMC students. What a blessing, since we didn’t even know that this college would come into existence when we first planned the KBC library project! It is encouraging to see the men checking out Martyn Lloyd-Jones, J.C. Ryle, Sinclair Ferguson, A.W. Pink, and other good authors when the main influence to this point for several men had been Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Joel Osteen, and others. During the interviews with the students, such teachers were commonly mentioned in answer to the question, “Who has had an impact/influence on you and your ministry?” Those of you familiar with these names will understand how it was sad to hear that and showed how much work there was ahead. In the first couple of weeks, I hit hard the prosperity gospel which teaches that the more faith you have, the more blessings and prosperity will come your way. It is a huge problem in Zambia. The students were receptive and seemed appreciative of these lessons. The Lord has helped us and it is encouraging to see changes in their thinking and interaction slowly developing as they sit under the teaching in the college. We need much prayer for this work!

Another Level

Living in Africa is difficult. Every day there are things that don't work as they should, something that was suppose to happen does not happen, things take twice or three times longer to accomplish than back in the States.
Sometimes things seem like an Endurance test. It's long and hard and then when you think you can't wait any longer, or hold out, you have to wait more and hold out some more.
Roads are rough and crowded, water is cold, and trickles out instead of full blast many times, ...the list could go on.
My point is not complaint but stating the difficulties here.

But living in Africa is difficult on another level. Not just difficult because we come from a pampered life style in the good old US of A, where we can expect certain things.
But difficult because of what we see and hear every day. DIfficult on an even greater level.
I felt this most last week.

We see so much. Just in one day, last Tuesday for example. Everywhere we drive we see kids in tattered clothes, no shoes.
I was visiting a friend's house and realized that she only has water for a few hours each day.
Then the time at the orphanage, which I already mentioned about Akim. But another little boy was crying and crying. One of the workers was kind of rough and tired of his screaming and grabbed him and took him to another room to cry by himself and settle down. He tends to cry everytime I am there but that day he was even more upset. He was eventually brought back in and started crying again. I was putting another baby down and saw him start throwing up a little. It was from being worked up and crying so much. So I went to get him and wrapped him in a blanket and took him to the porch. He laid his head on me and just wimpered and tried to settle down.
It was time to go and so I had to put him back and then he started crying again.

Leaving the orphanage to pick up the kids, I passed the UTH hospital, which is known for not being a good place to go when you are sick, but the only option for most Zambians. Next to the hospital is the morgue. Where I pass the turn off to the mortuary, there are 2 signs that stand out and then a line up of ladies selling flower arrangements. The one sign talks of the risk of AIDS and promotes abstinence and exposes the lie that relations with a young girl does not cure AIDS, and the other sign is a simple one posted to a tree and says, "Cheap coffins for sale".

At the next traffic light there was a funeral procession with the casket. Every day we hear or see a funeral procession.
Every day! If we are not driving around town and see one, we will hear one going by the house. Because people stand in the back of a truck and sing as they drive to the burial. A couple streets from us is where one of the graveyards is.
After we picked the kids up I told James in the car on the way home that Akim died, last week. And then I just started crying. When the woman at the orphanage told me, it was so matter of factly, because it happens all the time.


As I was waiting for James at school, one little girl came up and told me that her Auntie died and earlier this morning Sarah said a classmates cousin who was 8 yrs old died. Encok was off early one day to attend a funeral as was Mr. Chipeta a few weeks ago. Then as we drove onto our road we saw a mentally ill man walking in only a pair of shorts and torn up socks. He was covered in dirt and just walking around. And it was windy and cold.

I did see Johns at the market last week and he helped with the bag. I was noticing he had a torn up falling apart windbreaker on.
So after we got the vegetables I went to a place where they were selling used clothing. They had jackets for $4. I wanted to get him one. So I bought it and gave it to him and told him to wear it. He put it on reluctantly and I was not sure why. Then when we went to the car I tried to explain I did not want him to sell it, or have another boy take it, but it was for him. He said ok ok and then put it on. Well he left and normally I take off in the car, but I had gone with a Zambian friend and so I went back to look for her. I was standing by the entry and saw him. He just stopped in the distance and looked at me. I waved and looked at him...no coat on. Then I looked away trying to find my friend. Then a few minutes later he walked by with the coat on and said, "Hello Madame" and waved.

So I don't know if the other boys will say something to him, or if he gave it away for something, or if he hid it somewhere b/c he looks more pathetic in rags and therefore might get a better "tip". I don't know, but even that was a bit discouraging.

I had asked my friend in Kabanana to see if the kids we are starting to support there have warm blankets and coats, what they need to be fine for the cold. She said no, and now is going to find out what we can get for them.
But these are just examples from the past week. It is hard living here. One friend told me that over the course of a month, her mother goes to about 20 funerals. But this is normal. I don't think I could explain it to the Zambians why it is difficult. And I think maybe even the few Zambians that I know read this, might not understand exactly, because it is not normal for us.

I wrote to a friend back home and was explaining the difficulty of all this, but I said it is not that I want to leave. I don't. I just wanted her here to go through it with me. To help.
So that is the "another level".

Thankfully in God's perfect timing we had already been planning a "holiday away". We have been here almost 6 months and were both feeling the need to have a break. So we left last Saturday and just returned home last night.
We went to South Luwanga Park. So the next few blogs I hope to show pictures and tell you of our "Holiday".

Sunday

We went out to Kabanana on Sunday morning to go to the Sunday School at Faith Baptist. I wanted to check on the kids we are supporting and see if they were attending. Probably about 2/3 of them were there. After the Sunday School we visited a church of one of James's students and fellow lecturers at the Kabanana Pastors College.
Here are some pictures from the day.


Sunday School Class




Pastor Matthew Phiri and James


As we walked out of the Holy Mountain Church, a little girl was standing nearby and Sarah noticed she had on the same sweater as she did.





These kids watched us the whole time and waited on top the "baptistry" to wave goodbye as we were leaving


Pictures around Kabanana

Making bricks


There is a dumpster off one of the roads but the trash and garbage is everywhere. That seems to be where we find alot of kids playing and looking through things.













Ian wanted a picture of this, he thought it was funny the name of the ntembo (little shop)




I snapped this one quickly as we were driving by. She looks so sad.

Akim

Two weeks ago I went to the orphanage after having not been there for 3 weeks.
When I walked toward the room that the babies are in, I past a man on the porch holding a baby. It was a bit unusual to see a man holding a baby, and a bit unusual to have them on the porch area. Usually the relatives wait at a different spot for the baby to be brought out to them.

But I passed this man and headed toward the baby room. Once I got to the room, I do what I always do now , and that is look for Akim. I didn't see him and then looked out at the baby that the man was holding. It was Akim. His father was visiting and that is the first time I have seen a relative there to visit him.
Since he was right outside the rooom, I watched him as he was holding his son. He was the most affectionate and loving that I have seen a Zambian man with his child. He was talking to him, kissing him, tickling him, making him laughing and looking at him the entire time.
I wanted to go over to him and tell him, "We have been praying for your son! We love Him!" but I was not sure if he knew English or would understand an emotional woman talking to him about his son.

It was such a sweet thing to see. I was so thankful to see it as well. He was loved by some one. He seemed to be feeling better as well and smiled later when I talked to hiim after his father left.

Today I went for a visit again. I walked in the room, said hello to the workers and reached for the bowl of porridge to start feeding the babies. I looked around and did not see him. It was a little crowded so I was thinking maybe he is in the other row of cribs. No I did not see him.

A little later I asked about him and they said, "he has died".
I asked if it was last week and she said yes. Then I mentioned that his father had just been here to visit and she said yes.

Who would have thought

In Africa we would be warming ourselves by the fire.




Having lived in Kentucky, which gets cold and Montana which gets even colder and snows alot, who would have thought that the first time we had and used a fireplace would be when we were living in Africa! Certainly not me.

The house has a fireplace and we have been using it almost every night, the past few weeks. It is nice to take the chill off in the main room, and the kids think it is great. It is chilly in the evenings and in the mornings, but by the middle of the day it is usually very nice, sunny and warmer. Yesterday morning it was 13 degrees celsius. (Not sure the ratio in F). It feels like Fall weather, and it has been a nice change. Since the houses are made out of concrete blocks there is no insulation and I have noticed some days it is warmer outside because the sun is shinning than it is in the house.

Strange to think that we are sipping hot chocolate, when most everyone else we know is sweating with their lemonades.

ATEMBETO

A few weeks back, Sarah and I were planning to go and deliver the backpacks to the kids in Kabanana.
We had set up a meeting place to drop them off with the Chirwas. They were at someone's home having a celebration, or party. It was Fanny's brother and the event was called "Atembeto"
When I have asked what that word means it doesn't seem like there is a clear translation, but basically a welcoming to the family. We were invited to stop by and come in for a minute. We were curious as to what was going on anyway and certainly did not want to be rude. So we were welcomed in and given a place to sit.

The ceremeony is a welcome from the brides family to the groom and his family.
It can be done during the engagement or after the wedding. In this case it was before the wedding.

The bride's family prepares every kind of dish that they cook as their family and bring that to the groom and present it. The ceremony is very elaborate with the women walking into the room with the pots on their head. Then their are drummers and dancing and people throwing money onto the floor around where all the pots are placed.
The groom sat on the couch with the "mediator" ( as I mentioned in the white plate and milk blog post) next to him and another family member on the other side. The job of this mediator, was to explain the customs and traditions and what he can expect from his new wife.




The pots of food are carried into the room where the groom and all his family is seated. They then place the pots on the ground in front of him and people are supposed to throw money out. In the corner there were 3 women beating on drums and singing also. Throughout the whole time the mediator was whispering to the groom different things. Explaining everything.
I told Fanny that I needed to be sitting on the other side so I could have understood everything too!
Quite interesting though.

So the women are placing their food down and different ones are supposed to dance. Then it gets quiet and 2 older women, they seemed to be the representatives of the family, start to organize the pots and then place their hands behind their back and the two of them start opening a special pot that has been wrapped in a white cloth. They opened it with their teeth, all the while people are cheering and the drums are beating.
They managed to do it and more cheers came from the people.

Then the woman started some of the other things in the ceremony. Washing the grooms hands and then his face. Shining his shoes and then laying at his feet. All things that were showing the respect that the wife was going to give him.



Then the older woman threw a chitenge over her head and the grooms head and the mediators. I really had no idea what that was about. I think something symbolizing that even when others are around that the husband and wife are still to be romantic. Very interesting since culturally the husband and wife show now signs of affection even holding hands, etc in public. SO it must be referring to in the home even though various different relatives live with them.
I was told that a couple has one year to be alone after which they are expected to be having various family members living in their house with them. And it should be equally distributes one from the husbands side and then the wifes side…

The women then started showing each individual pot of food to the man to explain what it was. The types of food he should expect to see served to him from his wife. Pumpkin seeds were one of the items as well as a few other similar things and that was to symbolize that even when times are lean and there is not much food in the house these are the types of things the wife will cook.

After everything was shown then it was time to eat. All the food was taken to the table and the bride's family left, they do not eat with the grooms family. The grooms family were served drinks and then we went through the line to get the food.

We certainly did not intend to stay very long, but we ended up staying quite awhile and then getting a "take-away" container with a little food. It was very interesting to watch.

I am glad I was able to go and see this part of the Bemba tribal culture. There were two things that I found to be most interesting. The first was that the groom did not even crack a smile the whole entire time. Even when the mediator borrowed a chitenge tied it around his waist and started dancing!
The other was that the bride was not there. She was at home, and not supposed to be there.

In Heaven

 Last Saturday my Grandma finished her race on this earth and went to be with her Lord and Savior.

After I received the email I was thinking back at what time she entered into glory and what I was doing at that moment.

She passed away in the morning hours on Saturday. That was the afternoon here and as I remember looking at the clock, I know exactly what I was doing.

 

Saturday is James’s day off and so we were spending the day together as a family. After lunch we were playing a game of hide and seek with all the kids in the house.

It was probably one of the best games we have played.  Everyone was involved,  with a good attitude ( that is the key!)  and it was a very nice family moment. The kids were running through the house to get to base. In one of the rounds, Emma was seen and Daddy was chasing her. They got caught by a couch and she was going one way and stopping and turning to go the other way, James was trying to catch her. I was hiding behind the curtain in the living room just listening to her laugh and laugh thinking to myself,  we are so thankful she is well again and so thankful to have our family together.

 

After I heard the news I thought back to remember, at the moment her life ended and she stepped into eternity, what was I doing. What if it were my last moment?  And I was standing before the Lord at that moment.   What if it was when the Lord was returning?  Would I be found doing the Masters will?  Was I ready?

Bless God yes I was (and am ) ready and yes I was doing what the Lord would have me do.

 

The sadness for me comes now in that today the entire family will be gathering to celebrate her life and have a memorial service, and I will not be there.

She had 8 children. It’s a big family that gathers together with grandchildren and great grandchildren.  She has left a legacy. May we all follow after her in seeking, serving and loving the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

I wrote her and told her “ You have been a great example to me in your life, suffering and pain and now as you are approaching death.  You are a jewel in the Lord’s sight!  I will rejoice with you when your “race is finished!”

 

I sent her these songs and quotes.

 

GIVE ME JESUS

In the morning when I rise,  In the morning when I rise

In the morning when I rise,  Give me Jesus.

 

Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus  you can have all this world,  but give me Jesus.

 

And when I am alone, And when I am alone

And when I am alone,  Give me Jesus.

 

Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus  you can have all this world,  but give me Jesus.

 

And when I come to die, and when I come to die

And when I come to die,  Give me Jesus.

 

Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. You can have all this world.

You can have all this world,  but Give me Jesus.

 

 

IT IS NOT DEATH TO DIE

It is not Death to die, to leave this weary road,
and join the saints who dwell on high,
who’ve found their home with God.
It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears,
and wake in joy before your throne,
delivered from our fears.

O Jesus, conquering the grave,
your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in you will in your mercy find
that it is not death to die.

It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust,
and rise with strong and noble wing
to live among the just.
It is not death to hear the key unlock the door
that sets us free from mortal years
to praise you ever more.

O Jesus, conquering the grave,
your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in you will in your mercy find
that it is not death to die.

 

The quotes I shared are from a book titled, “Heavenly Springs”  by Andrew Bonar.

They are just short random thoughts…

 

“Come you blessed of my Father.’  That word, ‘come’-how it will sound through our heart! It was the word that drew us first to Him, and it will draw us into the kingdom”

 

“Lord, now let your servant depart in peace’. You are dismissing me from my post. It is the same word used when Christ ‘sent away’ the multitude at evening. ‘Lord You are sending me home in peace at evening.’”

 

“Rejoiced in the idea of it being God alone that I had to do with in going into eternity. He seemed so well known and sure. His heart is open. His grace has made all known to us. “

 

“The man who sees Christ in life is sure to see Him in the valley of the shadow of death.”

 

“Christ has the keys of death, and it is He who opens the gate and admits us into that invisible world. Then His will be the first face we see there-a known face.”

 

“Dying is just more of Christ”

 

“What a happy thing it is that it is the kingdom of God our Savior (2 Peter 1:11). We know Him so well. It was He who put our robe of righteousness upon us. We would be lonely in the great company if we did not know him so well. Would it not be a great comfort to the dying thief that Christ said, ‘Today with me in Paradise’”