Kennedy.Sunkutu“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21)

In Proverbs 15:8 we read these words, “The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.” We learn here that whereas the Lord hates those whose hearts are wicked and their lives malicious, that he will not accept their sacrifices, costly though they may be; he, on the other hand, has a love for upright people. The prayers of the upright are a delight to him. He not only answers their prayers, but delights in them addressing him as their God and Father. He will do them good. This is our confidence as we send out this prayer letter, albeit belatedly: We trust you shall still remember us before the LORD.

MEMBERSHIP

At the end of the year the membership stood at 31. One of our ladies left for Lusaka on account of a departmental transfer, and we received two young ladies into membership through baptism on 14 August. They have settled well in the youth fellowship.

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES DURING THIS PERIOD

Orphanage Visitations

As a church we have identified one orphanage here in Kafue, which we visit from time to time and make a few donations. We made two visits: in July and November. The purpose is to interact with the children, who are mainly between the ages of 10 and 15 years. We share the gospel with the children, firstly, through the preaching of a sermon, then on a one on one basis, and then give the donations mostly in form of food stuffs. We trust the Lord will be honoured through this effort.

Men’s Evangelistic Breakfast

The men’s fellowship had their second evangelistic breakfast at church. Though it was not as well attended as the one in the first half of the year, we had four non-members in attendance. Mr G. Sitali, an elder from Kabwata Baptist Church (KBC) was the guest speaker. We thank God that one of these four men has since become consistent and has asked to join the next baptism class. His name is Jones Rudora. We pray that the work of grace may be very evident in his life.

Ladies’ Ministry

Two activities by the ladies fellowship are worth taking note of here.

Children’s Fundraising Party

This was held on 1 September. Close to fifty children were in attendance, and had to be divided into two groups. Our prayer is that by this means the ministry to the children in our neighbourhood will grow.

Evangelistic Luncheon

This was held on 29 October. Though, the attendance was not as anticipated, fourteen visitors were present. The gospel was effectively shared by Mrs Daka from KBC. Some of the visitors are yet to be visited by way of follow-ups, which we need to see being done by our ladies.

Youth Outing

Our youth fellowship comprises mainly teenagers in secondary school or just out of secondary school. An outing was organised for them on 8 October by the banks of the Kafue River. Twelve of them were in attendance and they were challenged from Ecclesiastes 12:1-8. We are thankful to the Lord that one of them, by the name of Chanda, has since asked to join the baptism class, which is soon to start.

Church Social

This has now become an annual event held on 24 October, as a time to socialize with all age groups, Christian and non-Christian alike. This event was well-attended and we had a lunchtime fellowship meal together. It was encouraging to see the young people play their lungs out in all sorts of games and the adults were lamentably outshined.

Christmas Evangelistic Activities

We closed the year with the distribution of tracts on two weekends prior to Christmas in an area we have been visiting for some time now in our door to door evangelism. This was concluded with a guest service on 25 December, at which Pastor Chipita Sibale of KBC, was the guest speaker.

We have a number of regular non-Christians who continue to meet with us week by week on Sunday. We are hoping that in 2012 we shall see conversions among us from among them.

MINISTRIES

We have continued with the sale of books and Bibles on the first Saturday of each month at a selected point in town. Bibles continue to be in very high demand. We completely ran out of Bibles towards the end of the year; not even the Bible Society of Zambia had any in stock. Just last month someone rung me asking if we had Bibles on sale, and the other month someone came to church wanting to buy a Bible and was ready to leave their money until we had some in stock. We are grateful to the Lord for all these enquiries and pray we shall this year be able to stock enough books and especially Bibles. If you are able to help us source Bibles please let us know as soon as possible.

Our vernacular service in the farming area of Shimabala suffered a major setback. The man in whose home we meet, Mr Lungu, passed away on 16 December. Nonetheless, it was a joy to conduct his funeral service because the man clearly was ready to be with the Lord. He had even selected a text to be preached at his service: Romans 5:6-11. This old man of 85 years was a testimony to his family and an encouragement to all of us in the church. He also requested that the services in his home should continue. We are still uncertain about the salvation of his wife; please pray for her in this regard. We still need someone to take charge of this work on a full time basis, or even as an intern even for a year. We see this as the best way to move this work forward. It must be someone who can especially speak Nyanja (or either Bemba or Tonga). Our brethren the Chimfutumbas continue to conduct a Bible study every Sunday at 08:00, and then we conduct a service, for the whole church from Kafue, in the afternoon every third Sunday of the month.

Our Saturday youth meetings suffered low attendance towards the end of the year. In the new year, we hope our young people will be consistent in attending the Saturday meetings. We hope to vary the meetings to encourage higher attendance.

We still desire to develop preaching gifts among the men in our church. This year we shall concentrate on the Old Testament, with selected men taking meetings from time to time and then we hope to try them during our services in the course of the year. We would appreciate you praying for us in this regard.

The ladies’ ministry committee indicated that they had a lot of challenges in organizing the ladies in the last part of the year. The participation sadly went down. We are praying for a change of attitude among our ladies. The committee comprises Mrs Kalio, Mrs Nchito, and Mrs Chimfutumba.

We are concerned that the couples’ fellowship failed to organize any meeting in the last half of the year. In fact, the whole of 2011 they only had one meeting. The elders are seeking for ways to reorganize this ministry.

BUILDING PROJECT

There was no activity on the building in the last half of the year. The plans are that we attach a veranda to the entrance of the church hall and possibly do a vestry. We still need to make regular payments for the loan we got from the Reformed Baptist Building Trust Fund. Members agreed at the November QBM to make monthly contributions towards this. Pray that the members will be faithful in this regard.

PASTOR AND THE FAMILY

Our oldest daughter, Kapambwe, has applied to the University of Zambia’s School of Humanities. Pray that her application will be successful.

We are grateful to the Lord that our son Chabala qualified to Grade 10. We are still concerned about his salvation.

My wife, Gladys, is acting Senior Nursing Officer. This is a job she has done for the last four years without being confirmed in that position. She has, however, been recommended for confirmation but the red-tape in government offices is very frustrating. We pray the Lord be gracious to her in this matter.

I finished my course work with a two-week contact session at Cape Town Baptist Seminary for my MA Theology. The results are out and I managed to clear the course work. I am now remaining with my thesis, which I need to hand in by August this year. I will value your prayers in this regard, especially that I still have other responsibilities to be mindful of.