Ministry News: Free State Bible Church (Bloemfontein, South Africa) (April 2024)

Brethren,

Greetings in the Lord.

Please find herewith the latest ministry news from Free State Bible Church in Bloemfontein.

We began this year knowing it is going to be a difficult year ahead, with all the signs pointing to it being our last year at the Free State Bible Church. The main reason is that God made it plain and clear that we will not have the finances to be supported as a family to be able to stay in this beautiful city that we love and serve the church that we dearly love. It was not easy for Keitu to accept, and in all her prayers she prayed for God to provide for us to stay here and serve the Lord here.

Now that we are approaching mid-year, she has started to accept that this is perhaps the Lord’s will and, in his providence, he may be saying our time is up here and it is time to move elsewhere. Amidst the difficulties of accepting this reality, she has continued to serve the Lord well and faithfully. She faithfully teaches our children the ways of the Lord daily, and I am encouraged to see the Lord’s work in all of them and growth towards Christlikeness. As a family, we have learned to be content and we continue to see God’s faithful hand upon our family.

Understandably, the burden of an uncertain future was heavy on me, but the Lord helped me to carry it. I thank him for friends and brothers in him that I could talk to, who encouraged me and helped me to pray while discerning the will of the Lord. Knowing that I love pastoring the church the Lord has given me the privilege to pastor for many years, and seeing and thinking of precious souls the Lord keeps bringing to our little church made it hard for me to think of not pastoring and looking for a job.

Knowing that I have a clear message from the Lord that I have to care for my family, and seeing that our situation was not improving at home, I had to make the difficult decision I never thought that I will have to make in my life. Due to my salary being drastically reduced this year, and us barely making it from month to month, I had to reduce my working hours at church, and started praying about sharpening the other “tool of trade” that the Lord has given me to work and provide for my family. I have been actively looking for another job. I started prioritising looking for a job here in Bloemfontein so that we would not have to leave the church and so that I can alleviate the burden off the church.

Since it is proving to be difficult, I have started searching for a job anywhere I can find it so that I can serve the Lord and provide for my young family. Amidst this I have been battling with health issues, so please pray to the Lord to help me to be able to overcome this lingering health struggle. My associate pastor Tebogo has been a great help during this time. The Lord has enabled him to see whenever I have struggles and he has held the fort for me every time, without me asking. However, the Lord has been good in that he has been speaking to me through my devotions. He has just been speaking about how good and faithful he is, and I have been meditating on the faithfulness of God more than the tough road ahead. I recently read Matthew 7:7–11 and it soothed my soul.

We thank him that, in his faithfulness, he has impressed it strongly on our hearts to pray corporately and fervently as a church. It is encouraging to see our prayer meeting, which takes place in the morning before the service, attended so well and faithfully. There is a hunger to pray and an awareness that we have to take everything to the Lord in prayer though he sees it all.

The Lord has also revived a number of aspects of our worship that we had not had for a long time. The one I’m most excited about is “The Children’s Talk” (CT). This is part of our corporate worship, where we call the children to the front to talk to them about topics in the Bible. At the moment, we are going through the “One Another” texts of the New Testament. The children we had for some two years were either old or too young to have the CT, but now we have children ideal in age for us to have the CT. The women meet regularly. The men meet regularly. We are determined to display the faithfulness of God during our tough times.

Pray with us.

1. Thank the Lord for his faithfulness during tough times.
2. Thank the Lord that his people serve him happily in the church, from the young to the oldest.
3. Pray for the Lord to save people and to edify the saints we have at FSBC.
4. Pray for the Lord to help us in the tough times we are facing.

Grace and peace to you,

Tsholo Kukuni
Pastor-teacher