Ministry News: Moletsane Baptist Church (Soweto, South Africa) (November 2021)

Dear saints,

It has been a fast and eventful year with many ups (reaching out, conversions, baptisms, and new members) and downs (people leaving our church). Praise God that, despite spiritual attack and trials along the way, he is building his gospel-centred thriving church in Soweto, which is desperate to know him and make him known.

Reaching Out

In October we partnered with J316 ministries using soccer as a platform to reach our community with the gospel. We simply shared John 3:16 as a basis to teach the greatest story ever told, using the colours displayed on a soccer ball. Please pray with us for our community to come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Conversion

Goodman’s testimony of salvation is refreshing to the soul. Since our arrival at Moletsane Baptist Church (MBC) about eight years ago, his family has been praying for his salvation. Unfortunately, all five of his family members have passed on without having witnessed his repentance. For all these years, there was nothing good about Goodman, but the Lord worked in his life such that one day he visited me at church during the week and confessed a desire to live for Christ. Since then, I have been sharing the gospel with him on a weekly basis and have been so pleased to see the fruits of his confession. At one stage, he was so excited just to come and tell me that he never went out looting, even though a shopping centre within 150m away from his house was looted. He has been faithful in attending our church services and Bible studies and is currently attending our membership class. Please pray for him and for those who are newly converted to grow in their faith to become fully devoted followers of Christ in every aspect of their lives.

Baptism

Even though this year has been challenging, by God’s grace we baptised five believers and their testimonies of salvation are so encouraging and edifying since they point us to the Lord who saves. He is indeed the source of salvation and the Lord of the church. Gugulethu in her testimony said,

One afternoon I listened to a sermon by a preacher named Jonathan Edwards titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Immediately after the preaching of the word, I repented of my sins and gave my life over to the lordship of Jesus Christ. I am so humbled that God would call me by his grace to himself and to show me my hypocrisy and deception of so many years. He gave me a hunger for the word and a desire to please him and to live for him.

Membership

God, in his grace, has added to our membership with those who are being saved. This year, we have received twelve new members and currently have about six in our membership class.

One of the new members, Thato, shared how she first came to hear and understand the true and sound gospel through the preaching of the eternal, unaltered word of God at MBC. She said,

Since I came here, the pastor, elders and all the pastors who were invited to preach speak in one voice that it is through Christ that we are saved. Our confidence is in Christ alone, and not in our good works. It doesn’t mean we do as we please but the grace of God enables us to live a life worthy of being called a Christian. We are taught to live according to God’s principles and be accountable to one another. We can ask the pastors questions, and the whole church, the people are welcoming and loving. My journey of being a Christian is getting betters as I learn more and more of what it means to know God and how to live for him.

Termination

We unfortunately had to remove about seven people from our membership roll for various reasons, but mainly because of differences in theology and practice. I tried to engage with the brothers just to understand the issues and it seems as it boiled down to “African Theology.” This has been hard on me. I was barely coping to the point where I was put on depression medication. However, our elders and church decided to remain and continue with our biblical theology.

One Hope Baptist Church

Two years ago, our church made a drastic decision to send out saints from our church to strengthen One Hope Baptist Church. On Sunday, 14 November, I fellowshipped there with the saints. It was a blessed time. The church continues to be faithful despite ministry challenges. We are thankful that Pastor Khabane will complete his B.Th at Christ Seminary by the end of this month.

Pray With Us

Please pray with us:

• that we will remain faithful;
• for strength, unity, and perseverance in doing what we do for God’s glory;
• for our leadership seminar on 11 December in partnership with Harvest Missions (we will have Pastor Carl Hargrove as our guest speaker);
• for our Christmas events: Carols service on 12 December in partnership with Florida Baptist Church (Roodepoort) and combined Christmas service with One Hope Baptist Church (South Hills); and
• that we will hunger and thirst for more of God and that we will rest in him.