Dear friend,

We are thankful that you are even receiving this.

Please find below our latest news.

August and September 2017

We are thankful for your support and encouragement and most importantly your prayers. We wouldn’t have been able to do what we do without your “holding the rope” for us.

Life at Reformation Bible Church (RBC) has been busy. Below are the some of what has happened since our last correspondence.

Team from South Africa

We hosted a team from our sending church (Living Hope) in South Africa.

They served us well. The highlights for the trip were helping us to enlarge our seating space at our church. They broke down a wall enabling us to accommodate more people. They conducted a women’s seminar addressing biblical womanhood. The Malawi government is full throttle promoting the girl child. As good as that is, if not approached biblically it leads to a destructive feminism. The team also conducted a seminar on “integrating faith and work.” We were challenged to approach work as worship, to work hard for the glory of God, to prioritise involvement in the local church, etc.

The team alongside us did a lot of evangelism as well, as you can see above. We were also able to take the team to a radio station where they shared the gospel.

Zambia Trip

Eight of our members travelled to Zambia yesterday to attend the annual Zambian Reformed Conference. It is a special time of spiritual feasting. We are excited about our brothers and sisters who are travelling and we can’t wait to hear of their experience in Zambia. This is also an opportunity for them to have shared experiences and strengthen their bond.

Sola 5 Conference in South Africa

I have been invited to speak at this conference next month. The conference, just like the Zambian one, is about the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The theme is “Reforming Africa: Advancing the Protestant Reformation.” I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have been asked to speak on “Reformation and Race.” The racial issue is a sensitive subject in South Africa, not so much in Malawi. The vice, however, manifests itself in Malawi differently.

Baptisms

We are surprised at the Lord’s goodness in using weaklings like ourselves. The attendance continues to grow and last week we had the privilege of baptising four people. Three of them are recent converts. Listening to their clear testimonies of saving faith encouraged our souls.

Family

Vanessa is in South Africa for medical attention. She will be delivering there, Lord willing. We opted to do so because she is already being attended there for the tumour and the doctors there have a history with her. Three weeks ago, the doctor told her that they were concerned that the baby is too small at 32 weeks of pregnancy. This news has been disheartening. Yet, we are resting on our Father’s goodness, wisdom and power. If He created this world out of nothing (and He did) we believe with lesser effort He will protect our baby. Because of the tumour, the pregnancy is high risk. But our God is on His throne (Psalm 115:3).

Praise Items

We are thankful for what God is doing in our midst: enabling us to see the “dead” come to life, and blessing us with quality young men and women who are zealous for the Lord and evangelism. We have increased our seating capacity but we are already almost filling the space.

Prayer Items

As we have been encouraged in many ways, we are also facing challenges in some areas. We are ministering in a context that has over 70% unemployment rate. This translates to a church that is mostly for people who are economically inactive. For this reason, we are required to raise the bulk of the ministry needs ourselves. Please pray we remain content and faithful. Please pray for God’s protection of our baby and smooth delivery.

Every blessing in Christ,

Newton, Vanessa and Chisomo

Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook