Dear brethren,
Please find herewith the latest ministry news from Newton Chilingulo and Reformation Bible Church in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Friends
The ministry can be a very lonely place. Thankfully the Lord has provided brothers that I call truly call my friends.
These are men that are pastoring like-minded churches. We sure have some differences. So we agreed to be stuck together for two and a half days to discuss our differences, hopes, and dreams for gospel advancement in Malawi. We prayed. We laughed. And we ate.
African Pastors’ Conference
This is an annual conference targeting pastors who may have had little or no privilege to be exposed to sound theological training. The theme for this year was “Defining Features of a Biblical Church.”
It was a conference on ecclesiology. What a feast it was. It was ably handled by gifted and well-experienced expositors in Pastor Joshua Bolaji from Welkom Baptist Church (Welkom, South Africa) and Pastor Elly Olare from Gospel Missions Agency Church (Mumias, Western Kenya).
As always, I believe that I have been the greatest beneficiary of this conference as, apart from the spiritual feasting, I host these speakers and ask them various ministry-related questions. I have found this time of learning from more experienced men invaluable. May the good Lord continue blessing the ministry of African Pastors Conferences.
Campus Crusade
We are slowly but surely making inroads to Bunda University. This is a very strategic ministry. Most of the members of our church came to know either the Lord or Reformed theology at College.
We believe we need to maximise our efforts. It is not easy to do. This requires a fulltime worker who can be freed to focus on evangelism and discipleship at campuses. We have a good number of students showing interest to come to our church. The forty-kilometer distance is a deterrent. We recently had a conference and above and below are students attentively listening to God’s word preached.
Holiness Conference
Next month, we will be hosting one of our gospel partners—Pastor John Lephron from Eastside Baptist Church in Kent, WA. We are excited that he is coming to meet the rest of the church and to minister to us from Romans 1–11. This is a feast we can hardly wait for. The conference will be on Saturday, 3 August.
Church News
We are doing quite well at Reformation Bible Church (RBC). We continue to see an increase in church attendance. We are currently conducting a membership class. We take membership seriously. Sadly, as part of exercising the same, we excommunicated one brother recently. He has sadly persistent in his sin. We were left with no choice but to obey God’s word (Matthew 18:15–20). This is our first excommunication case. Cases like these stir emotions and reactions that and are at times negative. We pray that God will be honoured even in this. We are thankful that we had been doing series on nine marks of a healthy church.
I recently finished preaching the book of Philippians. It was a great time of learning, re-learning, unlearning, repenting, rejoicing, and more rejoicing. The book is, in my estimation, one of the easiest to preach because of its practicability and “preachableness.” We are now on a short series on prayer. We are looking at the Lord’s prayer or, better still, the disciples’ prayer.
Family
We are doing well as the family. The kids are growing faster and naughtier. We are constantly praying for their salvation. Chisomo is 7 and Karabo is almost 2. They are a bundle of joy and a bundle of good chaos. Vanessa is due for her annual checkup in South Africa this month.
She has been well for most part. Though the intensity and regularity of headaches has subsided, she still has to endure them. I am thankful for her labours around the house. She continues to out serve me even in her pain and weak body.
Monthly Support
Our support has significantly dropped the past year due to some churches’ and individuals changing economic circumstances. This has been worsened by the political unrest in our country. We recently had elections that were marred by irregularities. The opposition has disputed the results and this has meant a very economic slowdown.
With an already poor unemployment rate and economic crisis, the first casualty, sadly, is the church and its office bearers. We remain confident that our Father is in heaven. His well will never run dry.
Praise Items
We praise God for:
- depth of relationships in the church;
- steady growth in membership and attendance; and
- unity in the church.
Prayer Requests
Join us in prayer for:
- unity in the aftermath of church excommunication and an ongoing discipline case;
- Vanessa’s upcoming check-up in South Africa; and
- our pursuit of holiness.