Dear Partner,

We hope you are doing well and making much of King Jesus. Below is what has been happening since our last update.

Work Continues

We are grateful of the quality men the good Lord has brought to our new work. This has ensured that His work is not dependent on one man. And that is a good thing. Emmanuel Mpeni and Kennedy Kachingwe have been faithfully labouring in my absence. They are sharing pulpit duties and Sunday school hour. I sleep quite well with no concerns and being assured that the flock is being fed well. What a blessing to have doctrinal unity in the leadership team.

African Pastors’ Conferences

Reformation Bible Church (RBC) is committed to sharing the little we have been entrusted to others less privileges than ourselves. One of our passions is to expose pastors to solid expository preaching and theologically sound books through the ministry of African Pastors’ conferences (APC). Last month, Emmanuel Mpeni and I were invited to speak at an APC in Zambia. Emmanuel did such a great job that he was invited to preach at Kabwata Baptist Church, pastored by the renowned Spurgeon of Africa, Conrad Mbewe. That was, for me, a great blessing to see, and testimony of the quality men He is raising through our feeble efforts at RBC. The Malawi APC will be next month in four locations: Blantyre 9–10; Monkeybay 12–13; Lilongwe 15–16; and Mzimba 18–19. The speakers are Reformed Baptist pastors from Zambia, Lichawa Thole and Raphael Banda. There will be ten sessions and two question and answers sessions. The sessions are:

1. What is Christ’s Church?
2. How does Christ build His Church?
3. Preaching that Builds His Church I;
4. Preaching that Builds His Church II;
5. Living Stones (1Peter 2: 4–5);
6. The Government of the Church;
7. The Life and Work of a Healthy Church; and
8. Christ’s Church in Africa today.

We are excited to see how Christ will build His Church through this conference in Malawi.

Growth Groups

We are encouraged to see the hunger for growth in our small groups that are going on weekly. One group recently went through a book by Jerry Bridges called Identity in Christ. It is a thoroughly gospel-saturated book that emphasises, among other things, Justification by faith and adoption and its relevance to everyday life.

Ladies’ Ministry

We are encouraged to hear that a friend of ours who visited us at the beginning of the year in Malawi and saw the need to help out with the ladies is serious considering moving to Malawi next year to come alongside Vanessa to help disciple other ladies. She is a godly and gifted lady who has already begun developing a relationship with one lady from RBC who is in SA interning at the baby home that our sister church, Living Hope, Pretoria, runs for abandoned babies. She is in red and black on the picture below left.

Preaching Opportunities

As many of you already know, Vanessa, Chisomo and I were afforded a rare privilege to visit the USA. We primarily came here for a dear friend’s wedding: David, who married Jessica on July 2nd. It was a God-honouring wedding and we enjoyed every facet of it. Through it we met wonderful new friends in Seattle at Living Hope Bible Church pastored by a Master’s Seminary graduate, Pastor Joe Lum. On our first official meeting he extended an invitation for me to preach. Where else do you see this happen? Allowing a random African guy to occupy your pulpit? This is the evidence of the gracious nature of Living Hope Bible Church’s pastor and the congregation. They sure embraced us, cared and loved us, hosted us in their homes and fed us good.

This Sunday, July 17th, I will be teaching a Sunday school class at Grace Church of Orange, City of Orange. Next Sunday, July 24th, I will be preaching at Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Family Update

We are thankful to be here in the USA. What a privilege! Chisomo struggled with jetlag the most but she has recovered and is having a great time of her life. We went to Disneyland on Monday and what a place! Vanessa is not very well. Our new friends in Seattle organised meetings with two doctors. Preliminary observations suggest that she may have a tumour in the brain. This is not conclusive. The last MRI scan in South Africa said it seemed she has that but it was not conclusive. We have been asked to go and redo the MRI tests in Malawi as it will be too expensive here because we do not have medical insurance.

If she indeed has a tumour (God forbid!), and it requires surgery, one of the doctors has offered to have his friend operate Vanessa in Kenya.

Praise Items

• Thankful for the wedding of David and Jessica Cheng in Seattle.
• Thankful for the Living Hope Bible Church family in Issaquah, Seattle and their great hospitality.
• Thankful for our friends in Long beach (Nate Roth), Santa Clarita (The Simwakas), Anaheim (The Tongs) and new friends from Berean Community Church.
• Thankful for team mates labouring faithfully in Malawi in our absence.

Prayer Items

• Please pray that Vanessa’s MRI test will come back positive. And more importantly please pray that we will trust God’s goodness, wisdom and rest in His Sovereignty in such a time as this.
• We are in need of monthly support. This will help us cover the increasing family and ministry expenses.
• Once-off gifts to cover the cost to go to Kenya if Vanessa needs surgery.
• Please pray for me as I teach this Sunday at Grace Church of Orange and preach next Sunday at Hope Baptist Church, Wake Forest, North Carolina.

If you are able to partner with us in any of these ways, please let us know or use the following banking details: ABSA bank, Living Hope Church / Mission Malawi, Account number 9283856437, Branch code 632005. SWIFT code: ABSA ZA JJ.

We would like to know how you are doing.

All for Him,

Newton, Vanessa and Chisomo

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