It has been about a year and half since we had news on the Sola 5 forum. It is therefore with such great pleasure and thanks giving to our God that we are able to share with the Sola 5 family happenings at Trinity Baptist Church in Livingstone, Zambia.
Since our last sharing, we would like to testify that we have known great blessings but also great spiritual challenges in many areas of church life. As we share this information, we would want brethren across the Sola 5 family to join us in both thanking God for his faithfulness—the words in Psalm 89:1-2 and Lamentations 3:22-23 come to mind—and also in seeking for many tasks that remain either undone or uncompleted.
Harvest Month
Significant in every one of our annual calendar is the harvest month, during which we intensify evangelistic efforts in our neighbourhoods. In the previous years, we have taken the whole of June for this purpose. This year, however, we decided to hold it differently. We had two consecutive evenings of 3-5 June 2010 for evangelistic meetings. Our guest preacher was Pastor Raphael Banda of Mazabuka Baptist Church. The theme for the meetings was “What Will You Lose Your Life For?” and the preacher used the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24). This was three evenings of great blessings in many ways. Comparatively, there were more guests coming than we used to see in the previous years. According to our records we had a total number of 66 visitors over the three days. Added to this, is that all the guests attended our evangelistic services at our church sanctuary unlike in the past when meetings were held away from our church building. In this way, all our guests got to know about our place of meetings. Some of the guests have continued attending our Sunday morning worship services since then.
Southern Province Reformed Baptist Regional Conference
We have hosted this conference for the second consecutive year. This year, we held the conference over the same period as last year (4-5 July 2010), except that this year, we held it over four sessions, the first of which was on the evening of Sunday, 3 July while the concluding sessions came on the evening of the following day.
This year’s conference considered the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith and the speaker was Pastor Kennedy Sunkutu of Kafue Reformed Baptist Church. Notable during this conference was the attendance of the upcoming church in Monze, which is a blessing as this is evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit in the Southern Province. Other churches, namely Mazabuka Baptist and Choma Central Baptist, also sent delegates, which included their leaders.
Preparation for this conference posed a huge financial challenge. We had an ablution block to construct to provide sanitation to the delegates, but we also needed funds to provide for the many conference needs. Up to one week of the conference, the sanitary facilities were far from being usable and there was no money for anything. Hopes of hosting the conference almost began to diminish when the Lord came through for us. There were generous donations towards both the ablution facilities and the greater needs of the conference such as food and accommodation.
Church Membership
Between last year and to date, the Lord added twelve to our number through profession of faith and baptism. But we have also seen movement of some of our members to Lusaka churches and beyond. A couple, a brother and a sister have moved to Lusaka as their organizations they work for transferred them. Another couple has moved to the United States of America to pursue studies. These movements are inevitable in the body of Christ, and we shall remain resolute in seeking him for further numerical church growth.
Construction Project
The construction of our sanctuary remains a continuing project and indeed an item of much praise to God. We have continued to improve upon it as the Lord has provided. We are happy to report that the office of the Administrative Assistant has been operational for months now and we are trusting the Lord for further giving so that the pastor’s office can be furnished. This apart, there are many finishing works that are still pending, not to mention appropriate seating facilities as we have continued to use plastic garden chairs.
Concerning the ablution block, much more serious work still remains to be done. Our great delight though is that now we have enough sanitary facilities in usable state that can cater for large numbers of congregants.
Not too long ago, we realized the need for a library on the church premises. This facility, we believe will encourage our flock to develop the interest to read and get established in the understanding of the word. The Lord providing resources, we hope to embark on this project in the year ahead.
Church Ministries
In the effort to restructure operations of ministries to avoid reduplication of activities and engender the much needed effectiveness, Helping Hand ministry was phased out; it was realized that the purpose for which it was created had been overridden by events and had over time tended to do some of the actives of other ministries.
But added to the list of ministries is one to deal with all audiovisual activities of the church. All our sermons are now recorded but we are yet to acquire a suitable amplifier and its peripheries for voice projection so that all congregants in whatever location can clearly follow proceedings from the pulpit.
Prayer Needs
We are seeking the Lord for the following for which we seek your prayerful support:
- Numerical and spiritual growth.
- Funds for various construction projects.
- The evangelistic Holiday Bible week for young people in December this year.
- Procurement of gadgets to complete the recording set.
- Pastor M. Bwembya who has had challenges with his blood pressure.
- Employment for brethren in need of jobs and prosperity for those running businesses.