Zambia and Malawi Feedback.
It’s great to be back!
It is an awesome privilege to go, but always a glorious delight to return!
So where were we and why did we go there?
As most of you will know, we here at Liberty believe that God has called us not only to our neighbours, but also to the nations.
We take the word of God seriously – in fact so seriously that we order our lives around it, it affects the very ways in which we spend our energy, our income and the time that we have!
We believe that we are called to live lives that will be so attractive and exciting, so filled with love and compassion, yet so purpose filled and intentional, that we will be a model to both believers and unbelievers!
That’s not arrogant, that’s biblical – see how Paul puts it in 1 Thes.1:4-8a.
“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia– your faith in God has become known everywhere.
We are called by God to become a model to believers and unbelievers wherever we go, not only in George, but down the Garden Route, and beyond our national borders.
Because we have received a gospel of power, not simply an empty wordy religion, but the Holy Spirit that has filled us with a deep conviction, the Word and the Spirit of God compels us!
We are called to model, to live, this gospel of the abundant life in Christ Jesus, because we believe that it is the power of God unto salvation and because we are experiencing more and more that it is a gospel of power in the Holy Spirit.
Tanya and I spent the first week in Zambia, while Naylor and I spent some time in Malawi during the second week.
The trip to Zambia was undertaken for two main reasons:
When Paul and Heleen van der Merwe moved to Zambia with their family, we saw this as an opportunity for us as a local church to take the gospel to Zambia.
Their move meant that we would have a base there; which would simplify logistics such as accommodation and transport, greatly.
We also wanted to walk this road with them as a family, to see what the bigger picture holds for them there, because we believe that God purposefully moves through us to reach nations (Acts 17:26).
So we went there to see how we can work into that nation – to be part of a leadership training time for the Zambian church leaders held in Lusaka and to see how the Van der Merwe’s were doing.
It was a very successful visit for a number of reasons:
We met and actually stayed with, the leaders of a relating church in Lusaka, Zambia – Manie and Lindsey Lombaard. (They moved up to Zambia 2 years ago from Midrand to plant this church in Lusaka – offering up the comforts of SA for the sake of the Kingdom – Lindsey, a medical doctor no longer practices medicine, but she now home schools their twin daughters, aged 11.)
We could meet a number of local Zambian leaders and also connect with Ray Oliver who oversees/facilitates the work of churches relating to NCMI into Zambia.
Ray and Kieran McLean, whom most of you know, have asked us to help out in the copper-belt region into the future, so we’ll see how God outworks this one.
Very importantly, we were able to walk Paul and Heleen through a huge decision to move down from Luangua to Lusaka, where they will live and work, but also be joining Manie and Lindsey’s church.
This is very exciting, as it answers a lot of questions regarding their move to Zambia and the way forward.
We also believe that they will hugely benefit from being part of the local church and that they have a valuable role to play and much value to add in the church in Lusaka.
It will be very interesting to see how God continues to use our relationship with Paul and Heleen, the Lombaards and Kieran into the future, to open doors into Lusaka and further afield into Zambia’s copper-belt.
One of the highlights for me personally was when we saw God breaking through during a home group meeting on the Wednesday evening – restoring sons and daughters to Himself.
During the second week Naylor and I met with some church leaders in the Salima and Dwangwa areas of Malawi.
We were able to bring some teaching and encouragement to them and to build on the partnership we have in the gospel of Jesus.
The logistical realities here just underlined again how important it is to have a base to work from in order to effectively use our resources when we work trans-locally.
It is vital that we hear God continuously as to know how and where to be involved in what He is doing around the world, adding momentum to the Kingdom in a continuous and sustainable way, yet also using and managing our resources well and being good stewards in all things.
We want to thank you for partnering with us as we take the gospel into the nations.
It is an incredible privilege, to represent this church, the people of Liberty in the nations.
As we preach, teach, evangelize and encourage, we do not for one moment forget that it is the people of Liberty who make this possible – together we sacrifice and co-labour into these nations and together we will reap a harvest for the King!
“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Rev.7:9-12)
