August Mission Report
While looking for something else, I stumbled upon an old newsletter. It was from 21 years ago. Here is what I experienced early in 2003.
Weekend in Mliba (2003)
“… I took two students and a brother from Fairview to a village called Mliba. The church has been in this place for a long time. They have one of the oldest preachers in Swaziland. He complained to me on New Year’s Eve that no one from the Bible School visits anymore.
“I spoke on Friday evening, shortly after we arrived. One of the students and I both spoke on Saturday morning. Then I answered questions through the noon hour and preached again that evening. After the morning worship on Sunday, we drove home.
“Although we had planned this as an evangelistic weekend, it did not turn out that way. The noontime question session was really the main event. The main question had something to do with appointing elders, but it turned out that something had been lost in the translation. The real issue is the status of the preacher’s new son-in-law. Should he be allowed to serve communion and lead prayers? It is sad, but that is the kind of thing most Swazis have in mind when they ask about “church leadership.”
“The problem at Mliba is that the preacher’s daughter had first married another man, then left him for this man, for whom she became a second wife. The first husband then hanged himself. To make matters more complicated, one of my translators for the weekend is about to marry into this happy family.
“The preacher and I had a long talk about the history of the church. He described himself as a man who knew how to evangelize, but who had never learned to lead the church. He seems to have learned very little about leading his family as well.
“This situation underlies many chronic problems in the African church. Polygamy has been a plague for years. Adultery and divorce have recently been added to the mixture. But the underlying difficulty is that the preacher simply does not know the Bible. He has memorized a few scriptures for getting people to be baptized. Beyond that he knows nothing. Although his case is more severe than most, it is not uncommon. In their eagerness to report baptisms, some missionaries have neglected foundational truth.”
Back to the present
The same mistakes are still made. Sadly, many preacher training programs still send out graduates with limited knowledge, and questionable character. Our work is not a cure-all for the situation, but it is making a difference.
Chad Wagner, President of African Christian Schools Foundation, recently sent us a photo. He travelled to Nigeria recently, took along some of our books and distributed them to worthy schools in that country. Here he is shown giving books to brothers as the Southwest School of Evangelism.
We spent the first full week of August in Zambia, a country well to the north of Eswatini. Thayer gave instruction on communication and teaching methods for the staff of Namwianga Misson and George Benson Christian College. We then went to Daybreak Bible College and Thayer taught the course “Introduction to Bible Study.”
ATM books are helping believers here to come to grips with the difference between the status quo and the life God calls us to in Christ. We found that the Chilenge Congregation in Lusaka has been studying Leviticus and Numbers on Sunday mornings. Their teachers use Volume Two of God’s Mission Begins to get ready for teaching the classes.
But ATM books currently cover only a small portion of what needs to be taught. This work needs to go on much longer. But, of course, it cannot go on without your support. Support ATM financially if you can. Support us with your prayers whether you can send money or not.
Urgent matter for prayer
We have a current prayer request that is particularly important.
We learned recently that the Immigration Department has instituted a new rule. Churches bringing in workers from outside the country must be registered with the Council of Churches. No Church of Christ in Eswatini is so registered, nor will any of them be able to become registered before our current permit expires in December. This could be a problem for us. It might also lead to the loss of Sydney and Misozi Mhango. These are two of the hardest and brightest workers we have ever known.
The last thing we want to do is to move again. But this work is so important that we would move to Zambia (where we would be welcomed to reside) rather than to give up this important work.
Pray for Sydney, Misozi, and Mluleki Mhango. They have worked in Eswatini for over twenty years. Mluleki, their teenage son, knows no other home. The family is key to the work in Timbutini. Pray that they will be allowed to stay, or that they will be led to an even better work elsewhere.
Pray for us, that we will remain calm and go on with the work, whether in Eswatini or in Zambia.
African Textbook Ministry, %Church of Christ, 5130 Flanders Road, Toledo, OH 43623