Our 2012 Missions Conference—What A glorious Time It Was!

“The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).

Straight from our missionaries’ prayer retreat (which I reported on in the last two blog posts), we began our in-house missions conference—and what a conference it was! It ran from Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th January 2012. Whereas we had begun our missionaries’ prayer retreats many years ago, this was only our fifth missions conference. We are glad to note that it has not yet fallen into the category of “one of those things,” which members do not really bother about.

Our conference banner by the road side, with a drunken man sleeping on the grass
(living proof that our missions work starts right at our doorstep!)

I would like to urge Zambian and African evangelical churches to include missions conferences in their annual calendars. As I wrote in my blog this time last year, I wish we had started this earlier. It has really put our involvement in missions work in top gear. This is not a marketing gimmick. I can safely say that our missions involvement would probably be less than 10% of what it presently is if it was not for our in-house missions conference.

Our missionaries answering questions from the congregation

Our missions conference has three goals. The first is to increase prayer for missions. This is done as our missionaries give presentations on how their work has been in the last one year and what they are hoping for in the year to come. The second is to increase workers for missions. At every missions conference, we send out pleas in the congregation for more church members to answer the call to missions. The third goal is to increase finances for missions. We urge members to pledge a one-off amount during the conference and a monthly amount for the rest of the year. The exponential growth has been particularly observable in the area of finances.

A member of the church asking a question after one of the presentations

In order to ensure an increase in prayer support, as I have already said, the missionaries prepare PowerPoint presentations and share them with the members. KBC presently has eleven missionaries and ten other mission stations without missionaries. So, it was not possible for all of them to show us what they were doing during these few days. However, from the few whose presentations we saw, it was so encouraging to see the people in the mission stations and the work taking place there. Some situations were more challenging than others. Yet all mission stations called for more intense prayer support. It was nice to notice that the presentations improve every succeeding year.

Three ladies in the church singing "People Need The Lord" to the congregation

This year our preacher was Ronald Kalifungwa, pastor of Lusaka Baptist Church. The theme was “The Role of Ordinary Church Members in Missions”. On the first day (Thursday), Ronald urged our members to make KBC a true spiritual home for missionaries. On the second day (Friday), he preached on the importance of each member contributing financially and in practical ways to the work of missions. On the third day (Saturday), he preached to us about ensuring that prayers are ever rising to God on behalf of the work of missions. And finally, on the fourth day (Sunday), he preached on the various imperatives that go with the preaching ministry. This was an ordination address because we were ordaining yet another missionary.

Pastor Ronald Kalifungwa preaching during the conference

Sunday, the last day of the conference, was particularly special because of two reasons. The first was the ordination of Kasango Kayombo as a missionary. He is presently one of our deacons and has already been very active in a church plant that we commenced officially at the start of last year. The more he laboured there the more his sense of call was confirmed, both in his own heart and in those who witnessed his labours. Hence, when last November he came to the elders asking that he be set apart as a missionary, both the elders and the congregation gave him an overwhelming endorsement. Sunday was the culmination of the whole process. It felt like the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1-4), only they sent two of their elders. What a joy it was to see yet another soldier being sent out to the battlefront to fight for the salvation of souls and the crown rights of Christ!

Part of the congregation inside the auditorium on Sunday morning

The second reason why Sunday was special was because that is when we take the offering and pledges for the work of missions for the next year. We then have lunch together before we announce the figures to the congregation. We call this, “The grand announcement.” I will admit that, as a pastor, this is usually my most anxious moment. I will also admit that so far I have felt totally rebuked afterwards for my lack of faith in God and in God’s people. This year was no exception. The church gave twice the amount that we targeted for the one-off amount and the monthly pledge went up by 36%. Whereas the one-off amount is as good as banked (and distributed to various projects in the mission field), pray for our members to remain faithful in fulfilling their monthly pledge to the work of missions so that our missionaries can be well supplied.

Part of the congregation had to sit outside for lack of space

As yet another missionary conference comes to an end, I do not pat KBC on the back because I know that there is much, much more that we can do. However, when I look at the little that we have been able to do thus far, and then look at the potential that lies untapped in our conservative evangelical churches in Zambia, and in Africa as a whole, I wish that all our churches had such conferences. We need to give the work of missions a more visible place in our church calendars. Pastors must campaign for the work of missions. Missiologists will tell you that Africa has the potential to become the next greatest force for world missions. Oh, that we may wake up this sleeping giant!

The ordination of Kasango Kayombo as KBC's latest missionary pastor

Faithfulness Is Important—But It Is Not Enough

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Our missionaries’ prayer retreat ended today. One of the issues that we dealt with is a perennial one—“How should a preacher handle his lack of converts?” One answer that I often hear and have never quite agreed with is, “God has never called us to be successful but to be faithful. So, what matters is your faithfulness.” In one sense the answer is correct, but in another it is defective. Let me explain.

One of the most appropriate biblical texts that shows the importance of faithfulness in a preacher is 1 Corinthians 4:2, where the apostle Paul says, “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” In the light of this, anyone who sacrifices faithfulness to God in order to have numbers in his church is not a true servant of God.

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
(painting by Michelangelo in 1512)

Not faithfulness but love

However, my argument is that the chief virtue in Christianity is not faithfulness but love. Love is the queen of all graces. Paul wrote, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Faithfulness is an expression of love. In this context, faithfulness must be seen as the way a servant loves his master. This is seen in all vertical relationships. A wife expresses her love to her husband by submitting to him. Children express their love for their parents by obeying them. Slaves, servants, and employees express their love for their masters and employers by being faithful to them. Hence, in 1 Corinthians 4:2, Paul says that men ought to regard preachers as servants of Christ and preachers must express their love to him by being faithful.

However, when a preacher is wrestling with his spiritual barrenness, what bothers him is not so much the expression of his love for his Master but the expression of his love for sinners for whom Christ died. Granted, in seeking “numbers” one may be tempted to use gimmicks in order to get “decisions for Christ”. Yet, the men I was with this week are well decided as to faithfulness to their Master. They love him too much to resort to underhanded ways.

An artist's depiction of Hannah praying for a baby

Faithfulness alone cannot satisfy

So that is not the question. And it is not fair to make them forget about their longing to see souls saved by assuring them that at least their faithfulness to God is still in tact. That is like trying to comfort Hannah in her barrenness by pointing to her relationship with her husband, Elkanah. He tried that method when he said, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:8). Well, we know that for Hannah that was not the issue. She desperately wanted a child!

In the same way, the barren preacher is wrestling with how to come to terms with his barrenness in the light of his love for souls. He will not be satisfied with the fact of his faithfulness to God. He wants to see the eyes of the spiritually blind opened. He wants to “turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith” in Christ (Acts 26:18). He is not trying to do this out of a sense of duty. The love of God for the lost pulsates in his soul.

Think about this: No medical doctor worthy of his calling would content himself with faithfully discharging his duty to his employers if none of his patients are recovering. I have met with a few Christian doctors in Africa who are really distraught because of a lack of medicines and basic medical equipment, resulting in many of their patients dying from diseases that under normal circumstances they can cure. They are faithful but that does not satisfy them. They want to save lives. Now, if that is true of those who save bodies from death, how much more should it be true of preachers who save souls from an eternal damnation?

A resident doctor examining a patient in Africa

Biblical examples of barren preachers

So, we are back to the first question: How should a preacher handle his lack of converts? His love for God has continued to express itself in faithfulness to God. But how should his love for souls express itself in the light of his spiritual barrenness? I want to suggest that the answer lies in simply looking at biblical examples of barren preachers. How did they handle this? They certainly did not content themselves with merely being faithful. No, love for souls caused them to cry to God for fruit. They wept, they groaned, they pleaded with God for souls.

In the Old Testament, we have an example of a “barren prophet”. His name is Jeremiah. He had preached repentance among the Israelites but instead of heeding his warnings they persecuted him. In the end, God’s judgement fell upon them. Jeremiah did not content himself with faithfulness to his God. No, Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. Listen to him: “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1). A love for souls makes a strong man weep.

In the New Testament, we have yet another example of a “barren preacher”. His name was Paul. Whereas he had an abundant harvest among the Gentiles, Paul was ever burdened about his apparent lack of fruit among his fellow Jews. In Romans 9, Paul explains the hardness of the Jews towards the gospel as being due to God’s purpose in election. Yet, as he begins this chapter, he exhibits deep and tender affections towards his kinsmen. Paul speaks with intensity when he testifies, “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel” (Romans 9:1-4). Paul was faithful to God, but that was not enough. He yearned for the salvation of the Jews.

Whereas it would not be quite right to refer to Jesus as a barren preacher, yet we know that he was despised and rejected by men (Isaiah 53:3). How did he handle that? Did he simply content himself with his faithfulness to the Father and his knowledge that only elect sinners will ever get saved, and thus shrug off the rejection of sinners that he suffered? Well, the Bible gives us a peep into the soul of the Saviour as on one occasion he looked at the city of Jerusalem as he was descending into it. “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:41-42). The love of the Saviour for lost sinners compelled him to weep.

The wailing wall in Jerusalem, the city over which Jesus wept

And so pray and plead for souls

What are we learning from these men “of like passion as we are”, and from others who have had to wrestle with barrenness? It is that true love for souls cannot be satisfied with faithfulness to God. It is a tragedy in Reformed circles when men insulate themselves from this brokenness of soul by the doctrine of election or by a claim to “faithfulness to God”.  Where do we find this in the Bible? Nowhere! Rather, like barren Rachel crying to Jacob, we should constantly plead with God, saying, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” (Genesis 30:1).

In seasons of barrenness, we should plead with our congregations to pray for us. We should have seasons of prayer and fasting, humbling ourselves before God and asking that he would allow our eyes to see some of the fruit of the travail of our souls and be satisfied. In pastors’ fraternals we should confess to one another about the sadness in our souls because of the lack of fruit in terms of souls being saved. This should issue in tearful prayers for fruit. That is how love ought to respond to barrenness. Faithfulness is important—but it is not enough!

The Kabwata Baptist Church Annual Missions Week Is Here!

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13:2).

Yesterday, all our missionaries trooped back to base for our annual in-house missions week. I remain most grateful that every year, since we started this special missions week, we have 100% attendance by these men. Some of them are able to come with their wives, but others are not able to due to family demands—especially those with younger children who are still in school.

Raphael Banda, one of our missionaries, presenting on ensuring biblical church membership

The first event in the missions week is the missionaries prayer retreat. This began last night. We are hidden away at a lodge, reviewing the previous year and strategizing for the year ahead. Last night, it was a time of fellowship as we shared testimonies from the previous year and prayed for one another. This morning presentations have begun. This will go on up to tomorrow evening.

On Thursday, our missions conference begins. Ronald Kalifungwa, the pastor of Lusaka Baptist Church, will be our main preacher. He will be handling the theme, “The Role of Ordinary Church Members in the Work of Missions.” These meetings will go on up to Sunday morning, ending with an ordination service. We will be sending out our latest church-planting missionary (Kasango Kayombo), who is presently one of our church deacons.

The missionaries having fellowship on the first evening of the prayer retreat

Pray for us, as we go through this week. The work of missions is so important that we would hate to see our members and missionaries going through this week as “just one of those things”.  This is where God’s heart is. He gave his Son for the salvation of the world! We long to see our members going beyond Africa’s major cities. We want to reach Africa’s rural areas, where cults and ethnic religions are really flourishing. We want to get to the world’s citadels of Islam and Hinduism. We want to be used of God to reach the Jews in the Middle East and the atheistic communists in the Far East. These places desperately need to hear the world’s best news. May God make us relevant to the unfinished task!

Bible Colleges Worth Attending in Zambia--The Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia

[I begin this blog by welcoming my 100^th “follower”, Nathaniel Penland. I keep my eyes on the counter, and so was waiting with bated breath for 100 to appear. As I said before, it is good to know that there are 100 people out there who have joined the club of ardent followers. Thanks!

This week’s Bible College Worth Attending in Zambia is the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia, located right here in Lusaka. It was one of the very first efforts by Baptists in Zambia to provide residential theological training and clocks 45 years this year. I will allow the Academic Dean, Dr John McPherson, to take us by the hand through this introductory blog.]

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2, NIV).

PURPOSE

From a central campus and eighteen local training centers in the southern African country of Zambia the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia (BTSZ) provides contextualized theological training to God-called and gospel-committed leaders to reach people for Christ and gather them into reproducing congregations. We are here to prepare godly leaders for a worldwide church.

LOCATION

The Seminary campus is located on a 22 acre tract of land in the south-eastern section of Lusaka, Zambia, along Twin Palm Road. This rapidly growing residential area provides opportunity for community-based ministry. In addition students have the opportunity to ministry in numerous local training centers spread throughout the country. Zambia has proven to be a highly responsive place for gospel preaching and church planting and development.

Student doing an assignment in the seminary library

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Baptist Theological Seminary opened its first classes in January 1967, with a student body of five men and four women. The first classes were held at the Baptist Building on the Great East Road near downtown Lusaka.

By 1968, some residences for student housing had been constructed on the 22 acre campus on Twin Palm Road in southeast Lusaka. Classes were then shifted to the campus with men and women meeting separately for classes in two of the student houses. This arrangement continued until the main educational building (classrooms, offices, temporary library, kitchen, etc.) was completed.

A separate library building was completed in 1988, and presently holds 15,000 volumes and Internet facilities, followed in 1994 by a 350 seat Chapel. Finally, a conference center, including lodging and meeting facilities, was completed in 2005.

The Seminary is presently at Candidate Status, the final step before full accreditation, with the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA). BTSZ is governed by a Board of Governors appointed by the Baptist Fellowship of Zambia, composed of over 1,500 Baptist congregations throughout the country. We continue to work in partnership with the Baptist Mission of Zambia, the International Mission Board, and Southern Baptist Convention.

A section of the seminary chapel that can seat 350 congregants

STUDENTS AND FACULTY

The Seminary welcomes for study students from among Baptists and other groups compatible with conservative evangelical Christian beliefs. We thank God for a total of 261 graduates who are now serving throughout the country in various ministries such as pastoral, chaplaincy, para-church, and educational work. Our particular foci for study are the interpretation and proclamation of Holy Scripture, and practical experience in ministry. Both our programs of study and faculty are designed for these purposes.

Faculty, both full-time and adjunct, include: Principal Rev. Ezron Musonda (M.A. in Theology, Cape Town Theological College), Academic Dean Dr. John McPherson (Ph.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), Business Manager/Instructor Rev. Misheck Zulu (M.A. in Theology, Cape Town), Director of Field Education Dr. James Pack (D. Min. in Christian Education, San Francisco Theological Seminary), Registrar Dr. Van Thompson (D. Min. Urban Evangelism, SBTS), Mrs. Misheck Zulu (M.A. in Theology, Cape Town), and Instructor In Biblical Languages Rev. Emile Masabarakiza (M. Div., Golden Gate Theological Seminary).

Former students who graduated in 2010

PROGRAMS OF STUDY

Our guiding principle is to provide quality, biblical instruction at all the levels required by Baptist churches in Zambia.  We aim to "start wherever they are and go as far as God leads them."

The Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia offers two post-secondary programs of study, the Diploma of Theology (DipTh) and the Bachelor of Theology (BTh). Educational requirements for the Diploma of Theology are completion of Grade 12 and a minimum of five “O” level passes with one of the passes being in English language. Full-time students would normally complete the Diploma of Theology in 3 years. Educational requirements for the Bachelor of Theology degree are completion of Grade 12 and a minimum of five “O” level credits with one of the credits being in English language. Full-time students would normally complete the Bachelor of Theology degree in 4 years.

To meet the needs of those with full-time employment, the Diploma of Theology and Bachelor of Theology are available on a part-time basis in night classes meeting in a downtown setting.  Requirements for these programs are the same as above, but the duration of study is extended.

Principal: Rev Ezron Musonda

For the spouses who do not qualify for either of the post-secondary programs (and other interested parties), BTSZ offers a Women’s Ministry Program. This is a 3-year fulltime, on-campus program, which prepares the student for a supportive ministry in the church and community.

In order to meet the needs of those unable to qualify for the above due to educational background or location, we recognize non-residential training at the Certificate level in 18 centers spread throughout the country. Many of our faculty, current students, and alumni teach in these centers, benefitting both the teachers and students.  As mentioned above we aim to “start wherever they are and go as far as God leads them.”

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you are interested in partnering with the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia as a student, prayer warrior, or supporter, please contact:

Rev. Misheck Zulu baptsem@zamnet.zm

Rev. Ezron Musonda btszambia@zamnet.zm