A Letter from Kabwata

What a fitting occasion for the ordination of KBC&...

2012-02-02T13:18:24.496+02:00

What a fitting occasion for the ordination of KBC's newest missionary pastor, coming right on the heels of the Missions Conference. We thank God for raising up this able man to labour in this growing and expanding eastern corner of Lusaka. Kasango was one of the deacons that was serving at Trinity Baptist Church in Kitwe when I commenced my ministry there in 2001. He proved himself a faithful servant in our outreach to the young people, and I would always count on him to step into the pulpit at short notice.

Over the last few years, each time I ran into Mrs. Kayombo at the school where our children go, I would jokingly greet her with these Bemba words, "mulishani bana mapepo." (How are you Mrs. Pastor). The lively answer and wide grin I had always received from her suggested in more ways than one, that it would not be long before the Lord unleashed our brother onto the harvest field.

I am sorry that I missed the ordination due to the short notice and the urgent ecclesiastical matters that required my presence on that Sunday. We did remember to pray for him and his family and the occasion. May the Lord prosper his ministry and cause the gospel to triumph in Ibex Hill and the surrounding areas. To God be the glory!!

Excellent. Convicting. Inspiring. Timely. Than...

2012-01-30T03:49:50.738+02:00

Excellent. Convicting. Inspiring. Timely. Thank you, Conrad.

Hmmm. How can faithfulness be complete unless we b...

2012-01-27T20:17:53.254+02:00

Hmmm. How can faithfulness be complete unless we break forth into harvests of souls? While we might see the delight in our Lord's face, shall we not also set our faces on redeemed souls? I have seen how men in the church continually despise the words of the Lord as they heap to themselves teachers because of their itching ears. Should I just mindlessly abominate the sight of it as if they can not be snatched from the mouth of deception? It is the hope that a preacher has in him of the veracity of God's word and it's eventual victory that keeps him in the place of prayer for falling souls and in the pulpit to plead the Lord's case until the battle is pushed back to the gates of the enemy. Joshua the high priest was restored, the notorious thief on the cross beside Jesus narrowly escaped hell, even Paul could not escape the prayer of that Jewel of God, Stephen, when he pleaded with heaven not to lay their sin on them(Acts7:60) and it is now history that that same Paul continues to inspire us all to be like Jesus. I will cry to God personally that heaven will not deny me the privilege of drawing a harvest of previously falling saints & new souls entirely. In fact, I am pressing it now, "I MUST NOT BE BARREN". Thank you Sir for this timely & inspiring utterance. May you always speak for God. AMEN!

Wow, Phil. That is an excellent quotation. It eloq...

2012-01-27T14:39:27.168+02:00

Wow, Phil. That is an excellent quotation. It eloquently expresses precisely what makes me uncomfortable with the "faithfulness" excuse. Yes, we ought to be faithful. But it is not enough. We must pray, plead, cry, and weep for God to open the windows of heaven and pour upon us his blessing in the conversion of souls. Thanks for the quote. It is excellent!

Thank you for this challenging post!. It is a sad...

2012-01-27T06:46:26.103+02:00

Thank you for this challenging post!. It is a sad reality that our "barrenness" may easily becomes the norm for our life and ministry. Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind results in a longing for Him to be glorified through the conversion of the lost around us. A passionless heart will result in a passionless ministry.

Spurgeon once said, "From all our congregations a bitter cry should go up unto God, unless conversions are continually seen. If our preaching never saves a soul, and is not likely to do so, should we not better glorify God as peasants, or as tradesmen? What honour can the Lord receive from useless ministers? The Holy Ghost is not with us, we are not used of God for his gracious purposes unless souls are quickened into heavenly life. Brethren, can we bear to be useless? Can we be barren, and yet content?"

Wow Pastor. This is extremely powerful and thought...

2012-01-24T09:29:26.136+02:00

Wow Pastor. This is extremely powerful and thought provoking. Thank you for the excerpt and the entire reading. Again, thank you.

Dear Pastor Conrad. I am your 100th "follower...

2012-01-19T17:42:15.010+02:00

Dear Pastor Conrad. I am your 100th "follower" and it was surprising to see my name mentioned in your blog this morning. I have actually had thew privilege of meeting you at Grace Life Church of the Shoals. I was interning under the ministry of Brother Paul Washer at the time. I believe you were here to speak at the True Church Conference but during that time, you took some of us interns into a small room and taught us on the 10 Commandments and how the law of God works in the grace of God. I really enjoyed the teaching. So I just wanted to say hello to you since you mentioned my name in your blog. I also have recently started blogging (http://reformedgrace.blogspot.com/) and was wondering if you had any advice for a young, inexperienced blogger like myself. My wife and I continue to pray for your ministry and look forward to seeing you again one day.

Thanks for promptly removing it. I couldn't li...

2012-01-19T16:11:10.196+02:00

Thanks for promptly removing it. I couldn't live with the misspelling of that word.

A glorious tribute to a man who loved His Lord and...

2012-01-19T15:08:01.050+02:00

A glorious tribute to a man who loved His Lord and served God's people faithfully to his dying day. Listening to him at the Couples' Conference last November, he sounded somewhat subdued, but the personal snippets in his delivery were driven home to our hearts with incisive power. The history of the reformed faith in Africa in general, and Southern Africa in particular, would not be complete without him. May the Lord comfort his family and his church. We will surely miss this valiant soldier of the truth.

2012-01-19T11:37:50.282+02:00

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

I learnt of the passing on of Pastor Martin Holdt ...

2012-01-11T12:48:59.923+02:00

I learnt of the passing on of Pastor Martin Holdt from a blog I was following. It is really of great benefit that we could be refreshed with his life from this blog and just the impact that he had on a person whose labours have had a subsequent impact on some of us.

I have fond memories of Pastor Conrad Mbewe on his sports bike, arriving at my former church, Lusaka Baptist to preach at our Young People’s meeting. I can now see who was responsible for the bike that wheeled him to our treasured meetings in the early 90’s.

I first came across Pastor Holdt at Lusaka Baptist in the 90’s not long after I got saved. When I learnt of illness of the wife I was touched and move to remember her in prayer from time to time. I was deeply affected when later I heard that the person I had continued to pray for had actually already gone to be with the Lord (I had not been getting updates of her wellbeing, but just prayed). Although I was not known to Pastor Holdt, I was burdened to take pen and paper and write a letter of condolences to him (we had no Internet then). I was really touched and humbled to receive a letter of gratitude from him. It was no small thing for me, especially as a young Christian, to receive a letter from the great preacher I knew him to be. I will cherish the cassette tapes of his sermons which he sent along with the letter.

His response to a person he knew not personally, spoke volumes about his simplicity and humility.

May the Lord be the great comfort of the family and church he has he has left behind.

Well, I know the KBC family is not one to allow th...

2012-01-11T02:52:03.739+02:00

Well, I know the KBC family is not one to allow the grass to grow under its collective feet - I tried using Google satellite a couple months ago to see the plot from an aerial perspective, but could not locate it! Things just look different from the satellite perspective than they do from the seat of a bicycle or Kombi. If the Lord should see fit to burden me with sufficient surplus funds the first thing on my list will be to bring my boys (Micah and Seth) to see the best parts of Southern Africa which would certainly have Lusaka as a primary feature. I hope your family are well (Felistas, Mwindula, Mwansa and Mwape, if memory serves) and the church is thriving under your excellent leadership. Yes, God is good!

Glen!!! You are on the planet?? Wow, it is great h...

2012-01-10T07:31:58.603+02:00

Glen!!! You are on the planet?? Wow, it is great hearing from you, though at a sad time for the church militant in our corner of the world. One of these days you need to come and see what the KBC compound looks like so many years after your initial labours here. All I can say is, "The Lord is wonderful!"

Dear Conrad, I just read your excellent tribute a...

2012-01-09T22:53:30.288+02:00

Dear Conrad,

I just read your excellent tribute and found myself thinking "Amen!" time and again. It was certainly a privilege to know Martin. I think you captured his devotion to God and the people his life and ministry touched - there will certainly be a crowd of us rejoicing with him when we meet again! I also enjoyed the warm reminders of my treasured times in Zambia.

Dear Conrad He was trully an amazing man, I thank...

2012-01-09T10:56:41.522+02:00

Dear Conrad

He was trully an amazing man, I thank the Lord for sending Martin Holdt into my own life. I have much to be thankful for regarding this man whom I considered a Mentor and a Friend. Where he is now, I long to be. May his legacy continue in zealous prayers and Christ central, Word filled Preaching.

Dear Brother, It is indeed with sadness of heart ...

2012-01-08T15:42:58.017+02:00

Dear Brother,
It is indeed with sadness of heart that I learn of the passing on of our dear beloved brother in Christ. Who can forget his love for expository preaching, God's people, his way of preaching; fitting Dr Lloyd Jones’ definition of preaching (logic on fire), his attempts for great things of the kingdom of God? It must have been last year or the other year when I was kicking myself for having missed his preaching engagement here in Sydney. I got mixed up with the dates. So my last memories of his preaching were back in Zambia at a Family conference. He was preaching a Christian blessed hope. He preached like a dying man to dying people. As he preached, he took us up into the heavens, there we saw the blessedness that awaits us as believers and he graciously brought us down to earth as he encouraged us to press on. I can remember the silence in the auditorium as he described the death and burial of his first wife and related it back to the blessed hope we have in Christ.
Yes, well said, he has gone to his reward.

O that the Lord may raise men like him!! May we imitate him as he imitated Christ!!
Luckson

Dear Brother, Thank you so much for taking the ti...

2012-01-07T21:13:19.663+02:00

Dear Brother,

Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to write this tribute. MH was an inspiration and a very great challenge. I am grateful to have met him and to have benefited from his ministry at the Banner here in England.

Jonathan

As I thought through this post, I began to think, ...

2012-01-06T16:41:45.020+02:00

As I thought through this post, I began to think, sometimes we act inconstantly. Is God's calling limited to pastoral ministry only?

Many of us have jumps from one job to another without ever considering the implication of our decisions to the flock we are a part of or the effect of the departure to our pastors.

If we can leave, why shouldn't our pastors, especially if God is telling them to move?

But I also think the pastoral gifts are not limited to one church. They belong to the universal body of believers. We ought to be happy if another church is going to enjoy the ministry of our pastor. Of course,it is hard to initially accept it; but as Pastor Mbewe puts it: it's not a marriage relationship.

We should not consider as normal the situation where the pastor only leaves when we fire him because we believe 'he has lost his gift' or where he is in a scandal of some sort.

I think Pastor Mbewe has raised important points for the church in Zambia to think over.

Let's appreciate ministries while they last.

Radagast, I am hearing of Chasefu Theological Coll...

2012-01-04T07:16:43.912+02:00

Radagast, I am hearing of Chasefu Theological College for the first time. Let me sniff around and see what scent I pick up. Who knows what T-bone steak I may have been unaware of? Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

What makes me smile most is that almost all of the...

2012-01-04T06:40:24.126+02:00

What makes me smile most is that almost all of them is locals.
God bless you and the collegge

A great idea! Will Chasefu Theological College (C...

2012-01-04T01:30:58.640+02:00

A great idea!

Will Chasefu Theological College (CCAP) make the list?

Ooh, computers can be annoying. I typed it all out...

2012-01-03T22:35:58.696+02:00

Ooh, computers can be annoying. I typed it all out then it vanished! Try again...

Thanks for the feedback. Francis, you must be confusing me with someone else. My blogs may appear weighty and powerful, but my bodily presence - that's something else entirely! ;-)

The meaning of the word "world" in 1 John 2:15 seems to be explained by the very next verse; John is speaking of the alternative "world system" headed by Satan in opposition to the kingdom of God. He is not making a church/everything-else dichotomy. Daniel and Mordecai served in pagan empires and were commended by God (e.g. Ezekiel 14:14) - so we can't understand 1 John 2:15 in such a way that we end up condemning Christian politicians who are, like them, trying to operate under the Lordship of Christ.

2 Cor 6:14-18 tell us to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, and that would be something for Christian politicians to take to heart; however, again, surely if we end up with a position that would condemn someone like Daniel whom the Bible commends then we must be mis-interpreting the meaning. Involvement in the state is not automatically worldly - the state is God's servant, not Satan's (Romans 13).

Luckson, my point was the Lordship of Christ over all things, not only over the church. "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." - 1 Corinthians 8:6. The state is part of this "all things". As the state is God-given (Romans 13), it is not something opposed to Christ's Lordship to be abolished (like brothels or dens of thieves), but therefore something to be brought into submission to his mind. God's mind is revealed in his word (John 17:17). Therefore, the state should submit to God's word.

Brother Conrad ends by writing that "Let us simply enjoy being “one Zambia, one nation”! What matters is that the vulnerable among us are being protected by regulations and enforcements that make sense to true natural justice." But, how do we know that these things matter? Who told us and placed it in our hearts by the Spirit? Christ did, and he reveals his mind in the Bible. How can it be wrong if the state were to explicitly confess "we learnt these things from Jesus, and we are doing what we should when we keep learning from him?"

Historically it's the influence of the Christian church that has lifted such priorities up the state's agenda (instead of say, just crushing or ignoring the weak so they don't drain valuable resources).

This does not mean that we confuse the state with the kingdom or with the church. They remain distinct, even whilst both are legitimate spheres for us to lift up the banner of Christ within.

Genesis 1:1 tells that God made the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The people of God should be concerned with every rightful part of creation. The state is a very major part. This does not mean we think that good laws or politics can save people, or anything like that - but it does mean that we want Christ to be honoured explicitly everywhere, and without hypocrisy (as brother Mbewe says) - not only in the church. That doesn't mean that we turn the church into a political party or equate victory with forcing Biblical laws upon unwilling unbelievers. The kingdom is not advanced by outward coercion, as Jesus explained to Pilate when he told him that his kingdom was not from this world.

The gospel changing peoples' hearts, not political action, is the basic cause of true, lasting, social change - it is the gospel leaven in the parable that leavens the lump of the whole creation (Matthew 13); the kingdom (the church) is the mustard seed that becomes the tree that the birds all come and nest in, etc.

God bless,
David

Africa needs good theological schools like LMC

2012-01-03T16:00:42.144+02:00

Africa needs good theological schools like LMC

Hi David, I have read your blog and I see more bi...

2012-01-02T03:23:12.689+02:00

Hi David, I have read your blog and I see more bible references in this blog than in yours (though I cannot remember any references in yours). Which leads me to ask, do you have any biblical warrant for holding your position? Now, your point in the blog regarding Christ's lordship over the whole world, we should ask how is Christ Lord today regarding the church and the world? How is Christ extending his kingdom? When I consider all this I come to a conclusion that Ps Mbewe is correct.

In Christ,
Luckson

I tremble as I come between two "giants"...

2011-12-31T22:23:26.717+02:00

I tremble as I come between two "giants" Conrad and Anderson. In favor of Pastor Mbewe's posting, I would like to say regardless of our Lord's ultimate Lordship over all, the world is the world. Our instructions are very clear (2Corintians 6:14-18; 1 John 2:15). This side of eternity it does seem so clear that the Lord wants us to relate that way. We are to be the light and the salt in the world. We must not christianize the world, but preach Christianity in the world in such a way that the world and Christianity continue to stand different. I believe this is God's design until he completely removes evil (John 17).