Expanding Our Ministry Influence by Joining the Faculty of Central Africa Baptist College

“Expansion through Multiplication”

At the very core of the Great Commission is the concept of expansion, advancement, multiplication.  This is our passion! While on pre-field you heard us talk about being church planters who facilitate an indigenous church planting movement.  What does this look like?  An indigenous church planting movement occurs when healthy churches are planting more healthy churches.  There is often foreign missionary activity as the catalyst, but it involves Zambian partnership at its earliest stages, gets handed off completely to qualified Zambian leadership at the earliest possible moment, and is thereafter maintained and expanded by Zambian leadership, Zambian finances, and Zambian efforts in the area of evangelism and discipleship.

We see our role in this endeavor as training Zambian church leaders and missionaries so they can be equipped to do the work.  This strategy comes from 1 Timothy 2:2, which says, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  We made a bold statement on pre-field and we have only grown in our conviction that “no one can reach a Zambian better than a fellow Zambian.”  This philosophy has been put into action in our ministry locations of Choma and Nambaaza.  You have read the reports and seen the pictures in our prayer letters that reveal the results of such a philosophy of ministry.  God has been at work!  We are humbled by it and so excited at what He is doing in the lives of those we minister to and with.

Yet, there is a sad reality.  As we drive 5 ½ hours out to Nambaaza we pass countless villages filled with lost people in need of the Gospel’s life changing power.  We can’t reach them all by ourselves, not could we reach them all if this country were saturated with foreign missionaries.  What is needed is the equipping and mobilization of a Zambian missionary force sent from Zambian churches.  Out of the already existing spiritual harvest we need new laborers to arise and enter the harvest field.  This is what Africa needs and this is what Africa is ready for.

Hear these words from a leading Zambian pastor and theologian, Joe Kapolyo. “The African church must follow Jesus into mission across many borders to show his love to people who are not related to us by blood….Across the whole continent and beyond, Jesus calls the African church to reach out with his love to all the peoples of the world.  This call is all the more important because, if current trends continue, the leadership of the universal church will pass into Africa, Latin American and Asian hands of the next fifty years.”

In our most recent prayer letter we closed by saying “We also have had some big discoveries recently regarding open doors for ministry.”  These open doors definitely provide a critically strategic opportunity for expanding our influence from simple addition of church plants to the multiplication of a church planting movement and will mean changes to our current ministry.You will be happy to know that these open doors are not an ending of ministry in Choma and Nambaaza, but our roles and frequency of ministry in these locations will be altered. 

As you know from previous prayer letters, Jamie has been an adjunct professor for Central Africa Baptist College located in Kitwe, Zambia.  He has taught many 1-week block classes from CABC in Choma and Nambaaza that have been used by God to promote spiritual maturity in these locations.  We are proud to be part of this special ministry of training leaders through CABC.  The purpose statement of the school is, “Training the Next Generation of Servant-Leaders in Africa for Great Commission Living.”  The school’s vision is to see the gospel reach every village, town, and city in Africa through the presence of a gospel preaching church.  We share this vision!

Through a series of events over the past eighteen months Jamie has recently been offered a position on the main campus of CABC that will advance our effectiveness in facilitating church planting movements forward beyond what we had dreamed possible so early in our missions ministry.  CABC offers an on-campus Bachelor degree in Bible with various ministry emphases including Pastoral Theology, Chaplaincy, and Counseling. They have also desired to offer an emphasis in Global Missions and believe that the time has arrived to do so.  Jamie has been asked to develop this program and then implement it as the Missions professor.  In addition to the topics covered in class, there will be opportunities for Jamie to give these students real-life practical experience in the missions activities and church plants that we are already involved with in the Southern Province of Zambia and will be involved with in the Copperbelt Province where we will be moving to.

We have not taken this decision lightly. We have prayed much and discussed it not only with our sending church and mission board, but also Jim & Rachel Chambers who oversee the ministry in Nambaaza and with the pastors we have worked alongside of in Choma.  Everyone recognizes the hand of the Lord in this opportunity.  Truly it is an open door and God's will for us.  Everyone is supportive because they see that this is going to benefit the ministries in Choma and Nambaaza by multiplying of laborers and leaders.  The school operates on semesters and the school breaks allow us the opportunity to continue traveling out to Nambaaza to offer more of the block classes we have already begun.  One of the young men from Nambaaza even desires to enroll at CABC and then return to Nambaaza to use what he learns on campus.  We may also see more students from Choma attend CABC as they offer some courses and a master’s degree program that is not available at the Bible College here in Choma.

So, it is with excitement that we reveal to you the discovery God has made clear to us.  We will be moving to Kitwe, Zambia in January 2015 to step through this new door that we believe will expand our effectiveness.  As church planters we may be able to plant five churches in twenty years on the field, but with Jamie as the missions professor at CABC God can use us to see fifty, one-hundred, or even more churches planted not only across Zambia, but the entire continent of Africa. 

If you have never done so before, please take a moment to visit the website for Central Africa Baptist College and Seminary.  http://www.cabcseminary.org

Thank you again for all your support and prayers.  We have a lot of transitioning to do between now and January!

* Quote of Joe Kapolyo from Africa Bible Commentary. Zondervan Publishing, 2006.

From Pre-season Training to the Opening Game

From Pre-season Training to the Opening Game

1 Timothy 4:8

“For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

My (Jamie’s) favorite sport is American Football.  Thankfully, Mandy likes it too even though she prefers Zambian futball (aka soccer).  Although I never got to play on an organized team growing up I’ve had the privilege over the years of becoming acquaintances and friends with several NFL players.  These men are men of character end dedication.  Although the NFL season is less than half of a year, these men train mentally and physically throughout the year.  Yes, part of that training involves rest (at least comparative to the active season).  Yet during the off season when their bodies get to recover and rejuvenate, they are hard at work preparing for the next season in order to have a winning season and hopefully a championship year.  Most of us only get to see these men for a couple of hours each week when they are on the field, yet countless hours go into preparation for that relatively short game.  I love hearing the behind the scenes stories:  stories of planning strategy, recognizing their role on the team, preparing for the obstacles, contingent plans for recovery when the inevitable obstacles and injuries come, and then watching them execute their plan on the field.  Of course, it makes me sad when their story involves these players getting injured or having an unfair play called against them that takes them out of the game for a while.

Well, in the last five months, being a missionary in Zambia has been a lot like that.  The rainy season gives us a slightly slower pace of ministry because it cuts us off from traveling to Nambaaza.  So, during those months our ministry activities are limited to the Choma area.  However, that does not mean that we put Nambaaza on hold.  On the contrary, it gives us the necessary time to acquire ministry materials, do essential planning for ministry events, and develop more teaching materials specially made for the needs of the people in that village. In short, we used the rainy season (December-March) to get prepared for our busy ministry season of April-November.  Here are the things that we did specifically for Nambaaza:

• ·     Acquired most of the building supplies needed to complete the projects in Nambaaza
• ·      Attended the Central Africa Baptist College In-service to get more training for the classes we will teach this year. 
• ·      Chose the CABC classes and had all the student notes translated into the Tonga language
• ·      Recruited and short-term teams from local churches in Choma to help during the weeks we teach CABC classes in Nambaaza
• ·      Planned a two day camp program for Nambaaza to take place when a team of students from Maranatha Baptist Bible College come in June
• ·      Developed discipleship materials for the leaders in training
• ·      Developed a lesson series to address current issues the Nambaaza people are facing regarding worldview and spiritual warfare
• ·      Developed a sermon series on 1 John
• ·      Fine tuned our family philosophy of ministry and goals for our time in Nambaaza

Of course, there was still plenty of ministry activity happening here in Choma during those same months.

• ·      Board Meetings for the Baptist Bible College and Institute of Choma that  have been very productive as we look to the future.
• ·      Guest speaking at Calvary and Grace Baptist Churches
• ·      Training meetings for two of the local pastors who are preparing for their ordination councils in June
• ·      Walking the local church leadership through the process of their first ordinations of pastors
• ·      Taught the Hermeneutics class in Choma
• ·      Taught a series on stewardship at Salvation Baptist church at the request of Pastor Arthur Munkombwe that resulted in the church developing its first ministry budget.  Jamie facilitated the questions, but they did all the work and made all the decisions.  What a huge step toward being truly indigenous!

Well, we felt like we had a very profitable “off-season.”  We looked forward to our first “game of the season” with great anticipation.  It went great!  On April 1-5 Jamie and Arthur headed off to Nambaaza and found things in much better shape than expected…physically speaking. 

The roads were already easily passable. The grass was not as thick as last year after rainy season. The local believers had started building a better thatch roof over the little kitchen area at the campsite. All of our construction from the previous year had weathered the hard rains and strong winds of the rainy season.  The well was producing a great water flow.   Everything was right on track.

During those 5 days we were able to start laying blocks for the walls of our boma (shelter) where our safari tent will be put up, cut grass to create a driveway, mark out the fence line that will be around the boma, hire local crews to make bricks, hire local crews to make cement blocks, and look into what it will take to get the grass roof put on the boma, get a crew started on building a cement pad for the large generator, and a crew started on putting in the septic system. Not bad for 5 days!  The projects were off to a great start.

Spiritually, we found things in a much worse condition.  There were marital problems, division amongst believers, and as a result of those two problems a few of the professing believers had lapsed back into their animistic worldview as demonstrated.  They had gone to the “witch finder” in an attempt to find the cause of these problems.  Now you know why we have been putting together lessons on worldview and 1 John.  So, at the end of game 1, we found ourselves on the winning side, but recognizing the tough season that lay ahead.  Still, we returned to Choma rejoicing and optimistic because we serve the King of Kings and we felt we had used our off-season to prepare a great strategy.

Upon arrival to Choma we found that game 2 had already begun.  Jamie discovered that Mandy, who had just had another bout of malaria, was now having pain on the right side of her abdomen and light-headedness.  Well, by now you all know the rest of that story.  Instead of returning to Nambaaza as a family that week we traveled up to Lusaka for Mandy’s emergency surgery.  Thankfully we came out of “game 2” on the winning side as well, but we sure have taken a beating.  Mandy, one of our key players was taken out of the game by illness for 3 months.  Just like any team, that meant some serious re-strategizing. 

So, over the last four weeks we have been implementing our strategy changes with great success.  Jamie and Pastor Arthur have switched positions.  Arthur has taken the lead in Nambaaza while Jamie has kept things moving along in Choma.  This has allowed Jamie the time at home to take care of Mandy.  The kids have been doing an awesome job at helping out in every way possible.  As usual, the difficult circumstances draw us closer together and we are thankful for that.  As for the ministry, we are actually still right on track with our projected goals and timeline despite the major alterations to our plans.

So, now you know how to pray for us.  We are still early on in this season and things sure are different from how we had anticipated them being.  By this point we had expected to have spent three solid weeks in Nambaaza as a family.  Now it looks like we won’t be out there as a family until July.  Jamie will make several trips out there between now and then, but it will be quite some time before Mandy is able to tolerate traveling on the rough roads.

Here are some specific things you can be praying for:

·      *  Mandy’s continued recovery

·      *  Jamie & Warrick will be traveling to Nambaaza May 16-18

·      *  The Women of Salvation Baptist Church are hosting a Women’s Conference this same weekend (May 17).  The ladies have done all the planning and will be leading this conference without missionary involvement for the first time.  This is very exciting!!!

·      *  Jamie, Lorelei, Pastor Arthur (Salvation Baptist), and Pastor Banda (Calvary Baptist) will be going to Nambaaza May 26-31 to teach our first CABC class of the year.  It is Old Testament Survey.

So, that is what is happening over here.  Thank you all for your part in all that is happening on the field over here.  You play a bigger part in the events in Zambia than you probably think.

Malaria, Ebola, and the Bubonic Plague

People living in the West hear horror stories about plagues, parasites, and diseases that occur in third world countries.  We, in the West, have largely irradiated many of the worlds most horrific diseases and as a result are ignorant of what they are, how they are transmitted, and how they affect the human body.  Even most doctors in the West are ignorant of such things because of not having to treat them.  They read about these sicknesses in medical school, but have never actually seen a person suffering from them nor have they had to treat them.  My doctor here in Zambia sure had a lot to say about that - don’t get her started!  

When we moved to Zambia we were aware that when living in Africa you are pretty much guaranteed to get malaria.... many times.   Mentally we were prepared.  We educated ourselves on all the precautions we could take and we took them.  But we were right, living here means malaria is inevitable.  

Of course, malaria is unpleasant and slows us down for ministry so when we started contracting it our first reaction was to request prayer from you - our wonderful and loving supporters.  However, we quickly learned that when we asked for prayer most people over reacted, thinking we were close to death.  Many were asking if we had it once would we be immune in the future, or if we would build immunity to it.  In their concern, many reacted with comments that gave us the impression that they thought we were being irresponsible with our health and not taking all the precautions we could.  This made us aware that there is a huge misconception about what malaria is, how it is contracted, and how it is treated. So I would like to take this opportunity to provide a quick education on malaria and how it affects both our family and ministry.  This will enable you to pray without worry and be encouraging when you hear of our most recent health challenges. 

Malaria is a mosquito-borne parasite.  It is not a virus or bacteria.  When I think of a parasite I usually think of tape worms and disgusting stuff like that.  Bleck!  This parasite is transmitted when you are bitten by a mosquito.  It is not contagious and can not be spread any other way.  Let me explain how this happens.  

As you know, Africa has lots of mosquitos.  Especially in the rainy season (November-April).  And, as you know mosquitos are a parasite themselves.  Well, there is only one  kind of mosquito that transmits malaria to its host.  The female Anopheles mosquito.  When you are bitten by the female Anopheles mosquito it transmits the malaria from it’s saliva into your blood stream.  The malaria parasite travels through your blood stream to your liver where it matures and reproduces.  As the malaria matures and reproduces your body cycles through symptoms.  These symptoms usually occur between 8-25 days after infection.  At the beginning you feel like you have a cold, or the flu.  But as the parasite matures your symptoms become more severe.  Here is a list of common symptoms: headache, fever, shivering, joint pain, vomiting, anemia, and jaundice.  Additional symptoms are sneezing, diarrhea, and extreme fatigue.  Take the flu and multiply it by 20 and then you will have an idea.  The sooner we get tested and recognize when we have malaria and get treatment the less severe the symptoms are.  Early detection is key.  However, the problem is that the early symptoms can be mistaken for a cold, allergies, or even a sinus infection.

So, what happens when someone in your family shows symptoms of malaria?  The only way to test for malaria is through the blood.  When one of us starts exhibiting symptoms we immediately take them to our doctor.  The lab tech pricks our thumb and rubs some of our blood on a glass slide.  He then heats the slide to dry the blood a bit and examines it under the microscope.  Through this examination he is able to see the evidence of malaria in our blood.  There is a home test that we use when we are in the bush and have no medical facilities within a 3.5 hour drive.  We have to prick our finger and put the blood on a litmus test strip that reveals if  our bodies are producing the antibodies used to fight malaria.  We immediately start taking medications to kill the malaria parasite along with extra vitamins and iron supplements to rebuild our strength.  We go home, get comfy and rest for a few days until the worst of the symptoms have passed.  Usually we follow up with an antibiotic (doxicyclene) .  Even when the malaria has been killed it takes some time for our bodies to regain strength.  A couple side effects of the malaria are anemia and hypoglycemia.  It takes time to rebuild our red blood cells and blood sugar. So for a while we are weak and tired.  Yes, it is true that if untreated malaria can lead to death, but so can pneumonia and the flu if you want to think of it that way.  

But can’t something be done to prevent your family from getting malaria?!!  Well... yes and no.  Please let me assure you that our family takes every precaution we possibly can, but nothing is 100% effective in preventing malaria infection.  The first and most obvious precaution is to limit exposure to mosquitos.  Mosquitos come out in force at dawn and twilight.  When we are in town at our house we stay inside at those times.  When we are in the bush and we must be outside everyone gets covered in bug repellant and long pants and long sleeves (despite hot temperatures).  Any open windows in our house have screens to keep the mosquitos out.  I have even planted mosquito repelling plants around our house to help.  Every person in our family sleeps with a mosquito net over our beds every night.  There are some medications that can be taken to help in preventing malaria, but because there are many different strains of malaria none of them are 100% effective in prevention.  Rainy season is the worst time of the year for malaria.  Our doctors who have been here in Zambia for over 30 years have encouraged us to only use these preventatives during rainy season because these medications have side effects that can cause long term problems as well.  So, every person in our family takes medication once a week to help with prevention.  Even so, we can (and do at times) still get malaria.  We have discussed prevention with our doctor and he agrees that we have taken every and all precautions we can.  The only thing we can do to prevent malaria 100% of the time is to leave Africa and move back to America, which will not happen unless the Lord makes it clear that is His will.  

Even with all of this information the most important thing to remember is that our lives are in the hands of the Lord.  They are not our own.  God has this amazing and perfect plan for our family, His church, and all mankind.  We live on a sin cursed earth with sickness and disease.  This can not be avoided.  God never ever promised us a safe, easy life.  He did promise us trials, persecution, and difficulties.  Jesus told us to count the cost, take up our cross and follow Him.  This life we are living now is a vapor.  And in this vapor of a life what is most important?  The message of salvation offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  And what sacrifice is too great for us to pay to bring this message to all people?  There isn’t one.  We can not thank you enough for your love, prayers, support and encouragement.  Thank you for partnering with us to enable us to follow God’s will for our family.  He is taking very good care of us.  Nothing happens outside His will.  Sickness and death come to everyone.  But in the end God is always good, just, and faithful.  As I am writing this I am laying in bed recovering from malaria.  I am tired, I feel awful, and I’m ready to be healthy again.  And I will be.  And we will keep on serving God and sharing His love and salvation with those around us.  Like Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain that which he can not lose.”

So, please know that our family is fine!  We love living in Zambia. We are so blessed to be here.  God is taking very good care of us, we have good doctors, and we love our life. Please keep up the love, prayers, and encouragement.  But now when you hear that one of us has malaria you will know a bit more of what we are experiencing and no longer have to worry or be concerned.  God has it all under control.  

Oh, and as far as Ebola and the Bubonic Plague...  They make malaria look like a common cold in comparison.  As for the latest outbreak of Ebola, it is on the other side of the continent from us.  Just look at your world map and you will see we are far from there (but we have friends in some of those countries you can be praying for).  I definitely don’t want either of those diseases!  I’ll happily take malaria instead.  It’s all about perspective!

- Mandy

“Training the Next Generation of Servant Leaders:  Impacting Zambia Through Education”

As you all know from our pre-field presentations, there are many places in Zambia that are still unreached with the Gospel out in the rural villages.  It is our passion to see these unreached people receive the life-transforming message of salvation because of the great exchange: Jesus Christ’s righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).  Yet, one thing that has become increasingly apparent to us on the field is the need for the Zambian churches to take the lead in spreading the Gospel by sending out missionaries from the established churches in cities and towns to the unreached bush locations to plant more churches.  After all, the Gospel has been present in this country ever since David Livingstone discovered Victoria Falls in November 1855 (159 years ago).  

We live in an era of missions (especially in mission fields with a long history of Christian influence) where the best role of a foreign missionary is to be a facilitator working alongside of and underneath national leadership in order to help eliminate the dependency syndrome that has held Zambian churches with an iron grip since the colonial era.  Of course there is still a need for pioneer missions which is why we are involved so heavily with the unreached areas like Nambaaza.  However, we want to be pioneers alongside of Zambian partners with whom we have a relationship of mutual respect and equality.  We want to help break the grip of the dependency syndrome by providing a new model of how missionaries and local leaders work together.  In doing so, we want to empower the Zambian Christians to take the lead in reaching their own people with the Gospel.  One of the greatest methods of doing this is through education…not just transferring academic knowledge but training in practical application of that knowledge.  Increasingly this is becoming a major thrust of our ministry in Zambia.

Central Africa Baptist College & Seminary

Central Africa Baptist College exists to train the next generation of servant-leaders in Africa for Great Commission living.  That is a purpose statement that we can certainly get behind and join in fulfilling!  When we discovered that CABC had developed 1-week block classes to be used in remote locations such as Congo and South Sudan we started thinking that these materials could be very useful in Nambaaza.  After asking about the possibility of using these materials and having them translated into Tonga, we were given the wonderful response that not only could we use them, but that they would like to have Jamie join CABC as adjunct faculty.  This was a wonderful opportunity to offer great quality classes that would be offered through an institution that is recognized in Zambia as licensed to offer degrees.  So, last year Jamie joined the faculty of CABC as an adjunct professor.

So far Jamie has only had the opportunity to teach two classes.  Last June he and Pastor Arthur taught the Hermeneutics class in Nambaaza where ten students attended.  Hermeneutics is the technical name given to the rules of interpretation.  This class equips the students to properly interpret the Bible on their own, which is something every Christian should know how to do.   The believers in Choma heard about this and asked that we offer it there as well.  To ensure that many people could attend we waited until the school break time in December/January.  So, on January 6-10 Jamie and Pastor Arthur taught it again (in both English and Tonga.  This time we had twenty-two students (many of them are teachers in their local churches).  We were so proud of the effort that they put into learning.  They had six practical assignments in those five days and surprised us with how well they did.  What blessings to see people not only gain new knowledge, but put it into practice right away.  

Thankfully, we are also able to be part of the ministry on the main campus of CABC at least once a year.  The academic year in Zambia starts in January and ends in December, which is very unlike the system we are used to in America, but we really like it.  The last class of every year is a block class that coincides with the Leadership Conference that we have written about before. The conference and block class always ends on a Friday and then on Saturday is the Graduation ceremony for the students who are earning either a three-year diploma or a four-year degree.  We have been privileged to attend the Graduation for the past two years.  It is so humbling to see these students stand before their families, all of whom have sacrificed so much so these young students could get a high quality education for ministry. This is a ministry that has already started to shake up the continent of Africa, and it is just the beginning. 

To ensure that the classes we are offering in Nambaaza are of the same quality and that the philosophy of CABC shines through everything we do Jamie traveled to Kitwe again January 18-23 to attend the faculty In-service.  It was a wonderful time of getting to know the other faculty better and to sharpen up on teaching techniques.  The training sessions consisted of three major emphases:  team building, CABC Distinctives (vision, mission, and philosophy of ministry), and teaching techniques.  Team building is always of great importance, but even more so when you have a team from various cultural backgrounds.  Not only was the team building aspect profitable for Jamie joining this team, but also gave us some useful ideas for how to develop a harmonious and mutually respectful multi-cultural team in Choma and Nambaaza.  The sessions on CABC Distinctives helped clarify why this school has been extremely effective so far and gave great tools to use in building effective ministries in the Southern Province of Zambia as well.  Lastly, the sessions for teaching skills were filled with excellent reminders on teaching techniques, but gave Jamie many new tools and skills for teaching cross-culturally.  Jamie has been working on revising lesson plans and developing effective assignments and evaluations of learning for the classes. Now he can’t wait to put them into practice in the future classes.  A new component of this plan is the formation of a new translation ministry with a team of three highly qualified translators who can take the English material and produce Tonga class notes!  This year we plan to offer three new classes in Nambaaza (and possibly Choma as well.).  In short, the CABC in-service was time incredibly well spent (even if it did mean Jamie was away from the family for a week).

To find out more about Central Africa Baptist College visit:  http://www.cabcseminary.org

Baptist Bible College and Institute of Choma

Over this past year Jamie has also been involved in discussions with the director and professors of a local Christian school closer to home.  In fact, it is only about 3 miles down the road from our house.  This year Pastor Arthur, whom we work so closely with, was able to earn his third year diploma through BBCIC.  What a joy it was to attend this graduation and celebrate the achievements of so many of the local church leaders of Choma that we have grown to love and respect. 

The director of the school, Dr. Gary Barker, is a missionary with Baptist-Mid Missions.  He and his wife plan to retire in January 2015 and have recently moved the school to its next phase of maturity – Governance through a Board of Directors.  Pastor Milford Mulimba has been one of the professors at the school and the plan is for him to become the first President of this college next January.  There are certainly bright days ahead for the Baptist Bible College and Institute of Choma.  This is something we are excited for and happy to be part of.  Jamie has been asked to be on the Board of Directors alongside of the Barkers and three of the local Zambian church leaders.  What a privilege to serve alongside of these Godly people. 

Non-Formal Training

Truly, the training of leaders is one of the greatest ways that foreign missionaries can invest in a truly indigenous church planting movement. There are actually five levels of training as illustrated in the chart below that we first saw at the Center for Intercultural Training in 2012.   

As you can see, every Christian should be receiving training in their local church to be used for their local church ministries because every Christian should be serving the Lord as a member of the Body of Christ.  Local church equipping is foundational for all other training.  Out of each church God will call some members to be Pastors and church planting missionaries.  Yet, in addition to their calling they will need further equipping.  The next level of training should be non-formal church planter or pastoral training, yet this is often a missing component of training.  Instead potential pastors and missionaries move on to Bible Schools that offer three year diploma's and bachelor's degrees.  Out of those who get that level of education some will then go on for theological training at a Seminary where they will earn a Master's degree.  From there a few will even go further to earn a doctorate degree in ministry.

Obviously we are very involved in the Bible School and seminary training.  Yet, one of the things we want to make sure not to neglect is the non-formal and highly practical training that is often missing.  Such training is always valuable, but is especially useful in the rural settings like Nambaaza where the leaders cannot just leave their ministry location to attend a school like CABC where they create a campus atmosphere that devotes equal time to character development, skill training, and Biblical knowledge. Therefore, we are devoting a significant amount of our Nambaaza ministry to this Non-formal training.

When it comes to discipleship the saying is true, “More is caught then is taught.”  So, serving alongside of a ministry mentor is an invaluable experience.  It was the method that Jesus chose to transform “uneducated, common men” (Acts 4:13) into the ministry team that “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Life-on-life discipleship is always more impacting than simple attendance to an academic class, especially a one-week block course that by its very nature limits the attention to primarily knowledge acquisition.  Both academic training and practical training are important.  They complement one another.  The academic side emphasizes the Biblical content and uses a grading system to evaluate progress while the "non-formal" training emphasizes the character of the servant and provides the ministry setting as its true evaluation of progress.

With this in mind, we have been using the rainy season to provide such non-formal training to the young men of Salvation Baptist in training for evangelism and discipleship of new believers.  We have also used this time to develop a non-formal training approach for the leaders in Nambaaza that helps the potential pastors and deacons, as well as their wives, prepare for ministry.  In addition to the Biblical education they will get from the CABC block classes, we are developing a program that will address their need for their own spiritual formation, family life, understanding of the doctrines of the church to organize their congregations Biblically, and develop the practical skills of evangelism, teaching, preaching, and counseling in an on-the-job training program.  Jamie will disciple the men.  Mandy will disciple the women.  However, we will be doing a session for the men and women combined every week to develop their own unity in marriage to help them avoid the common problem of these men neglecting their families for the sake of the ministry. 

Well, as you can see, we’ve had an exciting rainy season so far and it is just a little more than halfway over.  So, please be praying for us as we continue to fine-tune these plans for Nambaaza that we hope to start implementing in May!  There is still much to do.  Thanks for your prayers and support.

- Jamie & Mandy

*** We would like to close with a list of recommended reading regarding the concepts of eliminating dependency in missions and facilitating a truly indigenous church planting movement as described in the opening paragraphs of this article:

Missionary Methods:  St Paul's or Ours?  by Roland Allen.  The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge. 1912, 2006.

When Charity Destroys Dignity:  Overcoming Unhealthy Dependency in the Christian Movement.  by Glenn Schwartz.  World Mission Associates, Lancaster, PA. 2007.