Reunion Sunday

Yesterday, we visited Great Commission Baptist church to see our Zambian friends and worship together.  We didn't tell anyone we were coming and just showed up that morning.  We arrived just after opening prayer (late as usual).  As soon as we entered and sat down, Pastor Kandella had us stand back up and then the congregation sang a song as they came by one-by-one and greeted us.  They called it a Zambian welcome, which we enjoyed very much.

As the service progressed, one of my best Zambian Friends Alex, a deacon at this church, stood up to preach.  He taught on tithing.  He used the verse from Mark 12 about the poor widow who gave what she had as an offering.  Where in the States, a few might identify with this verse, I'm willing to bet most, if not all, of the congregation could identify.

After the service, I had a few minutes to catch up with some of the guys.  When we left in November, Luke and I had started a small discipleship group that met on Tuesday nights.  When we left, we didn't know whether it would continue or not.  Well, it didn't.  Instead, they have two discipleship groups that meet weekly, one on Monday and one on Thursday.  That's right, they multiplied!!  Isn't God good!  I'm going on Thursday night to attend their weekly meeting and am looking forward to it with great anticipation.

They have also started to reach out to the youth in their community on Saturday mornings through AWANA.  Right now, about 30 kids attend on a regular basis.  Alex, who also heads up this ministry, has just been appointed district coordinator for about 50 churches.  It's a pretty special thing that a deacon from a small church of 30 people is overseeing such a large ministry.

Anyways, it was great catching up with our Zambian friends.  Please continue to pray for this young church as they seek to reach out to their community with the Gospel of Christ.

P.S.

I also recorded a song from their service.  It's in CiNyanja, but it's a classic hymn.   See if you can guess what it is...