May, 2022
Introduction
In the past month of May our lives have been over warmed with activities of reaching to our neighbors, different districts, provinces with the gospel of Christ. We are motivated by the language “work for the Night is coming” and especially if you have “a lot of tired” from laboring for our master as he said “ I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work” (John 9:4). So we bring greetings to you Brothers and Sisters from Luanshya, Zambia! We are very Grateful to God for according us another time of reporting about the activities of Bear Valley Bible Institute-Zambia.
I. Major Activities
A. The current students
We continue to be thankful to our God that the current students are only remaining with less than six months to complete their training at BVBI-Zambia. The current students have not only impressed us in their academics but they have also overwhelmed their local congregations with their improved work in preaching and evangelism. They are indeed excellent students and we have no doubts that they are very exceptional Preachers.
B. Four days in Luapula district
With Nichorus Mulubwa leading the group, we find out that the church at Chipoka were very divided due to strange doctrine which landed into leaders personal attacks on their fellow Christians. These issues made the congregation to stop assembling for three months, after we received a call we wasted no time and the work in this area was marvelous. We continue to praise Yahweh for the work in Samfya district of Luapula province the church has been revived to worshipping God in spirit and truth.
We also recorded new conversion and restorations as reported under, the work is still ongoing and we are still in touch with the three congregations in that district though we still have a challenge of transportation as seen in the picture we had to ride about 87 kilometers off main road to reach to this village.
C. Work in Northern province
In Luwingu district of northern Zambia the work is spearheaded by three of our current students evangelism went on well, we are so fortunate to have brothers and sisters in that area who are more than willing to help us do evangelism more effective, the institute don’t have bicycles but they gave us theirs to use as we do the work and this makes up for any difficulties we may encounter while walking, these are farm areas.
The receptions by residents in these areas are encouraging as seen in the pictures by our students teaching in the village. The zeal for preaching and teaching had impacted the community in a huge way; we want you to know that we appreciate these moments when we become practical of what we learn in class. The church is not that strong in this area but, we are balancing the outward vision of the church by strengthening the inward vision of the already existing members of the Church. We recorded six new converts and three restorations.
D. Work at Zimba Secondary School in Southern province
The work was spearheaded by Daniel Kapata our current student, the church in this area have not made a great impact on residents and it was a great opportunity for us to have been accorded time to preach and the harvest was great, four souls responded and nine restorations.
Daniel is a qualified secondary school teacher and we have no doubt that he is going to make a great preacher and teacher after graduation this year. We have attached pictures to this report below.
E. Revival at church of Christ in Shamabande central province
The evangelism at shamabande was led by Lackson our current student after seven days of doing the work in this area we recorded six baptisms and we continue to pray that we will return some day to do more work in this area by His grace.
Additions to the lord’s church
Janas muwindwa (baptized by his young brother Lackson muwindwa),alex chilufya, Chibwe chilufya, Rodgers Mwila, Kasongo Dickson, Emanuel Ng’andwe ( was converted from Jehovah’s witnesses and had a strong belief in their theology), lewis Bupe. Together we had fourteen (14) who are added and we have just mentioned the few.
May these souls continue to walk with Jesus forever they are wonderful additions to the family of God may you pray for these souls.
Restorations
We have recorded twelve restorations in the month of May. We continue to pray that these souls remain true to our Christian principles.
F. Recruitment for the New Intake
Time really flies and it is that time again of starting recruiting for 2022-2024. And we have so far started interviewing and vetting some of the prospects students for the next intake. This process is quite laborious and arduous. Many times we are demanded to travel intensively to go and interview these prospective students. And there are places that we need to go and talk to their respective church leaders in person. Other places have very poor communication network and it is extremely difficult to speak to them on the phone. And hence, traveling from one place to another becomes very necessary.
G. Invitations/Gospel meeting
i. Lubuto Church of Christ in Ndola district of the Copper belt Province is in the process of replacing one of the shepherds who has shifted to Southern Province of Zambia. Brothers Cephas Mwamba and Fred Kanangu have been invited to go and help in this process. Lessons on Biblical qualifications and duties of elders started on 22nd May, 2022 at Lubuto, Ndola and will continue for the whole month of June.
ii. We are organizing a gospel meeting to be held in Ndola for four days; this will begin on 1st July to 4th July all our students will be there to participate in this meeting. All the twenty three congregations on the Copperbelt are invited and we believe this is going to be a great gathering. Brother Cephas Mwamba will be preaching on the topic “Acts of denominationalism in the Church” we had the last meeting with leadership on the Copperbelt and all is set for this meeting.
H. Condolences
On a sad note- we would like to report that Mike Kanyangala lost his grandfather, Reuben Museka lost his father and Lacks on Muwindwa (Reuben, Lackson and Reuben are our current students) our hearts are filled with love and sympathy for these brothers and Brother Cephas Mwamba lost his father in Mungwi district of Northern Province of Zambia. He passed away on Saturday, 21st May, 2022.
Our deepest sympathy goes out to Brother Cephas Mwamba and his family. And we hope and pray that our Brother and the family find peace and comfort during this time of grief.
I. Conclusion
We continue to be grateful to God for the privilege of helping these men prepare for the wonderful work of preaching. We cannot fulfill this commitment and task without the support of all our partners.
We are sincerely grateful to all of you and to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for the financial support you graciously send to the school each month!
God bless you all!
Brotherly,
Cephas and Fred