GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH, ZOMBA , MALAWI
NEWSLETTER
30TH SEPTEMBER 2010

Dear Brethren,
Thank you for your support and prayers.

We praise God for wonderfully sustaining us in the past few months in which our labours may best be described as, ‘Holding the sword of the Spirit in one hand and the (literal) trowel in the other hand.’  Since June I have had to be physically involved in the construction of our church building. This meant making special adjustments to my daily program. I did my spiritual preparations in the night, spent the morning on the construction site, and attended to the needs of souls in the afternoon from Monday to Friday.

The following have been are our major challenges:

Church Attendance
We experienced a reduction in church attendance when we had to change our meeting place to a new location. The attendance reduced to mainly church members and their families.

Evangelism
Sunday afternoon has been our time for church evangelism. We go out into the streets to distribute tracts and witness to people. Many gladly take the tracts and a few people stop to listen to the presentation of the gospel. A good number promise to visit our worship service, but they appear disappointed when they hear about the venue of our meeting. The result is that they never show up. It also appears that people tend to forget about the invitation by the time the following Sunday comes. We now plan to change our time for church evangelism from Sunday afternoon to Saturday afternoon.

Consolations
The God of all comfort has not left us without consolation. A teenage son of one of our church members professed faith a month ago through the youth ministry. His parents testify that they have a brand new son. His life has completely changed and he has a real hunger for the word of God.

Two weeks ago a neighbour’s son, in his late twenties, had his life wonderfully spared after being knocked down by a car. He suffered head and neck injuries, two broken ribs, and a dislocated collar bone. Doctors said it would take him more than ten weeks to recover.  My wife and I visited him to pray and share the Gospel when he regained his consciousness. He was in great pain and unable to move for four days. We continued to share God’s word and to pray with him daily. Then on the fifth day the Lord was pleased to miraculously mend his broken ribs and dislocated collar bone, and to relieve him of all pain. To his own and everyone else’s amazement, about 4 PM he suddenly rose from his bed, stood upon his feet and began to walk. He was healed, save for the wounds on his head and neck which still needed dressing. The young man has since given his life to Christ. His father, who is a Muslim, has given me liberty to have daily Bible Studies with him.

At the time of writing this newsletter, the brick work portion of the sanctuary under construction had been completed. All that is left is the roofing to have our own meeting place.

Prayer needs

1. We distribute hundreds of tracts and share the gospel with many people. Pray that God may use the tracts and our testimony to awaken many souls to their need of Christ. Pray that the people who promise to visit our services may do just that. Pray that we may see more conversions and subsequent additions to the church.
2. The young man who was healed and saved is in a spiritually challenging situation. Not only is his Father a Muslim, but his wife is also a Muslim Also, her father is a leading figure in the Zomba Muslim community. The young lady has shown no interest in attending the Bible studies I have been having with her husband. Pray for grace and wisdom for the young man to withstand pressure from the Muslim community, and for his testimony to provide an opening for ministry to his family
3. I will be on leave from 1st October to 15th November. Pray for grace for Victor P. who will stand in my shoes. Pray also for Sangwani M. and Maxwell M. who will share in the oversight responsibilities in my absence.
4. The construction work is now at a stand still as the funds have been exhausted. Pray with us for the supply of roofing funds.

Percy