REPORT FROM GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

The State of the Work in Zomba, Malawi Ã¢â‚¬â€œ September 2008

Church Membership

September saw a dramatic reduction in church membership from 22 down to 12. This followed the departure of the Maxson family to Blantyre, and another member to Lilongwe. There were eight members in the Maxson family and with them went Malamulo C..

Regular Church Attendees

The number of church members who attend church regularly also dropped from 23 to 18 as five of them relocated to other towns. Among the remaining 18, one couple are believers with a Pentecostal background and are being helped to understand the doctrines of grace. Four of the others have professed faith recently and are showing marks of true repentance. A baptism class is being arranged for them.

Evangelism

The door-to-door evangelism here does not seem to yield any fruit at all. The main reason for this is that only children, and sometimes women, are found at home, men are hardly found. In the coming month the church will switch to Ã¢â‚¬Å“Street Evangelism,Ã¢â‚¬Â which will include market places as well. It is hoped that both men and women will be reached this way.

Potential Church Leaders

Four men have been identified as potential church leaders: Victor P., Kuchona M., Maxwell M. and Saul M.. A special leadership training program has been arranged for them to start next month, October 2008.

Church Building

A plot has been allocated to the church in a prime area along the main road, close to the town center. Building plans were earlier submitted to the Planning Authority for a building that would have cost $30,000. These plans were rejected for the reason that the town had been upgraded to city status and requires higher standard buildings in the city center. The plans were revised and resubmitted for a building costing more than double the first one. It is hoped that these new plans may be approved by the end of next month. A funding of about $9,000 has been raised for the building project so far.