Missionaries come in all shapes and sizes. Some focus on educational and medical work. Others face the challenge daily of pioneer evangelism. Yet others develop specialised ministries such as Bible translation or radio broadcasts. For ourselves here in Mozambique, our call is simply to build up the church: to teach, train and mentor; to develop organisational structures for long term growth; to stimulate church planting and evangelism; to transform individuals and in so doing to impact local communities. Success cannot be measured purely on the basis of a lively Sunday morning meeting. It is better seen in the month-on-month changes that reveal growing maturity. That word, maturity, is the key to our ministry and the theme for this month's newsletter.

Hypocrisy and Character

The Bible doesn't pull its punches when it comes to hypocrisy. "Watch out for false prophets," said Jesus. "They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Mt 7:15). Soon after arriving in Mozambique, we were reminded that many people are Christian in name only. Sadly the same is also true of some church leaders and it has been our prayer that God would enable us to tell the genuine from the insincere. A case in point has been the dismissal this month of Pastor Francisco Samuel (name has been changed) ...

Francisco was the pastor of Berewere, our oldest Elim church. He was regarded as one of our more senior pastors and at one point was nominated for a seat on our executive council. But from early on we suspected that his heart was not right before God, an assessment that has tragically proven accurate. Large families are seen as important here in Mozambique and Francisco's wife presented him with a number of children. In recent years however she has had more difficulty conceiving and so Francisco decided to look for a second wife. Polygamy is legal in Mozambique but discouraged by most churches. Our position within Elim has been to accept polygamists as members but to exclude them from leadership. Francisco was well aware of this but hoped to take a second wife without anyone realising. For reasons that elude all of us, the woman he selected was already married to another man! When her husband discovered that his wife was pregnant by an Elim pastor, he was understandably enraged. He called together the community leaders to demand justice. They met, investigated the case, imposed a huge fine (about three months' wages), and ordered that Francisco take the woman home as a second wife. Thereafter, to add insult to injury, the pastor seized goods that belonged to the local church and sold them to help pay off his fine. Incredibly, even though his actions had brought disgrace on his own household and sullied the name of the Elim church, Francisco persisted in trying to cover up what he had done. He went on preaching Sunday by Sunday and hoped that no one would find out!

Such things cannot stay hidden. Our executive council investigated the matter thoroughly, dismissed the man as pastor, and communicated the discipline imposed to the rest of our leaders. I can hardly retell the story without feeling angry and disappointed. But I do so to make a point. Weak leaders make for weak followers; immoral pastors produce sinful believers; yet men and women of vision and integrity can raise up a church that is altogether holy and dedicated. Our desire to to build up the church in Mozambique. Not a church that is full of greed and hypocrisy, but a church that reflects the glory and purity of Jesus. Pray with us that this would be so!

Quality and Quantity

It's good to celebrate success. That's why we organised a party in November to mark the first anniversary of our international church here in Tete. There was an incredible amount of food, the room was packed to bursting, representatives attended from neighbouring churches, the service itself ran on for more than four hours, and all this with temperatures in the low-40s. The past twelve months have had their fair share of joys and disappointments, but it's been a great experience for us as a family. 

Church planting is crucial to sustainable growth. True, we have accepted a number of existing churches into membership, but our desire is first and foremost to see our people reaching out into their communities with the message of salvation. Pastor Cafuliza launched a new congregation in the township of Matundo at the beginning of November and this has got off to a good start. Sharon is helping by running a women's meeting there on Thursday afternoons, offering a combination of Bible teaching and medical education. At present the church meets in a private house, but Pastor Cafuliza is keen to purchase land in the area. The money has already been made available for this but it has proved to be very difficult to secure a suitable plot. Please join with us praying for this new church and the desire they have to own their own property.

At our last leaders' seminar, I asked the delegates to break up into small groups according to their churches. Thereafter I handed out a piece of paper and asked each group to write down a list of the things they hope to achieve in 2008. A lively discussion ensued and in the feedback time that followed a number of the churches read out their list of goals. Some wanted to build a stronger church building with bricks. Others were ready to cultivate some land and grow crops that would belong to the local church. One congregation wanted to buy with their own funds a bicycle for their pastor. Several were keen to send out evangelists and start churches in neighbouring communities. But what most heartened me was that these leaders were prepared to attempt these things without looking to us for any financial assistance.

This is in sharp contrast to what occurred twelve months ago. We were not long arrived in Tete, having spent several months in Maputo learning Portuguese. We were still getting to know the churches and they us. What we didn't realise at that time was that their expectation of what we should offer was very different from what we thought we had come to do. In the middle of a leadership seminar, we were suddenly confronted with a demand for roofing materials, bicycles, Bibles and various construction projects. When we tried to explain that we didn't have the budget for these things, a number of the leaders started shouting angrily at us. Not a good day in the history of our church! The underlying problem was that they had seen missionaries for other churches hand out such goodies and assumed that we would do the same thing for them. Moreover our churches were essentially immature and their leaders largely ignorant of the things of God.

One year on, we have taught extensively on the subject of tithing and seen considerable finances released in the local churches. Furthermore we have taught systematically through sermons, Bible studies and seminars, and seen our key people grow in faith and understanding. Hence the incredible contrast between last year and this. It's quality, it's maturity, and for us it's a clear measure of success.

Steak on the Plate

It's a worn cliché that many people see religion merely as 'pie in the sky when you die.' The rejoinder to this is equally hackneyed, namely that our day-to-day Christian experience should be 'steak on the plate while you wait.' But it is true that missions work should make a difference to the daily lives of those among whom we minister. It's not enough for us to speak merely of Heaven when people are struggling to meet their everyday needs. A generous gift from the Elim church in Portadown, N.I. has allowed us to construct a further four ventilated pit latrines. These community toilets are all the more vital as the rainy season is now upon us and the risk of dysentery and other water-borne diseases is greatly increased. The grant from Portadown also allowed us to put tin roofs on five of our village churches. As with all of our construction projects, we ask the members of the local churches to supply labour and to contribute to the overall cost. In the case of the latrines, church members must make the bricks and dig the pit. With the tin roofs, the members have to put up a strong brick building and later on pay a carpenter to fit the timber and roof tiles. In the early days, we had a slow uptake on our construction projects as sadly our people expected everything to done for them. But these days a far better attitude is obvious in many of our churches.

We thank God for our new co-worker, Mel Price. Her dedication and humility have enabled us to lift our community work to a new level. Mel is currently running Bible clubs in two of our churches and infants' groups in another three. You can read more about this in Mel's own newsletter - use our Contact form to ask for for a copy. Sharon and I went along in the first few weeks to support her and liaise with the community leaders. But within a very short time we have felt able to draw back and leave her to it.  Sharon was agog recently when she accompanied Mel to a meeting in the rural areas only to discover that more than 300 people had turned up. I went with Mel yesterday to a mother and infants'  meeting in a Tete township. I was shocked when two of the children 'walked' in on four legs, being unable to walk erect. Mel however was in her element - after giving the mother some basic developmental instruction, she arranged to visit her next week to offer more advanced therapy. Through her skills and compassion, our churches find themselves in a position to reach out to many in their communities with grace and healing.

Malawi and Mozambique

Our Elim churches owe their existence to the outreach of our sister churches in Malawi. Mozambican church planter, Aivore Mitivo, came into contact with the Elim work in Blantyre and, after a period of training, was sent back to his home area to start a work. Thereafter the Malawian leadership visited once a year and held a weekend celebration to bring further encouragement and teaching. Sadly Aivore died soon after our arrival in Tete and we have had to work alongside an inexperienced executive council. Much of our ministry among these men has taken the form of mentoring - ministering beside them and talking through many of the issues that beset new churches. In August I took two of our executive members to Zimbabwe to attend the Elim conference there and to meet many of the senior Zimbabwean leadership. At the beginning of this month I took the full council to Malawi for a weekend of meetings with the Malawian executive. We held group discussions, developed friendships, received key teaching on leadership, and participated in the Big Sunday celebration. What thrilled me most was that the relationship between the two executives was on an equal footing. Where the Malawians had years of experience to share from, the Mozambicans listened. But where our leaders were ahead of their Malawian counterparts, they were very willing to challenge and provoke their brothers to go further in God.

In many ways the primary task of the missionary is to make himself redundant. Ultimately we want to be able to hand over leadership of the work to our national leaders. This is a gradual process but thus far we are delighted by all the signs of progress. Please pray for these men that they would prove true to their calling and grow to be leaders full of faith, full of wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit.

Please Pray

Pray for Francisco Samuel that he would repent. Pray that our leaders would take his bad example to heart and so model a better lifestyle Thank God for the first anniversary of our international church. Pray that we would be able to raise up local leaders. Pray also for our ongoing evangelistic programmes Pray for the Matundo church plant, that people would be converted and the church would grow. Pray in particular that Pastor Cafuliza would find a suitable plot of land Thank God for the growing maturity among our churches. Pray that many of the goals the leaders have set would be realised in due course Give thanks to God for the completion of the new latrines and church roofs. Pray that other churches might show the same willingness Pray for Mel Price as she travels extensively, sometimes by scooter, at other times by public minibus. Pray for her health and strength that she would continue to minister with compassion and enthusiasm. Pray also for the many parents and children whom she has opportunity to teach Thank God for a successful weekend of meetings in Malawi. Pray for both executive councils that their members would be united in vision and in love. Pray also that they would be wise and full of faith as they look to take the work of God forward Pray for us as a family. It's been a long, though productive year and we're all feeling weary. We plan to take ten days off after Christmas and to get away from Tete. Pray that we would return from holiday refreshed and ready to embrace the challenges of the new year As always please pray for our safety on the roads and from thieves and robbers

Grace to you

Gregory and Sharon Kane

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Sharon's 'Joke of the Month'

* One-upmanship *

A man from Texas, driving a VW Beetle, pulls up next
to a guy in a Rolls Royce at a stop sign. Their windows are
open and he yells at the guy in the Rolls, “Hey, you got a
telephone in that Rolls?”

The guy in the Rolls says, “Yes, of course I do.”

“I got one too... see?” the Texan says.

“Uh, huh, yes, that’s very nice.”

“You got a fax machine?” asks the Texan.

“Why, actually, yes, I do.”

“I do too! See, it’s right here!” brags the Texan.

The light is just about to turn green and the guy in the
Volkswagen says, “So, do you have a double bed in there?”

The guy in the Rolls replies, “NO! Do you?”

“Yep, got my double bed right in back here,” the Texan replies.

The light turns and the man in the Volkswagen takes off.
Well, the guy in the Rolls is not about to be one-upped, so
he immediately goes to a customizing shop and orders them to
put a double bed in the back of his car. About two weeks later,
the job is finally done. He picks up his car and drives all
over town looking for the VW beetle with the Texas plates
Finally, he finds it parked on the road and pulls up next to it.

The windows on the Volkswagen are all fogged up and he feels
somewhat awkward, but he gets out of his newly modified Rolls
and taps on the foggy window of the Volkswagen.

The man in the Volkswagen finally opens the window a crack
and peeks out.

The guy with the Rolls says, “Hey, remember me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember you,” replies the Texan. “What’s up?”

“Check this out ... I got a double bed installed in my Rolls.”

The Texan exclaims:
“YOU GOT ME OUT OF THE SHOWER TO TELL ME THAT?”

_______________________

Gregory's 'Quote of the Month'

* Swedish Proverb *

fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more;
hate less, love more;
and all good things are yours.