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Gregory's Turn
to write
One of the
challenges of writing a monthly missionary newsletter is to
keep it varied and interesting. A lot of what we do is
ongoing and it would be easy to churn out more or less the
same list month after month. But were we to do that, I
suspect that the response of most people would be to scroll
down quickly to the end and read Sharon's joke of the month!
Actually the same point is
equally true of our life and work here in Mozambique. It
would be very easy to fill our days with a rich selection of
useful activities only to find that at the end of a year the
work hasn't actually grown in any measurable way. The hustle
and bustle of ministry doesn't necessarily equate to real
growth in the Kingdom of God. This is why we have learned to
be very focussed in the tasks and programmes we take on.
This is very much the theme of this month's newsletter. What
do we actually do that contributes to appreciable and
lasting change in the lives of the men and women we are
called to serve here in Mozambique?
As Sharon mentioned last
month, we recently celebrated our first church wedding with
Morgan and Virginia. You can see a couple of photos of their
happy day on the photos section of this web site. The
vast majority of people don't have formal wedding ceremonies
in this part of Africa. Instead a young man will enter into
negotiations with a girl's family and, after agreeing a
bride price, he is then allowed to take her home as his
wife. This is not the same as the practice common in the UK
of a couple simply moving in together. Here the families
have to be consulted and they need to give their approval.
But the arrangement has no legal force - if he wants to, the
man can later choose to send the girl away or even take a
second wife. But with a wedding ceremony, as well as having
a very public start to their married life, the bride has the
legal protection of the law.
We were delighted that Morgan
and Virginia chose to go down this route and members of our
city church gave generously of their time and energy to make
the day not only memorable but also affordable. It's a
tradition that brides have to arrive late and Virginia was
no exception - although this was the first time that I have
ever known someone to be an hour and a half late for her own
wedding! It is our fervent hope that we will see many more
young couples following their example by choosing to marry
in church.
One of the expectations that
our rural churches have is that we as Elim missionaries
should be constantly visiting each of our congregations,
teaching the Word of God in remote villages and praying for
the sick and needy. At one level this sounds like a
perfectly reasonable request and indeed I do have a rota for
visiting our churches, but not as frequently as most people
would like. Rather I have focussed on appointing, mentoring
and training district superintendents who can in turn visit
these congregations and bring far more culturally
appropriate ministry than I ever could ever provide. This
approach goes hand in hand with our monthly training
seminars and home-study courses that impact the lives and
ministries of well over a hundred of our leaders. Working
together, we're building Kingdom.
People who study these things
say that an indigenous church work needs a strong urban
base. For this reason we direct a lot of our energy to
developing our churches in the city of Tete and in
neighbouring townships. The church that Sharon and I pastor
has been thriving ever since we moved into larger premises,
an old cinema known locally as Studio 333. Over Easter we
held two open-air meetings in the city. Instead of using
street drama as we normally do, we took the time to read
through the story of Good Friday and Easter Sunday from two
of the gospel accounts. We brought along Bibles in three
different languages and invited church members and
bystanders alike to take part in reading publicly about the
death and resurrection of Jesus.
We have also been
field-testing a marvellous little device called a Saber
which is a wind-up MP3 player with a built-in amplifier/
speaker. The unit comes preloaded with several evangelistic
talks recorded in the three languages used in this part of
Mozambique and it has proved incredibly popular in both the
city and the rural areas. Typically one of our evangelists
will arrange to play it in someone's house and the house
owner will invite all of his or her neighbours to come and
listen to one of the 45 minute talks. The evangelist also
has a book of Bible illustrations that accompany the talk,
which makes it even easier for the people to follow along.
What's even better is that I can update and change the
recordings stored on the Saber so as to keep people coming
back to hear more about the Word of God. We can even use it
to play the New Testament in one of the local languages, a
great boon for those in our more remote communities who
don't know how to read. We're currently looking to obtain
further units so as to make this fantastic evangelistic tool
more widely available.
There is a common perception
that Africa is beggared by poverty. While it's true that we
in the West have tremendous opportunities to alleviate
suffering, we also need to be careful that we don't rob our
African brothers and sisters of their dignity and
resourcefulness. Three years ago most of our church
buildings here in Mozambique were made either of mud and
poles or of wood and straw. These days the majority of our
buildings are made from bricks. Yet I haven't had a hand in
putting up a single one of these new buildings. Rather, in
seeking to build bigger people, we have seen our church
members rise to the challenge of generating funds and
working together to build a chapel to the glory of God. Hand
in hand with this has been our constant focus on tithing,
teaching people to worship God through their giving and not
just through their songs and dances. Only last week our Tete
city church raised a record 315 pounds from the tithes and
offerings. That might not sound very much compared to a
church in the UK, but it's an incredible feat here. We're
looking eventually to move out from the cinema and to buy
our own premises in town - and where possible to do this
without any assistance from the West. One day we will move
on from Mozambique; when that happens we want to leave
behind a church that can stand on its own two feet.
Some of you may already have
seen our tribute on YouTube to Charlie Comerford who spent
three months working with us in Tete. If you haven't already
done so, you can click
here to call up the video clip. It's
a lot of fun and a great insight into some of the work that
Charlie got up to. In fact Elim Missions is looking to send
a group of young people to spend 3-6 months with us next
year. If you're thinking of a year out, or if you know
someone who is, then check out the Elim Missions site for
more info by clicking
here.
Grace to you
Gregory and Sharon
Kane
Elim International Missions
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Prayer Requests |
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- Keep on praying for our
health, protection and safety as a family. We never take
this for granted.
- Continue to pray that
Sharon will be granted permission to work as a doctor.
We are currently waiting for some further supporting
documents to be translated into Portuguese. In the
meantime she continues to teach about health issues .
Pray for a day of HIV training that she and Joao
Cafuliza are organising for the 9th May.
- Please pray for the
leadership team at our international church as together
we adjust to the challenges that sudden growth brings.
- Pray for Samuel Mitivo
and his wife as they get to know people in our
international church. As well as visitation, Samuel has
responsibility to develop the youth work in the greater
Tete area. To this end he is running a special day of
training for youth and youth leaders on the 16 May.
- Pray for Morgan and
Virginia as they adjust to the joys and challenges of
married life. Thank God that their wedding went so well.
- Our local bar continues
to be a problem, playing loud music throughout the
weekend. We understand that this coming Friday they are
not planning to stop until 4am. We are slowly working
our way through the complicated procedures for
registering a complaint and have now compiled a petition
from other disgruntled residents. Pray that the council
would act decisively to resolve this ongoing problem.
- Thank God for all of the
exciting evangelism that is going on. Pray that we would
reap a harvest that will last.
- Josiah will sit two of
his GCSEs in May, travelling up to Malawi to write at an
examination centre there. We are currently exploring
options for his continuing education, as he will write
the rest of his GCSEs next year.
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Sharon's Joke of
the Month |
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One morning, three Liverpudlians and three Londoners were in
a ticket line at a train station. The three southerners each
bought a ticket and watched as the three Liverpudlians
bought just one ticket.
"How are the three of you going to travel on only one
ticket?" asked one of the Londoners .
"Watch and learn," answered one of the scousers.
All six boarded the train where the three Londoners sat
down, but the three Liverpudlians crammed into a bathroom
together and closed the door.
Shortly after the train departed, the conductor came around
to collect tickets.
He knocked on the bathroom door and said, "Ticket, please."
The door opened just a crack and a single arm emerged with a
ticket in hand. The conductor took it and moved on.
The Londoners saw this happen and agreed it was quite a
clever idea. Indeed, it was so clever that they decided to
do the same thing on the return trip and save some money.
That afternoon when they got back to the station, they
bought a single ticket for the return trip and watched while
to their astonishment, the three Liverpudlians didn't buy
even one ticket.
"How are you going to travel without a ticket?" asked one of
the perplexed Londoners .
"Watch and learn," answered the three boys from Liverpool.
When they boarded the train, the three southerners crammed
themselves into one bathroom and the three Liverpudlians
crammed into another one just down the carriage. Shortly
after the train began to move, one of the Liverpudlians left
their bathroom and walked over to the one in which the
Londoners were hiding.
The Liverpudlian knocked on the door and said, "Ticket,
please." |
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Gregory's Quote of
the Month |
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"Faith is believing in spite of the
evidence and then watching the evidence change"
- Jim Wallis, Sojourners |
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