Category: African Mission Work

  • Battle for the Mind

    Battle for the Mind

    [et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.3.2″ custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.3.2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.2″]

    In January, I began the second year of hosting a 20-minute program on Radio Christian Voice called, “Battle for the Mind: The need for developing a biblical worldview.” This is a joint work between The Worldview Institute of Zambia and Emmaus Road Ministries. The focus of the program is to educate the Christian community in Zambia about the need to develop a biblical worldview in the process of maturing as a disciple of Christ. The worldview a person lives by, that was received from their culture before they became a Christian, is at odds with the new life as a child of God. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” (NLT). Though it is not a unique problem to Zambia, perhaps the single most stumbling block for most believers here is the baggage of their old worldview that they bring into their new Christian life. It is impossible to try to live as a Christian with the core system of understanding that was developed in the world enslaved to sin.

    Through this program, we are reaching the nation of Zambia with the message that our way of understanding and interpreting the world we encounter–our worldview–as a Christian must be aligned with the truth contained in the Bible. God is God, the creator of all. If we believe that, nothing exists outside of his being and is understandable to us as we know his truths. Christianity is a total philosophy of life, not a partial one to be relegated to just a moral religious segment of life. The New Wine must have new wineskins. For Zambia, the ability to think and behave according to a biblical worldview is essential. We are so grateful for this opportunity to reach the nation every week.

    [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

  • Thank You

    Thank You

    [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://www.emmausrdministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Lusaka-south-David-teaching-Thu-pm.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

    Dear Reverend Becker,

     

    Greetings to you in the Lord’s precious name.

     

    As you take time to meet family and friends in the United States of America, I wish to encourage you for the great contribution that you have made to the church in Zambia since your coming to this country several years ago.

    As a result of the many trainings[sic] that were organized by the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (a Christian evangelical umbrella body), it was a great blessing to have your invaluable participation and input into the lives of our hundreds of our local pastors in urban as well as rural Zambia.

    Thank you for spending so much of your time to share on various topics on the mission of the church to the pastors. Many of the pastors have not had formal training from a Bible School or Theological Seminary and your time with a team of facilitators all across our country imparted essential biblical knowledge, leadership and administrative skills to our people. This has greatly impacted on our churches with corresponding quality of ministry and improved leadership and character development.

    You have a strong understanding of the Zambia’s scenario and spiritual landscape that has enabled you to contextualise a lot of your exposure and professional ministerial qualifications into the local scenario of our country. As a result, it is such a blessing that many of our local pastors can always call on you to for guidance knowing that you provide a great contribution into their lives and the work of ministry. Your stay and ministry has been such a great blessing to the spiritual leadership of our churches because they are facing regular changes in their communities because of a fragile socio-economic environment with a rising inflation, huge unemployment, high poverty levels, and increasing number of false prophets. Developing church leaders in such a situation could have been a tremendous task. But thank God for adding a dimension that has helped to re-align the thinking of most of our pastors that you have interacted with to make change the mind-set and make the Bible teaching a relevant part of people’s lives thereby modelling Christ in the market place in being salt of the earth and light of the world.

    I am particularly grateful also that you have also been able to challenge the local pastors against dependency and instead to prepare them to look inwardly and become self –reliant. This has greatly helped the churches and their pastors to work out mechanisms that make their ministries self-sustaining. As we have moved all across the country, it is increasingly becoming common to see local churches gathering in decent structures as believers worship the Lord with great joy and awesome celebrations.

    As a leader of the Evangelical movement in our country, I am aware that we still have a lot of work to do because as the work grows, the challenge for quality leadership development is ever increasing. Therefore I wish to encourage you that while we are thankful for so much that has been achieved in the church today, there is so much to be done as we look into the future of the church in Zambia. I am trusting that you will always be available to contribute to the ever growing work among the evangelicals and continue to participate in various ways in the equipping of the body of Christ and transformation of our nation.

    Thank you so much for being such a great blessing in my personal life as well as in the lives of many Zambian pastors, church leaders and laity. The contribution that you make in the Bible School such as Rhema Bible Training Centre–Zambia and informal trainings[sic] in workshops and seminars throughout our country and personal interactions with pastors is a great service in the body of Christ. Your continued availability for equipping church leaders and pastors will be a great blessing to the growth of the church in Zambia.

    May God richly blessing you in all that you do for the Lord’s glorious Kingdom.

    Much love to you.

     

     

    Pukuta N. Mwanza (Rev.)
    Executive Director
    Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia
    Lusaka, Zambia

    [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

  • Serving the church in Africa

    Serving the church in Africa

    [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

    David Becker first moved from Texas to Kenya in March 1990, to work with the Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa as a missionary focusing on local church leadership development. With him was his late wife, Beth, and two sons, Caleb and Joshua. Scott was born in 1992 in Nairobi.

    It was shortly after moving to Zambia in 1997, that David again noticed a need he had seen in Kenya–for a greater, more substantial impact of the gospel on the social and personal aspects of the lives of Zambian believers. In pursuing being better equipped to be part of the answer to this issue, he received a PhD. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2010 for his research on local leadership theory and its impact on church leadership. This resulted in his concentration on working for worldview changes in the lives of the church leaders according to the transformation brought about by the renewing of the mind saved by faith in Jesus (Romans 12:1-2).

    David ministers and teaches through a variety of methods, but has centered on mentoring as a means to challenge church leaders to develop their personal life’s walk with Jesus. Then, as the transformation comes for living lives congruent with their faith, these leaders are encouraged to equip the believers of their churches for living and ministry through their own vocations and daily lives. His work is to see the growth of the kingdom of God in the lives of the Christians living in Zambia and beyond. The new birth Jesus brought is meant to produce new values and purposes for living here and in the now.

    [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://www.emmausrdministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/David-Preaching-in-Kanyama.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”Section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on”][/et_pb_section]

  • Getting around

    Getting around

    [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”on” border_color=”#dd3333″ border_style=”solid” border_width=”8px”] It’s getting on to nearly 20 years old! But there are few vehicles that can do what it has done and hopefully, will continue to do! However, who am I to be an objective commentator? I am a little smitten as a Land Rover owner, not really of sound mind anymore, given to regular bouts of McGyver-ism intertwined with Mitty-isms.  Many of my “friends” entertain themselves with jokes that they think are at my expense. I know better. Pure envy. That is the real root of their jokes. For they all know that with a generous amount of love and care, my Landie can go anywhere and survive just about anything. I think they are just abusive with their vehicles. They bring them home, beaten, dirty, park them and then get in and go again, not checking all of the bolts and screws, the belts and seals, doing a thorough pre-drive check list (not unlike what I always did before taking off in a plane as a pilot!). They don’t even care enough to carry those special spare parts that could be needed when deep in the bush: oil, water, belts, bolts, tubing, duct tape, bailing wire and such. My old girl sometimes likes to have special treats when far from civilization. Don’t we all? Anyway, bought new when we moved to Zambia in 1997, much to the chagrin of my sons, I am still driving the Landie. Does she need to be replaced? Well, in the words of my Land Rover mechanic friend down in Livingstone, “it is time that [I] consider retiring her from daily driving.” The daily use in city is wearing and tearing on the mechanics, but with a little attention to a couple of items, it could still be reliable (relatively speaking) for longer distance trips. It has taken us over a lot of African roads and track and places where there were no roads. Comfortably? That is a relative question, too. But I have always made it home. (Though a couple of times at the end of a tow-bar!) [/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#ffffff” show_divider=”off” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” /][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://www.emmausrdministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/David-repairing-brake-line.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” /][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://www.emmausrdministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Land-Rover-sand-track.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://www.emmausrdministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Land-Rover-sand-track-2.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://www.emmausrdministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/a-regular-position.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]