Our March 5th trip.

Our meeting with Pst. Maupa went well. We are working with him on the translation of some of our teaching materials into Pedi. We carried up the final copy of a book for use in an evangelism program we will be launching in April. He will do the final proof read of the book and then it will go to press. We have already printed 300 copies of the English version and this will give us the Pedi version.

It is a very simple program of inviting your friends and neighbors over to do a small Bible reading as a group. It can be used at home, at work during break time or in any other small group. There are 17 Biblical readings. Each one has a section that explains more about what the ‘key’ verse in the reading is talking about. Then there are a few questions for the group to answer and talk about together. It is very low key and not a high pressure design. But it clearly plants the seed of the gospel in the hearts of the listeners.

Pastor Chris also just finished translating a small tract that will be used in home visits. The title is “What is a Baptist Church”. We find there are a large number of cultist groups that are and have proliferated in the areas where the Pedi live. So one issue that we must make known to the people is the truth about what is a Baptist Church. We found in our work in Mozambique that the first task was simply making Baptists known as a ‘real’ church was the first step before people would come and be interested enough to visit the church. Explaining what Baptist churches believe opened the door to a large number of people who just assumed Baptists were just like one of the many groups some individual starts and builds around himself.

We also finalized our plans for launching the Home Bible Reading Program. Pst. Maupa & I will be team teaching before the people. I will introduce and explain the program. Pst Maupa will then lead the group through the first ‘reading’. He will then talk to the people about what he did and didn’t do in leading the reading. We want to make sure the people understand that the objective is not to preach, pray for an hour, or pressure anyone. Then I will lead them through the second reading and critique with them what I did and didn’t do. I want them to see that the missionary did just what the pastor did.  Then we will break them up into small groups and ask someone in the group to lead the group through the third reading.

The key is for them to see that it is simple and that they can do it. Then we will close the training time and send them out with a Biblical charge from the parable of the Talents.

We will be training in each of the 4 missions/churches April 10,17 and May 1, 8.

I also asked Pst. Maupa to be praying about another church member that might be able to help with the translation work. There are an additional four books we want to teach. They will be combined into a program for Training Church Members.

As for prayer:

Please pray for safety for Brenda & I as we make the 4 hour drive up to Diphagane every other weekend.

Please pray for Pst. Maupa as he continues translating materials. To do this he must stay up late at night after working a full day in his job. Please remember his health and his family.

Pleas pray that God will be preparing the hearts of the people in the churches that they would hear and respond to God’s call to reach out with the Gospel to those who live around them.