Africans are turning to Christ in record numbers. Where there is anarchy, tragedy, and every imaginable onslaught from the Evil one; causing injustice, oppression, and opposition to the proclamation of the Gospel; there people become more susceptible to a message of hope!
Recently, one of our young pastors was murdered. His preaching was considered “bad” for “business” by a feared witch doctor. Many who heard Chrispin preach, were attracted to his Gospel of Hope! And so they turned away from their traditional religious practices, and the fatalistic, no-hope musings of the local witch doctors. Chrispin had to be killed. For, by so doing, the village elders thought that they could stop the conversions, and through fear take control again of the hearts and soul of the people.
But they were wrong! History has proven that the Church grew rapidly where blood was spilled for the cause of Christ. Likewise in this case! Where we instinctively recoiled and thought about abandoning the work in that area, we realized that in so doing, Chrispin would have died in vain. With that, the clarion call from those new converts also was clear, confirming that their newfound faith was firm. They immediately requested for someone to take their slaughtered pastor’s place.
Since then several other young leaders have stepped up to take his place. And so in April we will be commissioning Pastor Rex Sichilima, who for the past year has served as principle of our Orphan Center in Mansa, to take Chrispin’s place. But not only are we sending Rex to pastor that congregation, but he will also be launching and overseeing a new regional Bible School with around 20- 25 young pastors from that very area in training for full time ministry.
While there in April, we’ll also be launching 10 new Bible training centers, which will increase the number of pastors in training by over 200 in that region alone. And, with a graduation requirement of at least one new church-plant per trainee, we are sure that in the next two years, the number of churches in that area will grow exponentially. God IS being glorified in spite of the tragedy of Chrispin’s untimely death.
Now we need your help! We need to raise $200 per month in order to support Rex and his family, while also having to replace his current position at the Orphan Center. With that, we need to find funding for these 10 regional Bible Training Centers, trusting the Lord to provide the approximate $50 per month per student that it costs AFnet to train a pastor over the 2 years. Your contribution and commitment towards this cause will be greatly appreciated.
