Future churches
What is beginning to happen in the district is that people are calling and asking about the church. Specifically they are asking us to “bring the church” to their village. This is exciting but we must be careful. We want to start congregations that will survive. We also do not want to begin them for the “wrong” reasons. One of the reasons might be that there would be the expectation that if the church is there something other than teaching might be expected to come along with it. That is a problem that I am seeing in Zambia. People are expecting to receive something for attending a meeting etc. But we are receiving contacts from people requesting us to establish the church in their villages.
We have recently been contacted by people in three villages in the district:
Change this village is located on the main road off the tarmac that we call the Nabaanda road. It is well beyond the furthest congregation at Mapoto. It is a village of 2200 to 2500 people. Our initial impact has been with WBS and well repair.
Moonga Chimata This village has a population of above 3000. Our work with wells has introduced the church to this area. The road to this area is not too good at this time.
Machamva this village has a population of around 2500. We have repaired wells in the area and one of the ladies who lost an arm to a crocodile is a church member in this area.
It is interesting how God works in all this. When we repair a well we do not emphasize the church as a factor in the work. People may ask who we are and we tell them. But we do not “push” anything at the time. But the people by now know who we are especially if they see my truck. At times Charles will talk with someone about the faith when we are working on a well. These contacts are completely unsolicited.
Wells
The drillers we work with should be coming to the District this coming week. They will be drilling 4 wells for us and looking at two others that they have previously drilled.
They were to have been there late August but they sent someone ahead and discovered that work that should have been done by villagers to prepare the roads had not been done. The trucks could not pass to get to the site for the well. So they went on to Mazabuka to do well work there and Charles was tasked with going and getting them busy to clear and prepare the roads. This sort of thing is frustrating but it happens in Africa. The people need water but they do not comprehend the logistics of getting heavy machinery to a site to drill. Everything should be in place in the next day or so for them to come ahead.
Two wells that were drilled last year have had problems and have failed. They will be “flushing” them out to see if that solves the issue. If it does not then they will have to redrill them. It is their guarantee at stake so it should cost us nothing. Butwe’ll see.
Charles