Bear Valley Bible Institute - Luanshya, Zambia
February 2023 Report
Introduction
The closing words in Matthew gives us three most important action words surrounding the directive that Jesus gave to His disciples. And these are (‘go,’ ‘baptize,’ ‘teach.’) These are basic assignments that our Lord gave us for making disciples. And as Bear Valley Bible Institute –Zambia, we hold fast to the same mandate that our Lord Jesus Christ gave His disciples. The school is on firm ground in this command as faithful men are taught in order for them to go and teach others also.
New Intake visited by our country co-ordinator
The new intake started in the first week of January, 2023. The students have so far studied and completed one short course. We are always thankful to God for Brother Donnie Estep for giving his time and indeed life to teach these short courses. He taught the new students “The scheme of Redemption” from 13th February, 2023 to 17th February, 2023. It was indeed a very special treat to all the students. We pray for God’s speed upon him that he continues to labour in this noble work.
The students will soon have another short course to be taught by Brother Kennedy Mukuka. Kennedy will be teaching them “Personal Evangelism 1”. This is one of the basic courses that are taught to new students. The emphasis of the course is always placed on how these new preachers can conduct Bible studies on one on one basis. We are also thankful to God for Brother Kennedy for teaching our students.
Baptisms
We have recorded six (6) baptisms in the month of February. And it seems the new students are learning faster than anticipated. They are indeed committed to what they intend to do with their lives. We have always committed ourselves to this pledge as we contribute to their learning process. And we pray that we will have a very rewarding 2023 intake.
Restorations
We have recorded eleven restorations of which as Luanshya district we had three (3), Chingola district we had six (6) and Masaiti district one (1) and Mpongwe district two (2) we will continue to do the work as we still have calls to visit congregations in Northern province and Luapula province
A Visit with Students
The school had an opportunity to travel to Chingola District on the Copperbelt Province with some students on 19th February, 2023. This visit was an invitation from the elders of Chiwempala church of Christ. They wanted us to go and see how our former students, Gershom Chansa and Lackson Mwangala are doing in their ministry there. Upon graduation, Gershom and Lackson were asked to go and work with Chiwempala by church leaders there. And when we visited, we were very happy to see and hear all the positive things that these two young men are doing.
They have started raising broilers for business as they preach too. It is indeed encouraging to see young men like these so committed to preaching and teaching. Our students had enough time to teach the youths and move around for evangelism in a community, after a fellowship meal we drove back to Luanshya in the evening.
Mid-week worship service
We as the school meet at Church of Christ in mikomfwa. This has encouraged even the regular members to attend these services. We have continued to do evangelism in Mikomfwa and strengthening members there; we hope and pray that the Church is going to have a different impact in a community there. We plan to have a gospel meeting at this place with all the Church of Christ in Luanshya soon.
We continue to pray that we have a borehole soon at this place for extra activities for the Church and the community at Large.
The school bus
The acquiring of the school bus has undoubtedly made the operations of the school to be effective. The bus is not just carry supplies of the school. As mentioned earlier, it also carries students to do their assigned duties to various congregations. On Wednesdays they attend mid-week worship services at Mikomfwa church of Christ. And every Sunday some of the students attend their worship Sunday services at Mikomfwa church of Christ on a rotational basis. We are now doing more programs of the school because we have transportation. We are truly grateful to God for such a tool!
BVBI-Zambia Alumni
Very good and positive reports about our alumni have continued encouraging us. Simon Nkhazi now residing in Mtendere of Lusaka province, has continued to do evangelism while working as a primary health worker in the ministry of Healthy.
Arclay Kabbaya has continued to thank the School here in Luanshya because of the change he has continued to make in his life, his text message to the school said “thank you for great work you have done by teaching me Church development I really appreciate your effort may God continue blessing you more than you deserve from Arclay” while working as a preacher at Church of Christ in Siavonga, he is also involved in business to sustain his life and he is making good progress.
Conclusion
We continue to thank God for the work He is doing here through us. We are very grateful to Woodland Oaks church of Christ for the financial support that is sent to us each month. And we also thank all our partners for prayers and every support given to us. We will forever remain grateful to all of you!
Brothery,
Cephas and Fred