Greetings from Luanshya!
The school children in Luanshya are in a state of suspended animation. Teachers have been on strike off and on for nearly half the academic year. The Teacher's Union has declared the strike action illegal. The Government has promised to meet the demands of the teachers, then threatened to cut the salaries of all civil servants in the country. Students go to school every morning only to be told that there will be no classes. The few teachers who are showing up are threatened by their colleagues. Many of these teachers are now giving private lessons in their homes for students who are preparing for year-end exams in November. Meanwhile, the promised increases in salary have not been delivered so the teachers and the civil servants are threatened an extended strike. Please pray for this situation. There has been sporadic violence.
Sherry's youth class continues to be well attended as she talks about Christ accepting and loving them in spite of their failures. She said that Christ attributes great worth to people regardless of how they feel about themselves. The lesson was based on Matthew 5. The young people are enjoying the lessons. The Youth Centre behind the chapel has become a gathering place for many of the young people. Our "church kids" invite their friends to play ping pong, darts, pool and numerous board games before the bible study on Monday and the bible study on Wednesday. Some of these young people arrive as early as three hours ahead of regular services. We thank God for the privilege of maintaining this "safe haven" for our kids to relax and share their testimony with their friends.
Our Sunday evening Bible Institute continued week with brother Chibumba continuing to teach about the "Muscles of the Church". He stressed the fact that the muscles needed to work together. They need to be exercised and they need to be nourished. He is becoming more and more adept at putting over practical application of the Word of God. This coming week he will be preaching in the morning service. Please pray for this servant as he continues to mature.
This past week we received a fantastic gift of over 50 books for the Christian Resource Centre library. The books included everything from children's easy-to-read Bibles to biographies and bible study helps. We are so thankful for our friend in Ireland who sent these to us. They have already been put to great use. Most of these books are more expensive than the average Zambian worker earns in a month. Making these materials freely available enables the Word of God to be presented in a much broader sphere than if we had a book store and individual Christians buying them for their own private libraries.
Finally, at the church building site the ground is dry enough for construction to commence. The foundation slab has been poured for the septic tank and the building of that facility will take place next week. A number of our young men are volunteering their time because they do not have money to give towards that project. This may be a very slow process because the church is building as the money comes in and the money is not coming in very fast because of the economic problems here in Zambia. If workers do not get paid, workers cannot give on Sundays to the building fund. We believe it is much more expedient that the local believers contribute to and build their church as opposed to the foreign missionary paying for everything. We trust their faith will increase, as they trust in the Lord with their giving.
God continues to bless in the ministry. Tonight we are showing the film "The Godmakers" which is an expose of the beliefs of the Mormon religion. We have had a number of people express an interest in seeing this film so we hope to have a good group for the showing.
By this weekend there should be a few more photos at the website so take a glance. They include photos of the church building site and Lighthouse Children's Home. Please pray as we continue...
In His Service,
Patrick and Sherry
Dr. Patrick and
Sherry Coleman
Luanshya, Zambia Africa