Out of Africa from Africa Region of The Global Church of the Nazarene for Monday, October 5, 2015 - Monthly news from Out of Africa: The Nazarene Church is a global family - newsletter-October 2015

Out of Africa from Africa Region of The Global Church of the Nazarene for Monday, October 5, 2015 - Monthly news from Out of Africa: The Nazarene Church is a global family - newsletter-October 2015


Church of the Nazarene Africa Region newsletter | October 2015
Table of contents
The Nazarene Church - a global 'tribe'
Learning doesn't end when one becomes a leader
Engage magazine features Rev. Gift Mtukwa of Africa Nazarene University
Prayer requests
The Nazarene Church - a global 'tribe' by Beth Heath, Work & Witness and partnerships, Africa South Field

Beth and Joe Heath
One of the reasons I love being a Nazarene is that the Church of the Nazarene is a global church. There are people all over the world that claim the tribe Nazarene. This week I had the opportunity to see our tribe being the church. This week I had the privilege to meet via email Godson Mulisho Bahabwa, who is a native of the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I asked Godson if he was willing to share a little of his journey. Godson and his family have not had an easy journey. War started in South Kivu in 1996. Even now, almost 20 years later, according to Godson there is not peace. In 2003, Godson's family was attacked by rebels, and his father, mother, and elder brother were killed.

DR Congo
With no other option, Godson fled from his home country and ended up in Namibia. He was then taken to the Osire Refugee Camp, where he lived for 12 years. Life there was not easy. According to Godson, he lost almost everything, including his hope for living.
There were some bright spots in the 12 years. He got married in the refugee camp to Elinda Felisberto from Angola in 2011. They had their daughter, Sofia

Namibia
Rejoice, and son, John. Also during his time in the refugee camp he met Rev. Domingo, who was pastoring a Nazarene church and who received him as his own brother. Godson started helping out in several different Nazarene churches in various roles, including worship leader and youth leader.
Then the United Nations' refugee agency offered Godson and his family asylum in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is where we got to be a very small part of this amazing story. (Editor's note: North Carolina is Beth's home state.)
On Friday evening, I received an email from Rev. Domingo, who is now the district superintendent of the Namibia District. He was asking for help in connecting Godson and his family with the Church of the Nazarene in Greensboro. I sent an email to the pastors of the Nazarene churches in the Greensboro area explaining Godson's situation and asking if one of them could connect and support Godson and his family.

North Carolina, USA
(Photos: Wikimedia)
Pastor Will Fields, who pastors the Southeast Church of the Nazarene in Greensboro, responded. The Southeast congregation is now helping Godson and his family get adjusted to the new place they find themselves in. They have stepped up and helped them buy food and donated needed kitchen and household items. There may even be the possibility that Godson will be offered a job at one of the congregant's businesses. Godson and his family have been welcomed into the Southeast Church of the Nazarene family.
Godson and his family have a long journey ahead of them. He asks for continued prayers for them as they adjust to life in the States and as they seek to find ways to provide for their needs. But in Godson's words "God has been with us, and His mercy is upon them."
This week I am proud to be a part of the tribe called the Church of the Nazarene, whose members welcomed a stranger from DR Congo and helped them to feel at home first in Namibia and now in Greensboro.
Learning doesn't end when one becomes a leader by Rev. Chinsinsi Amos Phiri
Learning is a life-long journey, one that doesn't stop when one becomes a leader. In August, 325 church leaders participated in the five-day Leadership Development and Revival Conference at the Nazarene Theological College of Central Africa in Lilongwe, Malawi, organized by the new church specialists.
The conference was a continuation from training that took place in 2014. As it's said, smart leaders know what they don't know, and learning is a constant process throughout one's professional life.
Rev. Wellington Obotte, the evangelism, revivalism and church development coordinator for South-East Field, encouraged pastors to be life-long learners, pointing to the Church of the Nazarene Manual, section 527.6, which states: "All assigned and unassigned licensed and ordained ministers shall report on their progress in a program of lifelong learning as part of their report to the district assembly."
Malawi North District Superintendent Rev. Robert Chinula was the revival speaker during the evening services. During his sermons, he challenged participants to let God do things "His way" in our lives. Rev. Lonnie Bullock focused on developing a healthy church and implementing a ministry action plan (M.A.P.) Leaders were challenged to take the church to the next level.
Helping a community care for others by Gina Grate Pottenger for Engage magazine

Rev. Gift Mtukwa
As lead pastor of the University Church of the Nazarene at Africa Nazarene University (ANU) in Nairobi, Kenya, Gift Mtukwa receives visits from many people in the church and the surrounding community who hope the church will give them something.
"Every Sunday I would leave the pulpit and people would say, 'Pastor, I don't have this, I don't have that,'" he says.
He sees it as a mindset of dependence. His pastoral team, which includes three other part-time pastors, is trying to engender in the people the ability to solve their own problems and care for their own needs, and then mature to the point where they are oriented toward helping others.
"We teach people that we are not just here for what we can get; we are here because we love God. We should not come expecting to get, but to come to see what we can give."
The church was first planted by Mtukwa, a theology lecturer at the university, and a team of leaders in 2008 because, although there were chapel services during the school year, there was no permanent church presence when school was not in session. The church plant at first struggled to attract people from the community because they thought a church on a university would only be made up of highly educated people. They didn't feel they could fit in.
The church plant team began to focus on ministering to the children in the community. Over time, those children brought their parents. So the church began to grow. Today it averages about 200 people weekly for worship.
Mtukwa and his other three pastors have seen a gradual change in the thinking of the congregation, many of whom at first came to the church primarily for handouts. He recalls one woman who used to live in a dilapidated house that badly needed repairs. After being part of the church for some time, she was motivated to take the initiative to fix the structural issues.
"She did the things that she could do. For the most part you can see that her life is actually transformed," Mtukwa said. "She took ownership of her problems. I think that's very important for us to see that we are helping people realize they have what it takes to provide for themselves, they don't have to seem helpless. But also seeing how can they be of help to other people."
As part of the church's efforts to transform the community around ANU, it launched a compassionate ministry. The church family was challenged to buy extra items whenever they shop for groceries and bring them to the church. In this way they started a food ministry, so that they can provide food to families who are truly in need. The congregation are so dedicated to this ministry that they are running it themselves, without involvement from the pastors.
They also began providing breakfast before Sunday worship services, because they realized that many children who came to the church had not yet eaten that day. Some of the adults are now joining in the breakfast as well.
The church became aware that there were many teenagers in the community whose parents didn't have the fees to enroll them in secondary school, which unlike primary school is not free. If the teens don't complete secondary school, they will never be able to go to a university. So the church got together to create a scholarship fund, and are sponsoring three youth.
Through Mtukwa's experiences with the culture of dependence around the church, he decided to study the theology of work for his PhD thesis, which he is doing through Nazarene Theological College, in Manchester, UK. The thesis will center on 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-15, in which Paul says that people who do not work should not eat, and discourages idleness.
"I'm asking the question, is there more to what Paul is saying than just to provide for themselves. What role does work play, what role does it play in his theology, in the life of the community of faith."
Solid, well-grounded theological education is critical to the future of the church in Africa, he says. That's his motivation for teaching and training pastors at ANU, and continuing his own education.
"If the church is actually growing in Africa as the missiologists say, my question is what kind of Christianity will that be? Is it going to be biblical Christianity or something else?
"I think training is very important. People need to be prepared for ministry before they actually do ministry. They can, of course, be trained on the job. They need to know the Bible, history of the church, theology and practices, how to do ministry. I see all that as an important part of preparing pastors."
Mtukwa says that due to lack of theological understanding, syncretism is a problem in Africa - people mix different pagan rituals and beliefs with the gospel. There are also cults which have taken root and deceived many.
He knows this particular danger personally. As a new believer, he went out into his city looking to buy his first Bible. He found a bookseller peddling Bibles, and he bought one and began studying it fervently. Then a Christian friend saw it and explained that it was a different version of the Bible, published by a cult. His friend went and found him a Christian Bible to study.
He doesn't want others to fall into deception and false beliefs.
"I want people to embrace biblical Christianity rather than Christianity mixed with traditional beliefs that are not centered on the Bible. I want to train people to read the Bible and to teach it to their communities, and have their lives changed and those that they teach as well."
He also wants African Christians to embrace a global, missional orientation.
"When the gospel was in Europe, they decided to take the gospel to other parts of the world. We need to say, how are we going to benefit the rest of the world with the gospel? Are we going to produce missionaries to go around the world to preach the gospel?"
PRAYER REQUESTS
Burundi
Pray for the central African country of Burundi. Our Nazarene missionaries there and the Field Strategy Coordinator are monitoring the situation and confirm they are OK. However, they are asking the Church to pray for both safety and peace. According to an Oct. 1 report from The Associated Press:
"The killings and arrests have triggered fear and uncertainty across this central African country that was already shaken from protests and a coup attempt earlier this year." 

Flooding in Sierra Leone
Freetown, Sierra Leone, experienced torrential rains and flooding in September. According to the Sierra Leone government on Sept. 16, the flooding devastated many settlements, caused four deaths and left many people injured and homeless.
The Church of the Nazarene has a strong presence in Freetown, and the locals have already gone through immense pain and uncertainty with the Ebola crisis. Please lift up these communities in your prayers.
Nazarene missionaries, Church leaders

Please remember to pray for Reverends Collin and Shireen Elliott, global missionaries from South Africa who moved this summer to assist ministries in the Asia-Pacific Region. We praise the Lord for their work and ask that he go before them in every effort they embark on and every relationship they develop.
Many other missionaries and church leaders are devoting their lives to spreading the love of God throughout Africa. We praise God for them and ask for his protection and peace in their lives.
Refugee crisis
We pray for refugees around the world who are fleeing violence and discrimination in their home countries. Experts are calling this the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. We pray for those who are fleeing and who are suffering. We pray that Nazarenes will open up our arms to those without a home and will help them through this desperate time.
Click on the following links to donate or to learn more:
Board of General Superintendents urges church response to refugee crisis
Eurasia Nazarenes assist during refugee crisis
Church ministers to refugees stranded in Hungary
ABOUT THE REGION

The Nazarene Church is in 42 countries in Africa, with more than 600,000 members in six fields.
What would you like to see in Out of Africa?
Email us at news@africanazarene.org.
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Holly Beech, editor
17 Botes Street

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa
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