27 July 2005

Thanks for praying for our children!

27th July 2005

Greetings from Luanshya!

It was very exciting last week to listen to the Sunday School children quote the memory verses from the last term. The "champion" was Nancy Chanda, the oldest of our Lighthouse Children's Home wards. She has come an incredible distance from when she first entered our lives. Not only is she growing physically and academically, but also growing spiritual and for that we are extremely grateful to all those who have had a part in the Lighthouse ministry! Please continue to pray for the Sunday School program and the children who attend.

Colin returns from school later this week. We are looking forward to a positive school report. We are also looking forward to having some time with our son during the month of August. Pray for Colin as he prepares for more final exams in the next term. Pray for continued healing of his leg. Pray for his future plans as he begins to examine lasting life choices.

Friday evening the College and Career group will meet. They will be studying Daniel 5 and the events which led to the downfall of Babylon. Pray for lessons to be learned and prideful attitudes to be reconsidered.

This coming Sunday I will be in one of the rural vernacular churches to share the Word of God. Pray for those whom the Holy Spirit is preparing. Pray that souls may be saved and lives changed.

We have received several hundred lessons for the Source of Light Bible Correspondence School. This replenishes the stock that has been dealt out over the last three months. Once these boxes are opened, we will place the next order. Thank you for praying for the safe arrival of this shipment. We will be adding a couple new children's' series in the next month. Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will reap many young souls.

Finally, please pray for the situation with the ongoing teacher's strike in Luanshya. Exams begin in the government schools as early as October. Children have the month of August off as a school break meaning that they only have this week and the month of September to prepare. Many of the children are showing desperate signs of concern as failing this exam literally sets them back an entire year and some will never return to school because of this situation. These exams will affect the grade 7 and grade 9 students. Please pray!

We sincerely appreciate the part you play in this ministry both in
prayer and finances.

In His Service,
Patrick & Sherry

What are "Unreached" People Groups?

Christians, it seems, are focused on "catch phrases" in their personal ministries.

When I was in Bible College (several decades ago) a sweet, old lady asked me if I had heard of "the Spirit-filled life." I cautiously answered that I had and she was so excited that I had read "Dr. Ihavethenewesttrend's" book on the SFL. (Yes, she used the initials.) When I told her that I not only had not read the book, but had never heard of Dr. Ihavethenewesttrend, she was deeply offended. She did, however, offer to buy me the book.

She did. I read it. It was good, but the concept of living a Spirit-filled life did not start from him. He just put it into "catch phrases" that made it easy for us to remember.

Other "catch phrases" have come into focus over the years. I did not know anything about the "10-40 window." I thought perhaps it was where people met for their morning coffee break until I found out that I actually lived IN the "10-40 window." (I am at about 13˚ S.)

I have the books on fresh fire, the prayer of Jabez and all the "purpose-driven" programmes and really enjoy them. I have even used many – alright, MOST – of them in my teaching here in Zambia. There has never really been a problem with any of them. My friend, Jerry Thorpe, advised me to watch for "the bones" in these new and improved programmes. I have and generally found them quite useful. Several members of our church have really enjoyed "The Purpose Driven Life" and have shared it with their friends. I've read it several times myself.

Suddenly I have come across a new (at least to me) catch phrase. I was asked by a church if I was working with "unreached people groups." This seems to be the latest focus in churches. My reply to that request was (in true missionary form) "How do you define 'unreached' in your question?"

There has been a Gospel witness in Africa since the first century after Christ. Phillip led the Ethiopian to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ not long after the famous Pentecost encounter in Jerusalem. David Livingstone brought the Gospel to in his journeys to Central Africa 150 years ago. We have a book in our personal library by Daniel Crawford who described his ministry here in our part of the word 115 years ago. Has Zambia been "reached" yet? Hardly!

We have churches, assemblies, cathedrals and even "gospel tents" in Zambia. You can turn on the television on Saturday afternoon and watch almost any "flavour" of tele-evangelist. Benny Hinn and Earnest Angely have weekly broadcasts and Joyce Meiers is on the tube almost every night. We even have a Roman Catholic bishop who was married to a Japanese lady by "Rev" Moon. The Watch Tower Society has a huge following and even the LDS Mormons – racist though their theology may be – have moved into our town. Has Zambia been "reached" with the Gospel? Not even close.

The influx of religious "junk" has been misinterpreted by many people as considering Zambia – and much of the rest of Africa – "Christian." One former president of Zambia went so far as to "declare" Zambia to be a "Christian nation." The Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Satan all laughed. They knew better – and so do the Christians in Zambia.

Earlier this week a high school student came into the Christian Resource Centre that we have in Luanshya. The CRC is a library where Sherry and I have put several hundred of our books and have opened the room up to the public. Pastors, teachers and other church members are able to come in and read books that they could never afford to buy. We also have a Correspondence Bible School with almost 3,500 students who receive free Bible lessons. This young lady came in with her finished lesson, but the answers were a bit confusing. She goes to church "almost" every Sunday at a large church in our town with a bit of a different "flavour" than ours so I began asking her a few questions. It was not long before I realised that she not only did not know the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour, but she was more concerned about her standing in her church than she was about her standing before God. I gave her a small booklet to read and she promised to come back and talk to me. We'll see...

Was she "reached?" Certainly, but by the wrong people.

We are "reaching" the misdirected, misguided and misinformed. The same religious organisations that work in American neighbourhoods are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars evangelising the "developing world" while Christians (the REAL ones) are being duped into believing that the job is almost done. Money is rolling in from Salt Lake City to propagate the lie that "you can be a god." The Watch Tower Society has a plan to put a Kingdom Hall every five miles along the main roads in Zambia. In many villages the only permanent building in the whole village is the neat, clean, well-built Kingdom Hall, so the whole village gravitates to the "church" built by "our American friends."

Are they "reached?" Absolutely, but again, by the wrong people.

Are nice buildings the "answer" to reaching the world for Christ? No. The answer is still the one-to-one method set out by Christ in John 3. It is still the "foolishness of preaching" in 1 Corinthians 1:21 that bring a soul to a saving knowledge of the Saviour. Of course, a comfortable seat in a proper room never hurt the atmosphere. (Try turning off the air conditioning in your auditorium this Sunday and listen to the "compliments" you'll hear after the service.)

Ask a fire fighter when it is safe to walk away from a fire and he'll tell you, "When every spark is out." Ask a missionary when it is "safe" to walk away from a mission field and he'll tell you, "When every soul is reached…for the Gospel."

We can't leave the job unfinished.

Together in His Service,
Patrick Coleman
Re-reaching the Mis-reached in Zambia

20 July 2005

A Very Fruitful Week!

20th July 2005

Greetings from Luanshya!

Early this week we received a letter from one of the young men that we have helped over the last several years. He has now completed high school and is currently working in the capitol city, Lusaka, to save money for college. In his letter he thanked us not only for making it possible for him to complete school but for helping him in his spiritual life as well. He said, "I don't feel comfortable calling you Dr. & Mrs. Coleman after all you have done for me. I feel more like calling you mom
and dad." Please pray for this young man and for the others that we are helping at the Lighthouse Children's Home.

Sunday morning I travelled to a rural church. I arrived just after 9 o'clock for the service that was to start at 9:30. Being a village church, the service started closer to 10:30. We still had a good meeting and I spoke on the free gift of salvation. Following the service one young man who had been attending the church for a few weeks came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Several others let it be
known that they had to follow the Lord in Scriptural baptism. It was a great morning. I returned home tired but excited at the fruit God had harvested. Please pray for this rural church and for the young believers in the congregation.

The Christian Resource Centre has been busy all week. Some days children are waiting at the door nearly an hour before we open. Teachers in Luanshya and elsewhere in the country have gone on strike. This is almost an annual occurrence. While we sympathize with the plight of the teachers, we are very concerned that the students are not going to be sufficiently prepared for their year-end exams. The students are as frustrated about missing class as the teachers are at not receiving a liveable wage. Please pray for the teachers and students as this issue is sorted out.

Sherry had a visit from the young lady who had been attacked and raped. The young lady is very confused. Both her parents are deceased and she is living with extended family members who seem to be less than sympathetic or helpful with her situation. Please pray especially for this sixteen-year-old girl and for Sherry as she continues to counsel her.

The Sunday School at Fellowship Chapel will be having their Memory Verse Competition this week. All the children are working feverishly at memorizing-or re-memorizing their verses from the last 13 weeks. Some of the children reported back to Sherry that they were sure God was working in their lives because the Holy Spirit had brought some of the verses back to their mind when talking with their friends at school. How exciting to see the youngsters using the lessons and scriptures in their
daily lives! Pray for the children.

The fruit of the harvest here is possible because of the faithfulness of our partners who are praying for us. Thank you for remembering us!

In His Service,
Patrick & Sherry

Dr. Patrick & Sherry Coleman
P.O. Box 90010
Luanshya, Zambia Africa

http://www.colemanministry.org
tel: (h) 260-2-510033 (w) 260-2-512359
or (w) 260-2-512539 (fax) 260-2-510718
cell: (Sherry) 260-96-780112
cell: (Patrick) 260-96-780113

13 July 2005

News from Zambia - 13th July 2005

13th July 2005

 

Greetings from Luanshya!

 

Last Sunday morning, at the "Caddy Chapel", there were five new young men who attended the Bible study. Some of these men have not been to church in a long time and their work precludes them from attending any service on a Sunday. The opportunity to go to them, before they begin their work on Sunday morning, gives me access to men who would otherwise have limited gospel exposure at all. One of the men said that he had a lot of questions about the Bible and Abel, one of the first to attend several weeks ago, said, "Dr. Coleman can help you find the answers." Please pray for these men as we seek for answers from the Word of God.

 

The Sunday School lesson this past weekend dealt with "Everyone Is Important." The emphasis was on the need for the boys and girls not to discriminate as to with which they will or will not share the gospel in their daily lives. An example from scripture was Philip speaking with the Ethiopian eunuch after having shared the good news of Jesus Christ in Samaria, an undesirable group to the Jew. Pray for the next lesson which will deal with "All Are Important" focusing on the scriptures of Acts 10:1-48...when Peter is confronted by the Lord and embarks on a ministry to the Gentiles.

 

After the service on Sunday, I was stopped by a young man named Chileshe. He is a schoolteacher in one of the local government school in town. He has been attending the chapel off and on for the last couple of months. He had some questions about his spiritual condition. We met on Monday afternoon and after talking for nearly an hour, Chileshe said, "I've been to church, I've been baptized, but I have no idea that I would go to heaven if I died right now. Can you tell me how I can know?" It was my privilege to show him, from the Word of God, how he could receive eternal life. Today Chileshe is a brother in Christ. I will be speaking with his wife later this week. Please pray for this young family.

 

This afternoon we had a visit from John and Sarah. They were in from their village school in Masaiti for a medical checkup. It sounds like they are experiencing the joy of the Lord and are pleased to be in the center of His will at this point in time. I recently found a box of flannel graph figures and backgrounds that John will take back with them so he and Sarah can use them in their student Bible studies. In an age where most North American Sunday Schools are going to video and PowerPoint presentations, flannel graph is still modus operandi where there is no technology or electricity available. Continue to pray for John and Sarah as they serve the Lord in the harvest fields of Zambia.

 

Sherry had an opportunity to talk with the leader of the local Scripture Union Club of Luanshya Girls High School. Apparently a young girl, at the school, was raped some months back. She is now expecting a child. Sherry has been requested to avail herself to this young girl for spiritual and emotional counseling during the week. Please pray for her and this young lady.

 

The College and Career Class will be looking at Daniel 4 this Friday evening-"A Sovereign God Rules." We are not accustomed to our national leaders describe their sins in public. That is why Daniel 4 is such an unusual chapter. Nebuchadnezzar, the great, proud, power king of Babylon writes a letter to the world describing, in detail, how God humiliated him for seven years then graciously restored him. Pray for the young people as they look at this situation and apply it to their lives.

 

We appreciate your prayers on our behalf.

 

In His Service,

Patrick & Sherry

 

Dr. Patrick & Sherry Coleman

P.O. Box 90010

Luanshya, Zambia Africa

 

http://www.colemanministry.org

tel: (h) 260-2-510033 (w) 260-2-512359

or (w) 260-2-512539 (fax) 260-2-510718

cell:  (Sherry) 260-96-780112

cell: (Patrick) 260-96-780113