Mupunda Church
What a wonderful Sunday with the believers at Mupunda. It is
so hard to describe the joy and oneness in Christ that I witnessed from this
church. We began with a communion service at 9:15am and I was able to give a
brief word form Colossians focused on the salvation that we have been blessed
with. This service was quickly followed by the main teaching service which then
extended through until close to 1pm!
I taught from 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 on “How to Protect the
Church” this precious bride of Christ. This was preceded by many hymns and then
the mandatory choir items – these people know how to sing! After my teaching
there was a special offering collected by the church. It was led from outside
the building by the Sunday School children coming in bringing gifts of food and
money all wrapped in cloths. This precession of children and then adults must
have continued for around 10 minutes. The songs were of great joy and they danced
as they came up the aisle of the church with gifts to give to the work of the
Lord.
The children were encouraged to be part of this because the
leaders of the church are focusing on needed teaching to the whole church on
how to give from the overflow of the heart – something many of these churches
have not focused on at all. The elders want all of the people to learn what it
is to give with a grateful heart to the Lord. Little did I know as all this was
happening, all the food that was coming in was for me to take back to
Samfya!! There was Kasava, ground nuts,
popcorn, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, maize meal... How humbling to receive this
from the overflow of their hearts – I must confess at times I had tears in my
eyes.
This church is alive! It is wonderful to see the evidence of
a strong children’s and youth ministry. The women’s ministry is excelling under
the leadership of a Samfya Bible School graduate. They are evangelising both
door to door and in the market place as they reach out to their community. These
people are clearly being taught well and love the Lord.
After the service we retired to the house of one of the
elders and waited for a most delicious meal to be served. Again their
hospitality was an amazing blessing! We had a discussion after the meal – I have
been in many of these before. This one was different – it was not just the
elders, but the deacons and the deaconesses as well. These people are working
together like I have never witnessed in a village church before – they love
each other and they love to serve the body!
The needs in a church like this continue to be resource
material for Sunday School, Youth work, Bibles... As you will see in the photos
they are also in the process of building a new church building – it is all made
of concrete block and the next job is to get a roof on the building. It is very
large but they need it, there were 317 people in the service today! If only I
had a supply of iron sheets I would give them – these people are not waiting
for handouts – they are actively working, doing the work of the Lord and also
building infrastructure to bless the people.
The old church building with the new building being constructed, visible in the background. They intend to use the old building for a skills training programme in carpentry and sewing!!
I would love to be able to pick you all up and bring you to
a church like this – it changes the way you think! Is the Bible Training
happening through Samfya worth it? There is no doubt. It has blessed this
church and their leaders are looking at the teacher training that the Bible
School will be running next year. Praise the Lord for His grace so active in
this place.
