Sam, Amethyst and I visited the village of Nyangoma. You may remember a previous post about a trip where I went to prepare the ground with Pastor Paul. (This village is Pastor Paul’s home village.) We set out for a three day trip doing ministry in this area. From the previous trip we gathered that the church leaders would like seminars on topics addressing issues with leaders, couples, youth, women and the general congregation. They also wanted topics to be addressed such as false teachings, how to minister without having financial means, unity/universal church, eschatology/end times and a few other topics.
When I came home from the preparation trip before this visit I was thinking to myself that there are way too many topics to talk about and not enough time! Before the trip we sat down with Pastor Paul to prepare the speaking times and to finalize content for the speaking topics. We scheduled for ministry from 9:00am to 4:00pm each day. That is a lot of ministry!
The preparations necessary for a trip like this can be tiresome. We had to arrange to rent vehicle as we’re still waiting on the Lord for a capable 4WD. Well after a full morning of negotiating the day before we arranged and finalized an agreeable price. Whew! Three hours of discussing felt like a full day of work!
Well it was time to leave and Amethyst wasn’t feeling well in her back and both she and Sam were suffering from eating or drinking something. But they pressed on knowing that their small personal sufferings we worth overcoming for the sake of ministering to these people. We ended up leaving two hours late and didn’t arrive until three hours after we had planned. A quick team meeting determined we would talk on the same subjects but cut the time in half which worked out for God’s glory.
Each person ministered on their subject and then we offered time after for discussion and/or questions. Everyone greatly appreciated the time of ministry and enjoyed the time of discussion. It seemed that each message somewhat corresponded or built upon the previous subject despite having such diverse speaking topics. The amazing thing was that none of us really spent time collaborating with another.
After spending time in ministry we found out something even more amazing. Each of the topics we spoke on addressed a current issue within the church. All of this occurred without our prior knowledge. Of course we were given speaking topics but the delivery and content of each topic was God ordained and Holy Spirit directed.
On the second day of ministry some of the church leadership approached Pastor Paul and wondered if we had been talking to some of the villagers about the current village health. Pastor Paul didn’t even know the details of the current spiritual climate and it was his own village. The church leadership was so impressed with the work God was doing. When we found out all of the issues we concluded that only God could allow us to minister at such a time as this.
It was told to us that one of the main church leaders was considering joining the Branhamist Church which teaches that if one does not worship at Branhamist Church that they are not saved, they also teach that polygamy is acceptable and that a variety of other sinful practices are okay so long as they attend the Branhamist Church. Furthermore, they deny the Trinity and maintain that only Branhamist followers will go to heaven.
This leader is very influential within the community and the church. He could potentially cause the church to split and also the village. The people were very happy to hear our messages about unity, following after God, humbleness, leading by example, considering others greater than ourselves and the many other topics discussed. God allowed us to minister words of encouragement that spoke directly to the issues. Pastor Paul was amazed at how powerful the ministry was and he suggested that we possibly saved the church and the village from spiritual decay.
We also found out that the church leader considering breaking away and joining the Branhamist Church had a wife that fell very ill. She was suffering from a sickness where she had barely any strength to walk or stand. As an opportunity to show the love of God to him, we went down the side of the mountain to his house to pray over his wife. He and his wife were very happy to have us pray. After leaving his house Sam, Amethyst and I felt that he was allowing his wife to be sick because of his decisions to not follow Christ. It wasn’t the wrath of God that was making his wife sick but because of his invitation of evil, we felt that might be why she became sick.
Together we are all believing for a rapid recovery of his wife and that his soul would be restored from his sinful ways. We are praying that God preserves the church and that the members would follow God and not a man. Our parting message was, “No matter what, God is the provider of all things not man. If they follow God’s word and seek His kingdom first, all things will be added unto them. We also left them with the teaching that God will only use those who pursue righteousness and humility.
Everyone was greatly blessed and we felt the presence of the Lord. God visits at the right time. We need to be faithful to position ourselves to hear from God. There is nothing extraordinary or amazing about our time. The only thing that really mattered was making ourselves available to minister and being faithful to follow God. Jesus did the rest. God move in a mighty way and we are blessed to be a part of what God is doing in the remote villages of the DR Congo.
When I came home from the preparation trip before this visit I was thinking to myself that there are way too many topics to talk about and not enough time! Before the trip we sat down with Pastor Paul to prepare the speaking times and to finalize content for the speaking topics. We scheduled for ministry from 9:00am to 4:00pm each day. That is a lot of ministry!
The preparations necessary for a trip like this can be tiresome. We had to arrange to rent vehicle as we’re still waiting on the Lord for a capable 4WD. Well after a full morning of negotiating the day before we arranged and finalized an agreeable price. Whew! Three hours of discussing felt like a full day of work!
Well it was time to leave and Amethyst wasn’t feeling well in her back and both she and Sam were suffering from eating or drinking something. But they pressed on knowing that their small personal sufferings we worth overcoming for the sake of ministering to these people. We ended up leaving two hours late and didn’t arrive until three hours after we had planned. A quick team meeting determined we would talk on the same subjects but cut the time in half which worked out for God’s glory.
Each person ministered on their subject and then we offered time after for discussion and/or questions. Everyone greatly appreciated the time of ministry and enjoyed the time of discussion. It seemed that each message somewhat corresponded or built upon the previous subject despite having such diverse speaking topics. The amazing thing was that none of us really spent time collaborating with another.
After spending time in ministry we found out something even more amazing. Each of the topics we spoke on addressed a current issue within the church. All of this occurred without our prior knowledge. Of course we were given speaking topics but the delivery and content of each topic was God ordained and Holy Spirit directed.
On the second day of ministry some of the church leadership approached Pastor Paul and wondered if we had been talking to some of the villagers about the current village health. Pastor Paul didn’t even know the details of the current spiritual climate and it was his own village. The church leadership was so impressed with the work God was doing. When we found out all of the issues we concluded that only God could allow us to minister at such a time as this.
It was told to us that one of the main church leaders was considering joining the Branhamist Church which teaches that if one does not worship at Branhamist Church that they are not saved, they also teach that polygamy is acceptable and that a variety of other sinful practices are okay so long as they attend the Branhamist Church. Furthermore, they deny the Trinity and maintain that only Branhamist followers will go to heaven.
This leader is very influential within the community and the church. He could potentially cause the church to split and also the village. The people were very happy to hear our messages about unity, following after God, humbleness, leading by example, considering others greater than ourselves and the many other topics discussed. God allowed us to minister words of encouragement that spoke directly to the issues. Pastor Paul was amazed at how powerful the ministry was and he suggested that we possibly saved the church and the village from spiritual decay.
We also found out that the church leader considering breaking away and joining the Branhamist Church had a wife that fell very ill. She was suffering from a sickness where she had barely any strength to walk or stand. As an opportunity to show the love of God to him, we went down the side of the mountain to his house to pray over his wife. He and his wife were very happy to have us pray. After leaving his house Sam, Amethyst and I felt that he was allowing his wife to be sick because of his decisions to not follow Christ. It wasn’t the wrath of God that was making his wife sick but because of his invitation of evil, we felt that might be why she became sick.
Together we are all believing for a rapid recovery of his wife and that his soul would be restored from his sinful ways. We are praying that God preserves the church and that the members would follow God and not a man. Our parting message was, “No matter what, God is the provider of all things not man. If they follow God’s word and seek His kingdom first, all things will be added unto them. We also left them with the teaching that God will only use those who pursue righteousness and humility.
Everyone was greatly blessed and we felt the presence of the Lord. God visits at the right time. We need to be faithful to position ourselves to hear from God. There is nothing extraordinary or amazing about our time. The only thing that really mattered was making ourselves available to minister and being faithful to follow God. Jesus did the rest. God move in a mighty way and we are blessed to be a part of what God is doing in the remote villages of the DR Congo.
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