With your support pastors like Gerald Muriungi will train for a life of service in rural Kenya.

 

Although I do not come from a Christian family, since my childhood I have always envisioned a life of service to God. But how could this happen? Training was not possible. My church is too small to send me to study at a Bible college.

 

In September 2015 I saw an advertisement inviting people with a ministry call to apply for a scholarship to study the word of God for free. I immediately sent my application and was admitted.

 

To be able to study the Bible is a miracle

 

My name is Gerald Muriungi. I am a second year diploma student. Coming to the Word of Life School of Theology in Kianjai was a miracle. I am here on a full scholarship. The Word of Life School of Theology offers sponsored training to equip many leaders from all local church denominations. But the most encouraging thing this college does is supply text books for all Bible students.

 

The need for books is dire

 

The ten-volume Bible Training Centre for Pastors African Leadership Manual we use for the two-year part-time diploma course is supplied through a grant from SparkLit. You are doing a commendable work helping to equip ministers of the gospel and church leaders in Kenya. I am so glad to share part of the blessing you provide by your support of this Bible school.

 

On behalf of the 20 students in our class who benefit from your assistance, I wish to express our innermost thanks for you and for your love of Christ.

 

Please pray that we will win souls to Him and equip the saints for the work of the kingdom. Pastors in Africa are desperate for training and in dire need of Christian literature. Please continue to meet this crucial need as the Lord enables you.

 

 

Pastor Gerald Muriungi is a diploma student at the Word of Life School of Theology in Kianjai, Kenya.

 

$80 will enable a pastor to train for two years by providing the ten-volume African Leadership Manual.

You can help leaders like Pastor Li prepare a new generation of workers for long-term ministry.

 

I graduated from Bible School over a decade ago. I have faithfully served as a church leader day in and day out; always striving to do a good job. I work hard for the Lord. I am trying to obey his will and to develop the ministry of the church. I am clear about God’s calling for me, yet I grow more and more perplexed under heavy work pressures. I do not know how to manage my time. I struggle to set a good example for my congregation. My love and patience are wearing thin. I am exhausted, both physically and mentally. I have learned that busyness alone achieves nothing.

 

Long on knowledge but short on character

 

We young pastors might be rich in theological knowledge but this knowledge has not always increased the quality of our spiritual life or made us effective leaders. However, reading Leading from the Heart: Six Leadership Essentials has invigorated my work. This book says that when a leader is clear about his calling and mission, and is on good terms with God, then he should proceed, following God’s plan. If we can do that, the burden is a light one.

 

I have come to understand more about my calling. Now I know that God builds my character as my relationship with him develops. This takes time. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)

 

Too busy not to pray

 

I now have a vision and determination for my work. No matter how busy or tired we are, we must regularly and deliberately spend time with God. This is the secret to a sustainable ministry. As a full-time church worker, I am very excited to have read this book. I have learned how to better serve God’s people, by putting knowledge into practice. I am able to manage my time effectively and work with my team to lead our congregation. Reading the Bible, going on retreats and arranging gatherings with my team and small groups allows us to grow together.

 

Local writers with local understanding

 

We have started using Leading from the Heart in our discipleship training. The church is responsible for passing on its mission. We must prepare Christians to spread the Gospel and drive the church’s growth. We must nurture the spiritual leaders who will take our place. The prospects are bright for a church that makes disciples who make disciples.

 

Leading from the Heart is especially relevant to us because it is written by Chinese church leaders with local experience and understanding. They integrate management techniques and leadership theory, examples from the Scriptures and real-life, Chinese-specific applications.

 

Please pray that this book will empower pastors to serve the church in China. Pray that the Lord will give us the wisdom to serve with all our heart, for his glory!

 

 

Pastor Li pastors a church in rural China.

 

$22,000 will provide a copy of Leading from the Heart by Otto Lui and Lau Chung Ming to 4,500 graduates from 45 training centres.

You can equip young leaders like Mukuza Zihalirwa to serve growing churches.

 

I was a child when I decided to ­dedicate my life to telling people about Jesus Christ so that they might come to him. While I was at school I promised God that I would serve him. I knew that this was my calling.

 

Once a month an Anglican pastor came to Luhwinja and preached outdoors. This led to a small gathering of people. Soon there was a need for a lay leader to start a new Anglican church. When I finished secondary school the pastor proposed that I lead this new congregation. In early 2015 I was made a catechist.

 

Training for growth

 

My name is Mukuza Zihalirwa. I am 24 years old and am married to Vanessa. We have one child. The members of my congregation are very poor. They must do so many things and work so hard to keep their lives going. The new congregation began meeting in our home. As there is no ordained pastor we do not receive Holy Communion.
To learn to be a pastor I was sent to Bukavu Bible Institute. Three times a year I travel to Bukavu to complete a one-month training module. The trip takes several hours in a vehicle as well as walking. Another catechist was appointed to look after the congregation while I study in Bukavu. Thanks to your generosity the library has many books including dictionaries, commentaries and introductions, and I have my own copy of the Africa Bible Commentary.

 

Books open my mind

 

Books have opened my mind to things I had never thought or learnt about before. While reading The Bible Explained I was excited to learn about the Apostle John who was given a revelation from God to pass on to his people. I had not understood this passage before. Now I can better understand and apply the Bible as I prepare to preach and teach our congregation. Books will help me to pass on God’s revelation in the Bible to my people. While in Bukavu I can use the library and when I return to Luhwinja I have my own Africa Bible Commentary.

 

Leading and longing

 

Our congregation now has 45 members. We were able to buy an unused church building. It is old and the corrugated iron on the roof is starting to leak and fall off but it can hold 300 people. A third catechist has been appointed. He is the director of the local Anglican school. We work as a team.

 

I long to see my church grow and develop as the congregation learns more about God.

 

Please pray that I will finish my studies at Bukavu Bible Institute and have the opportunity to study theology at tertiary level. Pray that my wife may also receive training. Pray that others from my church might train as evangelists.

 

 

Mukuza Zihalirwa is a catechist and student at Bukavu Bible Institute, Anglican Diocese of Bukavu, DR Congo.

 

$45 will provide a pastor or theological student with a copy of the Africa Bible Commentary.

You can help Dith Savy touch hearts and minds with books written by Cambodian Christians.

 

My husband’s family closed their eyes and spoke to someone I couldn’t see. “What are you doing?” I asked.

 

“We are praying to the Lord Jesus.”

 

I looked at my husband Sal with horror. I had married a Christian! We could all be killed for this. I was bound to honour my mother’s choice of a husband. But how could I possibly live with this man?

 

Do you have a daughter?

 

On the track leading south from our village my mother was greeted by a stranger. “Do you have a daughter?”

 

This was peculiar—but then we lived in peculiar times. “I have four daughters” my mother replied. My mother invited the stranger home and showed her photos.

 

“Last night I prayed for a wife for my son. In a dream God showed me the path to this village.” The woman took the four photos home and arranged them on a table. Her family prayed. A son and daughter pointed to my photo. “This is God’s choice.” Their brother accepted the decision.

 

When the woman returned to our village to meet me she was appalled. To get rid of lice I had shaved my head. A hairless daughter-in-law was out of the question. The deal was off. When he heard the news, her son protested. “The hair will grow back!”

 

His mother was unmoved. “Well, go and see for yourself.”

 

He was shy. We exchanged a few words. We met a second time a year later on our wedding day. I noticed that he didn’t eat the food my family had offered to our Buddhist idols. I was seventeen years old.

 

My husband was different

 

I decided to be strong and defiant and resist this foreign religion. I ignored my husband’s talk about Jesus. I didn’t want to know. I was resentful and mean to him.

 

I compared my husband’s family to my own. My father was a despot, my mother a slave and their children silent. My husband and his family were generous and gentle. They listened to me patiently. Sal was not like my father. Despite my abuse of him he loved me. He told me I was beautiful.

 

Three months after moving to my husband’s village the Khmer Rouge killed my family. I was safe with my husband’s family but I felt alone and empty. My brother-in-law prayed with me and told me that Jesus could save me and give me hope. After three days I accepted Jesus.

 

I am no longer alone

 

My husband was forced to carry rocks. I worked in rice paddies. We saw each other once a month.

 

I missed my mother. One day while planting rice I was overwhelmed by sorrow. Expressing dissatisfaction or sadness was not permitted. Because it showed that a person might be unhappy with the regime, crying was fatal. So, I went into the forest to cry. For the first time I tried to pray. As I lay on the ground sobbing I felt a big hand touch me. My husband had told me many times that Jesus loves me but now I knew that God was with me. I no longer felt alone. Hope grew in my heart. I now knew that I could endure the chaos and the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge.

 

My brother-in-law had a Bible. He had removed the covers and hidden it in a pillow. I started to read the Bible and discovered that God speaks to us. I wanted to know everything that God says to us in the Bible.

 

How can I serve the Lord?

 

With the fall of Pol Pot we returned to Phnom Penh. I followed the example of my sister-in-law and trained to become a Sunday school teacher. A missionary saw me taking notes. She asked me to write lessons for teachers and students. I wrote eight volumes of lessons. Despite being crippled by rheumatoid arthritis I became an editor in 1993 and in 2004 began working with Fount of Wisdom publishing house. My testimony was published in 2004 and I am currently editing the Khmer edition of the New Bible Dictionary.

 

My husband is a pastor of the Khmer Evangelical Church and since 2001 I have been the president of its women’s ministry.

 

I love books. Books are so important because they can be read by present and future generations. Books transmit the experience of one generation to another.

 

Please pray that God will give me good health and wisdom so that the books I write and edit will be a blessing to many people.

 

God blessed me through my husband. God is good. All the time.

 

 

Dith Savy is married to Pastor Young Sal. She is president of the women’s ministry of the Khmer Evangelical Church and an editor with Christian publisher Fount of Wisdom.

 

$10,000 will enable the publication in Phnom Penh of five new books written in Khmer by local Christians.