Dear praying friends,

I may have told you about an interesting day I spent with some Lutheran pastors a few weeks back in Mbeya. Some struggled very much with the idea of a salvation they did not deserve, but in the end, most got the message. One man who really got it invited me to his church to teach their “fellowship group”. They are not far from Tukuyu, south of Mbeya. I had two opportunities there, and by the second day, all except one blind man (as far as I could tell) were convinced. Please pray for him—Eli.  The same went for two other churches in Kyela, including one right on the border with Malawi. It is often in the follow-up session (e.g., on a Sunday afternoon, after the morning service) that the penny really drops. Before that, many are rather “non-plussed”. The small group sessions I had with one lovely Mbeya pastor appeared fruitful.

I have not had all the time I expected to have with the Moravians, which has been a disappointment, although I have done some work with them, and had a couple of sessions on their radio. But one night recently I met a very different type of Moravian, Pastor Emanuel Mahembo, down from Dar. Immaculately dressed in his Roman Catholic shirt and dog collar, he rolled up to check in at where I happened to be spending the night in Tukuyu. I asked the reception people to follow him up for me, and he readily agreed to meet with me that night for an hour’s Bible study (Just imagine doing that in Australia!). He was absolutely open—and to a gospel he had never heard before—and within that hour he was fully convinced. He went away with the workbook. His immediate reaction was to promise to organise a meeting in Dar with some of his fellow pastors there. Next week, I’ll be passing through Dar again on my return from Burundi, and we expect to meet up. So please be praying for that. And pray too, if you would, for other planned work to actually take place.

Another “fellowship group” that I met with in a big Lutheran Church in Rwanda, Mbeya, was quite a flop. The pastor was already on side and made that clear. But not most of the people. The morning group were more teachable. Do keep praying: it’s always a battle.

Here in Burundi, I have just completed a series of five 2-hour sessions on weeknights (5.00 pm to 7.00 pm) with a conference organised by reformed students of Ian MacIver, from Brisbane, who teaches at the African Reformed Theological Seminary in Kampala, Uganda. This coming week, Wednesday and Thursday, they have organised another conference where I teach for two days (Wednesday and Thursday). Please pray that both these conferences might have a wide influence here, especially with the pastors who will have attended. Those who attended the first conference were incredibly willing to bow to God’s words. It was really refreshing to be with them.

The Provincial Secretary of the Burundian Anglican Church here kindly welcomed me to lead the morning devotions in their office from Tuesday to Friday. At first, some of them found it a challenge to work in a disciplined way through a passage of Scripture, but so far (we are still going) some appear to have benefitted.

Please be praying especially through this next week. I am told that there is no reformed or even Presbyterian church here. Although the Anglicans have an evangelical heritage, in practice (at least, from the little taste I’ve had so far) it appears to be threats of condemnation that are supposed to bring good fruit, rather than the Holy Spirit and the “no-condemnation” message of the gospel. (The same goes, by the way, for the Pentecostal church I was with this morning). Anyway, the Anglicans want me to work a lot more with them, including with their Theological Education by Extension (TEE) programme.

Thanks to everyone for your praying.
John.