Viewing our culture through scripture

The charge the apostle Paul gave to Titus about the tradition and conduct of the Cretans has been on my mind lately. Paul says to Titus, “One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1:12-13).

Every group of people has a set of beliefs and traditions that are contrary to the teaching of the Bible.  And these beliefs tend to be so imbedded in our fabric that they become our normal way of life. The Cretans were known for being liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons, and Paul writing to Titus urges him to rebuke them sharply and confront them with the truth of Scripture (sound doctrine) so that they may live according to the teaching of Scripture and not according to the unbiblical teaching of their culture and tradition taught by people who do not adhere to the truth of God’s Word.

Lying and hypocrisy

I may be pushing the generalization here, but it is safe to say lying is an acceptable vice in our society. Growing up, parents taught children how to lie by giving them threats that they never intended to follow through or instructing them to tell visitors they are not home when they are sleeping perfectly. How many times do people promise to make an appointment at a certain hour and show up an hour late? Schools have to battle exam malpractice because cheating is a common trend. People go to funerals and feign crying in order to keep up appearances, and when the majority of our political leaders speak, they promise heaven on earth and reality is screaming otherwise. Jesus made it very clear the devil is the father of liars (John 8:44), and those who are Christians must put off lying (Colossians 3:8-11).

Promiscuity

There is a saying in Bemba, “Ubuchende bwamwaume tabupwisha chupo,” meaning a man’s mischievous immoral behavior is not grounds for breaking a marriage. In other words it is normal and expected for men to live immoral lives because they are “men”. In fact when brides are being prepared for marriage they are taught to expect their husband to cheat on them, and they have to learn endurance and keep the home. This is wickedness, and as you would expect the Bible does not tolerate such nonsense. The Bible teaches that husbands must be selfless in loving their wives to the point of been willing to die for them (Ephesians 5:23-28); it teaches holiness and purity in the marriage (Hebrews 13:4), and it also gives adultery as grounds for divorce in cases where reconciliation is unattainable (Matthew 19:3-9).

The grace of God has appeared to all men teaching us to deny ungodliness

Thankfully, regardless of the culture and tradition we grow up in, there is no person who is beyond redemption. Paul’s words to Titus in the very next chapter should be an encouragement to all when he says, “ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).

Introducing Pastor Noah Chisenga and Cornerstone Baptist

This is a second in a series of three posts on the mission work and missionaries pastors of Faith Baptist church. This week I would like to introduce you to Faith Baptist’s second church plant, Cornerstone Baptist in Wusakile. 

Cornerstone Baptist Church is pastored by Noah Chisenga. The work begin as a bible study in 2009 and began holding Sunday services the following year. It became a church plant of Faith Baptist in the year 2011.

Noah Chisenga came to salvation in 1992 through the evangelistic efforts of Kwacha Union Baptist in Kitwe later become a member of the same in church. He sensed and answered the call to ministry in the 2006. He went for theological training the same year and graduated in 2008 at Fiwale. He later enrolled at Central Africa Baptist College in 2013 and is set to graduate this year.

The Chisenga's at their home in Wusakile

Noah is married to Rebecca Moyo Chisenga and the Lord has blessed them with 5 children Deborah, Abigail, Caleb, Joshua and Sovereign. Pastor Chisenga has a passion for evangelism and a heart for the youths. 

He has been involved in a number of church planting works namely Kawama, Sarbina and Mansa in Luapula province and later joined the leadership team at the Union Baptist in Luanshya. He got involved with the work of Cornerstone Baptist in 2013 under the leadership of Sandala Mwanje. Faith Baptist ordained and sent him as Missionary Pastor to Cornerstone in 2014.

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Cornerstone Church is currently meeting in a classroom at a primary school and are in the process of acquiring a piece of land where they can build their own auditorium. Our desire and plan is to finalize this process by the end of this month.

Please take time to pray for the Chisenga’s as they labor in Wusakile and also pray for the church to be a beacon of light in Wusakile and beyond. 

Meet Pastor Noah Mukwato

Faith Baptist Church is privileged to be involved in the work of church planting and by the grace of God, we have three mission points in Wusakile, Mindolo and Kalulushi and support two other mission points (Twatasha by Ganerton and Chantente by Kakolo) in partnership with other sister churches and in the coming weeks i plan to introduce you to the men and their families who are laboring in God’s vineyard. In this blog I will share with you the Lord’s doing in Mindolo, which is being pastored by Noah Mukwato.

Noah Mukwato gave his life to the Lord in 2008 through the efforts of door to door evangelism of Emmanuel Baptist Church, a church he later became a member of. After completing secondary school in 2009, he felt the call to ministry and enrolled at Central Africa Baptist College for theological training in the year 2010 and graduated in 2012.

Noah got involved with the work in Mindolo in the year 2010 when a missionary couple Dan and Kristy Elmer started a bible study in 2009 at their home. The Elmers left in 2011 and Noah continued having a bible study with the people. In 2012 Hector and Paola Garcia partnered with Noah in the work and later in the same year Faith Baptist Church adopted Mindolo as its mission point.

Noah Mukwato & Hector garcia

Noah then did his internship with Faith Baptist Church in 2013 for a year, and on 1st September 2013, the bible study become a church plant meeting at a school with an attendance of about 20 people on Sundays. Noah was ordained as the missionary pastor to Mindolo in 2014. He got married in July 2014 to Mwansa Mwewa Mukwato. They are blessed with a baby girl Gift Mukwato.

Noah, Mwansa and Gift

The Mindolo Church has since constituted membership, and their membership currently stands at 27 today. They are currently applying final touches to their church building. Pastor Noah is also in the process of training three men for the leadership roles praying the Lord would call some to be elders in the church.

We thank God for his faithfulness and goodness in the work in Mindolo and for using so many people in different ways to grow the church in Mindolo. Please take time to pray for the Mukwatos as they minister in Mindolo for encouragement, boldness in proclaiming the gospel and provisions for their various needs, and pray for the church in Mindolo as well.

THE CHRISTIAN AND WORK CULTURE

When you look at the number of Christians who are in formal employment and take a casual glance at people’s curriculum vitae’s you will be left with an impression that our country is full of dedicated, trustworthy and hardworking people. The CVs all claim the person has amazing personal attributes. I.e. hardworking, sober minded, focused, honest, organized, creative, punctual and can work with minimum supervision etc.

If the Christians in employment are true to their faith and the CVs are anything to go by then our countries work culture should be unrivaled. Companies and institutions must be beaming with faithful, dedicated and committed employees. But alas! The opposite is true. Despite the CVs and the many Christians in employment our work culture is nothing short of a scandal. People are desperate for employment and are willing to go to any length to get a job, however when the job is acquired it is puma leisure! How then must Christians work? The bible has quite a bit to say about the matter.

Do not be lazy

We ignore the warning in Proverbs to our own peril. The wise man declares:

The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!’ As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly” (Proverbs 26:13-16).

Lazy people always have a reason and an excuse to not carry out their responsibilities. They always want to put off their work to tomorrow and end up doing nothing. Lazy people are also always in action but never accomplish anything, they are like a door on its hinges that keeps moving but never gets anywhere. Furthermore though ever “busy” lazy people are far from productive and always leave work half done. And this is clearly evident in companies, organizations and worse off government institutions. The amount of time it takes to get someone to append their signature and date stamp to a paper makes you wonder what they do in the offices. When you walk in some offices the files are up to the roof! And to make matters worse people are constantly demanding money for giving a service that they are already paid for! This behavior is not laziness but criminal as well.

Work heartily as to the Lord

That is the charge in Colossians 3:24. And the idea is you should put your all heart in whatever work you are doing. It must not be halfhearted or just merely going through the motions. And this is where attitude comes in. The attitude and facial expressions of people in work places is frightening. They are not interested in what they’re doing and appear upset that you walked in to buy their service or product. And when they do get round to attending to your needs it’s as good as doing it yourself. No heart, no conviction and no joy in the work. The other thing Paul says in Colossians is the fact that for Christians their labor is to the Lord and not to man. They are to remember that they are stewards who will give an account for the work they do. And the fact that their service is to the Lord who sees the heart and all things, it means we need to have a biblical view and attitude towards work and remember to be faithful at all times.

Conclusion

With so many Christians in employment and the CVs that speak highly of workers why do we still have this terrible work culture? One thing is for sure we are liars and write things we are not true on our CVs. Secondly, we could be a generation of Christians who simply not influenced by the biblical worldview and lastly and more alarming maybe we are not Christians at all. We simply carry the name Christian and have not being transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ that radically changes people inside-out and affects not only their relationships but their work culture as well. What does your work culture say about your master?

Four Reasons why we avoid discipleship

“An important mark of a healthy church is a pervasive concern for church growth as growth is prescribed in the Bible. That means growing members, not just numbers. Some today think that a person can be a “baby Christian” for a whole lifetime. Growth is treated as an optional extra for zealous disciples. But growth is a sign of life. If a tree is alive, it grows. If an animal is alive, it grows. Being alive means growing, and growing means increasing and advancing, at least until death intercedes” [1]

This is where discipleship in the local church and our relationships comes in. Biblical discipleship means growing in the likeness of Christ and encouraging and helping others to do the same. For those who have not come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, it begins with sharing the gospel with them. Biblical discipleship in short is relational. The old cliché is correct, its “life touching life”. So if biblical discipleship and growth is essential to the health of the church why is it scarce in churches? And why do we avoid getting in discipleship focused relationships?

Biblical discipleship is time consuming

Training someone requires time, especially if your own life has to be an example to them. This is particularly harder in an extremely busy society and a self-centered one for that matter. It is even harder in a program driven church where meaningful relationships are not as important. Fellowship is reduced to a program or a service. We are content with meeting each other on Sundays and claiming we love each other when in actual fact we never share our lives, we never challenge each other to grow, we never keep each other intentionally accountable and consequently we never spur one another towards love and good works. Biblical discipleship requires time.

Biblical discipleship makes you vulnerable

As we spend time with each other our lives are soon opened up to other Christians and they get to know the real us. They see us in our weak moments, they see us respond to pressure, they will know that we are not as perfect as we portray when we put on our best behavior at the church programs and meetings. Committing to invest your life in others and spend time with them is committing to be vulnerable and transparent. It is committing to truly live out the command in James to confess your sins to one another. Biblical discipleship makes you vulnerable.

Biblical discipleship requires energy

Relationships are tiring and they can be messy. Relationships also require effort to begin and maintain. It is far much easier to organize and run programs than it is to maintain a discipleship relationship. It is even costly at times. As you invest your time and open your life to people you find yourself exerting lots of energy and it can be emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually draining. No wonder we would rather build fences around our lives and protect ourselves from the messy, exhausting and yet richly rewarding relationships.

Biblical discipleship ensures you do not necessary receive the praise

Just like the majority of ministry, biblical discipleship is done in the background. It is away from the eyes of the world and all that is seen is growth in others, unless the person you are discipling or worse off yourself waxes eloquent about the impact you have had in their lives, the world will never know. For a people who thrive on praise and acknowledgment we struggle with the idea that we can invest in the life of someone and see them grow and the Lord gets the glory. Biblical discipleship removes the focus on us and puts it where it should be, namely the glory of God!

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[1] Leeman Jonathan. Growing one another. Crossway Wheaton, Illinois: 2012.