This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. All right, it's a joy to be with you once again. And what I am doing is not my usual hat. I'm more of a preacher than someone who gives geography lessons or history lectures. But I will do that nonetheless. And as you will notice there on the screen, I'm dealing with the subject of the church in Africa. And before I go into it, next slide will be on my family there. And the reason why I've done that is yesterday I was quite touched during the question and answer session that quite a few questions were about my family, and that's very unusual. I go from place to place preaching, and apart from one or two old ladies during the cup of tea asking me about my family, Everyone else just wants the word of God and quickly get out of here. So I thought it would only make sense, especially in the light of that, for me to just quickly say one or two things about who's who. I will leave out the names because they will just overwhelm you. They are all African names, so there will just be quite a bit of confusion. But that's me there, and that's my wife. Now, I do need to say a quick thing about that picture. Our family right now is in that stage, as you can see, the age range, they're in their 20s and in different campuses of, you know, university or working somewhere else, that we rarely ever together. And last month, rather the month before in September, I was preaching somewhere outside the country, when they realized that everyone was at home except me. So they said, when you come back, we need to get a family picture. So that's the latest thing that has happened, all because they realized we were together for the first time after a very long time. So as I said, that's my wife, Felistas. And then half our children are adopted. The eldest is that girl there who is in her mid-30s. That's her husband and two grandchildren there. followed by this girl here who is working now. She just began working last month. We have a traditional practice back home in Africa that when your child gets his or her first job, the salary comes to you, the parents. Now, that's the way it is in theory. In practice, she simply buys you a gift. This girl really believed it, and she was saying, look, I've just begun in the middle of this month, so please, if I can do it next month, and we really had a big laugh about it, because it's not the whole salary that really counts, it's just a gift. So anyway, we're expecting the gift at the end of this month. And then is that gentleman there who is a biological first born. He's also working, at the moment is the only one at our home, so he's keeping my wife company while I am out here. and then comes that gentleman there who is currently in Cyprus. He was studying architecture, graduated, but because he went in first year, second semester, he's had to go back to do first year, first semester, and then he's coming home. So that's what he's doing right now, followed by this girl who graduated Last week, while I was in the UK, it was a major anticlimax for all of us, but they came up with the graduation day when it was a little too late, and I just made sure there was the kind of gift that made her immediately say, thank you, thank you, for answered prayer. So she's just graduated, and she's the one I was saying is working for Vodipokam at the moment, helping to look after his kids. And then lastly, I spoke about a son who's adopted and the only one at the moment who has not yet professed faith. So if you are to pray for him, please do so. Thankfully, although his name is a, a tongue twister in terms of a long African name because they have exactly the same name as our eldest son. We call him Biggie and we call him Small. So just remember Small. That's an English name, Small, when you pray for him. Okay, thank you. So at least you have some pictorial representation. Let's move on to Africa now. I put that verse there in order to give a sense of context when I'm sharing about either Zambia or Africa, and especially to do with the church. I'd like the churches that I'm sharing with to bear in mind that we're really talking about the Great Commission. That's the reason why I'm sharing. I'd like you to join your prayers with ours in the fulfillment of the great command that the Lord Jesus Christ has given us. So when I'm speaking, for instance, about economic poverty, I'm not so much just saying, look, pray that we might end up with the kind of wealth that is there in the West, because so what if you're comfortable and end up in hell? The issue rather is that we may have the means by which we can carry on the great commission that our Lord Jesus has given us. Hence the importance of that phrase. We were just singing about Jesus Christ's resurrection, the triumph that he has done, and clearly that's so that all authority might be given to him, and then he's given us the task of going to make disciples of all nations. Some of those nations are in Africa. and we ought to join hands to achieve that and see the churches established and consequently the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling the mandate that he has been given in the Godhead to bring in the elect from the four corners of the earth and then he will return to wrap up history. All right? The usual best place to begin is with a map of Africa, in case you are in the category of those who are asking me where I come from, and I tell you it's Zambia, and then when I ask you where it is, you start going like this. Let me tell you where it is. All right, so you've got South Africa there, and then immediately north you've got the more famous Zimbabwe, and then immediately north of that you have Zambia, and we are surrounded by quite a number of countries there. That little point where I have my pointer is the one place you need to visit for two reasons. One is, we have next to it, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, which is the Victoria Falls, or as we prefer to call it, the Mosiu Otunia. but also just next day is the only place in the world where you have one, two, three, four countries meeting together. It's the only place. So you can come and take a picture there and you will speak about its uniqueness. However, the reason why I've brought that map of Africa is that often when you talk about Africa, especially in the context of the U.S., people think the way you think about the United States of America as sort of one huge country. And yet, as you will see, it's populated by so many countries, and also the size of the U.S. would probably only fit into that corner there. So it's a very, very vast continent, and I often divide it into three sections, which we will look at in a few moments, one after the other. the Islamic North, where you're basically cutting across the Sahara, and you're talking in terms of that northern part there, which is largely occupied by Arabs, so another way would be to call it the Arab North, but it is part of Africa. There is a complete difference of lifestyles, primarily because of the Arab lifestyle, also the desert itself, although we have a bit of the desert down there as well, and then because of Islam. So we feel as much when we go to that part of the world, we feel as though we've gone out of Africa because it's really a different cultural lifestyle. And then south of that, you have two different ways of life and living. And one is what I refer to as rural Africa. We'll talk about that in a moment. And then the other is urban Africa. Yes, and then also when there was the Ebola crisis, which really was a major disaster for us, we were as far away from that disaster as you yourselves are. It was happening in that corner there. And I can assure you, it takes me eight hours to fly to that point. And it takes me eight hours to go from here over to Washington. So that's how far the situation was. But again, that's how vast Africa is. Then one more point before we leave that picture. You haven't only been hearing about the Ebola crisis, but you've also been hearing, I'm sure, a lot concerning the conflicts that are taking place between Islam and Christianity. churches being burnt, people being murdered in their hundreds, if not thousands, schoolgirls being abducted, and up to now yet to be found, the Al-Shabaab coming down and literally just raising down an entire college or university, killing, riddling with bullets the students and so on. Again, Zambia is there. All that is happening along that line. And it's largely Islam pushing downwards and Christianity pushing upwards. So that's where all that conflict is happening. You can cut Nigeria into half, and then those inroads would have been in what is now southern Sudan. The guys who are fighting there are the ones that were invading Kenya. All that to say that where we are, we are also just hearing about it. It concerns us because we are Christians, the attacks are on Christians, and it's also on our kith and kin in the sense that it's happening on our continent, but it's further up, and so we're also just praying about it and so forth. And one of the main reasons why that is taking place is that, by and large, Islam is a territorial religion. They don't seek to convert you as an individual. They don't come to your home, knock on your door, and start sharing with you their good news, put in quotation marks. Rather, they tend to take over governments. And once they've taken over a government, then the entire area ruled by that government must be ruled by their law. And so, really, the northern part of Africa, that's what has happened. And now they are pushing downwards. The Christian faith, on the other hand, is one that evangelizes one by one. And the frustration that is being felt along that line is that Muslims are getting converted. And as they are getting converted, it's a very clear movement of Christianity upwards. And the imams, get really enraged when they realize this. And their reaction is not so much let's also evangelize, it is these Christians nearby are the ones who are doing this, therefore let's destroy the churches. And that's really the philosophical understanding of what is happening there. If one was to say what's the solution, It's simply the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Islam won't change its philosophical understanding. It's a militant faith wanting to take over the world. The Christian church won't change its philosophical understanding. We're also wanting to take over the world through the gospel. And Christians won't stop evangelizing unless they become disobedient to the Lord. But let's continue praying, especially for that conflict region because that's going to continue. It's amazing, every so often I meet Christians from that part of the world. More recently, one of them came to be with us in Zambia. And They speak as though, look, this is life, this is what Christianity is. We continue to share the gospel, people are getting saved, and yes, these things are happening, pray for us, but that's life, that's Christianity. So let's continue praying for them in that sense. And maybe just one more thing, Nigeria and South Africa, I'll talk about them hopefully as I go along, if I don't forget, but those are the two strongest economies on the continent and fairly highly populated. Good, let's go to the next slide. Okay, I've already talked quite a bit about that, the Islamic North, and I will refer to it again towards the end of my presentation. That's a part of the world that is the least evangelized in terms of Africa itself. Historically, that's where the Christian church began, and I'm quite sure that if you studied church history, you have studied about that part of the world, and then with the rise of Islam, the Muslims swept right across Northern Africa from east heading towards the west and destroyed the Christian faith in terms of its visibility. You can't destroy the Christian faith completely and utterly, and Islam has since taken over that part of the world. It's very, very difficult for Christians to live there and also to attempt to evangelize publicly. I'm sure you know that anyone who turns then from Islam to Christianity largely endangers his life physically and the The ratio of missionaries in that part of the world compared to most of the rest of the world is extremely low. Most of the missions work that's taking place there is more in terms of individuals who go in as professionals, they've got different jobs that they do there, and then in a more sort of subtle way are continuing to share their faith. In terms of Christianity, what you have is more of orthodox Christianity, and by orthodox I don't really mean sound. but it's really denominational, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and so on and so forth, very traditional in its expression of the Christian faith rather than the evangelical faith as you and I know it today. So when you pray for Northern Africa, please remember those very unique circumstances and difficulties that they are in even today. But please, as you pray, remember it's not a defeated Christian faith. The church there is also continuing to grow. It's not heading downwards, except the pace is slower because of the reality that is there. Again, a lot of news comes to you, I'm sure, through all kinds of news media. the downfall of quite a number of their governments through what was then called the Arab spring, yes. I kept wanting to say upswing, but that wasn't right. The Arab spring, yes. So that's the political environment in which they are, and social life has been largely disrupted, and that's continuing to be a major challenge. There are a lot of Africans from a little lower than the Arab North who are seeking to make their way into Europe, and a lot of them are dying on the Mediterranean Sea. Again, that's something that must be news to you as much as it is to us. So again, that's all taking place in that area. But the church is marching on. Let's move on to the next slide. Okay, I've already introduced that. South of the Sahara, when you think in terms of Africa, think in terms of rural and also think in terms of urban. In terms of rural Africa, perhaps the best place to begin is that that's where Christianity south of the Sahara began. That was the way Africa was. in the middle of the 19th century. There was no electricity, there was no piped water, no tarred roads, no railway lines. Life was extremely basic and that's where the pioneer missionaries came to do their evangelistic and missions work. Initially, most of that was along the coast, and then in due season, they began to go into the interior. Individuals like David Livingstone, who's been fairly well-known as a pioneer missionary, would have been among those that entered into the heart of Africa. I've just done my PhD on the earliest Baptist work in Zambia, and two individuals that were extraordinary in my reading, was the first African leader who, I'll skip for a moment, but the missionary who came and gave his life lived the longest. In fact, she probably still is maintaining the record of the longest service is a lady called Olive Dock, who grew up in England, got converted in New Zealand, and then with her parents moved to South Africa, and then later on made her way into Zambia and lived there the longest period. But again, when you read those accounts, they are heroic accounts of the Christian faith. I saw a number of the pictures because I went to the archives in South Africa, and the house she was living in was like that. extraordinary accounts. Busy trying to translate the Bible into the local Lamba language, she hears a noise and turns around and it's a snake that's about to bite her. It spits, but thankfully she says, that was the one day in my life I thanked God I wore glasses. and so forth, yeah. But speaking generally, there are more professing Christians in rural Africa than in urban Africa. So, missiologists would say, that most of our work now is in urban Africa because that's where we have a lot more work in evangelizing individuals. I think theoretically that is correct. Practically, those of us who are in Africa feel that most of our work is reaching now the rural areas. The reason is because a lot of the Christianity in rural areas is tribal. For instance, my father is Nyanja, my mother is Bemba. Nyanja is on the eastern side of Zambia, and the Dutch reformed church from South Africa evangelized that corner of the world. So if you are Nyanja, then you are reformed. This is your church. But clearly, most of the people, we are evangelicals, we should know this, most of the people are unconverted. They've not experienced regeneration. They go to church. It's the way of life. But even in church, they're not really hearing the gospel. What they're hearing is you are the good people. The people that haven't come to church are the bad ones, and so forth. So really, it's now an issue of taking the true evangelical message back there so that individuals are challenged, as it was with the great evangelical awakening and its message, you must be born again. Doesn't matter whether you have been sprinkled or baptized or a church member, if you're not born again, you're still on your way to hell. So that's part of the challenge. And part of what makes that difficult is that our churches in the urban areas, which I'll come to in a moment, are largely westernized with professionals and still thinking that we are still on the receiving end. So when we think about missions, we think about missionaries coming from America, going right past us in the urban areas, and going into the villages to evangelize our people. To make that mind shift is a real challenge, and it still is. are on, I mean, I come here to America and I've written about this on my blog, that young adults, probably either about to get married or just having been married, will say, look, we're praying about coming out to Africa as missionaries. My own young adults, if you were to say to them, guys, the rural areas are yet to be evangelized in the sense in which we know it. We need missionaries to go out there. They'll be thinking, okay, let's pray that they will come from America. So continue to pray for us that the African church generally may, especially the evangelical church, may begin to see that rural Africa is our responsibility. We need to get out there with the real message of salvation. And the main reason why the reluctance is there is clearly, again, the amenities, as I said. The people that live in these areas still go down to the stream to draw water. put it on their heads, walk up the hill back to home, boil the water to kill the germs, cool it down, and then begin drinking. They still cook simply using logs or charcoal, and then that's how they make their food. they eat, they still use little places like that as place to bath and use as lavatory and so forth. So that's what I can say about rural Africa in terms of its needs and the need for us to pray. Otherwise, they go to church. It's a little bit like the way it may have been in the West, Perhaps soon after the pilgrim fathers came here, I mean, the Lord's Day, almost everybody went to church. It's just a taken. It's very much like that out in rural Africa. Education-wise, and also in terms of medical facilities, I was going to say there are, Far and few between. Okay, few and far between. And consequently, still very much a real need. And so as the Christian work goes back into those areas, you also go with the social needs to be met out there. All right, let's move on to the next. That's urban Africa. This is Lusaka. As you are coming in from the south, that place there is a traffic circle. And when you head out that way and then turn right, you are coming to where Kabwatha Baptist Church is. I think I've touched on that to some extent already, and the next few slides will be to do with pictures that show something of what's going on. Basically, somewhere in the first half of the 20th century, going to the middle of the 20th century, there was a major drive towards urbanization, the colonial powers, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, France, and so on invaded Africa in the 19th century, and then the Africans began to fight for independence as yourselves did in the 20th century. And then the same thing happened with the Christian churches. the national leaders began to take over as well, and churches, because people moved from the rural areas into the urban centers, the churches also came into the urban centers. But it wasn't so much evangelizing the people as simply putting up a church building and saying, Nyanja people, your church has now come. And then they would sort of quickly assemble in that place rather than actual evangelism. And so one generation leading to another, there has been a lot of dropout. So the churches are there lined up, but there's been a major dropout, and so there's now a lot more of evangelizing the actual people rather than simply expecting them to come because it's their church. And also, At least in Zambia, in the middle of the 20th century, we adopted English as an official language. Other nations adopted the languages of their colonial masters. And what it has meant over time is that in the cities, Like Lusaka, for instance, we speak English. If I was to talk to any of my children right now on the phone, we'll be speaking English. And that doesn't mean we don't know any other language. In my home we have two, my language and my wife's, and then English. So we sort of operate between three languages in the home. But what it has meant is that The churches in the cities now primarily use English, and so you're not so much thinking tribal, you are thinking there's a soul out there that needs to be saved that is assuming it's an evangelical church. Whatever his tribe is, You win him to Christ, and he comes to your church. So there's a lot more mixture, especially in the evangelical churches. Let's go on to the other slides now, which will be... Okay, now, this is not really a church service. This is the Lusaka Baptist Church, and we run an annual conference there every year in August, which we call the Zambian Reformed Conference. And this is the conference taking place there, must have been last year, yes, that's when we had Ken Jones from one of the American states, I think Florida, to be one of our speakers. But at least it gives you a bit of the church growing. So when you think in terms of the church in Africa, you're thinking in terms of growth. There's no doubt about it. Churches are starting everywhere, literally every day. Church buildings are going up everywhere, every day. Church buildings are being expanded, as I'm speaking right now. Deacons are breaking down one wall, and then very soon they'll be breaking down the wall that goes into the lobby so that we can accommodate, and you'll see a picture of that as well. So the issue is not lack of growth in terms of numbers. That's not the issue. We still have, to a large extent, a sense of it's Sunday, people go to church. Our own congregation, for instance, I probably spoke about it, I think so, that we try and encourage our own members not to come to church on Sunday morning, but to go out there. It gives space for the non-church members to be in church. Otherwise, it's the usual announcements, please squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, and so forth. So it's good news. It's something that we're grateful for, especially because it's not that we provide entertainment, and that's why the people come. It is the fact that it's still very much in the psyche of the people that it's Sunday, and unless you're really anti-God, you find your way in church. Okay, so that's something positive. Next. Okay, now that's our own congregation and the walls that are going down, it's that wall and that wall in order to give space. And the main thing there that I wanted to capture is the youthfulness of a lot of our people. Statisticians tell us that at least 60 or 70% of the population in Africa is below the age of 35. That's the statistics they give us. And you therefore can't miss it when you go into the church. In my own church, I'm among the oldest in our church. In a membership of about 450, we probably have less than 20 would be above the age of 60. Most of our membership would be between 15 and about the age of 40. So although these would be children of our church members, here they just love this first and second pew. I'm not too sure why, but it's still nice to have the kids close by listening to me. and then most of their parents would sort of begin there and so forth, and at the back is usually our visitors. So it speaks well of the future, because if you can evangelize this generation, then the Lord willing, if he delays his coming, then you can imagine what's coming forth in the years to come. But as I said, I think it was yesterday, I've been speaking in all kinds of places so I forget what I said where. Most of them would be first generation Christians, most of them. And that's not saying that they're coming from totally pagan backgrounds. They're coming from families that were going to church. but they were not genuinely converted. I myself grew up in a church-going family. From the earliest times that my memory can recall, we went to Sunday school with our parents, but I got converted totally outside that context. And so there's nothing in my background apart from church going that teaches me how to be a Christian husband, a Christian father, I have to get it from here and from Christian books and then seeking to see how that could be applied. So that's fairly true concerning most of these individuals. Okay, next. I think these are now some of the negatives. I've touched on this. We have a lot of religion, but lack of salvation. And I'm speaking now south of the Sahara. Almost any home I can go to today for evangelistic purposes, the moment they know I'm a church pastor, I will have a lot of respect immediately. They'll want to call the kids to sit and hear from me. Usually, the lady of the house will quickly disappear to go and try and prepare some food, and I will prevent that. Because I live there, I know when the lady disappears, I'm losing her ears. And so, if I notice she's been gone five minutes, I'll quickly say to the husband, you know, could you bring her back? I'll have food at home. I'd like us to still sit and talk. The openness is certainly there. People are religious in that sense. And even our own members easily would get tired in terms of the number of doors that open up for evangelistic purposes. But it's when you now bring in these five solas here, that's when you begin to realize that that religion is skin deep. They want a salvation by works. They want a syncretistic salvation, which we'll be speaking about in a few moments. They want not just this book, but all the other voices, and so forth. And that's where the real challenge is, and that's where you know that unless the Holy Spirit himself does the work, this is just a social event that we are going through. So, the need for real salvation cannot be missed. You see it a lot, for instance, the AIDS problem, HIV AIDS, in Africa is among heterosexuals. There are very, very few homosexuals, very, very few in terms of drug users. So you ask yourself the question, if we have so many Christians, How come there's this problem? Obviously it is suggesting that most of the Christianity is on its skin deep. Speak about corruption. It's endemic in society. A policeman stopping you will want a bribe, and then when you say to him, look, I'm a Christian, almost with a blushing face, he will say, yes, we're all Christians, but we need to help one another. And what he's really saying is, look, I can slap a fee on you, I'm not being a Christian if I do that. So by being a Christian, I'm saying, okay, I won't do this, I forgive you, but look, I can't forgive you free, because I'm also in need back home. So let's, you also give me a little something. Now it's all skin deep. And if there really was true Christianity, a lot of these social ills would have been dealt with through the power of the gospel. So you can't miss that. The next, that's one of our major problems. The Pentecostal movement largely swept across Africa, I would say, in the second half of the last century, and in the second half of that second half. And it was conservative Pentecostalism. You could go in and there would be an actual Bible study. There would be an effort to preach from the Bible. Somewhere towards the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, the more extreme form of the charismatic movement has come on the back of the older Pentecostal movement. When I say this back home, people get offended. In fact, while I was here, I got an email from somebody who said, look, we really respect you, you are a great Bible teacher, but the fact that you keep saying that these wrong things are because we are charismatics offends me. because you are putting all of us in the same bracket. And I haven't yet replied to that email. My reply will be, can we talk on the phone over this? Because I'm pretty sure when you talk, the individuals will have to accept that this is riding on the back of Pentecostalism. And it's a fact. The guys have become totally uncontrollable. And it's syncretism at its worst. I will have a slide on that in a moment. But it's at its worst in the sense that it's the health and wealth gospel that was exported across the Atlantic and then it's become mixed with traditional African religion, and that's what is now being served as Jesus Christ delivering people from all kinds of bondage and vices. There's no counseling. A person comes and says I'm having marriage problems, and most likely all they will do to him is exactly that. That's all. Lay hands on him, he falls back, and yeah, he's been delivered from whatever that marriage problem was. But look, marriages are still falling apart. But for some reason, because we are so close to our African religious backgrounds, people still see this as the solution. The man of God phenomenon. Last Sunday before coming here, I mean, before going to the UK and then I came here. As soon as I go to church, a man came in with a foster son into my office and said, look, I don't come to your church, but I have been advised to come and see you. My son has a problem. And I can assure you my guess was this person thinks I'm a man of God, reeking with power, and he's expecting me to do exactly that. And sure enough, I was correct. The moment he finished, I said to him, all right, tomorrow morning, bring your son to my home, and I'll spend the whole morning with him. I want to ask him a lot of questions. so that I can know the details of all this, and then by lunchtime, you can come and collect him. Well, Monday morning, he didn't show up. Nobody came. Most likely, from there, they went on to another man of God, because what they wanted was this. And really, if you're to pray for us about anything, pray for us with respect to this matter, because it's tragic. especially because it's within the context of evangelicalism. You could point previously to liberalism out there. Roman Catholicism out there. And of course, all these other cults, Jehovah's Witnesses out there. But this is happening with people that claim to be born again. So that kind of language is part of the language they're using. And because of that, the evangelical movement is reluctant to address it, very reluctant. And one of the reasons why is because the membership of these wider evangelical bodies comprises these same guys. For instance, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, the president is our Zambian, Joel Austin. So obviously, you don't expect that this thing will be addressed. Okay, let's move on. I have two to three minutes. Okay, I've put something there, I think I touched on it at the very beginning, the difficulties with economies and consequently poverty and consequently challenging the church with respect to the means of its own growth. A lot of deaths taking place with illnesses that would easily be preventable if there were more medical facilities and more education, schools not being enough for the purposes of educating the next generation, and so on. That's supposed to be a witch doctor there. This gentleman has brought his child in order to be cured, and you wonder what producing that smoke has to do with this guy getting healed. But that's part of life back home. Sadly, especially in rural Africa, that's just part of life. And to break that with true biblical Christianity continues to be a major challenge. All right, next. I've talked about that. The only addition I need to make is that there's been a new movement, especially from the Middle East, where mosques are being put up at a very fast rate. They are putting up schools, putting up clinics, and if you are a Muslim, it's free. If you are not, you pay. And if you are Muslim, you are even given free food, free clothing, and so on. And if you add that to the economic poverty I spoke about earlier on, you can see how attractive it's becoming. So we are having a lot more Africans professing to be Muslims and going around with Islamic attire. And that's obviously a time bomb, a ticking time bomb. In places south of the Sahara, we may begin to suffer the kind of difficulties that are there in Northern Africa. Okay, let's I've got two issues that I wanted to speak about. One is the provision of books as a way of bringing true biblical Christianity into the heart of Africa. The cost of books is very high compared to the economies back home. Add the shipping cost. It even pushes it further beyond the reach of most of our people. And some solution has to be found with respect to subsidizing the costs. I've just done a book which I hope will be published soon on pastoral preaching, and I had a lot more to say but I kept that out of the book so that I could reduce the number of pages because that reduces the cost of the book and makes it more available, rather accessible to the people I want to buy that book. So please remember that very real challenge. Unfortunately, the heretics tend to be the ones to send books across the ocean free of charge. and therefore people are drinking in a lot of error through wrong literature. Next, pastor training. Your pastor will remember being in this room earlier this year, which became too small because of the number of people that came for the lessons, so we had to use the main church building. But that's also a major area because The traditional form of Bible college training cannot meet the rate of growth. It's just totally impossible. A lot of people are pastoring today in Africa with absolutely no training whatsoever. Absolutely no training. Simply because of partly the need and then partly because of the number of churches that are just splitting up, splitting up, splitting up. And also a guy sits listening to his pastor giving next to nothing and assumes, what? I can do that. So why sit here, listening to nothing? So before long, he also starts his own church across the next neighborhood. Thankfully, they're very open for training. So for instance, almost all our students here are non-Baptist and non-Reformed Baptists. Almost all of them. And yet, they come, they apply, and they come. And their understanding is, this is where you get grounded. in this book, this is where you get grounded. And so they apply, they come through. Of course, doctrinally, before you know it, a number of them want to run away. But some of them stick around, and so they get the full menu. Okay, I think, yeah, that was where I really wanted to end, and then I had a few prayer items which you can go on to. And while, oh. I also had African Christian University. I'll say one or two things before I preach. Yeah, let's end there. Ultimately, it's getting the church back to the Bible, ultimately. Because the spirit of God works through the word of God. to bring salvation and to bring sanctification. And that's why I ended with that. Please let us pray that what God has done and is doing across the continent may have the strength of God's word as part of it. Amen, thank you very much. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.