Luanshya, Zambia School Report for September 2022
Introduction
We send greetings to you brothers and sisters! We give honor and glory to God our heavenly father who through His grace and the love fully expressed in Christ has granted us the opportunity to work for Him in His kingdom.
We are very glad to learn that Bear Valley Bible Institute International has continued to grow as more new preacher-training schools are established throughout the world. And as BVBI Zambia, we are humbly privileged to be part of this growing family.
It is unbelievable that 2022 is almost gone. We are just three months away before we say goodbye to 2022.
After suspending classes for almost the entire third quarter last year due to Covid-19, the students worked harder to cover the lost time in just four months. And we are very pleased to inform you that we are indeed on course to fulfill all that the school stands for.
School Activities
The following are some activities that the school was involved in for the month of September 2022.
Personal evangelism- students have intensified their one-on-one preaching strategy. Because of this approach, there is a steady increase in the number of people attending church services at the churches of Christ in Luanshya district. We have five congregations in the entire district that is, in Mikomfwa, at Central Town, Roan Township, and Church of Christ in Chibwe.
School evangelism program, which includes home Bible studies. There is also an increase in the number of Bible studies during the week. This is so because we are almost done with the second-year learning program at school and in readying for our graduation program. Bible studies were held mainly on Fridays but now we have included Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. This program is going on very well.
In our effort to strengthen women in the church as they are seen as the pillars in the ministry of our Master Jesus Christ, we had a conference in Luanshya rural area which started on 28th September 2022 and ends on 2nd October in Luanshya district. Six out of the ten districts of the Copperbelt were represented at this conference. Some of our students served in food catering and others beefed up security. Some were cooking as to allow women to concentrate more on the learning program.
Baptisms recorded: we had thirteen (13) people added to the Lord’s church and we expect more in the month of October.
Restoration recorded: We have recorded eighty-seven (87) restorations back to the sheepfold. We have attached pictures to this report we have taken with different congregations we have visited and worked with. September has been a healthy month spiritually.
Other progress news: Two of our students have been offered work in government Daniel Kapata and mike Kanyangala. They are good students and we believe they will do well preaching while working. While at our school Mike was offered to take a five days training in dump truck training at Northern Technical College in Ndola due to a good relationship with BVBI-Zambia. Daniel Kapata is a secondary trained teacher and now he will be preaching while working. We give God praises and we wish the two brothers well.
Men’s national conference (2022)
The Men’s national conference was held for the first time in three years in Solwezi, Northwestern Province. The lessons are still resonating in the minds of the people who attended the conference. This was indeed an uplifting moment as our own Dean of students, Cephas Mwamba put the icing on the cake. He concluded with an excellent recap of all the lessons.
Central Province has been chosen as a venue for the next year’s conference. And calls are still reaching us, many of our brothers appreciating their first experience with the BVBI-Zambia interactions and work.
Graduation (2022)
The school will be seeing its third graduation later in October 2022. Another significant stage of the growth of this Institute will be achieved on 22nd October 2022. God willing, 11 men will be graduating and the school has already sent invitations to local churches. We are meeting all leaders of the church here on the Copperbelt on the 8th of October in the Mufurila district to make sure that they participate on this graduation day. One of the churches of Christ in the Chingola district is ready to come and take at least two of the preachers upon their graduation to work with them for the next two years.
New Intake (2022-2024)
The school will be welcoming new students who have already committed themselves to studying and preparing themselves to preach the Gospel. We are very excited to begin this new class with these men. We expect men from seven provinces of Zambia to begin the class this year. Zambia has ten provinces. We had other applications from our neighboring countries like Tanzania in Mbeya, D.R.C Congo, and Angola, but because of the immigration restrictions and high fees in study visa applications we cannot take them for now and we keep on praying that in the near future we will be able to do so.
Conclusion
We are always grateful to all our partners in this noble work of training faithful men. Special appreciation goes to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for financially supporting this work.
Brotherly,
Cephas and Fred