Trinity Baptist Church Ordains its
First Missionary Pastor

On 31st May 2015 Trinity Baptist Church launched a church plant in Kalomo (Hope Reformed Baptist Church) located 120 kilometers from the national tourist capital Livingstone. In the first five months of the work in Kalomo, the young church was led by Mr. Johnson Malipenga who by then was serving as branch manager for Finance Bank in Kalomo (now an Elder at Emmasdale Baptist Church and one of the interim leaders at Life Way Baptist in Lusaka, which is a church plant of Emmasdale Baptist Church). Assisting him was brother Matthew Siabasimbi who had just returned from South Africa where he was studying Theology at Christ Seminary but shortly he relocated to Lusaka. In December, Trinity Baptist Church called Enock Sakala to be the Missionary Pastor for this young church plant.
Sunday 24th September 2017 was indeed a special day in the history of Trinity Baptist Church in Livingstone as Pastor Enock Sakala got ordained as Missionary Pastor to Kalomo, planting Hope Reformed Baptist Church. The ceremony began with Mr. Malipenga giving a brief history of the early days of the work in Kalomo. He encouraged the church by bringing to memory the providential circumstances of how the church plant work begun. Then the church had an opportunity to hear Pastor Sakala’s personal testimony of conversion and call to ministry, he concluded with a brief vision for the work in Kalomo. Pastor Michael Bwembya read out the pastoral charge to Pastor Sakala, while Trinity Baptist Church committed itself to supporting the work in Kalomo. Elder Joseph Chanda led the elders in the prayer of ordination.
Pastor Lichawa Thole of Chisomo Baptist Church in Matero, Lusaka caped the service with a passionate expository sermon from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 themed “Preach Christ”. He spoke on the following points:
1. The Priority of Preaching Chp 1 Vs. 21.
2. The Purity of Preaching Vs. 1.
3. The Pattern of Preaching Vs. 3-4.
4. The Power of Preaching Vs. 4.
5. The Purpose of Preaching Vs. 5.
In stressing the importance of the role of preaching, Pastor Thole pointed out that what you win people with is what you win them to. In other words, Christ is central to salvation of men and women.
This day was special for Hope Reformed Baptist Church Six people were baptised, five male and one female. This was the first duty by the newly ordained pastor, and you can imagine the joy of seeing the Lord fulfilling His promise to save his people.
Remember, Livingstone is Zambia’s main tourist city, and as such hospitality is at the heart of everything and everyone, and this was seen in how the day ended. Every one that came to this special service was entertained by the hospitality ministry of the church. So it wasn’t just fellowship after the service but “Swallowship” too! In conclusion remember to:
– Pray for Trinity Baptist Church in its mission’s endeavours.
– Pray for Hope Reformed Baptist Church to grow, pray also for the newly baptised converts to be firm in the faith.
– Pray for Pastor Sakala’s ministry in Kalomo and family (Wife Hellen and daughter Wanipa).
Enock Sakala
Pastor, Hope Reformed Baptist Church, Kalomo

The Southern Province Regional Reformed Baptists Conference
The 2017 Southern Province regional conference was held from 2nd to 3rd July and was hosted by Trinity Baptist Church of Livingstone. 110 participants drawn from all the southern province reformed baptist churches from Livingstone, Kalomo, Choma, Monze and Mazabuka attended the conference.
The theme for the conference was ‘discipleship which produces good churchmanship’. The speaker was Pastor Phil Hunt from Kitwe church. The objective of the theme was to address the common problem of many church members ending up as mere ‘pew warmers’ instead of being active soldiers of Christ. The goal was to equip the churches with the tools so that members of our churches could be truly servants of Christ.
In his keynote address on Sunday evening, Pastor Phil Hunt preached from 2 Timothy 2 and highlighted the following key points:
• The apostle Paul was on the verge of execution when he wrote his final letter to his spiritual son Timothy. He encouraged him to produce disciples for Christ by passing on what he had learned and observed from him as an apostle.
• The prerequisite to Timothy being a good discipler was that he was to be strong in the Lord. He needed strength outside himself, namely the power of the Holy Spirit.
• From verse 2 he expalined the process of discipling. Discipleship is personal as truth is both taught and caught. Discipling is commanded and it should thus be intentional. Every believer is a product of 2 Timothy 2.2. Someone passed on t he good news to us by which we were saved. We must do likewise.
• Discipleship can be described as rubbing our lives on to another person as we interact with them closely.
• The process of discipling involves congregational training where the congregation consists of students who choose to be in attendance. This takes the form of teaching, listening, understanding and obeying the message. Secondly there is leadership training which involves hand picking those to be discipled like Christ chose the twelve. The discipling takes the form of teaching, observing and delegating.
In the last three sessions the speaker explained the following major points:
• The character of a disciple of Christ was highlighted from Ephesians chapter 4. A disciple walks worthy of their calling, and reflects a Christ like behaviour in virtues such as forbearance, long suffering, humility, gentleness and patience.
• Even though disciples of Christ come from all types of backgrounds they all are built on one foundation laid by the prophets, and the apostles with Christ as the chief cornerstone.
• The primary role of the churh leaders is to equip the saints for ministry. And the role of the saints is to do the work of ministry.
• The church at Jerusalem in Acts chapter 2 was held out as a model church comprising of vibrant disciples of Christ who were devoted to the study of Scripture, prayer, fellowship, the sacrements, and generosity for one another.
The teachings were highly appreciated by the participants as could be seen from the lively question and answer sessions and commitments made by many to go back to their churches and be better disciples of Christ.
In addition to the rich biblical feast there was also a time for church reports given by representatives from the various churches.
Monday afternoon was free to allow for first comers to Livingstone to sample the various tourism attractions that the city has to offer.
The conference officially closed on Monday evening after the final session and the thanks giving remarks.

Raphael Banda
Pastor, Mazabuka Central Baptist Church, Mazabuka

Nkana West Baptist Church Embarks on a Church Plant Mission

A couple in our church moved to Kalumbila, a budding mining town 360 km from Kitwe over a year ago when the husband got a job there. The nearest Baptist church was 140km away, the couple decided to start meeting in their home for worship as a family. With time, they began to invite other people to worship with them and the group began to grow. They sent a “Macedonian” call to us, but we did not respond immediately.
However, they persisted and in April 2017, our church leadership decided to visit. The visit was an opportunity for us to see that indeed there was need to consider planting a church in Kalumbila. The family has already been
running a Sunday school class for children starting at 09:30hrs and a Sunday morning service at 10:30hrs. The average attendance at the service is 10. They
We were encouraged to learn that people were eager to listen to the preaching of God’s word every week.
It was clear that the Lord wanted us to plant a church in Kalumbila. Nkana West Baptist Church officially adopted the work on Saturday 22nd April 2017. The brethren there decided to call the church, Sentinel Baptist (Kalumbila Mine comprise of three open pit mines one of which is Sentinel). A technical team which included an architect and a surveyor conducted a second visit to Kalumbila. The Architect and surveyor conducted a land assessment to meet the demands of Kalumbila Mine.

Challenges

The biggest challenge is finances. First, we must prove that we are financially capable to undertake this project. Second, we have to show some seriousness and embark on construction for us to secure the plot which will be allocated to us. We do not have these finances. However, we are trusting the Lord to provide since he has promised to be with us and help us (Matthew 28:20).
When the brethren in Kalumbila told us about the plots that are on offer to churches, we decided tosubmit our application. During our meeting with the relevant authorities we discovered that many had applied. Among them were Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and all the cults you can think of. Then it dawned on us that Kalumbila needs a true gospel witness and even if we do not have the money, we trust that our God will provide.
The church is still meeting in a home due to a lack of public places which we can rent as a meeting place. We only have one alternative meeting place which is a private school in the area. We hope our request to meet there will be accepted. Pray with us!

Conclusion

As we have thought over this issue, it is very clear that the Lord is calling us to preach the gospel and plant a church in Kalumbila despite the challenges and difficulties before us. We are praying and looking to heaven, to the head of the church, to establish a church in Kalumbila. We look forward to the salvation of many and to be a part of the great joy of heaven even over one sinner who repents and comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ!
Ndonji Kayombo
Pastor, Nkana West Baptist Church