Special Delivery, Bricks, Bricks & More Bricks

Bricks Made By Church Members

 

Generally speaking, each week we rotate among what has now grown to seventeen different villages, ten of which have Indigenous New Testament Church’s planted with National Pastors. The statistics are not more important than the people but we are greatly encouraged by what God is doing in our lives and the lives of hundreds of others. It has often been said that God’s greatest mission work is done in the heart of the Missionary. As I study the scriptures I find that the Apostles would also meet back together after evangelism or teaching their new converts to recall what God had done and rejoice. 

Act 14:27 "And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles."

With all that said, we were able to visit four of the villages this week where we currently have works established. Part of our visits this week included delivery of building items such as doors and windows as well as Bibles to the LBC at Mayanja. 

New Bibles

 

The members have started the brick making process and it is impossible to overstate the difficulty of the monumental task of making bricks. I won’t get into the specifics, but mixing mud to form bricks which have to be baked in a mud oven is definitely something we know nothing of.       3100 Bricks

What blesses our heart about this whole building process is that the people have a will to work. They are not looking for a hand out as it is clearly evident that they want to use their talents to give to the Lord’s work.

                    Terry and Women of Church n Bricks 

The Lord’s Day was spent with the Landmark Baptist Church of Ndivisi. While this Church has been established for years we simply enjoy the sweet fellowship with Pastor Peter and His congregation. This visit also afforded us the opportunity to drop off Bible Institute study materials for one of their young associate Pastors.

Additionally, we were able to deliver a new solar system that was donated to give these Churches the ability to meet for evening services and fellowships. We want to thank Steve Goodwin and H.U.G.E. ministries for donating these solar systems. They will truly be a blessing to people who have no electricity.  

The amount and depth of involvement while establishing New Testament Churches is often widely debated, however, with the Bible as our guide we can see that when the Apostle Paul gathered congregations together he invested much time and effort into their lives rather than leaving them alone to fend for themselves. It is not to say that God is unable to do the work of teaching these new converts without a Missionary but rather that God allows us the privilege of grounding these young works in faith and practice so they will be able to ultimately work out their own problems and overcome any hindrances from within and without.

Some time back while spending time with our preachers, they told me a story of a Missionary who had planted Churches but would only come one time per year to encourage them. They said that the Churches were playing games with the Missionary as they would invite everyone in the village to come for a “big day”, so when the Missionary would visit he would think that the Church was thriving. After the Missionary left, the Church would return to its normal state. While telling me this story, our Pastors gave me what I thought was the ultimate compliment as a Missionary when they said, “We cannot do that with you Brother, because you and Mama Terry are always with us."    Roof Repair

                             

Please continue to pray that we will be what God wants us to be as we strive to help encourage these new works without hurting their faith by creating dependence on us.

In His Service,

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya

Phil. 4:13