Missions Partner Night w/ Conrad Mbewe

We've had various trips and just a blessing to see all that God is doing there through Kubota, at Kubota, and just thankful for the relationship with Million and Manassa and now African Christian University. So one of the things As we're giving funding to KBC, instead of thinking about the next missions partner or church planter, he's asked that we would actually help African Christian University because that's where a lot of the attention is given, that's training pastors.

But we'll hear more about that in a moment. Again, I'm gonna just ask questions so they can get to know you. If I was your neighbor in Zambia and I came across you at the grocery store, how would I address you? Hello. Yeah, if you knew that I was a pastor, you'd probably just say, hello, Pastor Mbewe. Because that's just the way. OK, your deacon at KBC in the foyer, how are they going to address you? How are they going to? Same thing. It'll be Pastor Mbewe.

All right. I feel like I'm thinking older than I should be. I thought you got called by like the title like parent or grandchild. Oh, okay. No, that's now people who know me outside the church context. Okay. So for instance, in the family, that would be the most obvious arena.

So, the moment I married my wife, they stopped calling me by my first name, and they started calling me as husband of Philistus. Now, in our vernacular language, it's just a little phrase, muka, that's all, and it means spouse of. So Muka Philistus, whereas my wife would be called Muka Conrad.

Then the moment you have your first child, then that also changes within the community. So they stop calling you husband or wife of so-and-so, they start calling you father of so-and-so. And again, it's a very small phrase. So for father, it is she. So for instance, our very first child, our son, is Mwindula. And from that point when he was born, I would be called Shimwindula by anybody in the family circles, until we had our first grandchild. whose name is, I'll shorten it for you, it's in Tasso. It's a bit longer, but, you know. So, then they immediately stopped calling me Shimwindula. I now became Shikulu Ntaswila.

That's her full name. So within the community generally and the family circles, that would be the way they would then refer to me. Yes. The first son gets it the whole time. I didn't realize that. And the first one to get a grandchild gets that name. Yes, that's it. Then even if you get great-grandchildren, sorry, you already... reached the end of the land. No more name.

Well, no, it's encouraging how that covenant identity becomes such a significant part of your own name calling. That's helpful. Yeah. Okay. But you recently had a grandchild. Yes. But you're not named for that grandchild. No. So that's not changing at all. Okay. Yes. Well, congratulations on your leadership.

How old and whose child is it? Windula, yes, our oldest son. Okay. And it's the 11th grandchild. Wow. Praise God. Yeah. How long have you been married? 38 years. Okay. It will be 39 beginning of next year, January. And 11 grandchildren. How many children? Six all together. Okay. One went to glory two and a half years ago. Yeah. How long have you been at Copata Baptist Church? Next year will be 40 years. 40? Yes, 4-0. Was it a plant or did it already exist before you got there?

When I was a university student, we planted the church. And then I went to work for three years. then they called me to be their pastor. And the church that planted you is Lusaka Baptist? Yes, yes, Lusaka Baptist. And so you can correct me, Lusaka Baptist and Gobata Baptist, they're the two larger churches in the city that really are doing a lot of the ministry together. Yes, yes.

And if, well, I think you may have said it, if you weren't a pastor, what would you be doing? Yeah, I still would be doing mining engineering, although hopefully I would have retired by now. Do you have plans to retire as a pastor? Yeah, it will really depend on the flock, you know. Once they start saying, you know, you're sounding like a resounding gong, you know, can you please excuse us? I won't hang on to the position, yeah. So what was convincing or how did you hear the call that you knew, I'm going to leave the copper mines and I'm going to go pastor Copata Baptist?

It was while I was, about a year after my conversion. So I got converted in 1979. So we're talking about roughly 1980. I just had this growing desire that whatever I learned from the Bible, I want to proclaim it. I want to share it with somebody. And I couldn't shake it off. And so at a certain point I confided in an older Christian, the person who was leading the Bible study in our hall of residence.

I told him about it and I said to him, is this what it means to be called to the ministry? And his answer ultimately amounted to, that's something you have to deal with between you and the Lord. Because if that's what the Lord wants you to do, he will open the doors. for you to go through. And so he prayed for me.

And after that, I basically, whatever opportunities arose within the local church and even the planting of Kabwatha Baptist Church and at the university itself, I took advantage of it to share God's word. Praise God. Give us something, just understanding what's going on in Zambia, maybe related to the church there, just What's something to help us know how to pray for the people of Zambia with wars and tariffs?

Pray for peace

What kinds of difficulties or things people are really thinking about and concerned about? Yeah, I think first of all, it's simply that it's our election year, so we will be voting in August. and most likely the current government will continue. They've, generally speaking, made a number of benchmarks that have made them popular. So, but as usual with, I mean, America is definitely better than Africa. With elections, there tends to be violence, people being injured, sometimes even being killed, and so forth. So if you could just really pray for peace during this election period.

In terms of the economy, there's been some level of improvement. In fact, that's one reason why these guys are likely to go through. Our currency is gaining strength against the American dollar to the point where a lot of people are beginning to get worried because of the effect that tends to have on their exports. They're getting less money for the things they are producing and exporting and so on.

But the rest of us, yeah, we don't know much about that. We just love that there's peace and the prices are not skyrocketing and so forth. With respect to the, if I could throw in the Christian church generally, we still remain concerned with the proliferation of the charismatic wildfires, you know, individuals that just declare themselves apostles and then start claiming that they're doing miracles, which they're not doing. but they end up drawing in the crowds and defrauding them of money and being sexually abusive and all the rest of it. It's gaining a very bad name for the Christian faith and yet it's difficult to stem that tide because people just want easy solutions.

So if anybody says to them, this Saturday you come for this meeting, and if you put your hands in your pocket, I'll pray, and you suddenly have a lot of money in your pockets, and people believe that nonsense, which never happens in the end. Did America export that? You would know better since you are here. I think so. But yeah, it's a mess. It's a real mess.

How many sermons have you preached not wearing a tie? Yeah, fewer than when I'm wearing a tie. Do you think you've preached as many sermons wearing a tie as I've preached not wearing a tie as I've preached wearing a tie? Yeah, well, at church, it's literally all the time, I do wear a tie at church.

So it's maybe not wearing a jacket, but definitely wearing a tie is something that I inevitably do. When I'm speaking at conferences, especially young people's conferences, Then yes, I'm dressed as you are. You're looking tough. Thank you. You don't wear a tie Saturday, I don't think. You can ask Corey, I don't know anything that's going on. Yeah. You have ministry interns for a whole year or for a semester? For a whole year.

The internship program

And what do you do with those? We go through quite a lot. We begin the first three months, we basically want them to observe what's happening in the life of the church, our worship services, the various ministries, our business meetings, our relationships with our missionaries and so on.

And we want them to be asking questions so that they can begin to understand the why behind what we do. We give them reading assignments as well throughout the year, so that's ongoing. We also give them weekly messages round about very practical topics that also takes place across the year.

Then in the second three months, which would be where they are now, April to June, we then begin to involve them a little more into being with our elders and seeing the interviews of prospective members, visiting our members, overseeing different ministries and so on. Then in the third section, we get them to start leading especially our cell groups. So they would have been attending them for six months, seeing how they are being led. And then we give them an opportunity now to also lead that together with our church bible study, no, no, church prayer meetings. they get involved in leading that as well.

Then in the last part of the year, they then also get involved in leading worship services and actually preparing the order of worship and so forth. So you sort of build towards the climax. Somewhere between the third and fourth quarter, We send them out for two months to go and be with our church planters so that they can now see where things are starting from. compared to where things are at the moment at Kawata Baptist.

So basically that's what happens over the whole year. About six a year? Six to eight? Normally when we have a full team it's nine, but this year we've got six. And how many years have you been doing that? Wow. We probably began around maybe 2005, maybe, but at that time it would have been just one person. So we've been building the numbers until when we reached nine, we felt that was enough. Partly we've got 10 elders, so at least we're able to pair them up and we're quite comfortable with that. And Manessa and Million are both interns? Yes. So this is like the last step before sending somebody out? Yes.

Yes, we found that Previously, we just assumed when a person said he has had a change in his theology to a more reformed position and he's been to Bible college, we used to think, well, he's got everything right, let's send him out. And we found that a number of them were really being frustrated in ministry. When we began the internship program and made it as a vehicle through which they go into church planting, we have found that things have fallen into place for them. They have something of a three-dimensional view. of what the church ought to be like and they work towards it with a little more confidence than just hitting all over the place. So we've now, I would safely say even the, like when I go back we'll be ordaining someone else to go into missions work within the city itself.

And I remember he was saying,

look, I was born and bred here, so why should I be an intern?

So we sent him to ask the same question to my son, who had been an intern some nine years ago. And he said to him,

my friend, That's what I also thought. There's a lot that the elders do behind the scenes that you don't see. And by going through the internship program, you then begin to appreciate.

So he came and told me that he got his answer, and he went through it. Excellent. I want to ask you a bunch of questions. People just can't understand all the other things going on.

You have a school that meets at KBC that's part of the church's ministry? So you started an elementary and high school? Not yet high school, but yeah. OK. We have up to what we call grade seven. I don't know how it. So it's before high school. OK. And then you and Lusaka Baptist partnered to help start the ministerial college, which is where I saw it. Yes. Yes. We began a pastor's training. for the poorer pastors, or maybe pastors of the poorer residential areas of the city. So that's the Lusaka Ministerial College, yeah.

So that's where I've talked twice, and it's really amazing. You send me into one of these areas, and they get a Saturday preview, and then They pay like $10 and get meals and teaching. And how many guys have, a number of them turned from Pentecostalism or charismatic to reformed over this, over years that you're offering these courses.

African Christian University

So there's a incredible kind of vision to help the poor and help other churches. I want to give some time to, so you started the African Christian University recently. So what's the vision of that and where is it? Help us understand what's happening there.

Yeah, so with the African Christian University, first of all, there is the theological training as well. But it's at a more demanding level because it is a university. And right now, we have a master's program as well, a seminary part of it. And it's apparently the most popular currently within the context of our university. So that's one part. But it's primarily a liberal arts university.

So we currently have agriculture, business, education, and as I've already said, theology. We have roughly 110 to 120 students that we are currently training in all these disciplines put together. The whole idea was that our churches wanted to continue the discipleship process of our young adults. So yes, we are with them in the education prior to university or tertiary education, but we wanted to continue challenging them with a biblical worldview, even as they are developing their specific careers, so that they don't end up with a dichotomy between church life, worship life on this side, and then what they do for the rest of the week. And that's what it's been all about. We teach all our subjects. from a biblical worldview and it's meant to enable them to see the world and what God wants them to do in their careers in a way that makes them reformers of the world and so forth. So that's what's happening there.

What different degrees do they offer? Well, as I already said, so in divinity, we've got your bachelor's degree in theology and then your master's in pastoral theology. And then we have a bachelor's degree in agriculture, a bachelor of science, I think it is, in business administration, And then we have a Bachelor of Arts in ICT, which is to do with computers, and education. But that is at primary school level. So, we're still trying to get the accrediting body to accredit our secondary school, high school teaching curriculum, yeah.

Excellent. Well, I'm going to stop so we can pray for you. If you want to have a seat, we'll pray for the things you've asked for, and then I'll invite you back up to preach to us tonight. Well, brethren, I think it's only right that having followed in the footsteps of our brother, Million, I use the opportunity to thank you for the partnership that you had with us in planting Silverrest Central Baptist Church. And then prior to that, planting Grace Baptist Church. The joy of seeing churches planted is basically you are turning on the light and that light continues to shine. while you move on to other business. And last weekend, but one, I was preaching in Silverest.

It was soon after Million came from here. Of course, he was over the moon with the hospitality and friendships and relationships that he enjoyed here. But it was also just good to see the congregation that has begun to gather. It's established. They're now putting up their facilities so that in due season they can move away from the university where they've been meeting for a while.

And all this is a source of real joy for me as somebody who has seen it from the beginning and to know that I've now come to the church that partnered with us in this way is the best place to begin by saying thank you. And we trust that the new phase with the university will also begin to see us having these men going out and impacting the world.

Salvation by grace alone

What I want to do with you today is to take you to the longest sermon in the book of Acts and try and rush through it with you in about 30 minutes. And it's, as you can guess, Acts chapter 7. And as I take you there, I took a series once upon a time at Kabwatha Baptist Church, and it was entitled, Same Ones That Shook the World. This particular one involved the death of the preacher, and that was our brother, Stephen. And that's where I want to begin. I want to begin with the way in which His message was received.

Because often we tend to think that having an effective ministry means you having, as it was with the same ones by Peter, at the beginning of the book of Acts, thousands of people coming to faith in Christ. Well, thankfully the Bible is realistic. And it shows us that not all Samoans end up with thousands of people converted. Some end up with you dead. And this is one of them. So I begin reading from verse 51 where Stephen says,

you stiff-necked people. uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered."

So you've killed the prophets, you've killed the Son of God or the Righteous One here,

you who received the law as delivered by angels,

so the law came to you

and you did not keep it.

You failed, although you rely on it as we shall see in a moment.

Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, they ground their teeth at him.

And then we jump down to verse 59,

and as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, and falling to his knees, He cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep."

What is it about Stephen's message that enraged these people so much? I'll give you the answer right away and give you a parallel and then we shall see it in the text.

Stephen was basically preaching and teaching salvation by grace alone. A salvation that does not depend on anything other than the grace of God through Jesus Christ. It did not depend on their religious rituals. It did not depend on their good works. It did not depend on who they were as the Jewish people. It was absolutely dependent upon the grace of God.

The equivalent today would be preaching in a church context where people are depending on church membership. or depending on baptism, or depending on the Lord's Supper, or depending on some kind of good works that they are involved in, and for you to stand among them and say that it is by grace and by grace alone. That is the grave in which a lot of pastors are buried when they take over such churches, simply because previously there would have been a lot of preachers who gave them the impression that having been born in a Christian family, having had all these privileges, they must be Christians. You will recall in the evangelical awakening, individuals like George Whitefield being kicked out of churches primarily because they were preaching the same message I'm talking about here. It is by grace and by grace alone. It is said of George Whitefield that he was asked the question,

why do you keep preaching you must be born again?

And his answer was

because you must be born again.

There's no other way basically, you must be born again.

Well let's go to chapter six first and just see. the accusations that were leveled against Stephen. We are told here, I'll begin from verse 11 of chapter six.

Then the secretly instigated men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. And they set up false witnesses who said,

now this is important,

this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.

And the holy place here would obviously be the temple the city itself of Jerusalem, and of course, as they put it there, the law of Moses. He never stops speaking such things.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place,

and that is the temple. We've heard him say that.

And will change the customs that Moses delivered to us,

which is the law.

Now the basic point there is that it's not so much that Stephen was speaking against these things. He was simply saying, these things don't save you. Your relationship with God is not dependent on this structure called a temple. It's not dependent on this city called Jerusalem. It's not dependent on the land that flows with milk and honey. Again, going back to the parallel. Often, that's the way people twist it, isn't it?

He's been preaching against church membership. No! Church membership is important, but what I'm saying is church membership does not save you. He's been preaching against the Lord's Supper and against baptism. No! All I'm saying is that these things don't save you. That doesn't mean I'm preaching against them. I'm simply saying they don't save you. And of course you've heard it. It's preaching against good works, preaching against loving the poor, preaching against, and that's not what you're doing. You are saying these things don't save you. You need Jesus and you need Jesus alone, period.

God had saving dealings with people

So when we come to this sermon then, and it will become evident as we go through, Stephen's main thesis was this, that the history of our nation shows that God had saving dealings with people away from this land, away from this temple, before you even have the law of Moses in place.

That's really what he's proving. And I want us to quickly go through this. So hold your hearts because we'll be flying This one,

and the high priest said, are these things so? And Stephen said, brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham,

notice,

when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran.

That's the first thing. God appeared to him.

And it was very far away from where we are now. Verse four, I'll be skipping along because of time.

Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.

So fine, God met him there and brought him here.

He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length. but promised to give it to him as a possession to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect, that his offspring would be surgeoners in a land belonging to others who would enslave them and afflict them 400 years.

And then verse eight,

and he gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

He then moves into the next phase, and this is to do with Joseph. Now we all know where Joseph was. He was not in the promised land, he was not functioning in a temple, and yet God was with him. Let's quickly read that. Verse 9,

and the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt.

Listen to this.

But God was with him.

Where? in Egypt, not in the promised land.

And rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

And then as a result of the affliction, rather the famine, Jacob, with all of them, transition over into Egypt and that's where now God had dealings with them.

Let's go to verse 17.

But as the time of promise drew near, which God had granted Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. At this time, Moses was born.

So we've moved from the patriarchs. We've gone on to Joseph. We've now come to Moses. What do we learn with respect to Moses?

Well,

he was beautiful in God's sight. He was brought up for three months in his father's house. And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him. and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him

and so on.

So the end result is in verse 29.

At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile,

let's be very clear,

in the land of Midian.

In the land of the Midianites. Well, listen to verse 30. Now when Moses, sorry,

now when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him.

Where?

In the wilderness. of Mount Sinai,

not in the promised land, not in the temple.

But in that land that was between Egypt and the promised land, God appeared to him. And it was a very real experience. Verse 31,

when Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and he drew near to look. There came the voice of the Lord, I am the God of your fathers. the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare look. Then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Holy ground? Without holy ground, is in the temple in Jerusalem. He's making the point, no, it's independent of all this. God in sovereignty met Moses in the land of the Midianites and told him that where you are standing is holy ground.

Well, from there, we know that Moses went back and began bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt. Well, what took place? They crossed the Red Sea and they arrived at Mount Sinai. And if I can just quickly read verse 38.

This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers.

God was having dealings with our forefathers. outside this promised land in the land, rather, around Mount Sinai. I want us to go to verse 44, verse 44. There's a lot that we can also see here, but I do want us to move on. Verse 44.

Our fathers had the tent of witness,

where?

In the wilderness.

The tabernacle that was moving around and God had his presence in it. It was in the wilderness,

just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.

He's about to reach the point where he's about to call them stiff-necked people. But I want you to notice the move that he makes. He's begun talking about God appearing in the tabernacle. And the tabernacle was a moving structure. Then he makes the point that this temple that you guys are making so much noise about did not exist until Solomon came into place. What does that mean concerning all those that were there before?

Let's read it. It says there in verse 45,

our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they disposed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David. who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

So he's swallowed quite a bit of the period. The days before David came in, you had all the priests up to David, who was the second king after Saul, and all this period God is meeting with his people until we get to David.

And then he makes the point,

but it was Solomon who built a house for him.

It was Solomon. So all those meetings that David had with God that produced all those sounds and so on, all that You want to throw away and you want everything to hinge on the temple that was finally only put up in the days of Solomon. And then even the temple, he now shoots it down. That's what cost him his life. Listen to the way he puts it,

yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands.

And in case you're doubting it, well, here is a text from scripture.

As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?

So, this very long sermon of Stephen was not simply a replay of the history of Israel, which is what often people think it is. It's a sermon in apologetics. His arguing, essentially, that when I'm saying salvation is by grace alone, that your relationship with God does not depend on a place. I can prove it to you from the history of our own people. And case after case after case makes the point. And then he finally says, this place that we're talking about, compared to the history, it's a very recent structure. Very recent.

And yet, there were all these people that were having dealings with God. Without this, surely we must find the common thread, and it is ultimately salvation through, as he puts it here, the righteous one, which is Jesus Christ. Again, I need to apply the same. We've been talking about church membership, which some people will hang on to for dear life's sake. Baptism, they'll pull out the baptismal certificate and show it to you in your face that I'm a baptized individual. They will talk about this place where God is and meets with his people. We need to declare, as Stephen did here, that salvation is independent of all this.

Independent of all this. I make the point every so often that, you know, in Africa the church is growing so much we can hardly keep up with things that sometimes you have a church that meets under a tree in the villages. And it's a church. But they know absolutely nothing of the comfort of four walls and a roof. But God still meets with his people there.

Christ and Christ alone

Stephen, having argued all the way to this point, adding scripture, finally does what very few preachers have the guts to do, is now to rebuke his hearers. the passage we began with,

you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the evidence I've just shown you is from this book inspired by the Spirit. In his case, there would have been scrolls that bring out this history. And he's saying it's been the same from the beginning. While God was having his dealings with his elect people, others were resisting and killing the prophets. And he says, that's the category that you are in. And sadly, they went after his jugular vein. And before long, he was dead from stoning.

What response do you give to a preacher who takes away everything religious? and says salvation is you and God in Christ Jesus only. What response comes from your heart? Is it to close yourself in and say I'm not interested in this preacher at all? Or do you say,

I need no other argument, I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.

That's all. Where does a message like Stephen's find you?

Responding and saying, Christ, you alone are the one I need. Even if I was brought up in a Christian home. Even if I was baptized maybe as an infant or somewhere along the line. Even if the church elders have accepted me and I've become part of this place for so many years. Christ and Christ alone is the one I need because he ultimately is the Savior.

All the sacrifices of the Old Testament are fulfilled in him. And therefore, although, as Stephen put it here, it's not so much that he was preaching against the temple, but the point is obvious. It is now obsolete. He has come. He's fulfilled all sacrifices, and he has died.

Again, I ask, what is your response? I find back home, and I'm quite amazed at how many young people that have grown up in our church and grown up in Christian homes, when they get converted, say this,

I always thought that because I belonged to a Christian family, that I was a Christian.

Now the reason it amazes me is because I say it so often that this does not make you a Christian. But somehow it's like water off a duck's back.

They just go like this once and my sermon is gone. And they still continue hanging on to something that's false. Are you willing to let go of everything else? Instead of being offended as these people were, letting go of everything else and clinging only to Christ. I spoke about the evangelical awakening when the Church of England had monopoly over England as a whole to a large extent and how that preaching of the evangelical leaders infuriated them. They would be throwing rotten eggs at the preachers. They would be playing their drums as loud as possible that people don't hear this message. I hope that's not what's happening in your heart. I hope instead you are saying, Lord, through Christ and Christ alone, save me. Amen.