Zimbabwe Mission June 2009

Pastors and Wives Conference

God’s Design for Marriage and Parenting

They say that in war nothing goes according to plan. The same is true of ministry trips to Zimbabwe. The plan was to have two lecturers presenting two tracks of learning (as usual) – one on the family and the other on teaching Sunday School. In March the two were reduced to one due to illness. This time the two were reduced to one due to South Africa’s Home Affairs not getting a passport processed in time. That meant the Sunday School teachers’ training would have to be postponed. It also meant that driving to Harare was not possible (not to mention that the vehicle we use was in the shop). In addition to all this, the extra people who were invited for Sunday School training were going to be disappointed. Finally, our venue, the YWCA, had increased their prices in US dollars to the point of making the cost prohibitive. Due to the nature of our courses, all the pastors’ (and pastors-in-trainings’) wives were invited to come, doubling the size of the event and of the cost. All of this together put us into a state of disarray. (I knew there would be consequences/opportunities from reading a book on prayer that emphasises our own helplessness – Prayer by O Hallesby). It is true - nothing in war/ministry goes according to plan!

Nevertheless, our God has a plan that cannot be thwarted (nor discovered very much in advance so I’ve discovered). The adventure of faith began with purchasing one return airline ticket and drawing the money allotted for one training week. We would have to work out the details as we went. And God did just that for us! A vehicle was provided for Sunday which broke down on the way to the church in Norton (about 45 km outside Harare) where I was to preach. We eventually got there and preached and made it home. The Reformed Baptist Church in Harare has changed venues from the Red Cross to a school hall and meets on Sunday mornings now (so I didn’t preach there this trip).

Monday evening the men and their wives would be arriving for the week. It was decided that we could cut costs by having only the out-of-towners actually sleep at the YWCA (18 of the 23 attending). In addition we would purchase our own food and hire a couple of ladies to do the cooking outside over a wood fire. This worked out very well and was very affordable. The trick was to go purchase the food. Can you imagine 4 guys wandering around the food store where prices are in US dollars trying to shop for 23 people for four days? Adventure is exactly the word! Thankfully a list of items and estimated quantities was made ahead of time. However, securing a vehicle to go do all of this was the real challenge. By Monday afternoon we had use of a car which must have had two different size tires on the back. Undulation would be the appropriate term here. This vehicle also broke down temporarily. Nevertheless, by evening the mission was accomplished.

Our program had three elements to it. In the mornings we held combined sessions with the men and their wives (9 couples and 3 singles) on God’s design for marriage and then God’s design for parenting. Each afternoon the men preached and received feedback. Each evening the whole church and community was invited for preaching on the family. These evening sessions were preached through translation into Shona and half of them in the dark because of power outages.

The morning sessions gave us opportunity to discuss the principles from the evening sermons and to delve further into their application. These discussions were very fruitful in terms of confronting some cultural issues and practices that they discovered to be unbiblical. Here is where the great impact of the Word overcame all the misadventures. There was powerful illumination, honest self-examination and genuine repentance which all gave way to joyful thanksgiving to God for the perfect law of liberty. What a wonderful blessing of God’s grace (they testified) to be free from cultural confusion and see clearly God’s design for marriage and family! No more will they have to battle cultural traditions with Church traditions. Now they can open up the Scripture and proclaim thus saith the Lord. At the same time they realised God’s creative genius in various cultures and peoples. While some things in any cultural must be abandoned as unbiblical, many things can be rich expressions of biblical principles. It was eye-opening to discuss their cultural expressions of biblical matters like respect for parents, oneness in the marriage relationship and masculinity/femininity. Above all we saw that our marriages display Christ and the Church and that our children are arrows sent into the future for the dominion of Christ’s kingdom. Whatever it takes to live out those biblical goals, Jesus Christ is worth it!

On a personal note concerning Joseph Soko’s health after his recent stroke, there is much improvement. He can lift his right arm about 1/3 of the way up to his shoulder. He is walking unassisted but with difficulty. The right toe points inward a bit, and the right leg has to be sort of swung forward. His speech is fine but he tires easily. The physiotherapy continues and is helping. He asked me to convey his deep gratitude for all the financial assistance that has been given for his medical expenses.

On the final pages I will give the details with photos of all the men and their wives.

After such an excellent week of God’s clear speaking through His word, it seemed as if the trip back to South Africa would be anti-climactic. But God delights in using every opportunity to grow us in faith. The vehicle used to take me to the airport ran out of petrol a few kilometers short of the terminal. The driver hopped in a taxi to fetch petrol. In the meantime we discovered the vehicle had stopped within a restricted military zone. Two soldiers came upon us with an AK-47 and unpleasant dispositions. While they were barking in Shona, checking ID documents and searching through baggage, I was silently praying in earnest. To end the week in a military prison under suspicion of who-knows-what, well, I prayed that such a cup would pass from me. God’s mercy prevailed, and I was free to go to the airport, but one of the pastors had to stay with the soldiers while the others took me. I found out later that some more interesting activity had attracted the soldiers’ attention so the brethren were free to go as well

What an amazing trip! God’s blessing in every way abounded and was highlighted by the misadventures along the way. Please continue to pray for the brethren and their families in Zimbabwe. Extremely difficult times continue – to the ultimate glory of God!

Only by Grace,
Jeffrey Gage
Free Grace Baptist Church, Boksburg, South Africa
pastor@freegrace.co.za
www.freegrace.co.za

The pastors (and pastors-in-training) that make up the core group in our programme are:







The others involved for this particular week’s training included: