Time sure flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? It’s hard to believe that this is our first update to you since moving back to our village home. One word to sum up the last month would be—growing.
Growing as a body—yes, the Lord is growing his church here. Not so much numerically at this point, but the growth is definitely noticeable among several of the believers here. You know how children grow and you can’t see any measurable progress as you are with them on a daily basis, but once you’re absent from that favorite little niece or nephew (or grandchild for some of you)…..whoo doggies, can you ever see how much they’ve shot up in height, girth, or both. Their faces fill out or thin out, they just look that much older since you last saw them!
Well, after about 8 months away from the young church here, we have seen some marked growth in lives. The first believers’ meeting we went to after we arrived was led entirely by the guys who are teaching back through the Phase One lessons as a review. Not only are these guys doing a great job team teaching, with each of the 3 men taking a portion of the lesson, but others in the group are sharing from the Word, reading quite a bit faster than before, leading worship, and praying, all with no prompting from us missionaries. In fact, the only involvement I have had so far (praying, sharing) has come after THEY have asked ME! What a joy to see them using and exercising those gifts God has given them even at this early stage!
Growing as individuals—one telling mark of this is that in the few short weeks since returning, we have seen each of the teachers come to us with questions and looking for some advice and spiritual encouragement. They are wanting to be faithful to the Word and to set the right example for the others, and we are cheering them on in this as well as encouraging them from the Word and praying together with them. Wow- what a privilege to see their maturity in recognizing the need to be discipled as well as disciplers.
What a good reminder for all of us of the need to be interdependent and connected with each other as the body of Christ. None of us is too busy or too isolated from others to justify separation from the rest of the body or to tell others that “we can’t go this alone or in our own strength” while not ourselves practicing what we preach. So as we’ve told each of these guys during our one-on-one times and also our weekly men’s meetings, “God is standing on the road of our meeting together and helping you and us to strengthen each others’ insides and he is really strengthening them in all of us!” A looser translation of this would be, “God is using our meeting together so that we encourage each other, and through this he is encouraging all of us spiritually!” Amen!
Growing in grace—in the past, we missionaries have been protective of the gospel of grace in our midst and have been quick to correct those who would try to add erroneous thinking (i.e, “We also need to do this, and then we will get eternal life”) that would render the grace of God through Christ irrelevant. Since coming back, we have observed especially the teachers, but also some others in the group have now been quick to correct those errant remarks and remind everyone that we need to stand on the road of what Christ has done for us already and not in our own thinking or strength or any good behavior of our own.
How refreshing to be poised and ready to speak up in a meeting and then find that other brothers and sisters “take the words right out of my mouth” and actually say it better than I could! In Tobo culture, saving face and avoiding direct conflict, ‘letting things slide’ at the expense of truth is normally paramount, but what we are seeing in our fellowship is a “Spirit thing” and not a cultural thing (nor is it a “foreign thing” or a “white missionary thing”). Praise God!
Growing as missionaries—That is, now I am talking about US! God has used this month, along with all its adjustments to remind us afresh of our own inadequacies and weakness, and that we absolutely need HIM to be able to function in our daily lives. In returning here and getting “back in the saddle”, we have faced a more challenging time than ever before. We’re sure that more than a little of this has to do with the adjustment of coming back as a family of 4 rather than 3! We need God’s wisdom and his grace in dealing with things as they come up, as well as strength and stamina. Along with the encouraging process of growth, we do feel the s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g which we know leads to growth. Although uncomfortable at times, this stretching is good for us, as we need not focus on ourselves and our progress, but instead on God and His process which He uses to grow us.
This is where you come in—we need your prayers for us as we grow and stretch. Pray that as a couple, we would communicate well together. This is more of a challenge out here than you would think. Pray that us as a family, that we will be faithful as parents to invest in the boys lives spiritually and spend good quality time with them (again, you would be surprised at the challenge this can be, even on the mission field). Pray for us as a team as we work together, make decisions together, and most importantly encourage each other and sharpen each other spiritually.
Can you see any growth here?
That we may all keep growing,
Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zeke
Chad and Janeene Mankins Just another weblog 
