Meet Lawrence Mwanza. I visited with him at lunch today. He is from the village of Luwingu in the Northern providences of Zambia. He told me he was brought to Christ in friendship with an International Mission Board (IMB) missionary, Josh Bowman, in 2006. Bowman discipled him for a year, and Mwanza started a church in Luwingu in 2007. This year he left the church in the hands of some capable lay leaders to travel the 12 hours to Lusaka to enroll in the 3-year residential program at the Baptist Seminary where I’m teaching for four weeks. Mwanza is not in my class: he is a first-year student and I’m teaching all the second- and third-year students. Upon graduation Mwanza plans to return to his church in Luwingu.
I asked him what resources pastors need in Zambia. Commentaries come to mind first, as well as a good pastor’s manual for conducting ceremonies and organizing the church. Certainly a pastor would benefit from a computer that would enable him to get online to access the valuable resources available on the internet.
The IMB Baptist Mission of Zambia is turning the work of the seminary—and its support—over to the national leadership of the Baptist Fellowship of Zambia.
Upon returning to Austin, I plan to recommend that our missions committee set up a process for receiving stateside funds for the Baptist Seminary in Zambia. Then Christians and church missions committees can send tax-deductible support through our stateside structure to the seminary. I also want to see how we can sponsor students through the various training programs of the seminary. In addition, perhaps there is a way we can provide a gift of books for pastors upon completion of their diploma or certificate. Be thinking with me and praying with me as to how we can support the training of pastors and other church leaders in Zambia.
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