Subject: Lessons from Kibanga
From: Brent Earwicker
Date: June 20, 2009 10:50:57 PM GMT+03:00
To: Westside Church Mission Team 2008
Hey Guys,
Hope you’re all doing great in your respective corners of the world. I just got back from a 150 mile, three day tour of the islands, visiting some of the places we’ve been in the past year, checking on the pastors and their sheep and praying about where to take our teams in the next month. Pastor Joash, Uncle Michael, and I returned to both Kaaya and Kibanga where we ministered with you last summer and I wanted to fill you in on the details of what I found there, since I learned a thing or two on the trip.
In Kaaya, I think you could sense (as I did) that the people there were humble, genuine, and overflowing with the love of God. Reaching them this time, we found them in the same faithful state, simply loving Jesus and working for Him with pure hearts. Pastor David and Jim (the church elder who speaks good English and is writing the book about the islands) took us around the whole of Lulamba Island (where Kaaya is located) and a couple surrounding ones so we could get a comprehensive understanding of what the needs of the places are. After our little tour, we sat in David’s house and told the church leaders that they have a different spirit about them (that Scripture from the book of Daniel) and that continuing to be humble, obedient, and faithful would surely exalt them in due time.
These simple guys really opened up the door to this “new” island chain, and a day after leaving we all agreed we should take the team to attack Lulamba with the Gospel. Pastor David had a dream days before he knew we were coming this week. The Lord showed him that we would be setting our tents in his front yard – this terrified him since the island is so primitive, without proper facilities, especially for a whole team of whites! We left blessed, and are excited to bless them back in a couple weeks.
The next day, in a rush to get to another location before nightfall, we landed at Kibanga and asked for Sunday (the guy who they called Pastor, who was our main contact for the ministry there last year). We found him, hurriedly asked him where we could buy a little fuel, and as we scurried to get it poured into our jerry can, he gave us the good news/bad news scenario: The pastor from the church up the trail forced all the new believers from our crusade to walk to the old church building for weekly fellowship. This was the right thing to do since there was not a proper shepherd in Kibanga. He said many of them are standing strong in the Lord and continuing to make the walk to church. That was exciting, good news!
The bad news is that Sunday’s wife left him with their seven children recently. He was so disheartened by this and overwhelmed by the burden of caring and providing for them alone that he gave up fellowship with the Church and left the faith. We found him in this state. As I took his hands with Pastor Joash and prayed for him, it seemed he was even a bit embarrassed to pray publicly with us. But after, he did seem a bit encouraged, and we pledged to call him in the near future to see how he’s doing.
The trip was about checking on folks and seeing new places, but really took on a ministry of encouragement in every place we landed. Pastor Joash continually commented on the importance and power of simply visiting people and encouraging them in the Lord, since the impact on the people was so evident.
One major lesson I learned from the follow up this week is that we definitely went about our ministry in Kibanga the wrong way. We should never have gone there to do evangelism without properly connecting to a nearby existing church unless we were prepared to start one ourselves with a called, qualified, equipped shepherd who would stay and carry on the work. You remember the spiritual heaviness in the place and the attack on us personally, on the equipment, the LandCruiser, and every part of that mission. Then in the eyes of the unbelievers and believers from the area, we put emphasis on a man who didn’t have a stable home life and wasn’t able to hold on to Jesus when times got rough. The people called him “Pastor,” but the Master hadn’t. We attempted to start a “fellowship” in the area without a leader and set them up for failure. Good enough, God still works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. In the end, some were saved and are becoming disciples in a nearby church. But in future days, we’ll for sure change how we go about our ministry here, especially in unreached fishing villages known for ghosts.
Just wanted to keep you in the loop and let you in on the follow up from your trip last year. Hope you’re encouraged – please keep praying for all the precious souls on the islands!
See you soon,
-Brent