MISSIONS & EVANGELISM

Tanzanian Missions

Rev Dr Park Seung Kyu

Greetings from Tanzania in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bible College of East Africa, Tanzania started the new Spring semester on January 3^rd. A total of six faculty members—three Korean missionaries and three local lecturers—are serving in the College this semester. There are 25 students in total studying 14 subjects (total of 24 credits). I am teaching 1 & 2 Samuel and History of the Reformation. My wife—Dr Ra Chaewon—is working on the Acts of the Apostles, Calvinism, and Elementary Greek. Please pray for heavenly wisdom and strength (both spiritual and physical) for all faculty members and students.

Chemchem Kindergarten is following the Tanzanian education schedule, and started on January 17^th with 55 students (including 18 newcomers). Since this semester, Dr Ra Chaewon has been overseeing this Kindergarten as her Headmistress. Please pray for all the children therein to grow spiritually and to be physically healthy and to get a quality education.

Library building construction is ongoing. The groundwork of the building was done very well. The rest (walls, roofing, etc) are currently suspended. This is because the College’s trees were cut down to make wooden boards for the desks and bookshelves. These wooden boards should be dehydrated for about a year so that they can be used later to make sturdy furniture without warping. Please pray that the follow-up works will go smoothly without any accident.

The Bible Project of supplying Swahili Bibles since the beginning of the year is ongoing. We thank and praise God and express our deep appreciation for those who have supported and prayed for this Bible project. Here, Bibles are relatively expensive. Not many believers can buy their own Bibles. Half of our Bible College students do not have their own Bibles. I was so shocked that I shared this with my wife and we prayed together at the end of last year without telling anyone else. Amazingly, the very day after our prayer, God showed His mercy and love, touching the hearts of some to support the purchase of high-quality Swahili Bibles printed in Korea for eight local churches and two Bible Colleges to date. Please pray for this Bible project to continue in the future.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support for us. (January 27, 2022)

Filipino Evangelism
Rev Dr Jose Lagapa

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35). The many Filipinos idling along Orchard Road on Sundays are indeed like a “field…white already to harvest.” We are thankful to the Lord for the burden laid upon the hearts of many of our members to go and take part as labourers for His harvest.

John Calvin commenting on this verse, wrote, “He follows out the preceding statement; for, having said that nothing was dearer to him than to finish the work of the Father, he now shows how ripe it is for execution; and he does so by a comparison with the harvest. When the corn is ripe, the harvest cannot bear delay, for otherwise the grain would fall to the ground and be lost; and, in like manner, the spiritual corn being now ripe, he declares that there must be no delay, because delay is injurious. We see for what purpose the comparison is employed; it is to explain the reason why he hastens to perform his work.”

May the Lord continue to move our hearts to go forth and preach the gospel “for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). Brother Deccarlo Igot who is in charge of the FilBF E-Band gave this report on the two evangelistic sessions conducted:

“It has been more than two years since the outbreak of COVID-19 virus that the True Life BPC-Filipino Bible Fellowship (FilBF) members were not able to reach out to our fellow Filipinos here in Singapore. The spreading of the good news had been hindered because of the spread of the virus. The Word of God in Romans 10:13–14 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Indeed, the question is, how can our fellow Filipinos be saved if they have not heard the gospel of salvation and how can they hear if no one will preach the good news to them?

“However, we thank the Lord that by His grace, we were able to resume the FilBF evangelism this year. We thank our Pastor, The Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo, for giving FilBF the permission to conduct evangelism. Last January 9, 2022, we started to evangelize in front of ION Orchard. Thank God for the members who were longing to serve the Lord in preaching the gospel among the Filipinos, we were so blessed to form six following evangelistic teams (two to three members in each team) on that day. Members of the evangelistic teams assembled in Godhill at around 1:20 pm for a short briefing on how to do the evangelism and the necessary safety protocol that we ought to follow with respect to the COVID-19 restrictions and safety regulations. At 1.30 pm we proceeded to the place where we planned to evangelize. Our activity lasted about an hour and a half; thus we ended our evangelism at around 3 pm.”

Nepali Translation

Rajan Shrestha, the resident preacher of Kathmandu Bible-Presbyterian Church in Nepal, is a graduate of Far Eastern Bible College. He earned his Bachelor of Religious Education (BRE) in 2012.

He translated into Nepali Pastor Jeffrey Khoo’s book—Fundamentals of the Christian Faith (Singapore: FEBC Press, 2005). The book is finally published and released on February 1, and distributed by Kathmandu BPC to pastors, teachers and leaders of churches in Nepal. This seeks to fulfil the Great Commission, “… Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt 28:20). Praise the Lord!