THE MINISTRY OF JESUS :: Reports from Benin


Reports from Benin April, 2008
	Dear Family and Friends, Greetings from sunny Benin! As we look back over the last several months, we have many reasons to be encouraged. Although there seem to be some setbacks in the physical realm, our spirits are lifted by the people the Lord has brought us to work alongside. He has placed a vision for his kingdom in their hearts, and they are counting the cost to follow him. We are honored to be a part of their labors here. These are ordinary men and women, without much education for the most part, but with hearts that desire to serve their Lord, and he is making them extraordinary.		Links HOME About MOJ MOJ-Togo Photo Gallery-Togo MOJ-Benin-Blog Benin in Focus Letter from Africa Photo Gallery-Benin Make a Donation Map of Benin Map of Togo Newsletter Archives— 2007 online 2003-2006 in PDF format Please pray for • Sarah & Bridget's trip to Oxford • Sarah's dermtologist visit • Matt's trip to the US in May • Alphonse & Juassi • Robert & N'tcha • Water in well • Finish construction of new house • The 9 interns as they prepare to return to the village for their practical phase • The national church as they grow in autonomy and maturity • Katie Patierno's short term visit with us • That the farm will produce a supernatural abuandance to the glory of God Upcoming Events April 13-May 2: Sarah in Oxford, England May 12: End of studies at training center May 15-24: Matt's visit to the US May 22: MOJ Board meeting June 8-August 15: Katie Patiemo's visit "God does not necessarily call the qualified, but qualifies the called."
		One of our physical setbacks: Once again we had a bush fire at our farm right at Christmas, the third one in the last four years. Despite an 8 foot fire break, the fire jumped right across and burned nearly 50 acres of grassland, trees and bee hives, it killed a donkey, and although we lost two stables it narrowly missed the houses and other animals. The grasses were dry, it was windy and during the hottest part of the day – conditions were just right for a fire to go out of control. Needless to say, it was discouraging. But we believe in a Sovereign God, so we are “perplexed, but not in despair.” We pray that the Lord gets the glory, that the scorched earth will miraculously produce an abundance, so that it will be clear to all that it is the Lord that has done it, and not the efforts of man.
	Inspired by some verses in Hosea, we decided to call the rural training center Jezreel: “In that day I will respond,” declares the Lord – “I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” Hosea 2:21-23.
	And some of our “spirit lifters”: There are 9 interns at the training center this year, 5 second years and 4 first years. The coursework is both theoretical and practical, concerning biblical theology and scripture study as well as studies focused on community development. All of us on the church leadership team have high hopes for the interns of this training center as the future leaders of the MOJ churches.
	The chief end of this center is to equip these men and their families to learn how to effectively steward both the bride of Christ and the land He has entrusted them. Part of the training involves teaching them to count on Christ and to call up greater reserves (spiritual and physical) from the local believers. This was particularly put to the test last month as the interns ran out of food and money to live on. They came to us to solve the problem and we turned them back to the churches. Thankfully, the local churches responded willingly as they gave their interns a total of $225 to buy food until the end of the course. This came at the same time as the church leadership has been pushing all of the local churches to become more active in building the Kingdom. In March the national church held its annual General Assembly with representatives from every church. During their discussions they laid out a provisional 3-year plan for the church to become fully autonomous. Their goal is have the national church completely self financing by January 2011. This is an admirable goal for a body of believers made up mostly of illiterate people living in very small villages and merits our prayer partnership.
	Two young men who used to live on our compound have just returned from a 6 month YWAM course in Mali. Alphonse successfully graduated from nursing school last fall and would like to focus more on Primary Health Care, an area of interest for us but one that has been on the back burner until we could have someone teach, train and manage our village trainers. Alphonse will be attending another YWAM school in Togo this fall that will focus on primary health care, and then he will be moving out to the training center to teach and coordinate health work from there.
	Kuassi (“Kwassi”) will complete a final year of school and then would like to work either with children or in the area of health also. Two other young men, Robert and N’tcha (“Inch-a”), will be completing their advanced studies in agriculture this fall, and they will also be moving to the farm to take up responsibilities both in teaching and working the farm. We are very excited by the return of these guys who will now become teachers and trainers after so many years of being discipled.
		Over Easter weekend MOJ held its annual all-church conference. More than 700 people came from over 25 villages to camp and attend workshops for 3 1/2 days. The theme was “The Christian in the World,” and teaching addressed the challenges that face believers here as well as the challenge of too much world in the Church. Directly following the all-church conference was the annual Easter youth camp. This was a 3 day event with about 115 tee-nagers. With them we addressed the growing number of opportunities that are available to kids these days (like traveling video clubs, bars, internet, etc.) One verse we studied together was 1 Cor. 6:12, “all things are lawful to me, but not all things profit. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be ruled by any.” Teaching self-control is one thing, being self-controlled is another. Believing that an increased heart’s desire to worship God correlates with a greater desire to please him, we had the kids write new worship songs, songs using scripture and local song style, songs that better express their heart language.
	There were about 18 new songs created; it will be interesting to see over time which ones really capture their heart’s desire and touch the churches. Please keep these youth in your prayers. This generation is being exposed to a whole world of new temptations that neither their culture nor their parents are quite prepared to confront – but Christ is.
	We had hoped to be moved into our house at the farm by February so that Matt would be on site while the interns are there and so Sarah could work with their wives. However, the house is still under construction because of significant cement shortages throughout the region. This has been very frustrating. We have also had a rough time finding water in the well we are drilling. We still do not have a source of clean water at the farm and as the dry season continues our water reservoirs dwindle. Both the people and animals need water, not to mention the fish and gardens.
		While waiting for some land that MOJ purchased to be legally titled, we began renting a small house in Cobly – a large village about 30km from Tanguieta around which there is a large concentration of MOJ churches. In the past, Matt held weekly visits with the church leaders in Cobly. This was a good time to meet with the local elders and to directly encourage them. These meetings stopped once we had more sector elders to maintain regular contact with the local elders, but we’ve since realized just how important these times were to all of us. Renting the house also solved another pressing need – that of housing for MOJ high school students in the Cobly region.
	Since there are only high schools in the major towns in NW Benin, high school students in outlying villages must move into those towns and find houses to rent or family to stay with. However, life in bigger town offers more temptations that tend to distract the youth from a faithful walk with Christ, so having a house where they can stay together is an answer to prayer.
		We are still broadcasting weekly bible studies in 4 languages from the local radio station. The application process for our own station has become de-railed after one branch of the Benin government allocated frequencies only to have that annulled by courts due to irregularities and to another branch of government contesting the actual availability of said frequencies. So in the meantime we wait to see if we have to start the whole process over or can just re-submit our previous application. Thank you for your prayers – please continue to pray.
	On a personal note, Riley just celebrated his 6th birthday and Duncan’s 4th is around the corner in May. This weekend (April 12th, 2008) we will all drive up to Ouagadougou, where Sarah and Bridget will fly out on Sunday. They will go to Oxford, UK for Sarah to see the dermatologist for a checkup. Please pray that the doctor will be thorough and find nothing of concern, for safety in travel, and for Matt and the boys. Matt will need to continue teaching at the farm while he cares for the boys, so please pray for patience for them all! Sarah gets back on May 3, and then a few weeks later Matt will head out to Washington, DC for an MOJ board meeting. He will be gone for 10 days or so. Shortly after he returns, we will welcome Katie Patierno, a young woman from our church in Washington DC for a 2 1/2 month internship. We continually remain thankful for the privilege to serve God as a family with your support and prayers. May the Lord bless you and may His presence enrich your daily lives. We remain Under His mercy, Matt, Sarah, Riley, Duncan and Bridget