“The Lord has done it!”
Sometimes things go at tortoise speed. Plod. Plod. Plod.
Month by month, year by year you put in the work, see some growth, whilst trusting God and simply keeping on going. Then there are the other times, the times when all that steady foundational work of the Spirit comes bursting forth in a revival of exponential growth.
Since appointing elders and deacons last year the Banwaon church has matured to a whole new level, especially in recent weeks.
The church leadership has begun daily 5am prayer meetings for any who want to attend. Each morning Albert and Lynne Castelijn smile as they hear the gong in the semi-darkness of dawn, calling people to pray.
Men’s singing and sharing times have started on Sunday nights. Again, Albert and Lynne love hearing the sound of their hearty voices drifting across the valley in the cool of the evening.
The young people’s group has restarted. The other day Albert was walking up to the village and saw a dozen young people sweeping and weeding the path leading to the meetinghouse. Not exactly a standard youth group “fun” activity, but they love meeting together; other times for teaching and singing, always singing. How they love to sing.
The deacons and elders are bringing more structure and intentionality to the weekly believers’ meetings.
As Albert and Lynne work towards the phasing out of the work among the Banwaon over the next few years, their hearts are glad to see the Banwaon church leadership increasingly take responsibility.
However, as one would expect, the Enemy is not happy with all this growth. Challenges abound.
So please pray for the church leadership to guard the flock wisely. Pray the believers will not be enticed by the promises of money, motorbikes, church buildings and prestige but that they would also rejoice and praise God for all He is doing!
One of the many other things that keep Albert and Lynne busy is helping facilitate Government initiatives to provide elementary schools in extremely remote Banwaon villages (different to the high school project they are working on in their village.)
Albert and Lynne are taking a mini home assignment back in Australia to spend time with family. There are also some medical things to be checked out while they are back in Australia,
Thank you for your wonderful partnership in the work God is doing amongst the Banwaon.