In Zambia, Not Knowing What God Will Do

To help us understand and pray for Ken Auer and Ben Einwechter's trip to Zambia later this month we asked Ken to write up a description of the trip for the blog. Here is what he said:

On March 28th, Ben Einwechter and I will be getting on a series of planes to end up in Zambia in SE Africa. This will be my 3rd time since 2012 after previously taking mission trips to India in 1998 and Nepal in 2004.

In all of these cases I went to come alongside indigenous (native) church planters and leaders in encouraging them and the churches they were associated with to increase their reliance on God's Word and the Holy Spirit in the daily life and expansion of the Church.

I was trained in the early 90s as a church leader and potential church planter through a somewhat unique approach via immersion into the Word of God looking to the principles found in His Word about the church, rather than the traditions of man. This initial training occurred at Fellowship Bible Church in Fuquay, led by Tim Bunn - one of the Elders who had planted that church. Eventually, I became an elder at FBC in Fuquay and helped Tim Bunn train some others through this same approach.

New Foundations International and Southwest Wake Christian Assembly

The Lord opened the doors for Tim to begin New Foundations International (previously Go-Reconcile Ministries) to bring this training to indigenous church planters throughout the world, with a particular impact in southeast Asia while He had my family participate in planting Southwest Wake Christian Assembly. We stayed in touch and I led some further training at SWCA as Tim continued to revise and develop the materials he was using for this immersion training. We helped get it translated into a variety of languages, and watched God work to continue to make contacts and impacts. In passing, I asked if he had made contact in Africa and, at the time, he had not.

However, several years ago, the Lord opened doors in SE Africa in a big way.

Doors Opening in Zambia

God arranged for Henry Katontoka a pastor in rural northern Zambia to get on a plane for the 1st time in His life to meet Tim Bunn in SE Asia, at the encouragement and funding of others who had met Tim and seen the impact of this ministry of the Word in SE Asia. God used this meeting to give Henry a vision to reach all of Africa with the gospel, starting with repentance and reformation of the church he led. The Holy Spirit moved in an incredible way similar to what we see in the book of Acts--revival started in the church in Mpika, and they sent their leaders out to preach the gospel. Witch doctors literally had a bonfire with their magic books.

Now Tim was telling me that the brothers in Africa were calling for others to come alongside them with a special need to help them see the biblical picture of the family. I felt God was asking me to answer the call.

There are many challenges in Southeast Africa. In addition to tribal traditions and witch doctors, there is an unhealthy dependency on the west, and in addition to their ungodly tribal traditions, they can easily grab the worst the west has to offer and fall prey to twisted truths. Jehovah's Witnesses have made some big inroads in many villages and false teaching can go far when people are "teachable" without being taught the truth.

But, Zambia is a "Christian nation" and the people are very receptive to growing deeper. In my last trip there with Carol, we spent two weeks in Mpika, to meet the church Henry leads, and several other church leaders from further out came to visit.

Confident in God, Not Knowing What He Will Do

This time, in addition to a trip back to Mpika, we will be going out to meet these church leaders and their churches in more rural areas of Northern Zambia. The exact itinerary is not set, and we will have to be flexible as all things have to be in Zambia. We don't know what God is going to do, but we know He is going to do it, as He has every time I've gone.

We will be bringing God's Word in written and audio form as much of Northern Zambia is illiterate, but cell phones are becoming more common (at least someone in most villages have one) so "the Word on a SIM card" could be heard and listened to by many.

We are going with a purpose to strengthen and further establish the leaders in the Word and encourage the believers. We will be joining them in their work, and encouraging them to stand firm in the faith.

Prayer Needs

We covet your prayers. In particular:

• We would have discernment as to how to encourage all we meet with a timely and meaningful encouragement from God's Word.
• We will be kept from illness in conditions that our bodies may not be used to.
• For Ben to be comfortable in his first time overseas.
• That we would be patient as the Zambians we will be working with are not strong on communicating and arranging logistical details.
• For protection for our families while we are away... particularly that Ken's parents wouldn't have any health crises as he is their primary "go to" person when health problems arise.
• That it would be made plane as to whether we are to meet Wilbroad Chanda at the Sovereign Grace Church in Ndola as neither we nor Henry have been successful in getting a response to our inquiries.
• That the long travel times would be "uneventful" other than opportunities to share the gospel, and that we would be able to get needed rest.
• As we will be in some remote areas, we would still be able to communicate regularly with those back home with both prayer requests and logistical details.

We are scheduled to depart early on Saturday, March 28th, and return the afternoon of Tuesday, April 14th. Travel in each direction is scheduled to be greater than 24 hours with several layovers.

In His service,
Ken