Update from BHW Partnership Facilitator

Key people:  Ken Rout, Abel Rachete, Bob Abdulla 

Harvest Partnership faces an issue of an aging donor base in the West, primarily New Zealand. For the past three years BHW has been working with them to try to get their full-time workers onto a bi-vocational model for their personal support. 

Harvest Partnership missionaries work with the pastor and leaders of a church and the work of development in that church is the leader’s responsibility.  The missionary makes regular visits. Their leaders are responsible to establish the growing impact and vision of the church. Each house group, known as a Bible Reading Fellowship, becomes an instrument in the outreach and discipling movement of the church. It is a version of “simple church” born in Acts 2. It is based on everyone reading the Bible daily and praying for their family and others to come to faith in Christ. The house fellowships are for sharing God's word, intercession, discipling, planning for doing good and outreach, and discipling.  Deep fellowship is the outcome.

Harvest Partnership has several bases in different parts of The Great Lakes area of Africa. Here are some comments from each area covering the most recent news (past 6 months), plans, prayer items and challenges:

Abel and Anita Rachete - Bujumbura, Burundi

Abel (on left) is the leader of the Great Lakes Area. During January Abel visited, encouraged and mentored the leaders who are facilitating discipleship in nine house churches in Bwiza, Kanyosha and Cibitoki. They are keen for the Lord in the Daily Bible Reading, and they enjoy coming together to share what God has taught them in their personal devotion time. They are also involved in soul winning. In four churches salvation and baptisms of 21 people were celebrated. Two house churches have too many people. He encouraged them to multiply and to become more prayerful and involved in evangelism.

In February he spent time in Kanyosha at Bethlehem Church. He encouraged Pastor Isaac and his team of 15 leaders. He had developed them last December on Step 1 and 2 after Isaac returned from two years Kenya. In February he saw that they were involved in the Daily Bible Reading.  They have developed passion as they meet every week to share the Bible and pray for the lost. 

In February he attended a Pastoral Conference. He says, “It was good to share our vision and mission in a pastoral Conference organised by the Synergy of Pastors in Burundi. Pastor Methuselah, one of my contacts, invited me. I first challenged them on our disobedience as servants for not taking our responsibility in doing the Great Commission. I ended by telling the audience, this is what Harvest Partnership is doing in the Great Lakes region in helping hundreds of churches to be involved in the harvest by turning their members into effective, obedient and active Disciples of Christ."

Involving everyone in the Great Commission through house churches that multiply was his theme. After the presentation 16 pastors showed a desire to work with them to help their churches. He exchanged phone numbers and has begun working with pastor Ngongo from Salem Church, Maramvya. He is one of the five new pastors he developed in that place.

Abel is currently visiting around Ruhengeri in Rwanda. Churches from this area have used HP resources in the past. After finishing in Rwanda, he plans to go to DR Congo to encourage Jean-Pierre in the Goma area and Daniel in Bukavu.  

Abel and Anita have established Impact Word Ministry to equip young professionals and university student as Voluntary Co-Workers in Bujumbura. As they gain employment around Burundi and DR Congo, they become church planters and inspire churches to be Harvesters. They will become bi-vocational Harvest workers. Pray for Jules, the first one Abel has sent. 

The key to the work is to get every Christian reading the Bible daily.  The author, the Holy Spirit, hungers to reveal God and His truth to every follower every day.  The great need is for Bibles in the heart language of the people, using our 1-year Bible Reading Cards.   

Prayer Points

1) Pray for progress in the churches they already help and that new areas will be reached.
2) Pray for a great harvest of souls as churches are bringing people to faith and continue discipling those who come to Christ.
3) Pray for financial provision for the ministry, for Bibles and printing the next Bible Cards.

Crispin and Chance Alimasi – Uvira, East D R Congo.  

Their family of eight is growing and their living costs are overwhelming. The family is large because of their two spells in refugee camps. They are developing a hardware business to meet those extra needs. Chance runs the hardware shop. In late 2022 they were given money to grow the business and need the Lord to prosper it. Here is a brief comment from Alimasi on the 12th May 2023. 

“All old merchandise has been sold and currently we are making at least two purchases per month to supply the hardware store. This fund even allowed me to finance some expenses in order to carry out church planting activities when there is a delay in payment. We are still committed to serving God through church planting. Church planting continues very well, and house church members read their Bibles at every meeting and invite others which is the daily growth of members in the local churches.”

HP leaders are working with Alimasi to do HP work over weekends until the business becomes successful.  

Alimasi has a big visiting programme to churches in Uvira in a wide variety of groups – Anglican, Emmaus, Baptist, Garenganze Brethren, Moravian, AOG and Lutheran included. When churches become Bible absorbing and soul winning then everything else becomes secondary and incidental. After that he visited the Rusizi River Plain, north of Uvira towards Bukavu where Pascal works. 

He also visited the Baptist churches in the Chichi District where the people have started reading the Bible daily. The Pastor is amazed at the change and the purpose in his people’s lives. 

Prayer 

1) Pray for the hardware business to be successful.
2) Pray for the hundreds of churches the HP missionaries help 

Pascal - near Fizi, along Upper Lake Tanganyika

In the remote area were Pascal lives, the roads are nearly impossible, the towns small.  Christian beliefs are confused with local beliefs. As Pascal introduces Bible reading and “Jesus Only” understanding, it is the Holy Spirit who brings Christians into knowledge and holy living.

Pascal is encouraged by Alimasi in this rural area. They help churches in towns such as Mboko, Swima, Nundu and Baraka. Many Christians have never been discipled so it is essential to disciple them, so they know how to make disciples. People are coming to Christ so he must disciple leaders to know how to disciple new believers. The area has witch doctors and strange beliefs.

In December 2022 Alimasi visited the AOJCITW (The Apostles of Jesus Christ in the World Church) Church for five days with Pascal. An old lady of 70 bought a Bible and her grandson became her reader. She began to preach to her neighbours and five have joined the house fellowship. 

Daniel and Dorcas - Bukavu, DR Congo 

Daniel is a very active man and is constantly visiting. During the genocide there was so much fighting that people had to bury their dead in their gardens.  Rebels and militia groups still cause mayhem and uncertainty.  Daniel and Dorcas have a house fellowship at home, and he helps many churches become effective.

Recently Daniel has started helping new churches. Most of them are hungry to grow and CPM helps their intake of God’s word and the outreach by each Christian. One church wanted Daniel to pay them to learn, they learned this from overseas organisations funding conferences. He explained that God told them to do “The Great Commission” and they would be available to help them when ready. They now say they are ready.

Daniel recently returned to the Kalehe area where he had been a teacher. There are now 56 leaders trained and they are establishing new church parishes by Lake Kivu and towards the highlands. There is very encouraging growth. However, in the past week there have been terrible floods in this area, and they cannot tell how many have been affected or killed. 

Prayer 

Some churches are making plans to begin reaching out to some of the islands on Lake Kivu. Pray for some way of reaching them. Also, there are lakeside villages both in Congo and Rwanda. House churches would be a great option in those places. 

Jean-Pierre - Goma, DR Congo

They bless the Lord that the house churches are winning souls to Christ. Encouraging them to love people beyond themselves by doing good and sharing Christ – JP sees as his essential ministry. He has just taught 23 leaders in a local Methodist church to tell the stories of God. Pray for that.

Ofisi Methodist: Their outreaches have seen 36 people come to Christ. The final group was baptised on Christmas Day. They have 38 house churches and JP has been teaching 30 of the leaders to reach out further with the gospel through house churches which will see new parishes established. 

Bob and Lillian Abdulla - Kisumu, Kenya

Bob (bottom right in photo) travels for three weeks in a month. He visits towns but sometimes God leads him to help humble villages. He needs insight to see potential people to mentor them into His work for deep growth and expansion. As well as helping churches to have evangelistic house churches, every church he visits he preaches the gospel. In the four places he visited recently 85 people came to Christ to be cared for and discipled in the house churches. 

During the last days of 2022 Bob took the family home to Nyakwere where, as a teen, he came to Christ and was thrown out by his Moslem father. Now there are Daily Bible Readings and songs of salvation in that home. Bob expects more fruit for God from the visit and the local churches to be encouraged. He’s unstoppable.

Prayer 

1) Pray healing for Lillian’s chronic health issues from an old injury
2) Praise God and pray that the churches will disciple the new believers
3) There are increasing family education needs in 2023 

Shaban, Kensha Youth Football - Mariakani, near Mombasa

Shaban is now in his mid-30’s and helping hundreds of street young people. Kensha has a house in Mariakani in which ten young men live. County leaders are seeing that youth involved with Kensha are being kept from crime and drugs and they ask Shaban to talk to gatherings and in villages.  

They rejoice in another year where the football team has won the competition and everywhere they go the Good News and prayer are part of every game (photo shows winning team). In Kenya things are costly – food prices for street kids are impossible. 

The Kensha Junior Football team (mid-teen street kids) don’t have a league but play against/with local village youth. This opens a door to sharing the stories of God and start Bible Reading homes in each one. Pastor Bob (left) has trained some of the older youth to lead home fellowships. Pastor Gift and Shaban are constantly visiting these villages, but they meet opposition from witches and wizards. God has all power and protection. They won several friendly matches, and their age mates are always eager to know about Jesus during reading of the Bible. 

Shaban reports; “I have been reaching out to the people in the streets and encouraging many who were helpless and homeless. Many youths have been using drugs and had bad behaviour but through reaching out to them had a great change in their lives. I have been encouraging many in villages where most of the people do not know the Lord but after several visits more have given their hearts to the Lord. We praise the Lord many youths in the streets have changed their ways of living and the love of Jesus from them is so lovely. It has been so difficult to deal with non-believers both in the streets and villages. Some we meet and who we try to share the Good News use abusive words. It has been so difficult to win the hearts of many in villages because many believe in idol worship, and some are witches and wizards who confront us."

Shaban and his two brothers, Eddy and Alfan, began this ministry. Rejected by their Moslem relatives they became orphans. HP helped them to know Christ and live effectively among the street youth. In the past 8 years they have cared for their dad’s brother. In April “uncle” died and they invited family and friends to his funeral. Initially there was hostility, but one relative said, “no one from the Muslim community helped “uncle.” So, it became peaceful. Eddy wrote, ”after the burial we shared the word of God and the relatives went away angry, shamed by how we much cared and how we had grown spiritually.  Praise be to the Lord Jesus.”
Photo shows Bob (striped shirt) with Shaban (left), Eddie (right)

Prayer 

1) Pray for God’s covering and leading over Shaban. Does the Lord have a wife for him who could be happy to be in a world of guys?  Or is he called to live as is?
2) Thank God for the hundreds of people being reached by the youthful footballers in Kensha
3) The devil isn’t pleased, pray protection and provision.
4) Praise God for those in school and those learning trades like electrical, plumbing and horticulture. There is a future for these street youth.