Monthly Report: September 2025
We are grateful for the opportunities and blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us in the past month. The following is a summary of the main events and developments in our congregation here in D’kar:
Communal Service of the Lord’s Supper
We had the privilege of taking communion together, which was a time of spiritual renewal and unity for the congregation. This sacred moment reminded us of Christ’s central place in our lives and contributed to the strengthening of our faith community with Him. When we take communion, we as a congregation usually stand around the table and wait for the bread and wine to be served.
Elder Visits
The elders took their responsibility seriously during the month by visiting the members in their respective wards. These visits allowed for pastoral care, prayer, and encouragement, and helped to strengthen bonds within the congregation. We are grateful for their commitment and the positive impact it has had on individual members.
Highlight: Confirmation of a New Elder
The highlight of the recent period was the confirmation of a new elder. The approval process, which lasted four weeks, was completed after the candidate was presented to the congregation for three weeks for reflection and approval. This was an important step forward for our congregation.
The new elder currently serves as the coordinator of the Bible translation project in Naro here locally, which is concerned with making the Word of God accessible in the local language, Naro. Naro is a Bushman language spoken throughout the Gantsi district and into Namibia. We are particularly grateful to have someone with his experience and dedication on the church council. His contribution will undoubtedly help strengthen our congregation’s mission.
As you know, elder gifts are very rare in our churches across Southern Africa, and in our local church here in D’kar, this is no exception. Our church council members at present are all old. Our young elder, who was just confirmed, is 43. We have two more brothers we are looking at for the office of deacon. Both are still relatively young. Our prayer is that the Lord will guide us in wisdom to confirm the right people in office.
We therefore specifically ask for your intercession for our young elder and his family in this important work. May the Lord protect them, give them strength, and guide them in their daily responsibilities. The attacks of the devil are fierce, and without prayer, none of us can stand. In fact, this elder is also the person we have in mind to be further trained as a minister should he feel called.
Intercession and closing remarks
We ask for your intercession for this coming month (October) and specifically for the following:
• From the 10th of October, we plan to visit Bere and then Motopi and Mababe.
• From the 20th of October, a school of life will be offered here in the church for the standard sevens who will go to high school next year. For a week, they will be prepared from the Word of the Lord for the life that awaits them out there.
• From the 27th, it will be another revision week during which we will work through the Book of Exodus in Naro. We ask for wisdom to reflect the original text in the translation as closely as possible.
The past month has been a time of growth, unity, and progress. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the Lord’s work and look forward to what lies ahead. Thank you for your prayers and support – it truly makes a difference.
Radio and television broadcasters
Last but not least, and we are very excited about this: The new government of Botswana has started an initiative to promote our indigenous and disadvantaged languages by making the BTV television channel available to them so that the news can be broadcast in their respective languages in the evenings and on the radio as well. For the past 59 years, since Botswana’s independence, there has been no television channel or radio station available for other languages. Now one can watch the news in Naro and also listen to it on the radio. We are excited and very grateful because almost all the broadcasters in Naro come from D’kar and are people from our church. A month ago, some of them were still part of our revision team when we proofread the book Ecclesiastes and Daniel, and now they have been appointed as television presenters in Gaborone. They literally learned to read and write Naro here in our church. Whenever the creed or the law or a passage of Scripture had to be read in church, we made use of them. This is still our modus operandi in our congregation here.
Conclusion
To conclude: Mentioning intercession, it reminds me of the faithful intercession of Daniel and his three friends and the obvious impact it had at that time. His religiosity, his faithfulness in his work, and especially his prayers were an obstacle for the devil in his attempt to get involved there. He was frustrated and determined to make Daniel stop praying, even if it was only for a month. Hence, he cunningly had a law enacted, and from the highest authority, he inspired ministers, governors, counselors, and governors to go to the king with flattering words to convince him that anyone who worshipped any god or man except the king during this month should be thrown into the lions’ den. All this just to make Daniel and his friends stop praying. We read this in Daniel 6. Everything was aimed at making Daniel and his friends stop praying, even if it was just for a month, and he did this through the jealousy of ministers and all the high-ranking officials.
This once again makes one realize how important prayer is and how powerless the devil is when one prays seriously or fervently. Today, his greatest goal is still that believers will stop or pray less. He subtly works in your mind to make you as lax as possible in your daily prayers, and you so often do not feel like praying, or you are too hasty and only mumble a few words. When that feeling comes over you, you must realize who it comes from, and it must motivate or inspire you all the more to pray even more, because it is a tangible and direct attack from the devil. With this in mind, I still ask for your fervent intercession for our work here. What was so beautiful to me about Daniel is what is written in Daniel 6:10: “10When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.”
Your brother in Christ,
Hendrik du Plessis.