{"id":816,"date":"2021-01-11T21:53:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T19:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/?p=816"},"modified":"2021-01-11T21:53:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T19:53:54","slug":"a-very-satisfactory-church-council-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/?p=816","title":{"rendered":"A very satisfactory church council meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News from D\u2019kar – January 2021<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A very satisfactory church council meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our church council\nmet on Tuesday, January 5th for the year planning. The church council consists\nof Ben Soso, Sobe Nqarega, James Morris, Jim Morris, Morris Morris, Gaobolelwe Ngakayaja,\nAron Johannes, Xgaiga Qhomatca, Frits Lala and Hendrik du Plessis. Absent:\nFrits and Xgaiga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main item on\nthe agenda was evangelism \/ mission. The question was asked to how we as a\ncongregation can spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus to people who are not as\nprivileged as we are. There are about 2000 inhabitants in D\u2019kar, but we want to\nreach beyond just local. We have the most wonderful message in the world to\nshare, the forgiveness of God in and through His Son Jesus Christ. It can and\nmay not be limited to D\u2019kar. We are currently reaching out to B\u00eare, Motopi and\nMababe. Closer to D\u2019kar are places like Tchabo, Groot Laagte, East and West\nHanahai and Kuke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \nGaobolelwe,\nour 77-year-old emeritus minister, is still eager to visit the farms around\nD\u2019kar. He believes that as long as his health lasts, he wants to spread the\nWord of the Lord to people. He really is a great support to me in our\ncongregation. We need diesel for our vehicles to reach people because it is too\nfar to ride a bicycle, we told each other the other day. One of our church\ncouncil members proposed to barbeque sausages and sell it to be able to buy the\nfuel. The church council shares our sentiment calling to share the Gospel with\npeople.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every elder has a congregation\nward and with our home visits we have decided that each church member should\ninvite his neighbors when the elder or pastor visits. This is how you involve\nyour congregation members in evangelism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, we\nhave fixed two dates for communion, 28 February and 4 April (Easter Sunday)\nhave been reserved. This gives plenty of time for the elders and deacons to do\nhome visits. Last week, I updated the elders congregation ward lists for 2021.\nWard lists are used by each elder to monitor his ward members’ church\nattendance. On Sundays, every member present is marked off. When the elder\nvisits home, he knows exactly what each member’s church visit is like. In this\nway we can keep members from communion who never come to church but want to\ntake communion because if you do not even have a thirst for the Word of the\nLord on Sundays, from where all of a sudden the thirst for wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a system I\nstarted in South Africa, and it worked very well. When I wanted to implement it\nhere, the congeration members initially were opposed to the idea. Our defense\nwas that we are the shepherds of the Lord’s sheep and that a good shepherd always\ncounts his sheep. It is not necessarily always laxity that makes someone not\ncome to church, it can be illness or other problems and you can quickly find\nout in this way why the member’s church attendance is poor. After that, no one\nhad a problem anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n \nTo\nconclude, three of our church council members, Gaobolelwe, Aron and James are\nvery interested in preaching. In fact, they lead the services when I have to\npreach elsewhere. Aron and James had been late Rev. Braam le Roux’s faithful\nNaro translators and Gaobolelwe as far as Setswana language was concerned. I offered\nto teach them. We plan to work through James Braga’s book, \u201cHow to Prepare\nBible Messages.\u201d The book have practical examples of what a Scripture-based\nsermon or Bible study should look like. James Braga was a missionary in China\nand later a professor at the Multnoma School of the Bible. The first print was\nin 1969 and thereafter the book was revised and reprinted six times. I am\ntranslating the book into Setswana and then into Naro. Yesterday they anxiously\nwanted to know when we were going to start. The arrangement is, after I\ntranslate a chapter, we work through it together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To summarize:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our planning for\nthis first part of the year is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n