Seminar Update

Hello dear praying friends and family. 

I thought I would give you a quick update of the seminar on Muslim evangelism which we had at our Gungu chapel Monday through Wednesday. 

It went very well. We averaged around 30 people per session. Monday was all teaching (morning and afternoon) with 4 sessions. On Tuesday there were 2 sessions in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, followed by evangelism. We divided up into 6 groups of 2 or 3 people each. (We did not force anyone who did not feel ready to go). Each group went to a different neighborhood road and we went door to door to talk to people about Christ and the Gospel. We took with us tracts and gospels of John. It was scary and exciting. 

Japhet teaching one of the sessions.

Each group went at its own pace. The report the next day confirmed that our neighborhood has quite a few more Muslims than "Christians". Some encountered opposition from the Muslims, but most were at least willing to listen, and accept literature, and some even allowed us to pray for them at the end. Some of the "Christians" were nominal Christians or Catholics, or no longer attending church, so they needed the Gospel and/or encouragement too. 

Wednesday was a similar format to Tuesday and we went out again to evangelize in the afternoon. All in all it was a very good experience for all of us. It was wonderful to see the excitement of the believers as they shared their reports of how things went in their group. 

Mzee Maisha witnessing to a group of youth.

We want to thank all of you who prayed for us. We know that God heard your prayers and strengthened us for the task. Please keep praying, that this would be an ongoing exercise and that in the long term it would bear fruit. We need persistence to reach the Muslims, whose minds have been blinded to the truth for so long that it is difficult for them to receive God's Word, which is the only thing that can change them. Keep praying for us. With God all things are possible.

We thank God for your partnership in the Gospel,

Sincerely,

Luke Johnson

February Update

Dear praying friends and family, 

We praise the Lord for His goodness to us, for his mercies endure forever.

Ministry

We prayed for a good turnout for the Disciples of Jesus school and we asked you to pray, and the Lord answered our prayers. We were expecting around 7 or 8 and we got (and still have) 14 students! Two of them are from villages and the rest are from town. We have a good mixture of both adults and youth, male and female. And they are all eager to learn and seem quite well behaved. I (Luke) finished teaching “History of Salvation” (a survey of God’s plan of salvation throughout the Bible) for 3 weeks. Now Peter Yamungu is teaching on how to study the Bible and prepare to teach or preach on a passage (Homiletics). Pray for him as he has begun to feel sick. Please pray also for the students, that they would continue to be faithful in their attendance and eagerness to learn and apply God’s Word to their lives.

Students taking their exam.

Next week we plan to have a 3 day seminar at the Gungu town church on evangelism (particularly to Muslims). God has placed His church there in Gungu as a lighthouse in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, but our “light” has not been shining very bright, and there is much fear when it comes to witnessing to Muslims. On the second and third days of the seminar we plan to go out and visit our neighbors door to door and talk with them about Jesus. Please pray that friendships would be developed and that this will be an ongoing exercise through which God’s Spirit will draw Muslims to Christ. We need you to pray for this seminar, and we need you to pray for Christ’s church at Gungu! Please remember us in prayer on the 13th - 15th (Mon - Wed) of February! We know our God is able to do mighty things if we are prepared to suffer for Christ’s sake and step out in faith, and we need the support of your prayers.

Family

Much of our family has been sick with upset tummies for a while (especially Luke and Michael). We have been tested and have taken medicine but our condition has not improved much. We have been enjoying the rain and the green grass and the beautiful sunsets lately. Aaron has just learned to ride a bike so he’s pretty excited about that. Esther and Emily enjoyed staying up until midnight when going with their mom to a muslim friend’s wedding.

Aaron riding his bike.

Thanks for praying for us.

Blessings,

Luke and Gina and kids

And another video

Here is a link to a short video that CMML put together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEy9QF9rTLA&feature=youtu.be