From the Manse March 2003

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I’m expecting a busy few weeks.  Let me tell you about some of the things that are planned.

Preaching in the USA
On Monday 3rd March, I expect to fly out to the USA.  I’ve been invited to preach four messages to the General Assembly of the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America.  They’ve asked me to preach just the same messages as I preached in South Africa three years ago and in New Zealand last Easter.  I preached in both those countries on Isaiah’s “Servant Songs” (Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 53) - four great prophecies about the Lord Jesus, the ‘Servant of Jehovah’.  That conference is held in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and is hosted by the church where for many years Walter Chantry was pastor (many of you will have read one or another of his books). 

I was asked if I could stay over and preach on the Lord’s Day but I said I wanted to be back home as soon as possible.  So it will be a very brief trip.  Out on the Monday, conference on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then home - no doubt jet-lagged and weary - on the Friday.  I have to take three connecting flights each way and I’m sure there’ll be very tight security at the airports and on the aircraft.  We’re all very conscious of the threat of terrorism.

Preaching in Kosova
Home for the weekend - and I’m looking forward to sitting in the congregation, listening to other men preach on the Lord’s Day.  Then on Monday the 10th I’m back at the airport, flying out to Kosova with David Young of the Albanian Evangelical Mission.  Again, it’s for a conference, organised in Pristina the capital city of Kosova.

We all remember the horrors of the 1998/99 civil war in Kosova, when thousands of ethnic Albanians were massacred by Serb troops, and hundreds of thousands fled as refugees over the border.  Some found their way to the UK at that time - and finished up living round the corner from myself.  We’ve had the opportunity to befriend those Kosovar refugees and share the gospel with them.  But now I’ve got the opportunity to go and preach the gospel in their country.  You’ve often heard me talk about Sami and Zehra.  They’ve shown me photos of the village outside Pristina where they lived.  Every building in the village was smashed by Serb troops.  But now the village has been rebuilt. Sami wants me to go and visit his family there.  That will be a privilege.

As for the conference, I really don’t know what to expect.  The evangelical community in Kosovo is very small and very young.  Ninety per cent of the population are ethnic Albanians by race and Muslim in religion.  There is a small number of Serbs remaining in the country.  Most of them belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church and regard evangelical Christians as a dangerous sect.  It was estimated in 1999 that there were around 200 Kosovar-Albanian Christians in the country - about .01% of the population.  Since the war, that number seems to have grown and new churches have been established.  But most of the believers are young in years and have had little teaching.  Many have been influenced by unhelpful Pentecostal and charismatic influences.  Few if any will ever have heard serious Bible exposition.

The conference is expected to last for three days.  Each morning, I’m due to speak to pastors and church leaders.  I’ve chosen to give three messages from 2 Timothy.  Then in the evenings, I’ve been asked to speak to believers of all sorts.  I’m speaking in those sessions on the Sermon on the Mount.  I’ll have to speak through an interpreter of course.  The pastor in Pristina has also asked me to speak on the Lord’s Day at the church there.  He’s suggested that I expound Leviticus chapters 10 to 22.  But he doesn’t want me to take more than forty-five minutes, including the interpretation! 

Baptismal Service
David and I are due to fly back on Monday the 17th and I expect to be with you for the Wednesday evening meeting.  Then the 22nd is a big day for us all.  Baptismal services are always special.  I’m looking forward very much to that Saturday evening, listening to Mark’s testimony.  We’ve known him since he was four years old.  That night marks the answer to so many prayers.

Church Prayer Day
The following Saturday (the 29th) is also a very important day.  Some of you will remember that last July we set aside one Saturday as a day of special prayer for the church.  Church members spent the day as far as possible in prayer, and many of you joined the office-bearers in fasting too..  We believe God honoured that day’s praying.  To take just one example: one of the things we prayed for most earnestly was that we would see God saving the teenage lads in the church.  Mark’s conversion is one token that God does answer prayer.  So we think the time has come to have another such day.  We hope that as many of you as possible will put aside time to pray in your homes.  We’re planning to hold three prayer meetings again in the course of the day - one at breakfast-time, one at lunch-time, one at tea-time.  Holding the meetings at those times may make it easier for some of you to fast for the whole day or part of it. I tried to show you from the Bible in the July 2002 bulletin, how important fasting can be when we are seriously seeking God’s blessings.

There are many things we need to pray about.  One of the most important is our need for a senior pastor to join the eldership - perhaps a man of retirement age.  But there are many other matters.  We’ve been reaching out to teenagers from the area for more than six months now and have seen no fruit.  We’ve not yet seen children in the Sunday-school converted.  How we long to see definite, powerful conversions!  We’ve no reason to expect God to bless us if we don’t make a priority of prayer.  Ask and it shall be given you.

Our Special Delivery
And then April..  and another big date for Anne and myself.  The 9th is the due date though we know very well that babies have a habit of being less than punctual.  We’re looking forward to the event of course.  This is a happy and exciting time for us.  But we’re also very conscious that there’s no such thing as a safe birth.  We’re glad that we live in a country and at a time where there’s such excellent medical provision.  Our friends in Nigeria or in Albania don’t have the same privileges.  But the unexpected can still happen.  Babies can still be damaged, or can die, during the delivery.  Mothers’ lives can still be lost.  The only certainty we have is that Anne and the baby are in the hands of God - and that we’re part of a praying church.  Do pray for us - and for Martin & Jacquie as they await the birth of their sixth child, and for Geoff & Carol as they wait for their third.

So, not a lot of rest between now and the 9th of April.  And none at all after that, if all the warnings we’ve been given are true...

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.  What greater assurance could we have - or need?

Every blessing to you all,  Stephen.