Valentine’s Day in Liberia, and an American Spiritual
February 14 in Liberia is the same as in the U.S. – Valentine’s Day. It also marks Vickie’s and my 40th wedding anniversary. We will celebrate in April when I return. GraceLife Church hosted a Valentine’s Day dinner party for couples at a member’s home. Couples were instructed to arrive hand in hand and the men served their wives dinner. I did a short devotional: re-read the marriage vows that are customary in Liberia and reminded them that marriage is for keeps and it only gets better. All the men got a kick out of serving their wives and most of them ended up with a take-home plate.
Last Friday I finished another week of teaching – Pastoral Theology. We met every afternoon from 12:45-4:30. Those are tough hours to be in class, especially during the dry season in Liberia, so we kept things moving. We spent an entire day talking about the Health and Prosperity/Deliverance gospel and the entailments that go with it in Liberia. We simply read dozen’s of passages that spoke of our inheritance in heaven, the necessity of suffering for the sake of the gospel, the fact that God sometimes heals in this life but never permanently, and Christ’s call to follow him.
What is a Church?
Teaching an eager group of pastors. We spent two days defining what a church is so that they will know how to be effective pastors. That’s a great question for all of us, “What is a local church?” Here’s my definition that we took apart piece by piece in class.
“A local church is a community of true believers in Jesus Christ, established by God as His holy dwelling place, knit together in love by the Holy Spirit, who gather together regularly in order to make the glory of God known through the Gospel, using every biblical means possible (preaching, praying, serving, singing, giving, Lord’s Supper, baptism, encouragement, etc), under recognized spiritual leadership, who care for and affirm each other’s salvation, and then are trained and sent into the world to preach and practice the Gospel and multiply churches everywhere.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Hebrews 10:24-25; Exodus 33; 1 Timothy 3; Titus 1; Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:2; 1 Peter 1:10
Today’s quiz will ask the students to list five means of sustaining grace that are best received in the local church.
Ernest is cataloguing the 1500+ books that were given to the college and seminary. Great books, mostly new, from generous Christian publishers and other donors.
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He built those cabinets with a hand saw, plane, chisel, hammer, square, tape measure, screwdriver, glue, nails, sand-paper, and wood putty. All fit into a small backpack. Amazing!!
Coconut water from a street vendor.
Classic Liberian food and a Sweet School
This morning after breakfast I hit the books for a couple of hours – so thankful for Kindle books! I’m continuing the series on Colossians at GraceLife church and teaching a class next week for the Bible College. I love my parchments/books.
I took a break and ventured outside. A group of ladies were visiting and pounding. A long thick pole, pestle-like, was driven into a container, mortar-like, over and over again. I’m not sure of the exact Liberian designation, but “pestle and mortar” work. I scampered down and asked if I could take some pictures and have a go at pounding.
I discovered they were making “kanyan” a Liberian snack food. They slice cassava root and dry it out. Then they add peanuts and dried milk, put it all together into the container, and pound and pound and pound. They got a kick out of watching me. I tired quickly. The women in Liberia are hard workers and are quick to laugh, especially at an American!
On Monday we I visited the church-based school where I preached the last two Sundays. GraceLife sponsors three schools, I’ll post some pictures of school three soon. This is school number two.
There were fifty-one children in a 1000 square foot unfinished home. They were ordered and polite, attentive and all smiles. We were greeted, see below, and impressed! We traveled up the road a bit and took pictures of the new site for the only school in the community, sponsored by GraceLife Church. The footings have been poured and they are saving up for the next phase of construction. The children in this school would be spending the day idle in the village if not for GraceLife.
A little side note: a Christian book company saw my posts about the schools, and will be delivering a pallet of books for the students soon. Yeh!
Please pray for the students and the teachers. They make huge sacrifices and work diligently to transform a community starved for help and the gospel.
Can you spot the subtle difference in these two photos – same house, time lapse of two years. In the top right corner of the one on the right you can see electric poles and lines.This home is near the church and close to where I am staying. Which means there’s a good possibility that we will have real-time electricity soon. We use generators now; the reliability and ease of being able to turn on the switch will be wonderful.
I am constantly amazed at the work being done here. With scant resources, careful ingenuity, and sacrifice the gospel is being proclaimed faithfully at GraceLife Churches and schools.
Makes me smile. A Lot.
Thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to come. I wouldn’t trade this for the world.
Links and Liberia
We spend time on the internet. Time! The clock gallops as we harmlessly scan links and sites and videos and blogs and the news. We can feed ourselves with solid digitized food instead of the time gobbling videos, news stories, and assorted menu items there for consumption. Sugary snacks may satisfy the immediate craving, but will be disastrous over time.
Here is some good sold food. And a warning.
Challies.com His name is Tim Challies – a Canadian. He has a web site and a daily blog with links to Kindle deals, somewhat uneven in their quality, but some very good books at hugely reduced prices. I have reverted to Kindle books because of my travel. He also has links to other sites every day. Hardly a day passes that I don’t read something he has posted with great benefit.
The Gospel Coalition. A warehouse of great articles, sermons, and blogs. Trustworthy. GospelCoalition.org
Desiring God. A treasure: sermons, articles and free PDF books. John Piper and others. DesiringGod.org
NetBible.org An all purpose site with Bible study materials.
9Marks.org A ministry founded out of Capital Hill Baptist in Washington D.C. Great resources and handy 9Marks books on the church.
Crossway. Anything they publish is a winner. They also have supplied books for our trips to Africa at a huge discount so pastors can have quality reading material. Crossway.org
Trevin Wax. You can sign up for his blog posts at GospelCoalition.org
Kevin Deyoung. Same as Mr. Wax. GospelCoalition.org
World Magazine. The news from a solid Christian worldview. World.wng.org
The Berean Test. A Christian song review site. Give it a try. I like it. TheBereanTest.com
Laura Baxter is a Christian attorney who writes about the Bible, government, and assorted topics. She has published articles at The Gospel Coalition, the Federalist, and Servants of Grace. stirfrylaura.wordpress.com
Ligonier.org Everything from a gentler Reformed perspective. You’ll enjoy the material. R.C. Sproul founder.
Africa.GospelCoalition.org Gospel Coalition Africa! Yes. A great resource for African pastors and churches. There’s a link below that I’m requiring my students to read and write about. The prosperity gospel, not really the gospel, has invaded the continent like a hoard of locusts. Brought from the U.S. and syncretized with ancestor worship and witchcraft, it has taken on an existence that will move you to your knees. I pray daily for God to open eyes to see the error. They have taken the Holy Spirit, put him in a Trojan Horse, and now they’ve let him loose so they can play with him. That’s one of the reasons I’m here now. https://africa.thegospelcoalition.org/article/a-trojan-horse-in-the-african-church-deliverance-ministry/
Training Pastors Worldwide 