“… It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables” (Acts 6:2 ESV).

Busyness is a sad substitute for the mission of God. A conference of churches can get caught up in administration, deeming busyness to equal spirituality. Pastors and officers alike can be tempted to see themselves as important because of their titles. The AC Conference in Tanzania recognizes this.

For months, the Tanzania Conference has wrestled with the administrative demands of registering with the federal government. These demands have required time and resources from them: meetings with officials, reading and signing documents, refining their own constitution, constructing an office building with their own hands (without which their registration would not be considered), and all while praying against and confronting the attempts of a former president to destroy them.  

Over the phone they said to me something like what we read in Acts 6:2, “We must be doing other things. Our mission is to tell the lost about the Savior Jesus Christ so that they can know him.”

The other things simply involve doing their part to fulfill the Great Commission. Presently, the pastors are coming together three days each week for open-air evangelism. Singing and dancing attracts the crowd. A new convert then shouts out his testimony as to how the Lord Jesus searched for and found him, delivered him from evil spirits and granted him eternal life. Two days of the week are then spent in door-to-door evangelism. This schedule continues through the Christmas season.

Exciting things are happening as you read this article. Pray with your brothers and sisters for new names to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and look for future photos of baptisms.

(Submitted by Africa Europe Area Director Bryce Whiting)