It is such a joy to be able to meet physically as a church body! Since June 5, the Ghanaian government has allowed one-hour services of up to 100 people, with certain social distancing and hygienic requirements. There are challenges to meeting some of the government’s requirements, but after 2½ months of not gathering with our church family, no restriction destroys the sweetness of gathering together again.
We enjoyed the freedom to go soul winning during most of the time that church was shut down. Although people have not always been as friendly and open as is usual here, many people have been saved during this time, including some who would not have met a soul winner if not for the disruptions of life that the Coronavirus brought.
During the shutdown, our church used the radio as the closest possible substitute for Sunday morning and Wednesday evening services. It certainly has helped our church members, but we have had some great feedback from other people as well. People have been saved, and a Church of Christ pastor called saying his people had listened to our program and had been convinced that baptism could not save them! (Church of Christ believes in baptismal regeneration.) The pastor wanted to get more teaching from our church. We are going to continue our presence on the radio. Please pray for God to bless this new ministry.
Schools are still closed, and we do not know when they will reopen, so Fundamental Baptist Academy’s teachers are going out to tutor our students at their homes. Please pray that we would have open doors to witness to our students’ family members.
I do not like the restrictions and challenges of this time, but I believe that great opportunities have and will continue to arise from them. Please pray that God will use us in a special, unprecedented way!
I know that many of you are facing greater restrictions and greater difficulties than we are. I am praying for you.
Fruit to Your Account
I was going soul winning close to my house when I saw Prince and Kwame with two other teen boys. I led Prince to Christ over a year ago, and Kwame got saved while attending the Bible Club I operated for a year. I called out, greeting them. The two new boys started to run away, but Prince stopped them. As I began to talk to them, it became obvious that Prince wanted me to witness to his friends, but his friends did not want to listen. I started giving them the Gospel anyway. I often find that if people listen long enough to learn that their good works cannot save them, they will then become interested. This is a completely new teaching to most people in Ghana. I was encouraged to see that Kwame and Prince still understood the truth about how to go to Heaven, despite a lengthy absence from good Bible teaching. However, the two friends would not give their interest or good attention despite my best efforts. Then an 18-year-old named Benjamin came to get money from one of the boys. I thought for sure I would lose all attention at that point! However, Benjamin became interested in what I was saying. By the time I was done talking, the original two boys had stopped paying any attention, but Benjamin had realized that his own works could never save him, and he chose to put his faith in Jesus!
Yours for souls,
Micah Christiansen