We had a wonderful trip to Kigoma, Tanzania. It was a long trip and ended up taking several days, but we are thankful for God’s protection. It was such a joy to visit with Pastor Philemon and the church folks of Faith Baptist Church of Kaseke. Because of the long journey, it had been two years since we had visited this ministry. What a blessing it was to see new people joining the church and others who had been faithful since we were there last! We also had the opportunity to see many trust Christ and a total of 10 get baptized. Please continue to pray for this wonderful church. We are excited about the prospects of starting more churches in 2018.
Boys’ Home
It is a blessing to see each one of our boys growing both spiritually and physically. These young men are such a blessing in the ministry as well. They help out in so many different ministries. One of the reasons these young men are such a blessing in the work is because they are truly immersed in Bible teaching. They receive many lessons throughout the week. On Tuesdays there is an outreach ministry to other orphans and underprivileged children where a Bible lesson is taught. On Wednesdays they are part of a Public School Bible Club. On Wednesday evenings, there is also, of course, church. Each Thursday is Teen Soul Winning. Every Saturday morning, there is church-wide prayer and soul winning; then in the evening is a Neighborhood Bible Club. On Sundays, they help out in Sunday school on a rotation basis and are a part of our youth group that meets after all of our services. This teaching, not to mention devotions every night at the home, is all part of the goal of raising them to love the Lord. If Tanzania is going to be reached, it is going to be reached by the generation of these young men: young men who grow up in the church, stay pure, and give their lives to the Lord. Two of the young men have spoken about feeling that God would have them be preachers. Please pray that God would raise up these young men to be leaders to reach Tanzania.
Feeding Center
A dream of mine for some time has been to share God’s love through a feeding center. We are excited to announce that, with the partnership of CORE Missions, we will be opening up a feeding center. We will literally be able to impact these children for the cause of Christ almost every day of the week. They will start at the center every weekday for breakfast, prayer time, and a Psalm. After school they will eat lunch at the center and receive a short biblical challenge every day. Once during the week, there will be a full service with preaching and singing. On Thursdays there will be a Bible Club for any and all children to attend, with games and a Bible lesson. Every Sunday these children will be transported to Faith Baptist Church for all the services, as well as eating lunch every week with our church family. During the week we will also have one of our staff to teach in their school’s religious hour. This time is for “religious” instruction, and we are given complete freedom to teach and preach the Gospel for 90 minutes a week. It is obvious that when a child enrolls, they will be saturated with the teachings of the Bible. They will also feel the love of God’s people. Parents will be required to attend a meeting at the center twice a month, where we will give the Gospel and teach a Bible truth. We believe by showing Christ’s love to their children, we will have open doors to reach these children’s parents, grandparents, and other relatives.
Radio Ministry
Please continue to pray for this ministry. We are continuing to raise the needed funds to complete this project.
Christmas Sunday
We had an incredible Christmas Eve Service at Faith Baptist. We called it “Christmas in Africa,” and we had planned many different things to draw people to church that Sunday. We had a Christmas pageant, a special choir, a lot of food, and gifts for each child. We saw 31 people trust Christ and over 500 attend. We also had a service on Christmas Day, which was very special.
This Year at Faith Baptist Church
God has truly blessed 2017, and we have had an incredible year here at our church. We have seen more in average attendance, as well as more trust Christ than we have ever seen at our church. Our average for the year was 278, and we saw over 3,200 trust Christ. It has been an amazing year, and we pray that God will bless 2018 as He did 2017. Please play that God would continue the momentum here in the ministry.
Your representatives to Tanzania,
Jerry & Rachel Wyatt