News for Middle of June 2006

Dear Friends,

Please pray for our YTC centre at Malanga. My first time to attend this centre at the start of May, found just one student. Meanwhile a teacher we were relying on to teach at another centre did not turn up, so I was moved to another class which had a higher attendance. We have been using a small off-road church to teach in Malanga. We are now hoping to find a better location that is near the road, and then to start again in September. We hope in September to have two more teachers, who are themselves at Bible college till July, in which case the September term will see us with plenty of manpower.

My suggestion that husband and wife should be ready to concede their faults and ask for forgiveness from their partner or even children, was met with horror by one class. "If a woman admits having made a mistake, she'll be beaten" they said. "If a man admits to having made a mistake, then he will never hear the end of it from his wife, and neither will the neighbourhood" members of the class went on to say. Pray for homes and families in such a situation. Pray for this class on marriage and family as we continue with it in some locations.

A student at KIST presenting to his class mentioned something a few days ago that I had long suspected: "Europeans are not effective at teaching theology
in Africa" he said "because they don't understand the African concern with spirits." Many of the people we are teaching in Yala and Siaya are looking for help with their problems. They understand their problems as arising due to the activities of spirits. Unless one addresses this felt need, one's teaching can appear irrelevant. What to do? (The Bible, especially the New Testament, contains many instances of Jesus driving away spirits. Yet much of the Western church has ignored that for
Centuries. Being engaged in exorcisms would seem to be a 'back to the Bible' move.)

Best wishes,

Jim