Perspectives by Rev. Janet Evans

My wife and I have just returned from a Missions trip to Malawi and Kenya in Africa.

According to statistics that were given to us on the plane as we flew, we were some 9,000 miles away from home, approximately. We discovered just how significant that was when we arrived back home in Canada having to adjust to a seven hour time difference.

However, that adjustment was minor to our having to deal with what we experienced.

I want you to know, I’ve seen television programs that show the poverty and the hungry children, and for most of my life I’ve been exposed to missionaries who have been there. I’ve heard their stories and have seen their slide shows, but I was not prepared for the real thing.

I think what got me the most is how very little most of the people there have, and yet, how very pleasant they are. I ate some of the food that most of them depend on for their survival. Day after day, it’s the same bland diet.

I realize that I have far too many choices, but I am real thankful that I have a better choice than that.

In Kenya, I was privileged to attend a school in the slums where the children get one meal a day, a mixture of beans, corn and rice if it is available. However, because of cutbacks of support from Canada, that meal is now only served on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. As far as can be known, these children have little or nothing to eat on Thursdays, Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.

I have to tell you, I wept when I heard that.

These kids, by the way, are as smart as any of our children. They are getting a good education, and good Biblical foundation as well. These children are the hope for the future of their countries.

Out of the worst possible conditions, God is raising up young people whose lives are being changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Malawi, I was privileged to work in a community that has been built, and funded still, by Canadians. There are 66 orphans being cared for there by women who have lost their husbands to death, one way or another.

James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father, is this, to care for widows and orphans in their trouble.”

This is the model that the “Village of Hope” is built on.

I, along with four other men from Canada, and Stephen from Malawi, prepared another home to be occupied, in the near future, by more children and another widow. I can tell you, it was difficult to work in 39 and 40 degree heat, but it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever been involved in.

I want to finish this today with a heartfelt ‘Thank you’ to all who made it possible for us to go there, and for the financial support we received that enabled us to provide school supplies, paint and money to furnish this new house so that the orphans, who otherwise would have no hope, can now be cared for, loved and educated and, I believe, make a difference in Malawi.

Malawi is called “The Warm Heart of Africa” and without a doubt that is true. But they need Help. The kind of help many of you gave to me to take to them. I can tell you, God knows who you are and He will bless you.

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Are You a Faithful Church Member?

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 

(Hebrews 10:24-25)

It “is the manner of some” Christians to forsake (enkataleipo; abandon or desert) the services and meetings of the local Church. “Manner” (ethos) in this verse refers to customary behavior or habits.  Some Christians, willfully and habitually, avoid services and meetings of the local Church. 

These Christians assume the right to determine for themselves whether they go to Church, on the bases of personal preference or convenience. Where the Bible has made God’s will known, choosing otherwise is a choice to disobey God’s word. (see v.26)

According to this passage, to forsake the assemblies of the Church is a refusal to participate in the love and good works designed to happen there. There are aspects of love and good works that cannot occur apart from our involvement in the services and meetings of the local Church. 

The God kind of love is unique, in that it is placed in the heart by the Holy Spirit, only when a person becomes a Christian. (Romans 5:5) This love is modeled for us by Jesus, when He sacrificed His living and life for our salvation. This love is unselfish and focused on the needs of others.

Good  works (kalos ergon) in our text, is the outworking of such love. By definition these are “morally excellent works that one is enabled and obligated to do by virtue of being created in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:10) Therefore avoidance of Church services and meetings is a violation of the nature and purpose of being “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” 

Our text calls us to “consider one another.” As I am considering others, others are considering me. This is how the God kind of love is designed to work in the Church. This consideration (katanoeo) is a caring awareness and regard for others, that looks for the opportunity to be a blessing, in word and deed. (1 John 3:16-19)

We consider one another in this way when we respect the vision of Christ for our participation in the services and meetings of the local Church. (Ephesians 4:1-16) It is in our assembling together as a Church that we “exhort one another.” The term translated “exhort,” parakaleo in the Greek text, means to come alongside of one another, to aid, help, comfort, and encourage one another. 

Attendance in local Church services and meetings is necessary if we are to be faithful to the model of Church presented to us in the Bible; a model of love and unity. And as we proceed toward the “Day of the Lord” this model becomes increasingly important.

We can only disobey God’s word to our own hurt, so let us obey the Scriptures in this matter; demonstrating our true discipleship and love for Jesus by assembling with the Church faithfully. (John 8:31; 14:23) 

If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. – John 13:17

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