SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
MISSION OF MALAWI
PO BOX 60150 BT. 6 BLANTYRE MALAWI AFRICA
TEL. 265-9-741-007/ or 265-8-751140 (mobile)
Missionary / Evangelist: Peter A. Halliman
Email: panagioite04@gmail.com
Date: 28/01/2010
Dear Pastor, Church, and Supporters;
I greet each of you in Jesus’ Name, the only Name given under heaven whereby men [must] be saved, Amen!
I have just completed a series of reports on my recent mission trip to Papua New Guinea. I shall now embark on the task of bringing you up to date on the mission work here in Malawi and Mozambique Africa.
The mission work that I do is primarily with Tribal people on a grass roots level, I find on a whole that most missionaries who come to Africa, do NOT want to go to the bush, nor remote areas, but most simply come to settle in a town, city and no more, no less become a local pastor of a pre-organized work that someone before them started. Through the thirteen years I have laboured here in Africa, I have from time to time met, and discussed mission work with different so- called missionaries affiliated with different religious groups. I am always surprised when asked by these “missionaries” [what is it that you do?] … I thought this was common knowledge, and I didn’t know that I had to qualify or explain to [another missionary] what it is that a [missionary] does!!
However, I simply explain that I was sent out of a local church (with Authority) regardless what some believe). I am sent to preach the Gospel, Baptize those who confess their sins and believe in Christ for their Saviour, and to teach the “all things”. Which, in my opinion is the hardest to do because one has to attach oneself to people’s lives to do this. A “Theoretical lesson, or message” does more harm to the convincing of simple people then anything that I know. As James said, we must be not only “hearers of the Word, [but] doers of the Word. A missionary comes here and preaches to the Africans that they need to “believe, have faith” that God will supply all your need”; Whilst they have a house full of “rubbish”, two or three vehicles, money in the bank, bills paid, all the Insurance packages to rely upon, and food on the table”. Justify that message in that context. That is how many come here to preach an live a separated life from the Natives. Why shouldn’t the Africans doubt your Christian depthless, and why should they live out your messages when you demonstrate otherwise?
I am through bellyaching about what I face here in Africa so I will simply get on with the report now.
When I arrived back here from PNG, I needed to conference with the pastors who are still with us and get an overall idea on the work here. I summoned to the Mission Station Bro. Jackson Kopolo and Bro. Dinala Chipala who are really the foundation stock of this work. We sat together and discussed many things, one of which we all agreed to, was to host a Bible Conference here at the Mission Station. Things were set in place and I at once began to organize for this. This not being NG, I don’t have the comradeship that I have tried to cultivate over the years, however the Africans are a different breed of people, and it is what it is.
For the next few days I was busy with different demands, ranging from the construction of toilets, bathhouses to food shopping in the local markets. I usually spend the evenings studying to prepare what I believed God would have me to preach at this Conference. As I mediated on the vision of this work, the years of labour that have been invested, the struggles and victories it has experienced, the setbacks and hiccups which have occurred; I felt it was now time to draw some hard lines in the sand and make a stand.
If there is one thing that Tribal people will respect is [Authority] that does not vacillate. I have been accused of a tyrant in this work (by those who never put any sweat, blood, or tears in it), however the Truth is far different and any pastor here, and church will testify that they operate in True N.T, form. If someone doesn’t understand that, they need to go back and study Paul’s ministry with the churches he organized.
The date arrived for the Conference, the few pastors came (seven in all), the housing was in order, the utilities were in order, and the Kitchen was in order. I bring attention to this because I have taken back control of this issue. In past years I tried various programs, which have all failed with each having their own set of problems usually worse off then the time before. The food would come up short in the middle of the conference due to those employed in the kitchen area helping themselves to the food as well, giving out to their family members etc… the firewood missing, the charcoal etc…
Therefore, the food was put in the house and I was able to monitor the food as needed. The personal in the kitchen was now back to my house help, and the serving of food was dependent upon the pastors themselves.
As usual each pastor had his allotted time to speak, allow me to digress again, over the years I have also tried both versions of hosting the Bible Conference, i.e., appointing each speaker with a subject, and or leaving this to the freedom of God’s H.S. to impress upon the man to preach what he needs to preach. I have toiled between this issue for years and I am not certain which is the best route.
The African preachers are just not as studious as I believe a Preacher out to be. Secondly, many of them have the lessons in written form in a bound book that was given to them at the Bible School which most (attended), but to get them to study and follow an outline is yet another task, which I don’t think will happen in my life time.
The weekend went very well, no hiccups the fellowship was sweet, no schisms (as of yet) the preaching seemed to harmonize, and with the small crowd we had, the singing was real. I took time after each day to sit with the men and discuss business regarding the mission work, of which I will outline for you the reader, supporter simply because in time you may hear more about thus and thus therefore you don’t need to be surprised.
1. From day one and for thirteen years I came here to Africa with a belief that no one person, pastor, or church should be shunned because of their race, colour, creed, political background, and not because of their educational illiteracies. After I had been here for a few years in Africa and had time to get my feet wet, I became convinced that most missionaries were not interested in going to the bush, simply because they would have to learn the local vernacular and enter a very labuorious ministry of teaching.
2. I have not been called to build on educational numbers, but to preach the Gospel to all creatures. In time the Bible school was started where I used to live there in town. I was not the only one to teach, my Father taught there, Jason Brown (from Henderson TX.) taught classes there, Elder Gordon Wiegold taught there, and others visited and witnessed that institution. During the thirteen years I have operated the school, I have never charged any of the pastors school fees. All the material provided has been done so at the cost of the mission, and I never went cheap for God’s work even with the Natives. If they came to the school, I made sure they had a Bible (in their Native vernacular), a songbook, pens, pencils, and the hardback notebooks to write their lessons in.
3. 2010 will start a new era in the Malawi/Mozambique mission work, all pastors, or students will now be required to pay a school fee. That has not been set at this time but it will be comparable to their lifestyle and economics of which they find themselves. I now am convinced after thirteen years of practical mission work on a grass roots level that even as poor as they might be and as little as they might have, people of all Nations, will appreciate more what it is they have to pay for. I can go into a lot of examples to prove this here in Africa but will spare at this time. If you (whoever you are) have any question to me, for me, regarding this issue I will be very pleased should you ask me in the next few weeks as I make my way (LORD WILLING) to the USA.
4. Sometime back when our work was almost destroyed by those from within as well as from those without, there were many pastors who departed and attached themselves to another missionary. During this purging… there were statements said both privately as well as publicly, Nationally as well as Internationally, and both the men who made these statements as well as the statement itself is fabricated in lies, half-truths, and served with jealously. I care not to live in the past, or to dig up an old story, however all of us cannot hide, run away, or pretend that certain events did not happen in our lives. Our Baptist heritage will always remind us of what our forefathers died for when we read and study “The Trail of Blood”. Because one today does not feel the pain of those who suffered, does not mean it did not take place.
5. There was a certain preacher who came here to visit after the work had been divided. Not knowing the language, nor customs, nor the character of the men, the stories were swallowed up as factual and the “Gospel Truth”. Then these statements were published on a “website”. I have said all that to say this, many of these same preachers who “sold me out, for a package that they were promised, but never came, have now sold out that missionary as well, simply because he did not fill his promises to these hirelings. One by one they have tried to come back to our work and seek the fellowship we had before. I will now give you some names as they have already been given on the website.
6. Bro Thomson Matewe (who lives in Mozambique), he was the first one to come back to me and asked me to forgive him and wanted to know if he would work with me again. I was not bitter, nor angry, hurt yes but I told him I not only forgave him but would receive him back in the fellowship. That day I had the other pastors present as well and they all had their own questions for him. He is back with us, very active in the LORD’S work and has learned a great lesson about the “deceptiveness of those who call themselves your friends”.
7. There is Bro Lazrol Phiri who is a local chief and older man; he humanly speaking was one of our best preachers. He studied well and always presented a good message. He was one of the preachers whom I had invested a lot of time, teaching and grooming. When he departed the work for some “sac’s of maize” (his bowl of porridge) that was promised to him which he never received” he felt he had been betrayed. I reminded him, does God not say that “man shall reap what he sows” if you sow betrayal, that is what you will harvest. He asked to come back but I did not welcome him into the fellowship for some time, not because I wanted to be vindictive but simply because the other preachers (pastors) wanted to give him a “grace period” to see if he was (True). In the end he was given his chance to confess (not any sin to us) confession is made to our Father in heaven; however he did confess that he had done wrong and wanted us to forgive him and receive him back into the fellowship. The other pastors agreed to do so, I asked him why did he in the first place break off. His reply, there were some women in the church which were very persuasive and pulled most of the members to break off from our work and join this other missionary because I had never given them “maize bags” where as this missionary had promised them so. I asked him, why should I now believe that they are going to commit back to our work and another day will not sell out again when “another missionary” comes along with a package that I am not offering”? His reply, “I have learned my lesson” I was hungry for the fellowship, the conferences, and the Bible School.
These two men were great leaders (still are) among their people, I have from day one retained a position as per the following; In the mission work, after a group of folks are Biblically organized into a N.T. Church, I tell them that they are not bound to me, they do not have some debt to pay to me, or any kind of obligation to stay with me, meaning they are free to worship among themselves and are not bound to enter into any kind of fellowship with me. I do think this is healthy but there is nowhere in Scripture for this “fellowship mandate” in order to remain a True N.T. Church.
8. Further to the points mentioned, I would like to say I as an Ordained Missionary sent out of LMBC of Roseville, CA, I not only represent my home church, but I have their Authority, (which I take very seriously). As the one sent out, it is incumbent upon me to report on the work, myself, and what affects our lives. I am not the missionary that will report only on the salvation and baptisms of those whom God saves, I feel it is necessary for my church as well as any supporter to know both the (joys, as well as the pains), (the victories as well as the attacks), (the progress as well as the regress), (the healing as well as the divisions), and furthermore I believe its Biblical to publicly state the (Truth “as we know it to be” and the lies which are being told). Christ often warned the disciples of the “leaven” of the Pharisees, Paul warned, and Peter and others… so to today I don’t believe as a Missionary that I am to keep quite when I am faced with the lies. In the interest of the LORD’S work, Churches, and people, therefore, I am called upon to testify to what I have to address and what I have to confront in the work. If I were a pastor of a local church, there would be no need to expose the business of that body to other churches, however when there are supporting churches that are involved in a cooperative effort I believe it to be proper and Biblical for them to know what it is that I face. The allegations and lies about the work were published on the internet and I was quite happy to let God deal with the ones responsible, (and HE will) however, now I am faced with some of those same men (again) who I taught in the Bible school and they are giving statements contrary to what was published.
I would like the reader to take a moment of time and ask yourself a question in a given scenario; You are sent to visit a Tribe unknown to you, you don’t speak the language, you don’t know the (customs), or mannerisms, you don’t know who it is that you can trust or not trust, you have not spent any time among these people to learn them but yet you go and you are set on a mission to make an enquiry as to some rumors that are told about your friend that has lived, and worked among them for years. Your friend knows the people, language, customs and the (rumors). You now arrive, contact a translator and for the next two weeks you are given what “they want you to hear”; you have no idea of what you have said to them if its being translated or not. Then at the end of your tour you depart feeling good about yourself that you have achieved the impossible. In two weeks you became a linguist, an Expert on Tribal customs, mannerisms, and habits. You have somehow extracted the “Truth” from these people (whom you don’t know) and been able to separate that from the lies. Amazingly you fly back to where ever you came from and then with all your newfound information you decide to enlighten the world with your “instant knowledge” and “Express wisdom”!
Tell me, who of the two has the real knowledge of what is going on, your friend who speaks the language, and knows the people, or you (without knowledge of the language, and or customs). Ahithophel also seemed to be David’s friend but in fact he was only interested in a position, so he sold out as well, good story but the point is its (REAL)!
Who was David’s (REAL FRIEND)??
Folks, that is what has happened, is happening not only to some of us, and the LORD’S work but others as well. In addition, it needs to STOP! These men, who are guilty of this need to be earmarked and avoided as Paul said in Rom 16.
There are others who broke off from us, joined this other missionary and have since broke off from him because they did not receive what they were seeking, however I have recommended to the brethren that some of these men not be allowed back into our fellowship. I for one as a missionary can and have forgiven them of the wrong they have done to this work, and me but that does not mandate to me that I have to fellowship with them.
9 Another line in the sand, which has been drawn, is; I am finished with the assisting of putting a roof on local church buildings here in Africa. I will state the history, and my reasons now for this decision.
a). The history: When I first came to Malawi, I was new to everything like everyone else who comes new, however I had an advantage over most missionaries due to my background from PNG. I constructed the first Bible school building (PNG style) and the pastors house (PNG style) meaning, thatched roof, woven bamboo sides etc… efficient, cost effective and simple for a simple people. It worked, the pastors who attended (7) saw, helped, and were taught this. Over the years I tried fervently to get the pastors and people to use this method for their church buildings. The grass was free, the bamboo, etc… all was God given. However, I forgot this was “Africa” and those “missionaries” before me had already (spoiled) the Africans. So, those with the [one talent] … said to the LORD, here I have kept that which is yours, I knew you were a (hard man) – that word hard in the Greek is where we get our English word for (Sclerosis – the hardening of cell membrane in the brain and spine) the servant actually accused the LORD, it was HIS fault for only giving the (one /1 talent). That is the norm of the day here in Africa, I was blamed for their church buildings leaking, or falling due to heavy rains (why, because I did not buy iron sheets to roof their building). Therefore, Missionary Peter Halliman try’s to teach them to use the indigenous materials. Poor and simple people cannot be choosy and must rely upon the natural materials that God has provided.
However there was another problem, far bigger then I had anticipated, the people, not only pastors had never been taught proper. For generations since the days of Dr. David Livingstone the (White-man) has come with all his packages, boxes, trains, carts, horses, donkeys, wagons and last but not least “shipping containers” packed full of materials to “pull, entice, campaign, and allure the people into a “confession, baptism, and church life”!
I foolishly come here thinking that I am going to preach what we believe as REAL –Landmark Baptist, REAL – Sovereign Grace; (as I was taught); and I foolishly thought that the Africans would gladly receive the temporal teachings of how to construct worship buildings that were free, and the material readily available. WRONG, I was; The pastors agreed to do so but never did, the people did nothing and I would find the pastor labouring alone trying to make an effort to somehow construct a building for worship. I had one pastor apologize to me for the rain as I was preaching with an umbrella over me to keep my Bible dry. Why, the roof was not thatched properly and was leaking profusely. I told the pastor, don’t apologize for the rain, God has sent it in its season and that is what it does, repair the roof and you won’t have the problem. Did he take my advice, NO, did the people want to use grass, NO, did they want roofing sheets – YES, did they want to pay for them NO, what did they want? For me to make the purchase, transport them there, and affix them to the roof (need to make a new roof first).
With the difficulty before me, I could choose to walk away, compromise, do the labouring myself, or find some plan to try and work through this impossible task. With God all things are possible, and therefore with renewed vigor I began to try and re-teach; Biblically as well as practically. I knew it would be a task and may never reach its mark in my lifetime however I could not with a clear conscience walk away from this work without making an effort. Therefore, the great task begun working hand in hand with many pastors, hands on, in field -work, working by the day and worshiping by the evening. Year in, year out until the years have passed; most churches that made some kind of commitment to the Truth had some (a few) members that would assist or help; a day here or there nothing steady or sure but a little bit along. In the end the churches that I have Organized (by the Authority invested within me) all built new buildings; I knew in the end that these Africans would not change in my lifetime. I made a request to them if they wanted an iron sheets for a roof; that is they had to mold their own bricks, construct their own buildings, and then I would try and assist with a roof. This compromise at times cost me great sacrifices in me own home, and or personal life, however I knew that it was my offering to the LORD and somehow the LORD would keep the little bit of oil in my drum from diminishing and so it has been all these years. That is a concise historical statement about the work, buildings, pastors, and people that I have worked with here in Africa.
The line in the sand is this – I have ceased from putting roofs on church buildings here in Africa. If that is an issue with anyone I will be more then happy to discuss this in private with you (whom ever you are).
In thirteen years I have not seen any improvement, this has made no change to their lives, there is no upkeep (simply, because it was not their offering), many, after they get what they want will stop coming (that is the pastors) to the Bible Conferences and mostly the Bible School. They cease from being active (most of them), they drop out of the fellowship, why (they got what they wanted in the end) and many of them will depart our teachings, why (because this is a hard saying, who can hear it) as they also said in Jesus’ day). This offering of mine is to the LORD, not for the people, I am not boasting, just stating facts. The people have not changed, they have been taught God’s financial program for HIS church (Tithes and Offerings); at the end of the day they have to remain Africans. Paul was not sent nor tried to change the Gentiles to become Jews in fact he argued this with his brethren. I too am not going to be forced, threatened, or persuaded to change these people into “Americans”. Let people be who they are, end of story!
The PNG Natives do what they need to do, they use the natural resources and don’t belly ache about it, why – they were taught proper from day one.
I don’t read or find anywhere in the N.T. (and I challenge any preacher to correct me where I am wrong, but I am not wrong); where Christ built buildings and instructed the disciples that he sent out two by two; to do so when they went in the way. I don’t find Paul doing, or teaching such, so where is this, coming from, “the Religious World of numbers”.
If it sounds like I have been preaching, it is probably because I have. I made a commitment to the LORD when I came to Africa and that is “by God’s Grace alone, I would make an stand and NOT SELL OUT”! I would teach such to all those who sat under my teaching. If there were many or a few it would not influence me into some kind of negotiating to get the numbers, those belong only to my LORD! Amen!
I leave this with you as I complete this report.
The psalmist said in Psa. 127. 1 “Except the [LORD] build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD [keep] the city, the watchman waketh (but) in vain.”
May our LORD bless each of you in your labours for HIM, and keep you in the center of HIS will.
Missionary Peter A. Halliman
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