The 21st Century Reformation Movement on the Move in East Africa
By Dr Jeffrey Khoo
The 21st Century Reformation Movement is on the move in the great continent of Africa by the grace of God with the East Africans taking the lead. On August 29, 2006, I departed for Kenya with 36 kilogrammes of luggage full of Biblical and Christian literature for the participants of the East Africa Christian Alliance (EACA) Conference, August 28-September 1, 2006.
The EACA is an affiliate of the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC). Annual conferences are convened to take an uncompromising stand “for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:9), and “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). The beautiful 10-acre sylvan campus of the Bible College of East Africa (BCEA) in Nairobi was a most suitable conference venue.
It was my privilege and joy to be invited by the EACA to speak on a most pertinent theme, “Discerning the Spirits.” Using 1 John 4:1-6 as my text, I spoke on how to discern the spirits by asking the right questions. Specifically, I dealt with discerning the spirits of Docetism, Gnosticism, Arianism, Roman Catholicism, Charismatism, Modernism, Neo-Evangelicalism, and Neo-Fundamentalism (a synopsis of my messages was published in the previous weekly). The conference speakers included FEBC alumni, Rev Dr Mark Kim Kyung Soo (Principal of BCEA), Bishop Richard Kivai, Rev Stephen Masila. Others were Rev Gary Johnson, missionary of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM, USA), and Rev Dr Choi Kwang Jai, pastor of Glory B-P Church (Korea) and ICCC president, who gave the closing message. Select messages will be published in the Morning Star which is the official organ of the EACA. The conference drew an attendance of 200 African pastors representing 22 member denominations. The Q&A sessions were especially spontaneous and edifying. Without question, the participants are looking forward to the next meeting scheduled for April 2007 (DV).
September 2, 2006 saw the inauguration of BCEA Tanzania. The inauguration service was held in the college chapel with a seating capacity of 200. The new college is located on the fertile fields of Usa River in the city of Arusha. The college campus is scenically sandwiched between two majestic mountains—Mount Meru (14980 ft) and Mount Kilimanjaro (19340 ft, Africa’s highest). The building project began in 2003, and there are now 5 buildings on campus, namely, the office and classroom block, the chapel, the dormitories, the dining hall, and the guesthouse. Glory B-P Church, Korea, gave money to purchase the land, and funds for the buildings came mainly from Singapore churches (True Life, Calvary Pandan, Calvary Tengah, Berean), and other well wishers. US$200,000 have thus far been spent, a most profitable investment for God’s Kingdom. The new BCEA is established as a reformed and fundamental college independent of any denomination. It is to be an international Bible College, not just Tanzanian or African, in obedience to Christ’s Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). BCEA Kenya and Tanzania with FEBC are part of the Bible College movement. FEBC is training young men and women not only for national but also international missions. Our international alumni, namely, Mark Kim, Stephen Masila, Peter Elibariki, Eben Yoon, Richard Tiu, Christine Kendagor, and Violet Malongo form the backbone of the BCEA faculty.
A multinational congregation comprising local Tanzanian pastors, and missionaries from USA (Dr and Mrs Howard Carlson, Rev Gary Johnson, and Sunmin Kim), Korea (Rev Dr Choi Kwang Jai and Eld Lyu Myung Ha), Kenya and Singapore, graced the occasion with their congratulatory words and prayers. I preached a sermon on the need to lay right and solid foundations which are Christ and His Word (Ps 11:3, Eph 2:20), forever infallible and inerrant (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18, 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, 1 Pet 1:23-25), quoting the late ICCC President—Dr Carl McIntire—on the perfect preservation of the inspired words of the Holy Scriptures (in his January 11, 1992 sermon on Psalm 12). The Dean Burgon Oath that the Bible is 100% perfect without any mistake to the last word, syllable and letter in the original languages was reaffirmed and taken, and translated into the Swahili tongue by Rev Peter Elibariki, BTh and MDiv graduate of FEBC, and academic dean of the new Bible college.
On the Lord’s Day, September 3, I preached in the Africa Missions and Evangelism Church (AMEC) at Karangai formerly pastored by Judah Kundael Pallangyo, now an MDiv student at FEBC, who should return to Tanzania by 2008 to augment the faculty. From September 4-6, I offered a course on the “Theology of Salvation” to 15 pioneer students, teaching 5 hours a day for one credit with exams.
On the way back to Nairobi on Thursday, September 7, I stopped by to visit the Kiluani clinic of Chan Pui Meng, missionary of Life B-P Church. Half a dozen Maasai women were sitting outside the clinic waiting to see her for antenatal counsel. The clinic grounds have been transformed into a botanical gardens with fruit trees and flowers. The Jacaranda tree our pastor planted at the dedication of the clinic 4 years ago now stands 10 feet tall and doing well despite the harsh and dry conditions of Maasai land. A beautiful red-stone church serves as the spiritual clinic. Stephen Omweri, a BCEA graduate, is the resident preacher.
The Lord mightily used the Rev Dr Mark Kim to build up BCEA Kenya and Tanzania. He also had a hand in setting up the Kiluani schools and clinic. All this was a result of his humble obedience to God’s directive will to serve in Africa. Although he wanted to go to Indonesia, the Lord led him to Africa (like He did the Apostle Paul who had planned to go north and eastward, but was directed by the Spirit to head west in answer to the Macedonian call, Acts l6:6-10). For the last 17 years, Rev Dr Mark Kim has been serving faithfully at BCEA as an IBPFM missionary, and will continue to do so until the Lord calls him home. He is ably helped by his beloved wife, Hannah. They have two lovely daughters—Hayoung and Chanmi— who are spiritually minded to follow after their parents’ footsteps.
My last assignment was to preach at the morning chapel of BCEA Kenya on Friday. I spoke from Philippians 3 about beginning well and ending well in the Lord’s service. Twelve hours of uneventful flying saw me back home in Singapore on Saturday, September 9, touching down at 1.05 pm only to hear that Eld Eric Mahadevan—founding elder of True Life B-P Church and secretary of the FEBC Board of Directors—had just been laid to rest that very morning. Eld Mahadevan stood solidly with Rev Dr Timothy Tow and the FEBC faculty on the present perfection of the Holy Scriptures, and readily took the Dean Burgon oath at every FEBC convocation. Without question, Eld Mahadevan was faithful unto death. “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev 2:10).
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THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter 21
John 21:18-20
“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
V. 18 is a prediction of our Lord of the manner of the Apostle’s death. This prophecy was fulfilled when Peter was crucified a martyr for Christ’s sake.
Normally there is a veil drawn between us and the future. To obtain fore-knowledge of things to come, in most cases, says J. C. Ryle, would be a sorrowful possession. To know of evil going to befall us, and yet not able to prevent it, would make us simply miserable. Hence not only God withholds knowledge of the future from us, but also forbids us to try to unravel it through the help of mediums (Deut. 18:9-14).
But to the Apostle Peter, Christ has revealed how he should die for Him. This He has done because He knows he can take it. He knows this knowledge will be beneficial to him. That he and we will learn that our whole future is known and prearranged by God. There is no such thing as luck, chance or accident in the journey of life. Everything from beginning to end is foreseen, predestined by One who is too wise to err and too loving to do us harm.
J. C. Ryle says: Let us store up this truth in our minds, and use it diligently in all the days of darkness through which we may yet have to pass. In such days we should lean back on the thought, “Christ knows this, and knew it when He called me to be His disciple.” It is foolish to repine and murmur over troubles of those whom we love. We should fall back rather on the thought that all is well done. It is useless to fret and be rebellious, when we ourselves have bitter cups to drink. We should rather say, “This is also from the Lord: He foresaw it, and would have prevented it, if it had not been for my good.” “We learn secondly that a believer’s death is intended to glorify God. . . . We may die to the Lord as well as live to the Lord. Like Samson we may do more for God in our death than we ever did in our lives . . .”
How true is the saying by Tertullian: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
