Equipping Team - Pastors Become Believers

        	              

In nearly every East Africa Training Team training opportunity it has become clear that many of the pastors and church leaders do not grasp God’s grace but are basing their hopes for salvation on their works, in one form or another.



Discussing salvation 



For example, during the past eight months, Eric (ReachGlobal missionary) has been teaching theology classes to pastors and seminary students at a mainline denominational school which is very liturgical and formal but typically not very evangelical. During the final class, the pastors and students discussed their own salvation. All the members confessed they were not confident they would make it to heaven without having completed certain things. For one pastor, his hope was based on trying to do what was right believing because of God’s love, he would probably make it to heaven.




Another believed as long as he could pray and repent of his most recent sins before he died, he would go to heaven. He also admitted that he was only seventy percent sure he would actually make it tafrica church pastorso heaven.




One pastor quoted Ephesians 2:8, 9: "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves; it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." In the same breath, he went on to say, "As long as I do what is good and do not boast, I will get into heaven."



Clear explanation



Eric shared a simple but clear explanation of the Gospel from passages like Romans 10:0, Acts 4:12 and John 14:6. Then he shocked these pastors by telling them, "I am absolutely, one hundred percent sure that I will go to heaven when I die based on I John 5:11-12: ‘And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.’




"I have this confidence but it is not because I am a good man, for I oftentimes am not. It is not because I feel anything strongly, for there are times when I do not. It is not because I will get in a final prayer of repentance before I die, for I may not. But I have this confidence because of the powerful work of Christ on the cross and the forgiveness I have for past, present and future sins through His shed blood on my behalf. I have placed my faith in Jesus not in myself or my works to get me into heaven. And I know Jesus is able. In fact, He has adopted me into His family (Ephesians 1:5), written my name in the book of life (Luke 10:20), and sealed me with His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). I belong to the King!"




Six of the ten class members stood to their feet and expressed their desire to trust only in Jesus for their salvation!



Teaching God’s grace



This is not a unique example. In other training sessions, through times of sharing and questions, it has been clear that often God’s grace is a misunderstood concept. Solid biblical training of leaders is essential so they may teach their people the whole truth of God.




Please continue to pray for the efforts of the East Africa Equipping Team as they work to raise up healthy, biblically grounded leaders and pastors who grasp God’s grace in contradiction to the message of works found in most of the world’s religious teachings. May God be glorified as Christ is preached, souls are saved and believers are discipled to maturity.



How to get involved 





There are many opportunities for training pastors, church leaders and community leaders in East Africa. If you are interested in assisting in training, contact africa@efca.org.




Financial gifts may be made to the Africa Leaders Training fund.



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