The Lord Worked in a Mighty Way Through Biblical Stewardship While Corona Virus Approached

As I flew for nine hours from Amsterdam to Kigali, a man on the row behind me coughed all night long. Of course I was concerned, but prayed for safety. While in Rwanda, we could see what was coming internationally, but prayed and focused on the reason the Lord had called us there. The Lord didn't disappoint. In spite of the gathering storm, both CCI trainings on the border of the DRC and Kigali proved to be powerful reminders of the hunger God has placed in the hearts of these top leaders. It was also a demonstration that teachings had mislead generations of churches.

I learned from Bishop Noah what many missionaries had taught the early African believers. Bishop Noah told the following story: When a missionary trained him, before ordaining him, he required Noah to sign a document promising as an African pastor that he would never receive income from his pastoral ministry. Yes, you read this correctly. The missionaries called this "paying in soap."

Why? Noah indicated it was to keep the Africans poor, the missionaries were told to never allow them a living from their Christian labors because it would be deemed "unspiritual." So Noah signed the document. This man has planted over 100 churches, was a President of a Bible College in the DRC, he is well up in years and still active, yet he has kept that promise to this day. From our conference, having now realized what Jesus and Paul had taught, they all saw for the first time that this teaching was not true. The challenge now will require reteaching of many churches and entire denominations.

From start to finish, this course covered God's creation and purpose for humanity. As Image Bearers, we are created to honor our Creator King as stewards of all things: Creation, our minds, how we interpret and preach the Word of God. As Paul stated "In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel." (1Co 9:14) By the time we worked through the OT and NT teaching, it was clear that Christ and His Apostles had commanded that Kingdom workers in the local church should make their living from the ministry of the word.

The questions and responses that erupted indicated ministry would move forward in a different way by these leaders. They now realize that we must do God's work in God's way.

UPDATE: ELI has been forced to suspend all trips due to international closings until the Corona virus has come under control.

Joel McCall - ELI