For a while now there has been some tension between the believers of the two villages where we did the Bible teaching in 2011. (Let’s call them Village P and Village M :)). The people from village M continued to get together on a weekly basis after the first cycle teaching ended, reading the Bible and discussing it. Later Francois started to “test” the 2nd cycle teaching during these meetings and we were delighted with their quick understanding and participation. This group had to walk very far to the teaching held in 2011, in fact they heard about the teaching first through the players that went out into the community with the lesson and Scripture readings on. They seemed to already function in many ways like a church, visiting for example Nadia when she was sick with malaria and collecting money to help a widow in the community to name but a few.
However, this year when it was officially time to start the 2nd cycle teaching – in which the identity of the believer is the main theme while teaching again chronologically through the Bible – we wanted to include people from both villages again. The Big Question was: where to hold the meetings? 
Photo1: Leaders from both villages. As it often happens in Africa, the owner of the land where something is started (like a church) will forever also be the “owner” of that project or church… This is one of the reasons why we purposefully seek land that is neutral. We don’t want to be the “owners” of the new Mwinika church and certainly don’t want any Mwinika family to “own” it either. The church should belong to the Lord!
Village P was where the teaching was held the first time around, and although on as neutral land as possible, some of them still thought that the Bible teaching “belongs” to them! Jealousy is one of the Mwinika people’s greatest weaknesses. The People from Village M were of course offended and tension reached its apex when the community leaders finally decided on a place, at the edge of village P, next to but not in Village M. The result: the group of believers from Village M did not feel welcome and did not participate in the teaching…
Francois had several talks with the leaders of Village M and he and the group of guys who are daily working with him developing more lessons and teaching were praying for the believers in these two villages. Finally Francois got in the car with one of these guys, Vrydag, and in Village P picked up two more men, Shar and Jati and drove to Village M. Francois was so blessed in seeing these men ministering to the hurt believers of Village M! They carefully explained that jealousy and division have no place among believers; that we are all family in Christ and that the church belong to Him alone. The group prayed together and concluded that God wants to speak to everyone, not just one family or one village. Francois was especially encouraged by Shar’s ability to interpret what the Scriptures says and applying it to their daily lives. 
The good news is that people from BOTH villages were at the teaching yesterday! Praise the Lord! Please pray that the believers will grow in maturity and in their understanding of God and how to apply what they learn.
The Mwinika believers have come a long way… but, like for most of us, still has a loooong way to go!
Photo2: Yesterday’s meeting with believers from both villages! Their attention was riveted to the teaching, leaning forward to hear better… Praise God!