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Sanguma: Spirit Must Guide Efforts to Bear Witness
By Stan Friedman
GRAND RAPIDS, MI (June 14, 2006) - The "do not leave" command of Jesus to his
disciples is as important as his commission to "go into all the world," Dr.
Mossai Sanguma told attendees during the opening worship service of the 121st
Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
The disciples were not to leave Jerusalem until they were empowered by the
Holy Spirit, said Sanguma, president of the Congo Evangelical Covenant Church.
The service theme focused on world mission, with several new short-term and
project missionaries consecrated.
Throughout his sermon, Sanguma echoed the conference theme of "Every One to
Every Where," but added, "We cannot bear witness to the world unless we are
filled with the Holy Spirit."
 When a person is filled with the spirit, "He or
she becomes crazy for Jesus," Sanguma declared. The Spirit will make sure the
missionary's motives are pure, Sanguma preached. Drawing on the first nine
verses of the book of Acts, he noted that the disciples initially wanted to
preach the Kingdom of Israel, but Jesus wanted them to proclaim the Kingdom of
God.
"Our desire to witness must be pure," he said. "It has to be pure because it
has to do with a great person, Jesus Christ, who is the Lord and Savior of the
entire universe." People who do not wait to be empowered will turn to wrong
sources of strength and wisdom, Sanguma warned, explaining that "instead of
leaning on God, they will depend on their own knowledge, which they learned in
school."
He reminded the gathering that "God is always control of history - when
things fall apart, God is the great fixer and he will take care of it."
Sanguma observed that being empowered includes being educated and equipped.
Everyone, he added, can be empowered.
Everyone includes every ethnicity, the poor and the rich, the literate and
the illiterate, the sick and the healthy, and the old and the young. He told,
for example, the story of young children in the Congo town of Gemena whose words
and actions inspired a grieving family to begin attending church.
The youth group of children ages 8 to 14 visited the family, which had lost a
loved one. The oldest child shared the gospel with the family, who wanted to
hear more from him. Two weeks later, the mother, father and all the children
visited the church. "Ministry in Congo grows through children, too," Sanguma
said.
Going everywhere means people will have to leave their comfort zones, he
continued. He expressed his gratitude for the Covenant missionaries who left
their comfort zones, including some in attendance at this evening's service, who
at one time taught him as a student in Karawa.
Sanguma said his fellow Congolese had learned from the missionaries who
practiced the words of Paul, who wrote, "The things you have heard me say in
the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be able to
instruct others."
 The Congo church
continues to grow, and despite the continuing spread of Islam, Sanguma expects
200,000 Congo Covenant members by the year 2010. He added that more Covenant
missionaries are always welcome to work in Congo.
The service began with a procession of 34 flags representing all of the
countries in which the Covenant has missionaries or partnerships. Seventeen were
positioned on each side of the stage. During the procession, images of the
people and the work being done around the world flashed on two large video
screens. New missionaries also were commissioned (lower photo).
During the consecration portion of the worship, the new short-term and
project missionaries shared about the work they will be doing. The service
concluded with people in the audience breaking into small groups and surrounding
the newly consecrated missionaries to pray for them.
(Editor's note: this evening's service was broadcast live over the
Internet via the Covenant website, beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. Both the Thursday
and Friday evening worship services also will be broadcast live and can be
viewed by computer. To tune into the broadcasts, visit the Covenant website at
www.covchurch.org, select the live broadcast link and follow the
instructions.)
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
