Colleyville Christian Fellowship 3508 Glade Road Colleyville, TX 76034
Dr. Timothy and Sharon Henry
September 2001 Vol. 9 No. 4
Dear ones,
Seasons are changing here in Congo. Dry season is giving way to wet season. A breeze is stirring the trees as green buds are replacing falling brown leaves. Children are starting back to school. And we are forming the huddle without our team captain.
Fall and winter would seem to bring death, but God's redemptive purpose is worked out through them with the return of new life in spring and summer. Thus are we poised to see His redemptive plan sprout from the ashes of failure and decay. His grace sufficient, His power perfected in our weakness.
All this is to say that our team leader, Paul Law, has experienced personal and marital failure, as a result of which he has stepped down from leadership in our mission team and its churches. He and Martha (Marty), his wife, are pursuing counseling in the States. Now it is our part to pray that they might find God's plan for redemption in their lives.
The three Congo team families: Jordons, Trapps and Henrys, are standing together to discern the plan of the Lord from here on. We must thresh the grain and let the chaff fall away, not doubting that the Lord is moving and working among us here -- using the clay vessels at His disposal to pour out His Spirit.
But we are not left orphaned children here. Paul Petrie, of Brussels -- CLM board member, long-time pastor to Paul Law and apostolic overseer of our Congo team -- continues to give guidance to the Laws and met with us here in Kinshasa during the first two weeks of September. He and the CLM board will continue to provide leadership as the new definition of our evangelism, discipleship and development ministry is worked out.
Missionaries, FODESA workers, EEC pastors and their many congregations will all have to re-tool and in the process be reminded of the Christ-centered nature of all our work and ministry. The Jordons will continue to hold down the Kinshasa sphere of FODESA operation. The Trapps will also be staying in Kinshasa where Gwenda oversees the popular correspondence Bible courses and Brian serves in his gifting for the physical and practical support of the greater missionary community.
We, the Henrys, will be returning to Lodja. I may need to make more short UN supported trips into Lodja this fall before the CLM board is ready to let us move back as a family. Paul Petrie has slated a trip to Lodja in January 2002 with Ramon Vanderput to give some leadership to all the village churches and their pastors, and it is possible that our family could go in with them at that time to set up household and resume our ministries there.
Stand with each of us in prayer as we press forward in the calling of the Lord, wrestle with the practical and emotional challenges of the transition, all the while dealing with the fiery arrows of the enemy.
One note of rejoicing, like ‘one day in the house of the Lord,’ is that we saw tens of thousands touched as the francophone music group from Brussels, EXO (Christensens + Ostrini, et al), conducted two worship concerts here in Kinshasa, thus wrapping up a central African tour. One of the concerts was televised, multiplying its exposure. Be magnified, oh Lord! It is so encouraging to see the popularity of this group, hearing EXO on the radio and at church, even hearing the neighbor lady singing the songs of our friends as I write this -- all calling the people of Africa to be worshippers of the most high God! Peter likes their French music too, but more than anything he drank in time with their son, James, who spent the night with us; a kindred spirit in a friend that he so yearns for. Lord grant his desire.
Thank you, each one, for your constant prayers and support during this prolonged time of transition.
