NEWS FROM HQ

Serving the Lord in Kenya, Tanzania & Rwanda

October, 2021            

Dear Co-Laborers in the Lord,

            Greetings in the precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It has been awhile since we sent you news from the mission field.  We trust and thank God for His gracious sustenance of you during these challenging times

1. Bible College of East Africa Rwanda (BCEA-Rwanda) continues its ministries, by God’s grace.

            Preparations for accreditation by the authorities have not been easy.  At the moment, construction of the Multi-Media Center is about 90 percent complete.  The Center will comprise one part of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) capabilities that we are required to procure.  Moreover, we are in prayer to start the construction of the Administration Block in the near future.  The Admin Block is yet another requirement.

            Kigali Bible Presbyterian Church (KBPC), the campus church of BCEA-Rwanda, is growing by the grace of God.  At the start of this year, I set the difficult goal of preaching through one Biblical book per week.  We praise God for the grace He has given the congregation to follow along with passion for His Word.  Due to covid-19 restrictions, we now hold two worship services on Sunday morning (7:30 and 10:30).  Our sanctuary is packed every Sunday (pictured above) with about 750 total gathering each week.  It is unfortunate that social distancing requirements prevent numerous church members from entering each week, however.  The pandemic has certainly proved to be a significant obstacle.  At 6:00 a.m., there is already a group of church members gathered at the gate (pictured above) in order to secure a place in the sanctuary.  We are reminded of the words of David, “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Ps. 69:9). 

            Through generous love gifts, the church was able to distribute sacks of maize-meal at regular intervals to our congregation.  The pandemic has rendered many jobless in the surrounding villages, many of whose residents were already living hand-to-mouth on a daily basis prior to the pandemic.  We cannot articulate with words the amount of gratitude and relief that has been expressed during the food distribution.  We pray and hope that God will open the door for continued preaching of the Word and worship, especially unhindered by the restrictions of the pandemic.

2. Bible College of East Africa Kenya’s (BCEA-Kenya) 50th graduation ceremony, by God’s grace.

            The 50th graduation ceremony was held on October 8.  This year the celebrations were quiet due to pandemic restrictions.  Whereas in previous years we had about a thousand attendees, only three guests were allowed per graduate this year.  As always, we sang the hymn, “Wherever He Leads I’ll Go” at the close of the ceremony.  I hugged each of the 20 graduates one last time, praying that God will raise them to be soldiers of Christ and strong ministers of the Gospel.  As always, the Young Kwang Bible Presbyterian Church gifted each graduate with a KJV study Bible, which will prove to be their powerful weapon in the battles to come.  Praise God for this batch of graduates, despite the pandemic.  To God be the glory for what He has done.

            Immediately following graduation, we began our intensive module schedule in order to take every opportunity for continued studies during this lockdown-free period.  It is our hope that classes will once again run on a regular, rather than intensive, schedule.

 3. We took a brief trip to Korea for medical check-up and treatment.

            We thank God for the check-ups and treatment that went smoothly during our brief trip to Korea (two weeks of quarantine, three weeks of medical visits).  As Rev. Kim’s physician had anticipated last year, he had a cardiovascular complication and had two stents put in his heart.  We thank God that this intervention was made possible before it was too late.  He has accepted this as a sign to run with diligence until the day he is called to the Lord.

            The ministry continues here through the grace of God, by your prayers and your sacrificial support.  We pray that His abundant grace will be with you during these challenging times.  Thank you.

                                                                                    In the bond of Christ,

                                                                        Kyung Soo (Mark) Kim and Hang Sook (Hannah) Rhee