“A posterity shall serve him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation.” (Ps 22:30)

The Bible speaks a lot about generations. Importance is given to chronology and genealogy, and we are left in no doubt as to the value God places on one generation passing the Word on to the next. We are deeply affected by the generation preceding ours – it’s a part of who we are. In turn, invariably, we will greatly impact the generation after us, be it positively or negatively. Believers in each generation carry the responsibility of faithfully passing on the theology of their forefathers. 

Shortly before my father’s passing, I was given a vivid insight into the reality of this. One evening two young women unexpectedly came to the prayer meeting at the church I attend in the city where I serve. They came from the land where my parents had served years ago and where I had been born. Astonished that we shared the same birthplace, they asked what my parents had been doing there. When they heard that my father had visited the (then unreached) mountain villages with the gospel all those years ago, one of the girls exclaimed in joy, ‘Then he was the man who told the good news to my grandmother. She believed the message and passed it on to my mother. That’s how I also heard and believed.’

… one of the girls exclaimed in joy, ‘Then he was the man who told the good news to my grandmother …’

My father later confirmed that he had indeed visited the same village. He could never have known the impact of that visit. Two generations later, the same Word would be shared in a faraway country by one yet to be born. In the late 1980s when I first visited the country where I now serve, the church here was described as a ‘first generation church’. The believers had not been brought up in believing families. Their only teachers and examples were those who had come from outside to share the message.

When I moved here eighteen years ago we were beginning to speak of ‘second generation believers’. And now, today, their children are with us and a third generation is growing up. 

This is one of the most exciting aspects of being involved in theology training here. It is thrilling when the children of previous attendees at our seminars come to us once they are of age.

The Word of God is unchanging and beautifully relevant in each generation.

It is equally thrilling to see how these second-generation believers are so much more deeply grounded in the Word compared with their parents at a similar age. In light of this, we face the wonderful challenge of always refreshing our seminars while never compromising the truth of God’s Word. We are ever mindful that the Word of God is unchanging and beautifully relevant in each generation.

Today, in a population of 85 million people, there are approximately 8,500 believers.

In the 1950s there were only ten known believers in the whole country. Today, in a population of 85 million, there are approximately 8,500. As the church here grows she grapples with fresh challenges. Over the years, with various seminar groups, we have sought to guide the believers to a better understanding of the difference between gospel and secondary issues, and how this is worked out in practice. More recently, in light of recent tragedies, pastors have indicated that they need guidance in helping believers develop a sounder theology of suffering.

The seminar programme itself is currently going through some challenges and at times we have wondered if we would be able to continue at all. This question has led to a useful time of evaluating our presence and purpose here, resulting in an even firmer conviction that our existence in this land is necessary if for no other reason than this, that we need to continue keeping ‘the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus’ and guarding ‘the good deposit’ (2 Tim 1:13,14).

B serves in Eurasia

 

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