| Clinton, NY, USA December 12, 1997 Dear friends: Carol and I have concluded our ministry in Mozambique. We served there for nine years. We arrived in a time of war, drought, and hardship. We witnessed the end of the war and we have seen some fruits of peace and development. We went to serve a church that had few resources other than its tenacious faith. We have made some small contributions to the formation of new pastors. Songs are sung, prayers are prayed, liturgies are used, lessons are taught, books are read, groups meet, questions are asked and ideas are debated for which we are responsible. With our friends and colleagues we celebrate the good work the Spirit has done, in part, through our presence and work. There are also some arguments, dependencies, assumptions, jealousies, conflicts and unease for which we are also responsible and wish we weren’t.
It has been a good nine years for us and for the church. Now it seems good to the church and to us that we conclude our ministry in Mozambique. Thanks to the support of Global Ministries, Tomas Sengo has had advanced theological studies. He graduated with distinction from Christian Theological Seminary. On November 22nd Tomas was ordained and inducted as the director of the Bible School. Ten new students will start training to be pastors when the school opens again at the beginning of March. With Tomas’ leadership the Zakewu Likumbe Bible School will continue to make an important contribution to the life of the church. Other pastors will take up responsibility for other aspects of the life of the church in which I have been involved. Inevitably, some things will disappear with our departure. Soon after the decisions were taken to leave Mozambique, Carol lamented to a wise friend that we are losing the investment we have made in attaining fluency in Xitshwa. He said, “You have many other gifts that you could not use in Mozambique, gifts that God will find ways for you to use in a new ministry.” Even as we worked full-time at making good endings, we anticipated a future ministry and the opportunity to use the gifts of the Spirit for the building up of the church. In September the Assembly of the United Congregational Church in Southern Africa resolved to request Global Ministries to assign us to work at historic Kuruman Moffat Mission. The Board’s action on the request will be taken in April. If it is approved, I will become the principal of the Kalahari Desert School of Theology and Carol will become director of educational resources, including the mission library. We are looking forward to a new assignment full of challenges and possibilities. We are in transition this year. On the immigration forms we wrote that we are residents of Mozambique. But what remains of us there is intangible. Our worldly possessions have been moved to storage in South Africa, but we are not yet residents there either. Six months (December 97 to May 98) will be spent in transition in the US. We will be visiting churches and participating in meetings at which we hope to share some of the richness of the faith and life of the church in Mozambique. As you have supported us in our work in Mozambique we trust that you will support us as we share with churches in the United States. Please keep us and the churches in your prayers. Continue to pray for the church in Mozambique, especially for Tomas Sengo as he assumes his new responsibilities as director of the Zakewu Likumbe Bible School. Carol joins me in sending special Advent, Christmas and Epiphany greetings. Lawrence C. Gilley Return to index page |