The Ohio Independent Baptist, August 1964

Back to the Co·ngo By Howard and Irene Street Baptist Mid-Missions After four year of being away from Congo and often th inking we would never return we are finall y here in Kikwit. Many of you have followed u clo ely the e pa t year and have known of our longing to return but there were ob tacle in the way. A constant bombardment of let– ter from our Kikwit C hurch and finally a igned petition reque ting u to r eturn made u ee that perhap the Lord till had work for u to do here. We were ready to return in J anu– ary, then all chao turned loo e in our Kuilu Providence of which you are all aware. Our Bapti t Mid-Mi ion mis ionaries were called home ex– cept one couple working in a neigh– boring province where the trouble ha net yet spread. A our missionarie were being evacuated the Lord eemed to be speaking to us more strongly than ever to hasten .to Kikwit. For International travel it i necessary to have medical clearance and paper , pa sport, visa and rtickets. All of the e things fell in order except the per– manent vi a which wa secured upon our arrival in Leopoldville. Then we began to search from one office ro the other for permission to proceed to Ki kwit. This our beloved city i still • tn an emergency state o to go and come permis ion mu t be granted by the Central Government. Our Ameri– can mba<;sy thought it wa safe for us to proceed, o the morning of June 24th we arrived by plane. A royal welcome To be sure a royal welcome awai ted us and we were overjoyed to ce many of our old friend s and children in the ord . Right away we were gi vcn J)laccs ot servi ce in the 'h urc h. Howard preac hed our J tr\t unday l1er l:, then to th e Prt\on for service \vherc we saw son1e o f ot1r ( ·11urch n1e111l)er and r11 any •'JeL1nessce." ow he i to ld he will take his lurr1 prcach- 111 g \·Vi ll1 the l\\'O pastors in tt1c hurc t1, tile Militar) 1 a111p a11d tl1e l'ri 011. I v.ra i11, ,j tt:d l)ack to tl1e W 0 111e n '~ Bible la s to J)eak a11d to r es t1111 e Ill) old r,Jace oJ lcall r l1 i1). ' I hcsc d a \\ vai t t or in vi t a ti o ns a 11 t l t o r ot JJI e Jorv. ar I a i1 t 111 o ltJ tlavs. " l he: fir l .. , ill a , th re ve re 1S ,vt - 111en ,,re nt. J 111 ,,ii t f-1ritlit~ there \!\ 1e 5. l1tt l 1 stall a f aa c 1) f 1{>111 THE OHIO INDEP NDENl BAP I IST the 300 we had before, but they wi ll come. We have an enemy in our mid ·t, a deacon and trea urer of the hurch . We felt a coldne when we greeted him but had no idea he wa our enemy. When the igned petition wa ent u to return he refu ed to ign it. When a ked what he had against u he could name nothing in par– ticular, but aid he thought mi ion– arie hou ld not return but leave the hurch to them. Long before we re– turned Howard a ured them he had no intention nor de ire to a un1e place of leadership but only to coun- el and guide them in piritual things. \Ve have known this man for many year and hall try to renew faith and confidence in him by our prayers and dai ly walk and t,alk. Pray earn– e tly ·with u concerning thi matter. Uneasiness, Tension There i a great en e of uneasi– ne s, tension, and quietnes hangi ng over our city. Every day we hear re– port of what hap,pened ,the prevjou night or day and can onl y prai e the Lord that we are till here. Arre t of abotage have been made, a few gun we have heard in the night, and we hear of arre t being ·made in time to ave our city from de ·truction. We have often wondered what it would be to fear for one' lilfe and Jive d aily in the hadow of death . We are ge tting a little ta te of it. Whatever the Lord ha in tore for u to do our prayer i that it hall be accompli hed. In the face of what ot1r hri ti an, have been through the e pa t year we rejoi ce to sec thcn1 . till faithfully carrying on. They get di couraged. but the Lord ha a way of cncot1rag– ing their heart . ot1l \ arc l1e1ng avcu and that i\ our n1ain work . C1otl i') '>lt 11 on HJ \ 1 hr() nl; a nJ care" for H 1\ own . We rcjo i.cc to \ CC n1ar1y oJ our fr1cnu\ fro 111 tl1c 1r1tcr 1 >1 sctf c l1crc in K1kw1l . ' on1c to ltl t i \ tl1e1r ~torte '> a11<.I the ' arc rc111ark al)lc , tortes of 11111aculot1s ti clt\ Ct d1 cc. Wc)rll tlrift s throt1g l1 tl1at 1.tl OlJf 13 dl– ak a s lat io11 tl1c pa~ t<.l r l1 as r ~ l l tr11ccl a ftcr sor11 e weeks in l11d ing a 1 t is i11 l lill 0111111antl t)f tl1e s l a t io11. \\'e ur\; l cl ltJ t h t: ) ' , 'e 11 f t) 11 l) '".,cl I t I 1 c J c l t nc s c ,, ith 110\.\ s anti arJ' l)\\ 's t<J rc t1 iev Ir . l ic her's J)i k-•1r, t rlt k anll l1a , 1 it sa le!) a l the: sta t illll. \'\ 1 rtl 11&1 tlsl reached us that our neare l tation, Iwungu, has been looted and every– thing de troyed except the shell of buildings. That leaves out of our ix tation in the Kuitu only Kikwit and we have had no word concerning Nkara. The picture is dark and we eek earnestly the Lord' wi11 for u to remain here. He will how us His will. We need your prayer for guid– ance and ,protection a never before. Let u hear from yoL1. Word of en– couragement wou ld mean o mt1ch ju t now. Mid-Missions Semina r Bapti t Mid-Mis ion held their ummer eminar on the Cedarville can, pu from July 19 through Aug. I . The office taff of Mid ...Mi ion condt1cted a e1ninar for their mi - ionarie . In the September i. ue of the OIB we plan to have ome pic- ture of ~he mi jonary candidate and a tory about the seminar. State Missionary reports progress to Council of Ten The following is a part of the in– formation which wa h ar ed by Brother Earl Umbaugh , our State Mi ionary, with the Counci l of Ten in it pring meeting thi. year . • Three new churche ar e now ho]d– ing Sund ay Ser vice . They ar e the alvary Bapti t of Hubbard. the Grace Bapti t hurch of Wilming– ton, and the Grace Bapti t of K nt. hurche whi ch are in the proce f being organized arc the hampion Bapti t hurch of han1pion. the Blc, ed Hope Bapti. t hurch of lun1bu. , and a church being con– . idercd by the Wa hington Heights Bapti. t ht1rch for the F airb rn area. ·~ everal churchc in the tate have cxpre ec..l their de, ire to 0111t: into the Ohio Fello"' htp o t RcgL1l ar B ~~1- t1 st C' h11rche\. ,. 1110 11g th C ,l Ct J\ l l l t;'\ l ll \\ h IC h Brother LJ 111ha l1 g l1 l1a" l)ccr1 cngagetl \t11c e Ct)1111n g l t1 ()h1 c) .1re the l)11r1gi11g c)I (18 111 c\\JgL'"'- 1n -'"" Litfilrent ~hL1rch C"'-. 11r c1)d t 111g anll C()Ittluc t 111g t1ve Ci.1 11\ ,\\\C\ ll)I llC\\ chttICht:\. l1cing in ... att cntiance ,ll tlrll1n .. 1t1L)ll Cl)t1ncils, \Cl\lCC\ L)f JCCl)~llllit)ll antl ,lll'a fl, l, tt>1"i. an I , \ \\L,ciatit)11al 111t:cting\ II t)f 11, a 11, tttt's 11e e,,1t .. ltl'ti t11s <. !riving st)t 11e 2_,l)Ol) 111ilcs ll'l)tll \ l'J)- tc111 ller - t l1tl)t1~l1 Jar 11 I. '-' Ll tlli11t1c to llJ h .. Ill tl1is lirl)t}1 r anll his 111inistr, l)t 1 .. r tile I 1.>r J. ~c: k tc) l1a, t .. ur ( hur 11 1 1" ' c tl1c ,, llrk ,)I estal)li h111g nc,, lltH ' llt's 111 ( hil l)Jl i l s l)lttlg\.:t . AUGUST, 196 ,\ PAGE I 3