August 2011: Bearing Good Fruits

August 2011 Bulletin Insert Format [PDF]
Agosto 2011 en español

By this God is glorified, that
you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8                                                             

When
school is in session there is a church service on Sunday mornings for the boarding
students. About once a month or so students lead the service and this month our
Scripture Union group led the order of worship and hymn-singing, offered
prayers, read the scripture, received the offering, and shared a message during
the sermon time.

The
scripture the students chose was the story of the birth of Jesus in Matthew
1:18-25.  Mphonyana and Bokang both spoke on these verses.  Their
names are quite appropriate for the text as they mean “Small Gift” and
“Praise!  Give thanks!” respectively.  As God was with both Joseph
and Mary during their difficult time, so God is with us even today in the
problems we face.  Mphonyana, in particular, could testify to this as she
was hospitalized after falling and suffering burns from hot water she was carrying. 
She has made a full recovery and although small in stature, she has a big heart
for Jesus!

Later
that afternoon our SU meeting was blessed by the presence of Mr. Waza. 
Ntate Waza is the high school coordinator for Scripture Union in Lesotho and he
was spending a week visiting schools in the southern part of the country. 
He organized and led the SU Camp in December and is greatly loved by the SU
kids. The group members were delighted to see him again and he will be
leading a training session here for student leaders at the end of the
month.  He has borne much fruit through his labors in reaching out to the
young people of Lesotho.

Jesus
says in the remaining words of John 15:8 that by bearing fruit you will be
“showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  While telling others we are
disciples is well and good, I’m always mindful of that old adage, “Actions
speak louder than words.”  Even better, we could remember that old grade
school tradition of “Show and Tell”!  

Mark Behle is a missionary with
the Lesotho Evangelical Church. 
He is a mathematics teacher at Masitise High School, Lesotho, Africa.