Building Project
Breaking Ground
Breaking ground on a new building project is always exciting. It is especially so when the building is being constructed for an important purpose.
The Zambian Mission Project is elated to announce that our first residence is now under construction. This means that soon our Zambian Mission Project leadership team in Zambia will be able to move our first orphans into a new home with adoptive parents in place to love and care for them.
This residence will join other facilities on the grounds that include a chicken coop, the caretaker’s home, a kitchen, a water tank, vegetable gardens and an irrigation system for the gardens.
Part Of A Larger Project
This will not be the last residence or building that will go up on the grounds. There will be other residences, as well as a community building that will also host a church, which will be vital to the ongoing care and economic development of the community we are serving a couple hours west of Lusaka.
But there is even a greater building project this residence is serving. In the Old Testament God gave to Israel a tabernacle and later a temple building that taught them how they could worship God and how God could be in their midst through sacrifice (Exodus 25:8). They were learning that the only way God could forgive them of their sins and be close to them was for the penalty of their sins to be paid by another (Isaiah 53). As Israel learned these lessons, worshiped God, and following him, they were to attract people from other nations to Israel so they could worship God and be close to him through the important building of the temple (Isaiah 49:6). We might say their key word was attract!
Now that Jesus Christ has come as the perfect sacrifice for sins (John 1:29), the New Testament Church now serves as the spiritual temple of God. You might say our key word is expand! No longer are we merely to stay in one place and only attract others to the true God. Instead, we are to be a temple on the move, and to go out to where people are and “to proclaim the excellencies” of the one who has saved us (1 Peter 2:4-10).
The current building project is part of this greater purpose. As orphans are taken into new homes, adopted into new families, this not only gives a picture to the world of how God adopts us into his family (Galatians 4:5), it also provides the opportunity for these children to learn about Jesus Christ, in addition to feeding, clothing, and teaching them how to make a living.
What a wonderful mission this first building represents.
Your Project?
Let me take this opportunity to invite you to become part of this exciting greater project. If you would love to partner with us through prayer and/or giving toward orphan care in Zambia, we would love to have you on the team!
Joyfully Serving Orphans In Zambia,
Tom Barnes