The Transforming Power of the
Gospel
By Dean Davis, Interim Director
for Village Church Planting, Africa
Lackson
Lackson loved the Lord and wanted to serve him. He had studied God’s Word and
was respected in his church. When Lackson heard about One Mission Society’s Village
Church Planting (VCP) ministry, his heart was moved with compassion for the vil-
lages around him. He knew if church planters could be trained to go to those villages
with the Gospel, there would be a great harvest.
Before he could train 15 others to plant churches, Lackson needed to plant a
church in a village in a part of Zambia without many churches. I asked Lackson what
the village was like before the church was planted. He said, “There were a lot of evil
activities like constant fighting, unstable marriages, rampant adultery, drunkenness,
and witchcraft. Most villagers drank so much alcohol that they stopped working in
their farm fields. Every year, hunger prevailed after the meager harvest was con-
sumed by the villagers. Also, wherever witchcraft resides, people suspect and fear
one another, resulting in a lot of heartbreak. And people die suddenly in the night for
no apparent reason.”
Supported by prayer, Lackson began sharing the Gospel door to door. He used a
three-step process taught in VCP ministry throughout Africa:
1. My story (Share your personal testimony of salvation in Christ).
2. God’s story (Share God’s story of salvation by telling Bible stories
in chronological order).
3. Romans Road (Use teachings from the book of Romans to help listeners
place their faith in Christ and experience his salvation).
After a while, Lackson began to gather villagers under a tree by singing praise and
worship songs. He told me, “People come flocking when they hear music.” Soon,
the church was born.
One of the first to believe was the village chief. African village chiefs are cultural
leaders who have a lot of influence in village life. Even so, the chief of this village, just
like two-thirds of the other villagers, was often drunk. He was known as a wife beater.
The whole village knew about the long cycle of his wife leaving him, going back to her
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