Tonje is the Nyanja word for cotton. It was a good harvest this year!
As you can read on the bags, this cotton was given by the members at Champhoyo. It reads like a shopping list....
- chicken
rice
- corn
sweet
- potatoes
- bananas
- peanuts
- charcoal
- cotton balls
Carry such a list to a grocery store and we have a scribbled reminder of what we decided to get.
Carry such a list from a Lutheran congregation in Zambia and we have a scribbled report of what the members decided to give.
It happens every year: the Harvest Offering.
In general, the months of June and July mark its beginning. Most give what they've grown (corn, rice, potatoes, peanuts), some give what they've made (charcoal), others what they've raised (chickens) and a few what they've worked for (money).
After a door to door collection, I shared a devotion
with a family (extended) at a home. These ladies
and children worship at Chipeuka congregation
And that very truth proclaims yet another one - that God is the Owner of it all! Psalm 50:9-12
"What he has decided" to give as a Harvest Offering, therefore, is not as much about his fields as it is about his faith. "Test Me!" God shouts from the heavens. Malachi 3:10.
What do we do with divine words like that? Perhaps unspoken questions roll around in our minds: Do I know what God promises? Do I believe what God promises?
Long before the gifts are given the hearts are tested. What shall I give? How much shall I give? Great questions only to be overshadowed by a more important one: Why should I give?
I must say that I love to hear their answers! So when these last two months rolled in on the calendar, I rolled into their villages! Not merely to pick up their offerings but especially to share the Word and talk about their relationship with Jesus!
After a door to door collection, I shared a devotion
with a family (extended) at a home. These ladies
and children worship at Chipeuka congregation With grain bags as their "envelopes" and a truck as the "collection plate," I pick up what they decided to give. In short, I weigh it, mark it, tie it, haul it and sell it. Consequently, year upon year I have files upon files of lists upon lists of offerings upon offerings. And they all read like groceries lists!
But they are not. They are lists of "what he has decided." 2 Corinthians 9:7
Why would somebody who lives in a mud hut and farms by hand give their offering to me?
That's just it, they don't. They are giving it to the Lord. I just help them get cash in hand so they can carry on with the work of the Lord in their congregation. (buying Bibles, hymnals, Lord's Supper wine and wafers, church supplies; building supplies for parsonages; preparting for pastor's salaries, etc).
 The members of the congregation at Champhoyo
brought their offerings to one central
location. I bring
a scale and a weighing pole with me when I collect
the Harvest Offerings.
These men are weighing the cotton.
These two cold winter months of June and July2007 in Zambia have given evidence of hearts warm to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
They pondered the question I mentioned before: Why should I give?
Perhaps it's time we did the same. Why do we?
They know they deserve hell for their sins, even sins of not giving cheerfully or not giving according to how they have been blessed. "Will a man rob God?" is not my question, it's God's! (Malachi 3:8)
But they also know that they've received something far more valuable than they've given: forgiveness of their sins! Life eternal! Their name written in the Book of Life!
They have decided to give their gift because....
God first decided to give His! 1 Peter 1:20; John 3:16
Missionary John Holtz, Mission Partner
Chipata, Zambia
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