November 23, 2023
Several years ago, WEI teacher, Vickie Murphy, taught two young high school students in Southern Madagascar. After studying with her for a year, both boys decided to be baptized into Christ. Since the closest Church of Christ was hundreds of miles away, they baptized each other.
Soon after their baptisms, one of the young men returned to the Catholic church. However, the other boy, Eliakim by name, started sharing what he had learned with others. Before long, he had baptized a number of people into Christ and had established a small New Testament congregation in Toliari. Vicki writes, “Eliakim is not only converting others; he is teaching them to teach others. The young men he has taught are going out to teach others.”
Eliakim lives near the sea, and to support himself, he gives surfing lessons. After each surfing lesson, he has a Bible study with his student on the seashore. There is no way to know how many of his surfing students have been led to Christ in the sand and baptized in the surf.
One of Eliakim’s first converts was a sixty-two-year-old farmer from a nearby village, and the farmer has started a congregation in his home. Eliakim has been instrumental in establishing four congregations in and around Tolari.
According to Eliakim, most of the people who claim to be Christians in Southern Madagascar are still mixing Christianity with animism and ancestor worship. When Eliakim challenged people to worship God and follow Jesus only, he stirred up opposition, and opposition turned into persecution.
Vickie says that, in spite of persecution, Eliakim “worked tirelessly and used every opportunity to teach.” Like the apostle Paul, “Eliakim went through many ‘dangers, toils, and snares’ on his way to becoming the only [gospel] preacher south of Antananarivo.”
Through the years, Eliakim has baptized a number of “other WEI students for other teachers.” In an email written November 23, 2023, Vicki revealed that “Eliakim has just baptized another one of our students. He is a high school physics teacher who traveled 400 miles by bus to get to where Eliakim is. He stayed with Eliakim two or three days and wants to start a church in his home village.”
This is a prime example of what God can do through one man who dedicates himself, heart and soul, to sharing the good news about Christ with others.
An Invitation: We invite you to, please, consider including WEI in your 2024 church budget and join us in a concerted effort to lead the whole world to Christ
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” – Romans 10:14
