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W O R L D V I S T AAOne -Day ChurchBatoka, Zambiaforward with great hope and assurancethat fulfillment of the fewremaining prophecies is very near. Ifyou need that hope and assurance, Iencourage you to study these prophecies,and read Ellen White’s bookThe Great Hope. It will amaze andinspire you. For a free downloadablecopy of this book in English, Spanish,French, or Portuguese, alongwith a study guide, visit www.thegreathope.org. For other languages,visit https://egwwritings.organd search for the book The GreatControversy.United in HimEven though more than 2,000years have passed since Jesus walkedthe dusty roads of Palestine, notmuch has really changed on thisearth. Nations still oppress othernations. Young and old still get sickand die. Crime still plagues theplanet. People still push for favorablepositions. Friends, enemies, lovedones, still quarrel. Yet God is thesame today as He was yesterday. He isstill in Christ, reaching His hand outin reconciliation, healing wounds,making people whole, offering eachof us the opportunity to be unitedtogether in Him.And one day very soon angels willagain appear in the sky, as they did solong ago above the hills of Bethlehem—thistime not to herald thebirth of the babe, but to accompanythe King in His glory, coming to takeHis people home. ■Ted N. C. Wilson ispresident of the SeventhdayAdventist Church.DICK DUERKSENFROM TREE TO CHURCH (top): Froma youth-led evangelistic series heldbeneath a tree, the believers in Batokanow have a building in which they canmeet regardless of the weather. HELPFROM AFAR (bottom left): Young menfrom another village help with some ofthe construction projects. READY FORTRAINING (bottom right): Women fromthe church’s Dorcas Society meet to plancommunity service projects—even beforethe building is completely finished.There was no Seventh-day Adventistchurch in Batoka, and a group of youthfrom the Dambwa Main church, 125 miles(200 kilometers) south in the Zambian townof Livingstone, decided to change that.Challenged by youth director WebsterSilungwe, the youth drove to Batoka,conducted an evangelistic crusade, andstarted a church beneath a tree.Maranatha and ASI have partneredto transform as many “tree churches”as possible in Africa, and Batoka got oneof the first new One-Day Churches inZambia. The new Batoka church, built bythe youth evangelists, opened for worshipin February 2011.On August 29, 2012, our Maranathateam dropped by to see what hashappened with the church in Batoka.What we found was truly amazing.Even though it was late Wednesdayafternoon, the Dorcas leader was alreadythere, preparing to conduct a Dorcastraining program in the church thatevening. Four other women were alsothere, each helping plan portions of thechurch’s community outreach.The church has a new concretefloor, red brick walls, cathedral windowsawaiting glass, and an additional platformarea prepared for steel roof panels. Themembers have taken full ownership of thebuilding and have turned their One-Day Church into a worship center for God.When we arrived, we were met by a couple young men tearing down theblockades they had placed in the church doorways.“The floor is finally dry and ready for tonight’s meeting,” they proudly told us.“This will be the first meeting on concrete!”The young contractors are not members of the Batoka congregation, but havecome from “way over beyond the big market” to help the members lay bricks andprepare the floor.The Seventh-day Adventist church in Batoka, Zambia, stands as a lighthouseon the Livingstone-Lusaka highway, a “youth-led” congregation that is growing andshining brighter every day.The One-Day Church program is a collaborative effortbetween the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Adventistlaymen’sServices and Industries (ASI), and MaranathaVolunteers International. These stories come to you eachmonth from Maranatha storyteller Dick Duerksen.10 Adventist World | December 2012