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| Percy and Betty Chisenga during our missions conference in 2010 |
I returned from a preaching trip to the USA last Tuesday night and, after a day of rest, I was greeted with the news of the death of one of our missionaries, Pastor Percy Chisenga, around 04.30 hours on Thursday morning. I had left him very sick and had kept enquiring about his health while I was away. It had been my hope that once I was back and rested I would visit him and know how he was doing, but God had other plans—he took him away. His funeral service took place at Kabwata Baptist Church on Saturday, 3rd March 2012.
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| Alfred Nyirenda leading the funeral service of Percy Chisenga |
Percy was converted while studying electronics in Great Britain in 1972. He came across a book by Pat Boone, whose music he loved. However, the book was about how God in Christ had saved Pat and restored his broken marriage. This shook Percy to the core of his being and caused him to get a Bible and start reading it. He literally read it from cover to cover and in the process came under deep conviction of sin. This went on until the very last day of that year when he knelt down in his college room and gave his life to Christ. He was baptised on March 25, 1973, at Gipsy Road Baptist Church, West Norwood, London.
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| A friend from Malawi bringing messages from there during the funeral service |
Percy trained in electronics and worked for the Zambian police until 1986. He then became a college lecturer in the same field until 1989 when he became a missionary pastor. He had been involved in planting three churches—one after another—in Kasama from 1981 to 1986 (while he was in secular employment), in Chipata from 1989 to 2002 (where he was a fulltime missionary pastor of the Lusaka Baptist Church), and more recently in Zomba, Malawi, from 2007 (under the oversight of Kabwata Baptist Church).
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| Joe Simfukwe preaching during the funeral service |
Percy was ordained as a missionary pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church in August 2008. His task was that of establishing Grace Baptist Church in Zomba, Malawi. This was at the invitation of an American missionary, Frank Maxson, who had already been labouring there for a few years. However, it soon became evident that he needed our oversight and support. That is how we got involved in the work in Malawi.
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| The congregation during Percy Chisenga's funeral service |
Percy laboured faithfully in Zomba, together with his wife Betty, until his demise. His last year was spent valiantly battling cancer. Despite the help of doctors, the care of his wife and family, and the prayers of God’s people, the battle was lost. God used this to bring his servant to his eternal reward.
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| The KBC elders carry Percy Chisenga's casket out of the funeral service |
Those who testified about Percy’s life as a Christian spoke of three virtues that made him stand out head-and-shoulders above other Christians. Firstly, he was a man of unfeigned humility. He handled the most menial work among God’s people even when he was a pastor. Secondly, he was a man of inexhaustible patience. Where many would have given up on others, he would still give them chance to grow and mature. Thirdly, he was a man of persevering endurance. He worked with joy in the most difficult situations in his church-planting work.
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| Watson Mutemi conducting commital, with KBC elders, and Stembiso Daka |
Please pray for the fledgling Grace Baptist Church in Zomba, Malawi, that the leaders Percy was grooming would rise to the occasion and take the church forward. Frank Maxson moved to Blantyre to start another church there, but the two continued to work very closely together. Pray that he may be able to help in Zomba until a new man is found to fill the void that Pastor Chisenga left.
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| Betty Chisenga and their first born son, Reuben, at the grave side |
Pray also for Percy’s wife, Betty, as she now faces the future without a husband she had lived with for most of her adult life. Although all of their children are now grown up, for a number of reasons two of them were still financially dependent on their father before he died. That task is now left in the hands of Betty. KBC will be looking for resources to ensure that she is well looked after until she joins her husband in the world to come.
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| KBC missionaries laying wreaths on the grave of their companion |
