December 2008 Update From Sierra Leone

What follows are notes from Rev. John Phiri, updating the work God is doing in Sierra Leone in some of the places we plan to visit when we travel to Sierra Leone in February.

1. APPRECIATIONS.
Many thanks be to our God for His goodness and love that he bestows upon us daily.
Many thanks also go to all our donors for your generosity towards the work here in Sierra Leone. Indeed your help is highly appreciated in the spreading of the gospel in the northern part of Sierra Leone.

2. EVANGELISM. [ praise God with us].
At the beginning of December 2008, we planned to reach 5 villages with the gospel of Jesus Christ and these are Bambukoro 1, Bambukoro 2, Seduyia, Sembwerelo and Dunduko. The villages welcomed us with the exception of Dunduko whose town chief is an imam in the mosque and just completed his studies of the Quran in Liberia but the people in the village are willing to embrace Christianity.

Bambukoro 1 This village is Muslim dominated and no church has been established there before. We have 21 converts who have started a fellowship and we are visiting them every weekend.

Bambukoro 2 We have 20 converts and many have promised to join Christianity. The two Bambukoro’s meet together and they look to be well organized and very happy that at last the church has come to their village.
I must say that I did not expect such an encouraging response from Bambukuro. To God alone be all the glory.

The town chief dressed in a gold gown,welcoming us in Bambukuro.

Seduyia. In Seduya, a village close to Dunduko, we had a thunderous welcome and the town chief is a Muslim. After the presentation of the gospel and the Jesus Film, 52 people registered with us to become Christians. We have since started a fellowship there and every weekend we visit them and have services with them. The town chief has given us land between Seduya and Dunduko where to build the church. The convents are so zealous that they have already started clearing the Land.

Sengeberelo. This village is dominated by Muslims and after presenting the gospel to the people, many accepted Jesus as the only savior but were reluctant to leave the Mosque in fear of their relatives. They are willing to allow their children and some their wives to be Christians.

Setting up the film equipment in Sengewelero.

3. YOUTH MINISTRY
The youths are responding positively to the gospel and we are mobilizing them into youth groups for nurturing them spiritually. In some villages the elderly ones are hesitant to leave the mosque for the church but are willing to allow there children.

Children and youths with Rugiatu, a youth from Kabala church in Bambukoro.

Due to the good response from the youths and children, we are planning to recruit a youth coordinator who will help organize the youth movement in the church. The future of the church looks promising as the young embrace the faith.

4. CONCLUSION
On behalf of the church here in Sierra Leone, I want to once again extend my sincere thanks to all our donors for your generosity towards the work of God in this part of Sierra Leone. May the almighty God give you power to make more wealth for His kingdom.

Rev John Phiri

CRC of Sierra Leone Mission Update

The following is from Rev. John Phiri's November Mission Update:

Thank God for His mercies that endure forever. The churches generally are struggling towards the right direction.

The Kabala church, which is a pilot congregation, is making headway in getting organized administratively. We recently had our first elders council meeting, which was well attended. We now have an executive committee working in addition to the council of elders. We have paid for the land where we want to start building a church.

Shekoya has also started preparing the land for a church building and gathering local building materials. We hope that this time around Shekoya will finish their project.

In Mamburia, a village on the way to Kasafuni, we had six convents from Islam and hunters secret society. There was a man believed to be the oldest in the chiefdom, and he became a Christian. Before then he had belonged to a secret society of the hunters. When he died, the hunters insisted that they wanted to bury him as per their tradition. The church refused to enter into a confrontation and allowed the hunters to
perform their rituals. During the memorial service, the hunters apologized to the church and asked us to conduct the memorial service. We gladly did so, and six people indicated that they are now Christians.

The two men we have sent to the Theological Hall have started witnessing, and have the intention of starting a congregation in Freetown. House fellowships have started and we pray that the Lord will bring many to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I hope to raise Kabala church to a level where the other congregations will learn from it and that Kabala members will help to groom the village churches. I always pray that the churches will stand the testing times in which we are living.

Reverend John Phiri

Prepare.

It's Advent. We're invited in the Isaiah 40-based song to:
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Prepare the way of the Lord.
And all people will see the salvation of our God.
(Copyright 1980, Les Presses de Taize (France), admin. GIA Publications, Inc.)

I find that to be a fitting call as I prepare for Christ's coming.
I'm also finding that to be a fitting - and challenging - call as I prepare to travel to Sierra Leone in February.

Some of the preparations are easy, TTD-list items: Ticket - Check. Vaccinations - Check. Visa - waiting-with-bated-breath...

Other preparations are not so easy: How will I get ready to meet people who are so willing to disrupt their lives and host my colleagues and me, when I'm rarely willing to disrupt my life for others? Can I prepare for the shock of infrastructure fractured by civil war, families ripped apart by atrocities, and life lived on the brink (Movies like Blood Diamond and books like In the Land of Magic Soldiers can only prepare me so much, I suspect)? How will I be prepared to keep my eyes open to see God's work, His love and His people in Sierra Leone?

I suspect Advent will prepare me, if anything can, to see the way of the Lord. After all, what I really long for are those wonderfully pregnant words of Isaiah to be born in my life, in our world: All people will see the salvation of our God. Not just in my head or heart. Not just in Terrace or Vancouver. But everywhere in everyone with everything.

I have much to learn, so I entrust preparations to the God of all advents who is already making all things new.

- Joel Ringma

Note: Joel Ringma (Terrace CRC); Sid Ypma (Port Alberni CRC); Dave Mayer (Smithers CRC); Martin Contant (Home Missions Regional Director); Dennis deGroot (Fraser Valley Christian High School) will be travelling to Sierra Leone February 2-19, 2009. They hope to meet with members and leaders of the CRC in Sierra Leone to learn from each other, to celebrate our unity in Christ and to think together about what partership between churches in BC and churches in Sierra Leone might look like.

Exploring Partnership - CRC Sierra Leone with CRC - BC

The picutres above give you a glimpse of the Spirit of God at work in Sierra Leone, West Africa: Rev. John Phiri leading the formation of home groups in the CRC church in Kabala, the church building in Kabala, a baptism of 45 new converts in Foria, and women leading in worship at the 1st anniversary of the CRC in SL.

The body is a unit, though it is
made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body… Now you
are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Under Christ who is the head
of the body, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special
work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body grows and builds itself up in
love (1 Corinthians 12:12,27; Ephesians 4:16).

In October of 2007 Classis BC - NW endorsed an exploratory venture; what would it look like if the CRC churches of British Columbia partnered with the new and emerging CRC of Sierra Leone. For more than 25 years the CRC church has been involved in Sierra Leone through the work of Christian Reformed World Missions, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and Christian Extension Services. Together we want to imagine what a global partnership like this could look like. What might happen when the churches in Africa would be praying for churches in Canada? What would become possible if lay persons and pastors from British Columbia Christian Reformed Churches lived for a time in a remote village in Sierra Leone alongside a new church plant, its people and lay pastors? What might we learn from each other? How might we be able to support each other? How could we truly come together as partners in the gospel?

In February 2009 a team of lay people and pastors will go to Sierra Leone on an exploratory visit. We believe that the Spirit of God is already preparing the way. We do know that amazing things are happening for Rev. John Phiri and his team of evangelists in the fast growing young CRC of Sierra Leone. The gospel message is reaching into the remote villages of Koinadugu District, into the city of Kabala, and it is having a transforming influence. We want to be in step with the Spirit of God. We want to share in this as brothers and sisters in Christ from the other side of the world. We want this blog to be a place where we share what God is doing, in Sierra Leone and British Columbia in the CRC.