The first national women’s conference of the Christian Reformed Church of Sierra Leone to be held under the auspices of an appointed National Women’s Co-ordinator was held in Nanfayi, a village in Sambaia Chiefdom, Tonkolili District, Northern Province of the country, from Friday the 4th to Sunday the 7th of March 2010. Thursday the 4th was scheduled to be the arrival and registration date for all the participants from the 60 Christian Reformed Churches in Sierra Leone to the venue of the conference. In the night of that very arrival and registration day the representatives from all the Churches spent about four hours praising, worshiping and thanking God for granting each of them save travelling mercies to Nanfayi.On Friday the 5th of March 2010 between the hours of 7:00 am and 8:00 am all the participants were engaged in Prayer and Intersession. From 8:30 am to 9:00 am, breakfast was served to all the participants. Just after breakfast that was at exactly 9:00 am; the National Women’s co-ordinator of Christian Reformed Church of Sierra Leone by the name of Mrs. Musu Binty Marah led the devotion which ended at 9:30 am. She gave a short message the theme of which was “Life in and out of the Conference”, she based her message on the reading from “Mathew 5:13-16
In that message, she did not only define the term conference but went on to give the following reasons why conferences are held: to revive and shape lives, resolve broken relationships, heal issues and wounds, identify weak areas in the church and amend them and among other things strengthen our Christian life. It is important to note that every Christian is a salt in the community they may find themselves she said. She went on to explain what the Bible meant by the statement: Every Christian is a salt. She said that salt is good but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again she asked?
In her conclusion, she said that a Christian that has salt has godly character, virtue, integrity and discipline in him or herself. And that a Christian that has no salt keeps grudge, malice, bitterness and unforgiving lives, gossip etc.
At 9:30, the national chair lady of the women, Mrs. Musu Jalloh officially welcomed all the participants and then gave her welcome speech narrating the history of the Christian Reformed Church women’s National conference and giving the successes that it has brought to the church.
This welcome message was followed by the main message from the guest speaker Mrs. Grace Wullamatu Bockarie. The theme of her message was “Salvation and Deliverance”. The reading was from Acts 4:12. She defined Salvation as the act of being saved from sin. She went on to say that Salvation is the greatest miracle of God’s plan to save everybody from Sin and all kinds of wicked behaviours. She defined deliverance as freedom from strong holds, demonic attacks, witch- craft and sin. She supported her preaching with verses from the Holy Bible. Mrs. Grace Wullamatu Bockarie concluded her message by saying that true salvation and deliverance is only from God through Jesus Christ our saviour.
The message of the day came from a brother from Canada by the name of Dennis de Groot. He is the Principal of Fraser Valley Christian High School in Canada. The Title of his massage was “A Loving Father” He preached about the prodigal son in the Bible who one day asked his father to give him a share of his riches. The father was so generous that he did exactly what the son asked of him. The son in short went and lavished all the riches and came back home with empty hands. On his return, the father did not only happily receive his prodigal son but threw an expensive party for him.
He then referred to that loving father as God and referred to mankind as the son. He concluded by giving so many examples of how mankind has failed God and encouraged all present to get back to the father and have the salvation and deliverance that God has graciously given to mankind. After delivering this powerful message, Mr. De Groot went to make a look see of the primary school that is in desperate need of help. From there he left the village for Kabala town, the headquarter of Koinadugu District which is the largest District; the most backward and underdeveloped district in Sierra Leone.
The next day which was Saturday 6th March 2010, started with Prayer and intercession, praise and worship and devotion from 7:00 through 9:30 respectively. During devotion, Mrs. Rosetta Feren Sesay. The theme of her message was “Women as advisers”. Proverbs 11:13, 15:22. She started her message with the statement that God has endowed women with great potentials and that they are very unique. Yet she urged women to use those virtues God has put in them to achieve divine purposes. She went on to say that women play very important advisory roles in the family, Church and in the society in general. Unfortunately, some people of substance today make serious blunders in life because of the wrong advise they receive from their wives, sisters, aunts, or mothers.
On the other hand, people have enjoyed a fulfilled life by paying heed to sound advises they received from Godly women she said. She went on to state good examples of women in the Bible who gave good advises to men at different times and in different situations. For example: Mirian who advised the Pharoah’s daughter Exodus 2:1-8, Rahab Joshua 2:1-5, 9-10, Abigail who advised King David 1st Samuel 25:25-27 etc. she did not only stop at this but also gave examples of women who gave bad advises to men in the Bible; Eve : Genesis 16:1-2, Rebecca Genesis 27: 1-28. She concluded by encouraging women to give good advises to their husbands, fathers, sons, brother etc.
After the devotion, Mrs. Musu Binty Marah the National Women’s Co-ordinator threw a challenge to all the participants to come out and recite memory verses. The recitation of memory verses was followed by the message of the guest speaker Mrs. Grace Bockarie who continued with the broad topic “Salvation and Deliverance”. At 12:30, the representatives of each of the Churches was called upon to come and give account of the Micro-finance Scheme that is going on among the individual Churches. The process of reporting about the loan scheme from one church to the other took place from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM when lunch was served.
Praise and worship followed immediately after lunch break. The guest speaker Mrs. Grace Wullamatu Bockarie gave another powerful message on the topic “Salvation and Deliverance “which she divided into sub-topics and dealt with each of those sub-topics well.
On Sunday March 7, 2010, a service was held in the Nafayie church building. After the usual Sunday service, the guest speaker concluded the sermon she prepared on salvation and deliverance amidst clapping and laughter which was a sign of appreciation for a topic well preached.
The vote of thanks was given by Mrs. Sundu Mansaray who is the women’s leader in the Alkalia Zone and the chief cook in the conference. In her speech, she thanked all the participants for coming and prayed that on their return, they put every word they have heard to practice so that they will gain the much needed salvation and deliverance.
The National Co-ordinator of Christian Reformed church in Sierra Leone Rev. John Phiri gave the final vote of thanks to all those that were present at the conference. He urged the participants to put into practice what they have learnt in the conference. He went on to say that if we hear the word of God and do nothing about it then it means we have suffered to come to Nanfayie for nothing. Go and do what you have learnt and you shall live. I pray that you put God’s word in practice.
compiled and Published by:
MAIBOCK MARAH
Secretary SL and BC Partnership (Sierra Leone branch)
-JR
