The church family at Bureh Town

It’s not quite ‘GO!’ yet, but we received the following news from Reuben Dove recently which suggests we’re almost ready to finally start building the church at Bureh Town:

Just last week end the Pastor at Bureh Town brought to me the letter of Indemnity. I have also forwarded same to the Ministry of Lands to enable them to sign the Survey Plan. When that is done we can move from that point.  I shall inform you immediately

We received the tragic news on the 1st April that Jacob Dove’s wife died in childbirth along with her baby, leaving Jacob on his own with their three other children.

Reuben recently wrote to us:

The funeral service for the late sister took place last sunday 11th April at the St John’s Church Goderich, at 2:30p.m. It was a well attended service with combined choir from the three mainline churches in the Goderich community. They sang two Anthems plus the dead March in saul. We thank God for the life of the sister. She was really a servant of God. At the 36 she played her part in supporting Jacob in the ministry. Thank you all for your prayers. I believe your prayers have helped us in the proper planning of the funeral. May God grant her eternal rest.

Written by Rev. Reuben C. Dove

For Conference I asked some of our friends in Sierra Leone if they might be able to provide some reports and stories of the work in Sierra Leone in recent times, particularly raltaing to their evangelistic efforts. I received the following which I share again here for those who weren’t able to make it (edited for reasons of space). The first is from Rev. Reuben Dove, the General Superintendent of the SL Connexion

‘It will interest you to know that the entire team of ministers and laypastors are involved in the Evangelism Ministry of the Connexion. At our usual monthly Ministers and Laypastors Fellowship, each minister and laypastor contributes towards a fund known as Mission and Evangelism. Whenever there is need for us to embark on an evangelistic exercise we use the fund to enhance transportation cost and any logistics.

Alfred Kobba at Mile 91

In the past, the work of the mission was centered on the Freetown and Peninsula area. Now the tide has turned and in compliance with the Great Commission we have now moved to the provinces where we have evangelised Kono, Mile 91, Magburaka, and most recently Kenema. In Kono, we a church and school although the building has not yet been completed.There is also a church and school in Mile 91. We continue to thank WRU for their generous contibution in funding the construction of six classrooms where the congregation meets regularly for worship and weekly meetings. The school is now sending her first crop of students who sat the NPSE primary school leaving exams to secondary school! I want to inform you that there is growth taking place at Mile 91 now. Infact we have arranged to train one local member to assist with the evangelistic work. Alfred Kobba is doing extremely good work in the mission field outside there. The average number now is about 20. We expect to have more growth taking placein not too distant future.

We have a congregation and school at Magburaka. Here we praise God for the Friends of Sierra Leone (FSL) who paid for the piece of land to erect a school and church building in the future. Most recently we have planted a church in Kenema the newest in the Provinces. The congregation meets at the newly constructed health Centre with the approval of the community and the chief. There is great progress.

The problem of finance has been the key factor militating against the smooth running of the evangelism ministry.

Our main strategy is establishing school alonside the church planting exercise. We have proved that this strategy has been successful. Through teaching the children we can get to the parents whom we can then evangelise and win them for Christ. Through this way we have planted many churches.’

Written by Pastor Augustine Williams

The second report is from Augustine Williams who is one of our agents and the Education Secretary, responsible for overseeing the education work in the Connexion.

‘I have endeavoured to put together the following information on the progress made in education and evagenlism within the purview of my lenght of service with the Countess of Huntingdon Connexion in Sierra Leone, from 1993 to date:-

THE SIERRA LEONE CONNEXION IN 1993: The Sierra Leone Connexion in 1993 was only known as a Christian Institution, by a small percentage of the inhabitants in the Western Area. Four Primary Schools and one Secondary School existed in the Western Area, as the connexional Churches and Schools were concentrated in this Region.

EXPANSION: Speedy expansion started after the war. From 1993 to date, more schools and churches have been established in the Western Area, Northern Region, Eastern Region, and Southern Region. We currently have eighteen primary schools, four secondary schools, one pre-primary school and twenty three churches.

TRAINING: Between 2004 to date the SLM has funded about forty teachers in training. The Connexion has gained much recognition in Sierra Leone for its continuous support of human resource development, which is uncommon with most Christian Istitutions here.

CONNEXIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION: With the credible leadership of the Connexion, we have been able to promote education and evangelism especially after the rebel war. One can now experience much unity amongst us. This is evident at Conference sessions, Fellowship Meetings and Sunday activities. With generious contributions by the SLM/FSL, we can now boast of a very magnificent administrative building at 9 West Street, in Freetown (part of the Lady Selina Chapel complex).

EVANGELISM: Much evangelism work is going on. New churches have been established in Wellington (February 2006), and in Kenema (2009).The work at Mile 91 is nearly completed and the congregation is growing with the effort of our Leadership and the young Pastor assigned to that church (Pastor Alfred Kobba). More converts are adding to the church at Wellington daily (a Muslim dominated area) where a very big building project is in progress funded by theFSL. I am the founder and present Pastor of the Church.

NATIONAL ISSUES: Our desire is to see most of our schools being assisted by the Government, but the Ministry of Education is yet to lift band on the approval of more schools and teachers. Please pray that we may see this dream come through.’

Written by Magnus Bendu (Youth Director)

The youth conference in Sierra Leone constitutionally comprises all youths registered in the various Youth Fellowships of the various Churches/Chapels in the Connexion. A youth for us is somebody between 13 & 35. Just as the width is in the age span so are the experiences in working with them – both tough and enjoyable, considering that both of us working with them are within the same age bracket – Rev. Daniel Koroma & I.

Currently, the number of actively participating youths within the Connexion is around 100. some other youths from other churches sometimes join us in our programmes. We have also had muslims join us in some of our activities. Since youths are active people, a number of activities are scheduled within the year. For the year 2009, the activities include the following:

1. Youth “Singer-Fest”: Done in February at St. John’s Church in Goderich, with 79 youths in attendace. This programme was part of the celebrations of the Connexional Conference and involves singing praise & worship songs in the African way.

2. Youth Outing: This took place in February at Masiaka, 47 miles from Freetown. For 80% of the youths, this was there first time of moving up to that point of the country. Sierra Leoneans don’t travel that much anyway. Young people are particularly not given the opportunity, that is mainly why we endeavored to give them one. 89 youths were present. Food was shared, games were played, Christian music was available, the gospel was shared, joy was evidenced, friendship was inevitable & God was there. It was a memorable ocassion. It was a day’s outing – we left at 7:30am and returned at 8:00pm.

3. Mid Year Seminar: This programme was designed to enhance youth development through Christian principles. The focal topics were self identity, career choice & development and focus& direction in life. We had teachings and group discussions. It was held in June at St. Marks Church, Waterloo. 53 youths defied the very heavy rainfall that day in order to discover what could help them pursue their destiny in Christ. Food and juice were served in a very pleasant atmosphere. We even had on-the-spot testimonies on how the teaching impacted their lives. I (Magnus) and Rev. Daniel Koroma, who is the Co- Youth Director facilitated the sessions, while the youth president, Sylvester Nicol lead a spirit filled devotion from 2 Timothy 1:6,7.. It was a real blessing.

4. Youth Convention: This programme is yet forthcoming. It will hopefully take place at Magburaka, Northern Sierra Leone, about 115 miles from Freetown . This venture is part of our aim to help young people in the Connexion Know their country. Magburaka is muslim dominated and our presence their in Christian love will mean a lot for evangelism. The convention is slated for the 19th to 22nd December 2009. This is always our biggest programme each year. It is more like a camp and in some ways like a retreat. It comprises programmes such as play, prayer, evangelism, teachings, Bible study, singing, Bible Quiz and plenary sessions. So many young people long for this programme. However, this programme poses the biggest challenge to us in terms of financing it. We are grateful to the SLM for their invaluable assistance over the years. Planning has already started for this year’s programme. We need your prayers.

Besides all of these major activities of the year, Youths in the Connexion are also encouraged and sometimes supported to attend other youth programmes outside of the Connexion; for instance Scripture Union and Campus Crusade programmes.

The planning and implementation aspects of the youth programmes are done by the Youth Directors and the Youth Executive with the blessing of the Chairman & General Superintendent. The Youth Directorship is not a paid job, but voluntary. We however enjoy it so much.