I bring you all, Christian greetings in the name of our
risen lord and savior Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God Almighty, for his
love and care over our lives here in Sierra Leone.
On Friday 19th April we were exactly three months
old in our experience as missionaries to our fellow African in the West African
sub-region. We really thank God for finding us worthy to serve him, and to use
us as an instrument of bringing souls to him.
{REV.Sudu.welcoming
,Judith and Bernhard}
B
APTISM .We give thanks to God , on Sunday April 21st, three
people were baptized at CRC Gbokoroma by Rev, Edison Kamara, also there was
profession of Faith by our two children , Judith and Bernhard. For us as
parents we were full of happiness as we saw them making a public profession of
their faith. The administering of the profession was done by Rev. Ezekiel James
sudu. Later on we had the holy communion service.
CRC SCHOOL KABALA
We are really most thankful to God for the CRC school here,
that gives basic Education to the
kids here. The school is growing with the hard work of the
head teacher Mr. J T Koroma and dedicated staff of the school. Recently the
kids were home for two weeks break. April 23rd saw the children going
back to school . the primary six kids are preparing for their final exam{they
call it mock}, which will enable them go into the junior secondary school by
September. Then the junior form three students are also getting ready for their
national junior secondary school exams, which will see them into the senior
class in September. This is the examination that will really show the
effectiveness of the school. Both the students and the Teacher are really in a
high gear of getting to face the two examinations.
VILLAGE CHURCH PROJECTS
We give thanks, to God as the churches in the villages are
growing , this year ,three villages. Namely; yoviama , patohun [inBo Tikonko
Chiefdom}and kolanko,{koinadugu District} were able to build their church , we
provided roofing sheet and nails for them ,to roof the house.we have also
provided same to the church in Waterloo and Bo[the Bo structure was blown off
by storm in march, so we have to re do it again} presently Rochen Malal is
working on theirs, but because of the Rain been too closed, we will use woods
do the roofing and the wall will be raised next year.
{{Kolanko
church building
·
{yoviama
church being roof.}
SYNOD MEETING;
We give thanks to God
, on24th to 26th April. Delegates from the regional church council
of the church convey in kabala for the first half of the year synod meeting .
in all there were 27 delegates that attended. Far reach decision were made for
the growth of the CRC SL’. On Wednesday 24th April was arrival . so
no meeting was held that date.
On Thursday the 25th
was the business day of the meeting. REV. Sudu led in an opening devotion that
challenges delegates to lay a solid foundation of the Crc Sl which will stand the test of time. Pastor Daniel
Sawaneh was elected to led the day session. On that same date, the constitution
of the church was read for the third time, after a few correction it was
adopted by a unanimous vote. With this the church now has a document to guide
her in her operation, in sierra Leone.
(delegates at the meeting}
ELECTION OF NATIONAL
LEADERS;
The synod after
adoption of the constitution , set Octorber as the possible date for the
Election of her first National leaders, according to the decision , since it
was a test for self rule. It was decided that ,for three years , there shall be
a yearly election that is to say, those that will be elected in Octorber , will
serve for one year, and can be re, elected if they are seen to be capable .
that will be repeated in the second and third year,, After which they will have
seen among them people who can hold office for four years as its in the adopted
constitution.
(a cross section of delegates)
STRUCTURE.
A new administrative structure was adopted by
the synod for effective leadership of the church. The church is now sub,
divided into three regional church council{classis} with eleven local church
councils (Organized congregation}each of this local church council has three to
four or five worship centres, who will grow to become local churches in the
future. This REGIONAL CHURCH COUNCILS{RCC} are Alkalia. Freetown and Kabala.
Alkalia is made up of five Local church council. Namely; Alkalia. Foria,
shekuya, Nanfaye and sambaia Bendugu. While Freetown RCC is made up of Waterloo,and
Bo, then Kabala RCC is made up of Firawa
,Kondenbaia, Kabala and yarah. Each of this RCC ,shall elect their leaders
before the octorber election. With this development , the reformed system of
congregation electing their Elders and deacon shall be carried out in all the
local church councils and their branches or worship centers.
RAISING OF FUND.
(delegate stressing a point)
Another interesting
decision at the synod , was the issue of raising fund for the church programs
internally instead of depending 100%on external funding. The church decided
that every employee of the church or related agency shall contribute at least
5000 (local CURRENCY},MONTHLY FROM THEIR SALARY OR STIPPEND. Then local
churches shall contribute 50, 000 quarterly. Except for Kabala church that will
contribute 200,000 . Alkalia. 150,000, bendugu 60,000 Bo, 150,000 and Waterloo
100,000. It s hope that at least the church will be able raise 1000
000(about230 USD) PER QUARTER FOR THEIR CENTRAL FUND.
WOMAN CHAIRING THE
SYNOD
Another interesting
thing that happened at the synod , was the unanimous election of Mrs. Finah F
Marah to chair the second day of the synod. Mrs. Marah is the National women
leader of the CRC SL she did very well in her leading of the synod
deliberation. I was really impressed by her leadership skill.
(mrs. Finah Kamara)
CHILDREN THANKSGIVING
Sunday, the 28th
of April was the annual thanksgiving day for the crc kabala children. The
church hall was packed full with
worshipers as children display their skills in the knowledge of the bible
verses. The Children moderated the worship and preached the sermon. The worship
moderator was Mary JT Koroma and the preacher was Bernhard Bahago. In his
sermon , Bernhard challenged parents to train their children in the fear of God
so that when the are old they will not depart from it. His text was from
Psalm;22;6 Children from other churches such as ,New Harvest Church, Baptist, Anglican.
Wesleyan. United Methodist, and The door church, all in Kabala were in
attendance, they all presented special songs.
(Bernhard, Mary and the children presenting}
Another interesting
future in the children program, was the selection of the crc child of the year.
Four kids were selected, worshipers and parents were challenge to give
offerings into the offering box ,that each of the four kids were holding, the
ones that has the highest offerings in his or her box becomes the child of the
year,they were selected based on their skills in the knowledge of the
scripture. Victor Ezekiel sudu(5years old} emerged the winner.
FAMILY FARM PROGRAM
We thank God for the
Family farm program, this program is really touching the lives of many rural dwellers
as they are improving in their farm products and fostering unity in the family.
Reports from the various villages were the program is been run indicate a lot
of positive changes in the lives of the people. Today some communities are
calling for the introduction of the program in their area. Because of limited resources
and the future of the program that is not certain we could not accommodate more
except for Fogo village which the poor rural women there needed to be assisted
to improve in their life. We are hoping that when CRWM ,funding of this program
ends in June. World Renewal will be able to accept FFP as part of their work
here in Sierra Leone. Abandoning this program will be unhealthy development
here.
Abu M Jalloh and Alhassan are doing an excellent
job with the farmers in various communities, .its interesting to note that
Alhassan who was employ to work with Family Farm,was a Muslims. But last Sunday
he started coming to the Church , he told me that,” I have now accepted Jesus
Christ as my savior, I have seen what Jesus has done in the communities we have
worked, their livelihoods have improved, its real Jesus is the messiah the hope
of the hopeless”.
PRAYER REQUEST
1. Pray for Alhassan and other new converts in
the CRC SIERRA Leone to stand firm in the faith.
2. Pray for the church that ,the constitution
newly adopted will be to help in the growth.
3. Pray that the planned election of national
leaders planed for October will be done peacefully and that God will chose for
the Church committed and honest Leaders.
Submitted by:
Rev. Istifanus Bala
Bahago
Crwm/crc sl Leadership
Consultant’
+23278264240
+23277668139
www.apostlebahago.blogspot.com
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