SEPTEMBER 2015 UPDATE.

SEPTEMBER 2015 UPDATE

Beloved, I want to begin this update by a prayer offer by a Sierra Leonean pastor in view of the recent happenings in the country. ..

  PRAYER FOR THE NATION SIERRA LEONE:

“May God guide and protect our nation this day of our Lord 18th September 2015. May the hands of God be upon Sierra Leone.
God forgive us for whatever sin that we may have committed that makes us vulnerable to plagues, storms and other disasters, have mercy upon us.
Father on behalf of Sierra Leone I commit every individual into your hands. We need your ultimate protection. Unless, you watch over Sierra Leone, that we may be saved (Psalm 127:1-2).
Dear God breed Sierra Leone to be a godly nation.
Forgive us for being religious rather than a godly nation. Father, have mercy upon us for being more syncretistic that makes us vulnerable to apostasy.
Father God whatever sin our predecessors have committed with negative generational impacts, have mercy upon us.
Reduce the gravity of the flooding which has been predicted for the next few days. May lives and property don't be affected in the name of Jesus.
God provide relief for victims that were badly affected, especially those that are hosted at the National Stadium. God these people have been vulnerable with overcrowding conditions. This has been a worst situation especially for children, youths, young adults, these are the future leaders, and God alleviate their suffering. May you provide security for this nation. May your eyes be over the National Stadium and the entire country.
Father, be with our president Ernest Bai Koroma and all those genuinely seek to find solutions to address the situation in Sierra Leone.
Divine God I commit every segments of the society into your hands for your guidance and protection.
THANK YOU GOD FOR ANSWERING OUR PRAYERS IN JESUS NAME I PRAY “.

In deed this was the prayers of many of us, last week when the country experienced yet another devastating situation. I do believe that many of you have followed my post on Facebook and blog and have prayed with us. Many lives were lost; the authority is saying that no fewer than sixty People are either death or missing. The figure could be more, as people are still looking for their missing relatives.

 The Accountant of the CES, Mr. James Sesay, and their home in Freetown was destroyed; two of his siblings live in the house. But we thank God no life was lost in the home except the house.

 Sierra Leone is still struggling to contend the Ebola virus.  In my last update, I reported that the country has started counting down to 42 days of been Ebola free. But unfortunate the counting was revised as new cases were found in two districts: Kambia and Bombali. Presently there are four patients in the treatment centre; two additional people have died of the virus. Presently over a thousand people have been quarantined, in those districts, and there is vaccination going on in those areas. With that we are hopeful that it will be contend in the next possible time, or days.

FAMILY FARM PROJECT [AGRICULTURE PROGRAM]. The Family farm project is going on fine as farmers have developed a method of working together for better harvest, reported by the staff supervising the program. Alhassan Sheriff, quoted below.

“We really thank God for Family Farm Program because things are moving ahead towards sustainability.  Presently the pastors and the group leaders have started the loan recovery for up land groundnut.   At the moment, 80% of our clients are very busy with their farming activities. I want to share some success stories about the following communities:  In Gbokoroma, Firawa and Foria our families are now implementing group farms for themselves despite their individual farms.  I was very much impressed about it and I hope the remaining four (4) communities will follow their good examples”. 

URBAN WORK. We give thanks to God for his blessings. Maxwell Kanu has since resume work in the city of Makeni, with a home cell meeting s on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Maxwell is hoping to begin Sunday worship in the second week of October. Moses Jawara is doing well in the new Church, he planted in Wellington Freetown. We are hoping to have an official Inauguration of the worship center sometime in November. Likewise the church in Bo is growing; they have now completed their church building.

COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF SIERRA LEONE, GENERAL ASSEMBLY. September 22-24, were days in which members of the council of churches in Sierra Leone [CRC SL is a member], converged in the ancient Eastern city of Kenema for her 6^th Triennial General Assembly. I was opportune to be one of the delegates including two members of the Leadership of the CRC SL. The journey to Kenema was without hitches, though we were not involved directly in some of the accidents we saw on the road that day. We were weakened in our Spirit as we saw those accidents. One of them was a Land cruiser Jeep belonging to the save the Children. The driver was on a very high speed that just about five minutes of over taking our car, we found it in the bush. Two people died there instantly, with few others sustaining injuries. Before that was a truck that the driver sleep off, and it crashed into the bush, one person died, then the last one we saw was a motorcycle rider that was hit by a British military vehicle, the bike rider was  seriously injured. So those scenes on our way were quite discouraging, but in all we arrived Kenema safe. The Assembly went on well, I did a presentation on TIMOTHY LEADERSHIP TRAINING, there was high interest on the program been run nationally to involved all interested churches.

It was a challenging assembly with the theme “God of life Lead Sierra Leone to peace, Justice and Dignity” this is coming when the Country had passed through a lot of challenges such as rebel war, now Ebola and the recent flooding in Freetown .There was a strong discussion on the church to speak out against corruption in the society, and especially of gender equality. There was a very strong voice from the women calling on the church to advocate for the abolition of Female genital mutilation [FGM] which is a very common practice pass across the tribes in Sierra Leone. The church was called upon to speak for the right of the Girl child in this aspect. Looking forward to see that the church in SL will take the lead in correcting some evil practices within the society, to restore dignity of creation and many more.

ALKALIA CHURCH: In view of the growing in population of the membership of the congregation of the church in Alkalia, the pastor ,elders and the members decided to expand and renovate the existing building [structure ]of the church .Everybody was involved, women carrying water , men molding bricks, mason and carpenter all, were very serious in the work. Thank God they are able to re-roof the building, and are now worshiping inside, more need to be done any way. Below is a picture of the progress of the work so far.

SCHOOLS REOPENED: After a month of break, schools all over the country were reopened for academic activities. Staffs of the CRC School and students were all excited to be back in School. With all the excitement, not all parents and students including staff were happy, because the Basic Education certificate Examinations were released and not all students got he needed requirement to be promoted to the next class, [senior secondary school] , some students of the CRC school who could not make credits in the core subjects of English and Mathematics , have to leave the school for another. Secondly some left because they were interested in arts subjects and not science. So there was that mix re action. But in all academic work has resumed fully, the primary Pupils  had written the national primary school certificate examinations on Saturday Sept ember 26.Well as others will say  “ you cannot air condition the entire world, neither will you be able to please all”.

: It is a common practice here in the churches of sierra Leone, In other to encourage participation of all and identify talents among the congregation. Various subgroups in the church are giving certain weeks and a Sunday to be observed. All activities including preaching will be done by that group that is their day. Therefore Sunday September 20, was observe in the Kabala CRC as youth day. The youth invited their counterparts in various churches within Kabala to celebrate and thank God for their lives and the recognition by the church, to show case their various gifts and talents. It was very colorful, as they sang songs and dance to the glory of God. The Preacher was Bilalie Mansaray, the youth leader of the Kabala CRC, who challenge the congregation to see youth as the future of the church and they should be corrected in Love, and care.

PRAYER REQUEST:

1.       Thank God for granting us safety in our travel to Kenema and back to Kabala.

2.       Please pray for all the victims of the Freetown Flooding, who are now homeless.

3.        Continue to pray that Sierra Leone will overcome the Ebola virus.

4.        The west Africa Director Ron will be here on 29^th September, we will be travelling to Liberia. Please pray for safety in the travel.

5.       Pray for Pastor Maxwell as he continues with the church planting work in Makeni.

APPRECIATION:

 Thank you all for your continue prayers and support. May the good lord bless you all.

CONCLUSION: Let me conclude yet with another prayer. “Thank you God for another day of hope; we trust and have confidence in you. We continue to commit our beloved Sierra Leone into your hands. Have mercy on us in this crucial moment of great help and deliverance that you alone can provide beyond all limitations.

Even though another prediction of the massive rain has been threatening so far, we are hopeful about your perfect deliverance.

We trust in you for your protection on Sierra Leone and all regions within the sub-Sahara west coast.
God, you are the designer of every design. Even landmark within our sub regions comes from you
Dear God we ask that you protect our land, in Jesus’ name I pray.”

SUBMITTED BY:

Rev. Istifanus B Bahago

CRWM/CRCSL. Leadership consultant.

Phone: +23278264240 +23277668139.

Email; ibbahago@gmail.com

           istifanusbahago@yahoo.com.

Blog.www.apostlebahago.blogspot.com