DECEMBER 2015 UPDATE FROM SIERRA LEONE:
“Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests.”[Luke.2:14]
CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS
.We praise the name of the Lord for bringing us to celebrate the birth of
our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We decide to go and celebrate with brethren
in one of the villages with my family and Sarah Kluitenberg ( Sambaia
Bendugu) we also visited Shekuya and
Alkalia the same day December 25. It was an interesting worship to see both
Catholic and the reformed coming together to celebrate the birth of the savior.
In Bendugu , there was a combined worship between the CRC, MCA (missionary
church of Africa)and the catholic on the eve of Christmas. On Christmas day the
three churches came together to bring Christmas greetings to the Paramount chief
of Sambaia Bendugu.
In Alkalia, the same happened except in Alkalia , the
three churches CRC ,MCA and the catholic all worship together at the CRC church
(on Christmas day)and then in the evening at 4.0pm the Christians from the
three churches all come together to eat and celebrate . What a joy, we
fellowship and worship the same savior even if we come from different church
denomination. The joy expressed during Christmas at this villages shows that we
are one even if we may differ in our theology, but the same savior. Glory to
God.
The meat is being
prepared the women cooked the rice, all ate, the kids were not left out to
express their joy and celebration of the birth of the savior.
YOUTH, ANNUAL CONFERENCE:
In 2014, because of the Ebola outbreak and restriction on meetings and
conferences. It was not possible for the CRC youth to hold their annual youth
convention. But with the declaration of free Ebola in the country and
subsequent lifting of ban on public meetings and gathering, the youth of the
church conveyed in Kabala for this year’s conference. The theme for this year
is “PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER”.
OTHER CELEBRATIONS:
Kabala Town and of course entire Sierra Leone is full of various festivities,
such has cultural, picnics, dance etc. This year in Kabala the celebration is
double fold. The president of the country came to kick start the project of
building a Bridge across the River to the Loma Mountain (it was tag bridging
the Bintumani), which is aimed at boosting the tourism potential of the
country. Hence there is a lot of dancing all over the town. People came across
the country for this purpose, especially is coming at the time that the county
just celebrated the end of Ebola. It’s like a combination of two years
celebration, there is beautification of the town with a beautiful clock tower
in the town.
WOMAN OF FAITH: Mata
Kamara, lives in a small village near Kabala called Senekedugu. It’s about
fifteen minutes drive from Kabala, on a rough road. The people of Senekedugu
are all Muslims, with all persuasions’ and a time rejection, Mata and her four
children remain faithful in the faith in Christ. Every Sunday Matta and her
children will walk down the hill to attend worship in a neighboring village of
Sunkoya Balia, where Evangelist Kallie Koroma is taking care of the congregation.
The people of Senekedugu do not want to see Church in their community. But Mata
remain steadfast. She shares her experience and the attitude of the people towards
her. It was pathetic. The joy is that Mata is willing to cling unto Jesus.
OUR ANNIVERSARY: December
14 was another memorable day in our lives. It was our 25th
anniversary. The brethren in Kabala church really made the day a joyful one. We
give praise and thanks to God for his grace upon us to celebrate this day.
MARRIAGES IN KABALA
CHURCH: December 2015 indeed is one of the blessed months of the year.
Beside the celebration of Christmas, three of our members got married. Two
males brought in new members while we married out one of the ladies. Agnes
Kamanda , one of our committed members got married to Fred Swallay on December
5. So also is brother Samuel Kamara, who got married to Princess Kangoma (
their married took place in Freetown ). That of Promize James Bonnah and Marie
Sesay took place on December 19 ( Promize
is our church organist).
NEW INTAKE TO THE SCHOOL: Because of the
changes in the school academic calendar in Sierra Leone as result of the Ebola.
The new academic year for this shortened school year will be in January. In preparations
for reopening of school in January, the CRC Primary school conducted an
interview for the new class of primary one, on December 29. As can be seen in
the pictures below, pupils were asked to identify figures and alphabets to
ascertain their level of comprehensions, as their parents watch to see their
kids demonstrating their skills. The CRC Primary school in Kabala is one of the
best schools in the district. Many parents would like their children to go
there for schooling. But unfortunately the facility cannot accommodate the
growing number of applicants. The school will only accept 30 pupils per class.
There is indeed need for additional classroom and also more teachers to
accommodate the growing challenge of quality Christian based Education, for a
backward community like Koinadugu. Recently the section chief of Foria and
three other town chiefs came to our home pleading that we help them establish a
secondary school in Foria Community to care for surrounding villages. According
to them CRC mission provides the best education that is needed in the country.
It’s a big challenge. Education is a GREAT tool of evangelism and church growth
in these Muslims communities.
APPRECIATIONS: I
would like to express our sincere gratitude to you all for your support to us
during the past year. The year 2015 was great blessings to me and my family as
well as the church here in Sierra Leone. In this outgoing year our dreamed of
starting an urban ministry was fulfilled with the establishments of two worship
places in Wellington (Freetown) and Makeni respectively. This came to reality
because you trusted us with your resources and we are using it for the purpose
in which you have given. We want to assure you that by the special grace of God,
we will do our best to serve God and preach the gospel. s Likewise, in this
year we are able to begin work in the multipurpose church and denominational
office building here in Kabala. We continue to trust God and believing that
your supports will continue to come in so that we can achieve our goal. Our
desire and hope is that God willing in the coming year 2016, we should be able
to move into the new office AMEN! The greatest joy of the year was the
declaration that Sierra Leone is free of Ebola. This is because you were
fervent in prayers for us. And none of our family members and staff was
affected. And today our neighboring country Guinea is also declared free from
the Ebola virus. That gives us more hope that indeed the battle against Ebola
has been won. Glory to God.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1.
Thank God for the blessings of God in this past
year.
2.
Pray that as we enter the New Year, we will
continue to experience God’s blessings.
3.
Pray for the Church in Makeni. Pastor Maxwell is
organizing an end of year prayer revival.
4.
Pastor Moses Jawara in Wellington is also
beginning a three days revival to usher in the new Year.
5.
Pray for Morris Sonnie as he prepares to move to
Liberia to start work among his people the Vai
6.
Pray for children as they prepare to return to
school on January 11 2016.
7.
We are going to have TLT training in January.
Pray for Journey mercy for the participants.
8.
Pray for
the CRC youth as they end their annual youth conference on December 30.
9.
Pray for fund to be able to complete the
multipurpose church and office building.
10.
Pray for the continued growth of the CRC in
Sierra Leone and more commitment among the pastors.
11.
Pray for Mr. Ezekiel Musa Konjor , he will be going
to study in Nigeria at the Veenstra Theological seminary of the CRC –Nigeria.
SUBMITTED BY:
Rev. Istifanus B Bahago
Leadership, consultant CRC-SL/CRWM
Email:ibbahago@gmail.com
Phone: +2327824240, +23277668139
Blog: www.apostlebahago.blogspot.com
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