Blocks for peace

“Years ago, our forefather left the Wara-Wara mountains near Kabala” The village elder’s eyes glowed with the light of his people’s collective memory. “He sat down between the Gbagbe and the Seli Rivers and called the place Firawa, The Vast Forest.” Firawa is surely hidden deep within the vast forests of the Nieni chiefdom. In dry season, December through April, a single rain battered road exists, a road that stands nearly impassable for the remainder of the year. Something extraordinary is happening in this remote forest village, a true testament to God’s power and love extending to all the corners of the world.

The CRCSL planted a church in Firawa in 2008. This church has grown from a few members meeting on the pastor’s porch on sundays. In 2012 Firawa is one of the largest churches in the CRCSL community yet In spite of this stunning growth the church continues to meet in the pastors house. Things, however, are changing. The village is now working to build a church in Firawa. Muslim and Christian are working side by side on the plot of land that will soon hold the house of God to make local mud-bricks. This remote forest village is defying norms, Firawa is rising up and speaking loudly to everyone everywhere. “we are united” they say, “we  will be at peace.” 

Firawa Youths mixing Mud for blocks

CRCSL Women's Conference

From time to time a story is told in the assemblies of God's chosen people that gives a tangible testament to his glory, might and love. During the CRCSL National Women's Conference in Foria, Yeri Marah of Yarah CRC testified to the goodness of God in her life. For twenty-six years she was without child struggling with the grief of barrenness, tormented by thoughts of what could have been. Last year at the Women's Conference in Shekuya she requested a prayer that changed her life forever. This year she rose to testify holding her newly born child. Yeri is the symbol of the conference, an outward sign of an inward change.

For one week the Women of CRCSL Gathered to hear a series of sermons on repentance and its relationship to salvation by Rev. Manteneh Kargbo of the Missionary Church of Africa. In addition to Rev. Kargbo’s inspiring sermons, the conference had a very special focus on collective prayer and confession. The nightly prayer vigil was full of women young , old, big, small, rich and poor laying down their burdens and interceding for everything from village concerns, to presidential elections. 

There was a unity of purpose, a sentiment that the prayer they were praying could really change the way things were. There was a sense of reaching through the veil of the flesh and holding onto the bridegroom with two hands, speaking the deepest concerns of the heart out to him while falling deeper and deeper into his warm heavenly embrace. The Story of the Women’s Conference cannot be logged into a database or recorded in a spreadsheet, it is the story of Divine grace: While we were still sinners, Christ listened to our pleas and answered us. 

Zach Adams

CRCSL Youth Conference

Four heads surrounded the heap of equipment. Things did not look good. The mountain of speakers had produced nothing but a blanket of white noise for hours and with commencement approaching the situation was looking grim. Desperation showed on the faces of the youth leaders as they watched their months of planning begin to slip into oblivion.  Suddenly a blast of sound filled the hall with music, leading to a jubilant eruption of praise. Even the repair men were dumbfounded at the sudden restoration of music in the hall.  The story of the landmark National Youth Conference of the Christian Reformed Church of Sierra Leone was miraculous from start to finish. 

The Youth of CRCSL raised two thirds of their budget, a true mile stone in a church that has been almost totally donor-reliant for some years. The youth worked after school and on Saturdays doing domestic work to complement the individual contribution of Le1000 (equivalent to about 25 cents USD) and 5 cups of rice.  The work was not easy nor was it quick, but the conference was worth every drop of sweat shed to pay for it. 

The conference itself was a four day series of lectures dealing with redeeming the time in which we live. Each day culminated in a two-hour prayer session covering both domestic and foreign concerns. Additionally the newly ratified CRCSL Youth Constitution was read and discussed by the exiting body of youth executives. This land mark document represents a new wave, a church governed by Sierra Leoneians, not foreigners. 

The CRCSL National Youth Conference was a precedent setting event in every way. A new biblically based wind is blowing in the sails of the youth fellowship. If the other sections of the church follow the precedent of the youths the future looks ever brighter for the CRC in Sierra Leone. 

Zach Adams

Funumbakura Outreach

As the sun sank low in the African sky putting Kuranko land to sleep, the village of Funumbakura was beginning to experience a different kind of light. For probably the first time, the town meeting place was illuminated by electric light brought by a small group of Christian Reformed Church of Sierra Leone evangelists to this small bush village in the Nieni Chiefdom of Northern Sierra Leone. There was a battle raging just beneath the surface of the pleasant early dry season evening: a battle for the souls of a village. 

Funumbakora has a very small CRC church which has experienced local persecution. Because of the deep animistic and Islamic roots of the village culture, a Christian in Funumbakura would be subject to constant harassment from their neighbors. 

Back in the 1980s Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC)  built the gravity water system that is serving the village. While the years have taken their inevitable toll on the system, the pipeline has proven durable. The system is still one of the best in the area and is an abundant source of water for the village.

In a culture heavily reliant on oral history, the past is not easily forgotten. The tribal leaders of the village paid their respects to the team and the chief made his promise to ensure unity and equality among his people. In addition to the chief’s blessing on the work, 40 cups of rice were given as a symbol of friendship and approval. 

The outreach awakened something in Funumbakora that had been sleeping just under the surface for generations: it stirred the hunger for the Gospel in their hearts. After two long nights of open revival services the time came for the Sunday morning service. The service, which is usually sparsely attended, was full. God truly did a miraculous work in Funumbakura and will continue to build his kingdom in the whole Nieni Chiefdom. 

God has been working in Funumbakura for a long time, and now, through the hands of these Sierra Leoenian evangelists. He is harvesting a field that was sown and tended for decades.  

Zach Adams