On…parachurch organisations in Sierra Leone

Here comes the final post in these reflections, starting with a photo from Kabala.

Students enjoying refreshments after our bible study on 2 Timothy

I am a big fan of parachurch organisations (that is, those that exist to serve the local church, examples in the UK being UCCF, Proclamation Trust etc) and it is evident that they bring the church many benefits. They are not without their problems, and the existence of such organisations that discriminate between people on the basis of their socio-economic status continues to trouble me, and causes quite a few problems in some churches.

One of these problems [with parachurch in general] can be lack of theological oversight, and the possibility for leadership of these organisations to pass into the hands of those who maybe stray a little from their evangelical roots in order to reflect the surrounding church culture and teaching.

If this all seems a little strange, I think it is in the UK. But it seems to be a problem with IFES in Sierra Leone. The movement is called SLEFES (Sierra Leone Fellowship of Evangelical Students – don’t know what the first ‘E’ stands for!) and was affiliated to IFES in 1983. It is a reminder of the problems there are in governing such large organisations, and the possibility of a national movement being slightly out-of-sync with the rest of the fellowship.

The movement seems to have been influenced by the church culture in the country, namely the extreme charismaticism and prosperity teachings described in the previous post. We were given quite a cold reception when we visited the General Secretary, and it might be that they are a little suspicious of Truth Mission and their aims at reforming the church back to a serious study of the Bible in context, and expositional preaching.

Notwithstanding these problems, IFES in Sierra Leone is surely useful and strategic, and perhaps more effort should be made at trying to reform it than labelling it in ways in which I, and others have done. I don’t think this contradicts what I said in my last post, as we are not talking about churches here but about organisations which serve the local church.

The other parachurch organisation we encountered is obviously Truth Mission. And, as I hope has been evident from my trip reports and conclusions, I think its work is vital. To think that the churches in the provinces of the country would be without the training and resources that have been provided by TM is a harrowing thought. So hands up to Chris Jonah and his team for the work that they do, and I hope you will join me in praying for them and thanking God for the opportunities they have. And perhaps their work in Sierra Leone will encourage the formation of similar projects in other African countries – there is already a TM offshoot in Liberia.

I hope to shortly start work on a website for them, and I will post a link when it is in an acceptable state.